*Please distribute to others who may be interested...* You are hereby invited to the next weekly seminar in our interdisciplinary series on Evolution, Complexity and Cognition<http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108>(ECCO) and theGlobal Brain Institute<http://www.globalbraininstitute.org/>(GBI).
*Time*:* Friday, July 12th, 14:00-16:00 p.m * *Place*: *Room 3B217 * (building B, level 3, From the elevator take the long corridor to the right, to its end), on the VUB Campus Etterbeek (Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels), Free entrance: everybody welcome! ------------------------------ Are all gifted people also highly sensitive? *Marie-Lise Schläppy* <[email protected]>* (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne)* Abstract: An increasing number of schools in Europe have programs for gifted pupils and are equipped to identify and foster the development of gifted children. However, a portion of the gifted population leaves school without knowing that they are gifted. This is particularly true of underachievers who have given up on school and gifted girls who favor social integration over the development of their gift. It follows that the European society is producing unidentified gifted adults (UGAs). If we assume that creative gifted adults have the potential to contribute to a greater extent to finding solutions to societal and environmental challenges, then the European society is experiencing a net loss of talent when such adults are not identified and cannot develop to their full potential. UGAs can be plagued with bad self-esteem and do not necessarily see themselves as intelligent. Having often experienced difficulties in their lives, feeling somehow different, and having difficulties in relationships, UGAs are unable to recognize that popular books on the subject of giftedness apply to them and would be unlikely to read them. As gifted people are often said to be highly sensitive, there may be a benefit in using the concept of the highly sensitive person (as defined by Aron & Aron 1997) to identify and help UGAs accept their gift, and become the creative persons they can be. However, no one has ever linked the two traits using empirical studies, so how effective a tool the concept of high sensitivity would be is yet unknown. In this case study, 6 gifted people were given the “high sensitivity scale” by Aron & Aron 1997. Results will be discussed. *Relevant Links:* The site by Elaine Aron, the researcher who came up with the concept of the “highly sensitive person”: http://www.hsperson.com Interesting sites about giftedness: http://www.douance.be http://www.sengifted.org/resources/resource-library/recommended-reading http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/ http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/ADJ/gtadultart.htm The Speaker: I am doing a Certificate of Advanced Studies at the “Pedagogische Hochschule – Fachhochshule Nordwestschweiz” on “integrative giftedness and gifted support” (Integrative Begabungs- und Begabtenförderung). I have a homepage but it is mostly in French with some links to foreign languages: www.surchauffe-du-bulbe.net ------------------------------ * Forthcoming ECCO/GBI seminars* ** *See you on our 2013-2014 ECCO/GBI Seminar series*. More info about the ECCO seminar program: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108 <http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108> -- David R. Weinbaum (Weaver) ECCO/GBI Seminar Coordinator Email: [email protected] http://clea.academia.edu/DavidWeinbaum
