“Nourishing the Gifted Brain and Heart” Education Experts from around the World and 300 Parents Sharing Insights on Gifted Education in Parent Conference 2012
(Hong Kong – 3 March 2012) From identifying gifted children to creating favourable developmental conditions for them, parents play an important role all along in nurturing gifted children. With an aim to support the parents, the second Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) Parent Conference 2012 was held on Saturday at the Academy. The theme for the Conference this year is “Nourishing the Gifted Brain and Heart.” During the conference, around 300 parents from Hong Kong acquired new knowledge about gifted education from the education experts. They also had a chance to share their insights on nurturing the gifted. After the Conference, parents of gifted children were expected to be able to nurture their kids more effectively while developing their full potential.
Dr. Stephen TOMMIS, Executive Director, The HKAGE, delivered the welcome address and introduced the two guest speakers, Dr. Steven PFEIFFER, Professor, College of Education, Florida State University, and Mrs. CHAN LEUNG Suk-ching, Gloria Principal, Kau Yan School. The two seasoned education experts delivered keynote addresses explaining how important thinking skills training and emotional education are to the nurturing of gifted students.
Dr. Pfeiffer’s speech, titled “Helping gifted students to be successful: The role of caring parents,” explained to parents the concept of “emotional intelligence” and gave a brief introduction of the “five principles,” which aimed to guide parents to support their gifted children’s healthy mental development while cultivating their potential.
The “five principles” are-
| 1st Principle | Promote balance in your gifted child’s Life |
| 2nd Principle | Normalize your gifted child’s experience. Parents should avoid focusing exclusively on your child’s special talent to the neglect of other important developmental experiences |
| 3rd Principle | Set clearly stated limits, rules, and expectations for conduct. Gifted children need limits. |
| 4th Principle | Encourage Social and Emotional Intelligence. Help your child develop the skills to be courteous, a good listener, likable, helpful, trustworthy, a team player, able to get along with others |
| 5th Principle | Develop Character Strengths and Virtues. As a matter of experience, a select few make a real difference in helping gifted kids to be successful! |
Mrs. Leung’s speech, “The road less travelled: how parents and teachers walk with the gifted children in order to meet their learning needs,” explored how to design courses tailored to gifted students’ need and create a challenging learning environment in which students’ learning interest can be enhanced. She cited teaching experience in Germany and Switzerland as examples to illustrate the rationale behind the designing of gifted education courses.
10 other speakers joined the concurrent sessions to share and exchange their insights with the parents. The speakers included Dr. KAM Chi-ming, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong; Dr. HUI Na-na, Anna, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong; Mr. DAI Wai-tong, Darren, Educational Psychologist, Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong; Ms. Phyllis WONG, Guardian of a 2E teenager and Mr. LAM Hak-chung, Patrick, Associate Director, The HKAGE.
The whole-day conference ended successfully with a concluding forum and a question-and-answer session for parents hosted by Dr. HUI Na-na, Anna and Mrs. CHAN LEUNG Suk-ching, Gloria. The parents said that the Conference provided them with many inspirations.
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| Dr. Tommis (right) welcomed Prof. Pfeiffer to deliver the keynote address in Parent Conference 2012 | Mrs. Leung shared her teaching experience and encouraged parents to walk with the gifted children in order to meet their learning needs |
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Parent Conference 2012 attracted many parents of gifted children to attend | |
Update Date：2023-08-17