Parent Education

Da Vinci Academy is part of the broader gifted education community.  The school and its Parent Association are proud to offer special events and expert guest speakers on topics related to educating and parenting gifted children.  We invite families from the local community to attend these events.

Thank you to everyone who attended our event on Executive Function, Perfectionism, and Intensities

The evening featured a panel of three local psychologists.  Each panelist gave a 20-minute presentation to the group before we broke into small discussion groups for Q&A and an exchange of ideas and parenting experiences.

The panel included three psychologists from St. Charles who appear on our list of recommended IQ testers:

  • Dr. Michelle Bidwell - Executive Function
  • Dr. Carolyn Werneke - Intensities & Sensitivities
  • Dr. Ann Weller - Perfectionism

Previous Events

November 29: Living with Intensity in Gifted Children, with Dr. Michele Kane, Ed.D.

Being the parent of a gifted child means MORE - more intense, more sensitive, more curious, more active, more idealistic and more intuitive.   Understanding these unique personality characteristics provides insights into behaviors at home and school.

This presentation focused on the affective aspects of being gifted including sensitivity, intensity, and perfectionism.  Effective strategies and techniques for dealing with these personality traits, as well as ways to help kids deal with the unique stresses of giftedness were discussed. Resources to foster a deeper understanding of the social and emotional aspects of parenting were shared.

Michele Kane, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Master of Arts in Gifted Education Program at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.  Michele is also is the President of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children and the Past-Chair of the Global Awareness Network of the National Association for Gifted Children.  Her interests include parenting gifted children, social and emotional needs of gifted learners, gifted adults and child-centered, differentiated instructional practices.  Along with her husband, Dan, she is the parent of six gifted children who are now adults.