NEW YORK RESOURCE. Melissa Sornik, one of the founders of the group Long Island Twice-Exceptional Children's Advocacy (LI-TECA), now offers a variety of services to New York-area families with 2e children: individual and family coaching, social skills training, parent support groups, and workshops. Sornik is a licensed master social worker (LMSW) and a certified SENG model parent support group facilitator. She may be reached at 516.724.7100 or by email.
FOR YOUNG, GIFTED LITERATI. A new website, Figment.com, is aimed at young people who like to read and write fiction; the site allows collaboration and feedback. Founded by a former managing editor of The New Yorker, the site is seen as a way for publishers to find young talent and also to expose readers to published authors through book excerpts. The site went live today, December 6th.
FOR THE LITERATE YOU. Google Books opened its e-bookstore today. It offers access to millions of free books and hundreds of thousands for sale. A search for "twice-exceptional" brought up 11 books (none free), including titles by Barbara Probst, Renzulli and Reiss, and Carol Kranowitz. Prices are expected to be competitive with other online e-booksellers.
GLOBAL VIRTUAL MEETINGS FOR GIFTED EDUCATION. Through Jo Freitag, we discovered that there have been three global virtual meetings concerning gifted education, all taking place in SecondLife, and presented by the Bavarian Center for Gifted and Talented Children. The first one covered "Solution Oriented Therapy for Gifted Children." The third meeting, titled "Gifted Children and the Future Problem Solving Program International," is viewable on YouTube. To attend, one creates an avatar in SecondLife, registers the avatar's name with the conference organizers, and participates online using a headset. According to Freitag in December's Gifted Resources Newsletter, the next conference, on January 29, 2011, features Deborah Ruf on gifted underachievement. Find more information here.