Western Australia's association for gifted support, advocacy and resources
How well do you understand giftedness and how it is measured? The history of the scientific study of intelligence and it’s measurement goes back to at least the early 20th Century. Much has changed over these years. Come on a journey with Educational Psychologist, Wally Howe, as he highlights the ups and downs of the past 120 years.
Have you ever wondered which tests are best for Australian children? Or what the criterion is for giftedness? Or whether to test or not to test, and why? Or what would be the benefits of testing? Or when to have your child assessed? Or what is REALLY the best age to have your child assessed? While answering these questions, Mimi Wellisch will incorporate the difference between a (Wechsler) WPPSI assessment and a (Wechsler) WISC. She will also talk about how long a test takes, how often you should test, and last but not least, whether you should have your child assessed with the SB-5.
Walter (Wally) Howe is a Sydney based Educational and Developmental Psychologist and is the Director of Psychological Assessments Australia (PAA), a publisher and distributor of psychological and educational assessments and school-based intervention materials. He worked as a secondary teacher and school counsellor in NSW before becoming involved in publishing in 1988. He has managed Australian standardisation studies for many widely used assessments, including the Wechsler (WISC) and Woodcock Johnson (WJ) test batteries and the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC). Currently, he is working on the transition to online psychological and educational assessments and the training of psychologists and other professionals using these assessments. He is a member of the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Educational & Developmental Psychologists, the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists (USA). He is a regular presenter at professional conferences and online workshops on topics ranging from dyslexia to emotional intelligence.
Mimi Wellisch is a registered psychologist and director of Clever Kids Consultancy, where she has assessed children for giftedness for the past 20 years. She holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Early Childhood Education and was an early childhood teacher and director of preschools and long day care services for over two decades. She later worked as a Children’s Services Adviser in NSW, licensing and regulating children’s services. Mimi’s interest in gifted education arose from a chance choice of an elective unit in gifted education during her Bachelor studies. Her passionate interest led to her first research project of NSW educator attitudes to gifted pre-schoolers for her Masters. Since then, Mimi has undertaken a number of other research projects in the area of giftedness. She is author of books and peer reviewed journal articles about giftedness. She has presented at many local and international conferences, and was President, Vice President and Treasurer of the then NSW Association for Gifted and Talented Children. She was awarded a PhD in Psychology in 2015 in relation to her research on the association between attachment, maternal depression, and the identification of giftedness in children.
