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International Conference on Giftedness

A Conference with Charisma

Tackling the challenges of Giftedness in Europe

“The Greek word for giftedness is charismatikotita. Charisma means “a divinely conferred power or talent”. Maybe it’s this divine dimension that makes it so hard for this word to be accepted by the public. Or is the limited knowledge on the subject to be blamed? Everybody thinks their child is gifted, but do they know what being gifted actually is? After all, talking about giftedness is still quite a taboo in my country.” 

 This was how Sotiria Kotopoulou described the challenges she faced after her eldest son had been identified as gifted in the first grade of a public primary school in Athens. The working mother of three described her journey from a confused and stressed parent to the official Parent Facilitator of Hellenic Mensa since 2016. In her new volunteer position Sotiria has been addressing the following key questions in dialogue with other parents as well as within the Hellenic Mensa chapter: 

Full details in the January 2018 issue of the "Mensa World Journel" (ed. Karin Tikkanen) pp 8-10