Meet Our Team

Who We Are

Gifted Development Center is a collective of individuals working towards the shared goals of supporting giftedness throughout the lifespan and building awareness and support of the gifted community.

We are a multidisciplinary team of examiners, specialists, research affiliates and more. People join us from across the United States and internationally to work towards our mutual goals.

Please reach out to us with any questions you have. We are here to help.

FOUNDER

  • Founder

    Linda Kreger Silverman, PhD, is a licensed clinical and counseling psychologist. She directs the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development, and its subsidiary, the Gifted Development Center (GDC) in Denver, Colorado, which has assessed over 6,500 children in the last 40 years. This is the largest data base on the gifted population. She and her colleagues at GDC have developed 40 instruments. For nine years she served on the faculty of the University of Denver (DU), in Counseling Psychology and Gifted Education. She developed a course on Assessment of the Gifted at DU, which was also a short course taught abroad. She has been studying the assessment, psychology and education of the gifted since 1961 and has written over 300 articles, chapters and books, including the textbook, Counseling the Gifted and Talented, adopted at 50 colleges. Her latest book, Giftedness 101 (Springer, 2013), contains a chapter on assessment. It has been translated into Korean and Swedish.

EXAMINERS

  • Examiner and Editor, Advanced Development journal

    Nancy B. Miller, PhD, is a social psychologist and editor of Advanced Development, a journal on adult giftedness. She does research and testing at the Gifted Development Center in Westminster, Colorado. She has taught sociology at the University of Denver and the University of Akron. For many years, she served as Executive Officer of Sociologist for Women in Society. She discovered Dabrowski’s theory as a graduate student and developed a coding system to assess levels of emotional development. She has worked and published with Dr. Linda Silverman and Dr. Frank Falk for over 30 years. Her publications focus on emotional development, gender and giftedness, social support and adjustment to stressful life events, and family processes and child outcomes. In 2019 she published “Research at the Gifted Development Center” in the Polish Journal Psychologiczne Zeszyty Naukowe [Scientific Journal of Psychology] 2/2018: 29-39

  • School Psychologist; Examiner

    Ann W. DeMers, M.A., N.C.S.P., Associate, holds a Master's degree in Special Education and a state license as well as national certification in School Psychology.  She retired from Jefferson County Public Schools with 31 years of experience as a special educator, classroom teacher and school psychologist. Ann’s background includes teaching conflict resolution, anger management and social skills. She has training and experience with students who are Twice Exceptional. Ann has been an examiner at the Gifted Development Center since 2003. When not working with kids and families at the GDC, Ann will often be found hanging out with her grandson, reading, gardening, or riding her bike. She volunteers at Ralston House, an advocacy center for children victimized by abuse and is a past recipient of the Jefferson County Celebrate Women Award. Ann loves getting to know and spending time with the kids and families who come to GDC.

  • Helen McVicar, MBA, Associate, is licensed by the Colorado Department of Education as a School Psychologist. She recently retired after 21 years working in Jefferson County Public Schools conducting comprehensive assessments and writing IEPs and 504 Plans, and providing mental health services, crisis management, applied behavior analysis and consultation. She has worked for GDC as an Associate since 1997 providing assessments of gifted children and young adults. Helen holds an MBA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from City University of New York and completed a Post-Masters Licensure Program in School Psychology at Marywood University. As she has become more interested in twice-exceptional and learning disabilities, Helen completed the School Neuropsychology Post-Graduate Certification Program in 2006 and received a Diplomate by the American Board of School Neuropsychology. In addition to cognitive, academic and social/emotional assessment, she can also consider dyslexia, writing and math disabilities, and aspects of attention, memory and executive functioning.

  • Examiner - Omaha, NE

    Kim Carroll Boham earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education in 1991 and taught for 7 years in Omaha, NE as a 4 th and 5 th grade classroom teacher. During this time she discovered her passion for teaching gifted children and completed her Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an endorsement in Gifted Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1999). Since 2006, Kim has been a public school Gifted Coordinator in the Omaha Metro area and has helped design gifted programming, including professional development and curriculum in two districts. She was also involved in her districts’ revisions of their gifted program identification processes, and this involvement became the catalyst for her interest in all areas of gifted identification, particularly IQ testing.

    Kim works directly with gifted children daily and supports their classroom teachers in meeting their needs through best practices in gifted education. Since 2010, Kim travels regularly to Colorado from Omaha to work as an examiner at Gifted Development Center and to enhance her experience and knowledge in the area of assessment and identification of gifted children. She continues to expand her depth of knowledge in the field by working toward an advanced Gifted Specialist endorsement at the University of Northern Colorado.

  • Heather is a licensed school psychologist (SSP), licensed professional counselor (LPC), and nationally certified school psychologist (NCSP). She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and her Educational Specialist degree in School Psychology from Rider University in New Jersey. Heather has contributed significantly to the field, serving as a board member for the Colorado Society of School Psychologists as the Independent Practice Chair. She has also been involved at the state level, participating in the Colorado Department of Education's Mental Health Advisory Committee and the Serious Emotional Disability Taskforce. With over 14 years of experience as a school psychologist in Colorado public schools, Heather has spent five of those years identifying gifted children and developing programs for them within regular school settings. She also runs a private practice where she conducts psychoeducational evaluations. As a parent, she brings a personal understanding to her professional work. She understands the challenges faced in both home and school environments. 

  • Licensed Child & Adolescent Psychologist, Founder 2e Psychology

    Dr. Amy Molina, founder of 2e Psychology, and Dr. Linda Silverman, founder of Gifted Development Center, have formed a partnership. Amy diagnoses gifted children with ADHD, ASD, and the behavioral and social-emotional characteristics that accompany many learning differences. Her practice is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. We will be referring clients who need Amy’s special expertise to her office for assessment. This partnership is the first step of Linda’s succession plan.

    In September, Amy expressed her interest in joining our team at Gifted Development Center. She is passionately interested in evaluating gifted and twice exceptional children. Amy believes that our assessments at GDC are unique, and she wants to continue our legacy. Amy will be conducting Initial Consults and assessments for our clients in 2025. 

SUPPORT

  • GDC Office Manager, Customer Service

    Jacob Schott, M.M., serves as the Office Manager for Gifted Development Center. He received his Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from West Texas A&M University in 2017, where he was the recipient of the Graduate Assistantship in Trumpet and a member of the WT Faculty Brass Quintet. After returning to Colorado, he began working as an AutoCAD 3D Engineer. When he is not at work, Jacob enjoys spending time with his wife, playing with his two dogs, getting in a round of disc golf, and listening to music.

  • Equality & Inclusion Specialist

    Dr. Vanessa Ewing, Ph.D., Associate, received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Individual Differences in Cognition. Over more than 20 years, she has served as a principal, preschool—middle school teacher, and academic advisor for gifted and twice exceptional children. Vanessa works as a Gifted/Talented Coordinator within Denver Public Schools, working across schools- in particular with charter schools throughout the district.  Vanessa also designed, coordinated and served as a lead instructor for an online Master’s Degree program for teachers at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, leading to licensure in gifted education. Her passions include working with gifted early childhood students, as well as developing academic and social plans for gifted and twice exceptional students. Currently, her work with GDC involves assessing applicants for admission to The Hope Academy, an early childhood program for diverse gifted learners. She also teaches psychology and education courses to adult learners. She continues to take graduate courses in gifted education and counseling. When not immersed in the field of giftedness, Vanessa enjoys volunteering, playing with her son, reading, painting, writing, and traveling.

  • Director of Fundraising

  • Director of Professional Education

    Joi Lin, M.S. serves as the Director of Professional Education for the Gifted Development Center where she helps organize professional learning for professionals working with gifted children and gifted adults. Joi has experience as a secondary math teacher, labor organizer, and curriculum trainer. Joi earned a B.S. in Mathematics and Secondary Education, an M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and is a current Ph.D. student of Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in Gifted Education, at the University of Denver. Currently, Joi is the vice-president of the DU College of Education Student Association, a board member of SoulSpark Learning. and a graduate research assistant for the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children's (WCGTC) Teacher Education Standards Position Paper Committee. She has presented at SENG, WCGTC, and Colorado Education Association conferences. As a multiracial, cross-cultural, highly gifted woman, Joi is passionate about supporting the equitable identification and access of diverse gifted learners; the career development of gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional students; and the career well-being of gifted adults in the workplace.

RESEARCH

  • Director of Research for Gifted Development Center/Institute for the Study of Advanced Development (GDC/ISAD).

    Rick is a distinguished educator and psychologist who holds multiple professorships at Purdue University. With a PhD in Educational Psychology, he specializes in Giftedness and Talent Development. Formerly a Department Chair and Associate Provost at the University of Houston, Rick has presided over various educational organizations, including as past president of NAGC. An accomplished author, he’s penned over 100 publications, earning accolades for books such as Social-Emotional Curriculum with Gifted and Talented Students. His research spotlights the importance of “hope” in holistic student development, emphasizing his commitment to understanding twice exceptional students.

    In 2024, as a guest editor for Roeper Review on “Often Overlooked Multiple Exceptionalities,” Rick invited Linda Silverman to contribute an article on “The Overlooked Role of Modalities in Multi-Exceptional Children.” Rick will be replacing the late Dr. R. Frank Falk, who served as Director of Research since our inception. Research proposal guidelines and confidentiality agreements were developed to enable graduate students and researchers to have access to the data.

    Rick will be approving research proposals, supervising research interns, preserving and digitizing the database, publishing articles and presenting research papers at conferences based on the data, securing grants, and responding to international inquiries regarding research findings.

  • Research Coordinator

    Lin Lim, Ph.D. is the Dean of Non-Degree Programs at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education in Studio City, California. She holds a doctorate in human development psychology from Boston University, an Academic Graduate Certificate in Mind, Brain, and Education (Johns Hopkins University Graduate School of Education), and an Academic Graduate Certificate in Twice-exceptional Education (Bridges Graduate School).  She has been supervised by Dr. Linda Silverman in a post-doctoral clinical practicum since 2023 and will be completing an MBA focused on ethical leadership at UCLA in June 2025. Lin is a first-generation immigrant Asian American who grew up in South East Asia, parenting US-born second-generation profoundly gifted children, one twice-exceptional, and the other radically accelerated. Her lived, academic, and professional experiences across numerous educational settings including private, public, homeschool, radical acceleration, and community college, drive her to create better understanding and nurturance for such children. She is a founding board member of a Texas non-profit - Gifted Education Family Network and is active in serving gifted non-profits.  She currently serves as the immediate past president at  SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted), member of the PECAB advisory board at the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), and board director at Gifted Homeschoolers Forum (GHF). She has served on the PGretreat and Gifted Education Family Network board. She is the founder of Quark Collaboration Institute, a non-profit dedicated to promoting health and wellbeing across the lifespan. Her area of passion lies in culturally relevant interdisciplinary multi-systems embodied approaches to human-centered parenting, education, and applied research with gifted outliers. She has presented nationally and internationally in conferences ranging from education, and interdisciplinary social science, to psychology. 

  • Director of Visual-Spatial Learner Identifier Project.

    STEVEN C. HAAS, M.A., MPA, has worked in gifted education as a Gifted and Talented Resource Consultant, mentor, classroom teacher, Advanced Placement instructor, school administrator, researcher, and middle school principal.  For twenty-five years, Mr. Haas has served as Project Director for the Visual-Spatial Identifier Project, coordinating the development and validation of the Visual-Spatial Identifier©.  Within the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), he is actively engaged with the Javits-Frasier Scholarship Committee, the Diversity and Equity Committee, and the Native American Alaska Native Indigenous Peoples Special Interest Group.

    He also is Associate Director of the Indigenous Students Leap Ahead (ISLA) Project, which supports teachers through programming and instruction to reach underserved populations of gifted Native American children in schools and school districts on and off reservations across America.

    Steve is a frequent presenter at conferences of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, NAGC, the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, the National Indian Education Association, and the Native American Student Advocacy Institute of the College Board on a wide range of topics including teaching gifted visual-spatial learners, creativity, perfectionism, acceleration, and the needs of Native American children.

AFFILIATES

  • Director - West Coast Office

    Linda Powers Leviton, M.A., MFT, is the Director of the West Coast office of the Gifted Development Center, Los Angeles, CA.  She specializes in assessing, counseling and coaching gifted and creative children, adults and families. Linda has worked and written with Dr. Linda Silverman since 1974, and later trained with Dr. Annemarie Roeper. She currently uses both Gifted Qualitative Assessment (GQA) and quantitative assessments to help parents and schools better understand and advocate for their child’s educational, emotional, and social needs. 

    Linda’s book, Peace Within, Peace Between: Your Relationship Toolkit, applies Virginia Satir’s models. She is also an artist, taught gifted children and raised three of her own.  

  • Educational Diagnostician, Dallas, TX

    Dawn Kinard, M.S., Nationally Certified Educational Diagnostician, Affiliate, holds a Master's degree in Special Education from Texas A&M University, national certification as an Educational Diagnostician, as well as ESL and Special Education certificates. As an evaluator assessing students with learning disabilities in Plano, Texas, she makes recommendations for IEPs and Section 504 Plans.

    For the three years Dawn lived in Denver, she was a vital part of the GDC team, testing complex cases and interacting effectively with schools on the children’s behalf. After her return to Texas, Dawn has continued to offer assessment for GDC clients in the Dallas area. Earlier in her career, Dawn spent three years teaching the gifted. In addition, she chaired the G/T admissions committee, screening and identifying students for the gifted program. As a Special Educator, she was a strong advocate for including twice-exceptional (2e) learners in the gifted program. Dawn’s specialization is identifying 2e students and working with parents and schools to develop appropriate learning plans.  

  • Gifted Education Specialist

    Kathi Kearney is a Gifted Education Specialist in Cumberland, Maine, where she teaches gifted students in grades K-8. She taught online courses in gifted education for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; published numerous articles on giftedness; was a founding member of The Columbus Group, which developed the definition of giftedness as asynchronous development; served as network chair for the Conceptual Foundations Network of NAGC; and is currently a member of NAGC's Assessment of Giftedness Special Interest Group. Areas of specialization include highly and profoundly gifted students; rurally isolated gifted students; program development; testing and assessment; and social studies education for the gifted.

  • Director of Gifted Qualitative Assessment, Northern CA

    Anne Beneventi, B.A., Director, AMR Method of QA, Affiliate, has focused on meeting the emotional and intellectual needs of gifted children throughout her career.  She worked with Annemarie Roeper for over a decade and is Director of the Annemarie Roeper Method of Qualitative Assessment (QA).  She currently has a private practice, evaluating children for giftedness using QA and consulting with families and schools to provide appropriate educational and emotional support for gifted children. She serves as Chair of the Global Awareness Network of the National Association for Gifted Children and on the board of Gifted Homeschool Forum.  Anne taught at Nueva School for the gifted, as well as co-founding three schools for the gifted: Kaumaya International School in Alexandria, Egypt, Roeper West in Berkeley, CA and Helios New School in Palo Alto, CA, where she continues to evaluate all children for admissions using QA. 

Retired Associate Directors

  • Barbara (“Bobbie”) Jackson Gilman, M.S., is a consultant, author, speaker, and a former Associate Director of Gifted Development Center in Westminster, CO. Working with gifted children and their families since 1991, she is devoted not only to identifying gifted and 2e children, but also to ensuring a rewarding education for them. She researches gifted testing patterns and assists publishers in the optimal development and interpretation of major intelligence tests for gifted children.  With Dr. Dan Peters, she co-chairs the National Association for Gifted Children’s Assessments of Giftedness Special Interest Group, which brings together specialists in the assessment of gifted children to determine best practices.  An award-winning author, Gilman provides a comprehensive view of advocacy in her fourth book, Gifted Minds Empowered: Advocacy to Develop Gifted Children’s Strengths (2019), which serves as the textbook for her advocacy classes for parents and teachers.  Gilman was SENG’s 2015 Healthcare Professional of the Year.

  • Betty Maxwell, M.A., former Associate Director of Gifted Development Center, recently offered her home for monthly Dabrowski Study Group meetings until the group converted to virtual meetings due to COVID. Betty has studied Dabrowski's theory since 1980, leading the Dabrowski Study Group at her home and at GDC in the late 1980s and 1990s. Co-founder of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development (ISAD), GDC’s nonprofit organization, which produces the only journal on adult giftedness: Advanced Development, for nearly 3 decades, Betty served as ISAD’s Vice-President.Betty was instrumental in the creation of the journal, as well as its continuation. In order to preserve the journal, Betty purchased it from the publisher in 1995 and donated it to ISAD. A certified psychosynthesis educator and counselor, Betty edited the fourth volume of the journal, in which her germinal article appears: "Self as Phoenix: A Comparison of Assagioli's and Dabrowski's Developmental Theories." In this article, she demonstrated how Assagioli's psychosynthesis techniques were fruitful in the transformative development described by both theorists. Betty served as Editor or Associate Editor of Advanced Development for 2 decades. Betty organized and led meetings of Parents of Gifted Offspring (POGO), the forerunner of PG Retreat. A strong proponent of visual-spatial learners, Betty co-wrote Picture it! Teaching Visual-Spatial Learners with Crystal Punch. She co-created the visual-spatial learner study group with Linda Silverman, and led meetings for 9 years, while the group developed The Visual-Spatial Identifier. Betty wrote "The Visual-Spatial Learner in School," which appears as Appendix A in Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner. She served as Director of Visual-Spatial Resource, developing a website, resources, and services for parents. Betty holds a Master's degree in gifted education from the University of Denver. She was a language arts teacher and taught for 15 years in a school for the gifted. In her role as Associate Director of GDC, she provided Dial-Log telephone consultations to families and individuals, and saw many clients in person. As an examiner, she found that test administration and analysis helped fuel her deep interest in the psychological aspects of development and self-actualization. The children she assessed came alive in her beautifully crafted reports. Betty managed GDC for many years, often without remuneration.