Make a difference for bright minds
Emmaly Perks, M.Ed. is an internationally-recognized expert on giftedness and twice-exceptionality, delivering keynotes and workshops for organizations, and professional development for educators.
Bring me to your school, conference, or team—or learn at your own pace.
Whether you're looking for an expert keynote, planning professional development for your staff, or an educator who wants to grow on your own, there's a path for you.
Online Course
An on-demand course you can take anytime, anywhere. Perfect for individual teachers, or as self-paced professional development for busy schools.
- Self-paced, fully online
- Available in English & Spanish
- Practical, classroom-ready tools
Keynotes & Live Training
Keynotes, workshops, and professional development tailored for your school, conference, or organization. From a single talk to ongoing partnerships, your people will walk away inspired and prepared to support bright minds.
- Schools, districts, conferences & organizations
- Keynotes, workshops, PD series & consulting
- On-site or virtual, tailored to your audience
Giftedness is widely misunderstood.
Giftedness often shows up in the places we least expect: the chronic daydreamer, the perfectionist who won't turn in work, the teen labeled a "behavior problem," or the adult who struggles to adhere to norms. Most educators and organizations get little or no training on how gifted minds think, feel, and develop—and as a result, we waste our greatest talent. Whether you're in front of a classroom or 500+ employees, I give teams the research and practical tools to see bright minds clearly and support them effectively.
"When we understand how high-capability minds work, we reduce behavior challenges, develop extraordinary talent, and create incredible outcomes for our brightest minds."
Take the Online Course: Understanding & Supporting High-Capability Learners in Your Classroom
A self-paced online course, available in English and in Spanish (comprender y apoyar a los alumnos de alta capacidad en su aula), designed to fit real teachers' demanding schedules.
What you'll gain:
Recognize Gifted Learners
Identify giftedness, twice-exceptionality, and asynchronous development in your school, including the students hiding in plain sight who are often mislabeled.
Support the Whole Child
Get to know the social and emotional side of high capability, from intensity, to perfectionism, to sensitivity—and why being smart doesn't mean easy to teach.
Differentiate Effectively
Learn practical ways to challenge, enrich, and pace instruction for every learner in your classroom, so your most capable students stay engaged and you can effectively support struggling learners.
Reach 2E Students
Gain strategies for teaching learners who are gifted AND have other differences including dyslexia, ADHD, or autism. Build confidence in meeting learner's strengths and needs at once.
Build an Inclusive Classroom
Create a culture where curiosity, depth, and difference are expected and welcomed—for every student, not just the identified few.
Apply it Monday Morning
Downloadable tools, curriculum templates, and ready-to-use approaches you can put to work in your classroom NOW.
What educators say after working together:
Feedback from educators, specialists, administrators, and school teams who have completed training with Emmaly.
“It gave me the chance to reflect on my own teaching and question some of the traditional thinking that limits how we see what students are capable of. The workshops helped me understand how important it is to recognize the range of talents, needs, and interests in our classrooms. I am leaving with new tools, ideas, and perspectives for building an education that is more inclusive, more challenging, and more meaningful for our students.”
“This course broadened my view of students with high abilities and helped me understand that their potential can show up in very different ways. I am taking away practical tools for identifying their strengths, designing differentiation strategies, and offering enrichment that responds to their needs. It strengthens my commitment to building a school culture where talent is recognized, supported, and developed — and to sharing this with our teaching team.”
I thought this was going to be an excellent workshop. It was exceptional.
I personally loved the course — very well led, concise, and practical. We all came away committed to extending what we learned across the whole school, and above all to applying it so we can serve every one of our student populations.
Emmaly was fantastic and needs to be out in front of everyone sharing her craft. I especially loved the format, with small breakout groups and larger group discussion. She provided a comfortable, accessible environment, with built-in breaks, and allowed us to move around.
This workshop has me rethinking how I observe and work with my students, and I have left some mistaken beliefs behind. I can now tell the difference between a high-ability student and a high-achieving one. Acceleration and working from a student's strengths are strategies I want to keep in front of me from now on.
Not only is the information engaging and useful, it challenges my thinking. I appreciate that very much.
It made me reflect on how to take students deeper in their learning instead of stopping at basic or repetitive activities. What I am taking away is that these strategies are not only for students with high ability — they can be adapted for the whole group, depending on each student's level and needs.
When I started this workshop, I thought giftedness was all about high intelligence. Now I think the intensity and the deep emotional and thought world of these people needs to be considered when planning and developing supports.
The section on twice-exceptionality made me think hard, because certain difficulties can stop us from recognizing a student's high ability. It brought several students in my own class to mind, and reminded me how important it is to look past traditional academic performance.
I thought it would be a long lecture, but it was very interactive.
Every lesson was short and deep at the same time, with documents, articles, and pages to go and read. English is not my strength, but I was able to follow every workshop using the Spanish files and slides. It was interactive, and it had me asking real questions about where education is headed.
When I started this workshop, I thought about giftedness through a more narrow or linear lens, but now I think that giftedness is even more multi-faceted than what I realized.
Inclusive education is not only about supporting students who face barriers to learning. It is also about making sure students with high ability get the intellectual challenge they need. We have not fully addressed that, and having tools that let us do it will be enormously valuable.
Course ratings aggregated across hundreds of course participants and workshops.
Frequently requested topics:
- Gifted underachievement
- Twice-exceptional (2E) learners
- Giftedness and neurodiversity
- Parenting gifted children
- Evidence-based classroom strategies
- Career development for gifted adults
- Harnessing the strengths of gifted & 2E employees
Live keynotes and training, built around your people.
I partner with schools, districts, conferences, and organizations around the world to design sessions that fit your specific audience and their goals. Delivered on-site or virtually, as single keynotes or ongoing partnerships.
Why Choose Emmaly:
Keynotes & Conference Sessions
No more yawning audience members! Engaging talks that reframe how we understand giftedness, 2E, and neurodivergence.
Workshops & In-Service Days
Half, full, and multi-day workshops with hands-on, classroom-ready strategies teachers will actually use the next morning.
Ongoing Professional Development
Multi-session professional learning proven to build real, lasting capacity across your staff over a semester or year.
Gifted Program Consulting
Evidence-based guidance that actually works for schools who are designing, refreshing, or strengthening identification and services for high-capability learners.
Faculty Coaching
Small-group coaching that helps teachers apply what they've learned to their own unique classrooms, and retain mastery over time.
Multi-Lingual Delivery
Emmaly is an English-speaker experienced in providing training through the support of translators in multiple languages, reducing barriers and connecting communities across borders.
Emmaly Perks, M.Ed.
Emmaly is a gifted education and career consultant, best-selling Substack author, and internationally recognized thought leader in giftedness and twice-exceptionality. As a former licensed teacher of the gifted with a master's in gifted education, she has spent more than 15 years working with gifted children and adults across K–12, higher education, and neuroscience research.
She is passionate about translating complex research on intelligence, creativity, and neurodiversity into strategies people can actually use, from school through career and beyond.
- M.Ed. from the University of Denver specializing in Gifted & Talented Education
- 15+ years working with gifted and 2E individuals in education, non-profits, universities, & research labs
- Best-selling author of Substack newsletter Beyond Gifted
- Course Instructor for the Vermont Higher Education Collaborative's Neurodiversity and Inclusion Program
Qualifications
Bring real understanding of giftedness and 2E to your people.
Book a keynote or training for your school, conference, or organization, or start the online course today.