Dr. Emily King
Dr. Emily King is a Child Psychologist and former school psychologist who has worked with neurodivergent children and teens for over 20 years. She received her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she worked at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute through the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. For the first five years of her career, Emily served as a school psychologist in Houston, Texas, specializing in mental health services for preschoolers through adolescents. Dr. Emily returned home to North Carolina in 2010 where she has since worked in private practice
providing therapy, evaluation, and consultation services for autistic children as well as those diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, depression, giftedness, learning difficulties, and/or twice-exceptionality. She is well-versed in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, DIR/Floortime, ConsciousDiscipline, and Social Thinking methodologies. 
 

Dr. Emily is also the founder of Learn with Dr. Emily where she provides monthly workshops online for parents and in-person professional development for K-12 educators. She has been featured on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and has written for Parents.com. Her new book, THE NEURODIVERGENT LEARNER, will be available for pre-order in 2026.

Dr. Emily is passionate about empowering parents and teachers to take care of themselves so they can grow into the adult that every neurodivergent child needs in their life.

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Brian Housand
A perennial favorite of participants at NCAGT, Dr. Brian Housand is the Coordinator of the Academically or Intellectually Gifted Program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. A highly sought-after educational consultant, with a focus on integration of technology and creativity into the learning environment, Brian has presented at scores of regional, state, national, and international conferences and workshops. His presentations are always novel, engaging, and focus on cutting edge, current issues in gifted and general education.

Brian earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in gifted education from the University of Connecticut, where he was also a graduate research assistant for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at UCONN. He taught for ten years at East Carolina University prior to moving into his current role at UNC-W. Brian also teaches courses in gifted education for Rutgers University and Bridges Graduate Schools. He is the author of Fighting Fake News! Teaching Critical Thinking and Media Literacy in a Digital Age. Brian has served two terms on the National Association for Gifted Children Board of Directors. We are pleased to once again
welcome him to the NCAGT Annual Conference as a keynote speaker.

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Summer Cowick
A St. Louis native, Summer is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience in the classroom specializing in gifted education. With degrees in Elementary and Gifted Education, Summer spent over half of that time specifically working with gifted students in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the Kansas City metropolitan area. Ms. Cowick focuses on identifying
underrepresented populations and applying Dabrowski’s Theory of Overexcitabilities to address the immediate needs of high achievers in diverse educational settings.

Summer earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Central Missouri and a Master’s degree in Gifted Education from Emporia State University. She has worked exclusively in low-income and Title 1 schools serving students in suburban and urban settings.  Her expertise lies in the areas of identification- particularly of underrepresented
populations such as Hispanic and African-American students.

Aware that little time is spent in preservice education on the topic of the needs of high achievers, and how to meet them, Summer focuses on straightforward and practical strategies by delivering information that can be applied immediately to everyday teaching in all settings.

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