Austina De Bonte

Dr. Austina De Bonte (she/her) is a consultant, researcher, and advocate for advanced and twice-exceptional students with Smart is not Easy, LLC (smartisnoteasy.com). She is also President of the WA Coalition for Gifted Education (wacoalition.com), Past President of NW Gifted Child Association (nwgca.org), member of the WA State Highly Capable Advisory, member of the NAGC Public Policy and Advocacy Committee (nagc.org), and Advisor to The G Word documentary (thegwordfilm.com).
A dynamic and engaging presenter, Dr. De Bonte speaks regularly at regional and national conferences, as well as conducts professional development workshops for educators, and provides consulting for individual families. She works with school district teams to develop and fine-tune their program models, especially concerning equitable identification and service strategies. Her signature style combines synthesized research, current district practices, and cutting-edge neuroscience alongside her experience as a parent and family consultant. She has particular passion for supporting gifted and twice-exceptional students in public schools and helping families get to the root causes of their child’s challenges, looking beyond the usual suspects. She received an NAGC R&E Dissertation Award (2025), NAGC Carolyn Callahan Doctoral Student Award (2023), People to Watch by Variations 2e Magazine (2020), WAETAG Advocacy Award (2019), has won three PTA Outstanding Advocate awards, and is a trained SENG facilitator. She has a Masters degree from MIT (1998) and a Doctoral degree in twice exceptional education from Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education (2024), where her dissertation was titled “Beyond Universal Screening: Practices and Attitudes that Promote Equity in an Accelerated Program.” Contact Dr. De Bonte at austina@smartisnoteasy.com