Resources for Parents and Students

Perfectionism: What’s Bad About Being Too Good? Miriam Adderholt & Jan Goldberg (1999)

This book explains the fine line between healthy ambition and unhealthy perfectionism, offering advice and ways in which to cope with the desire to overachieve. It helps students to recognize the symptoms as well as what harm is can do to the mind and body, explains why girls are prone to perfectionism, and lets students know that they should be rewarded for who they are, not what they do.

 

A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students Colangelo, Assouline & Gross (2004)

The title says it all about this two-volume Templeton National Report on Acceleration from educators and scholars around the country. It is based on the discussions at the summit on acceleration held at the University of Iowa in May of 2003 and features insight into what schools need in order to educate highly capable students.

 

On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children Tracy Cross (2000)

Tracy L. Cross, the country’s leading authority on the psychology of gifted children, mixes personal experience with up-to-date research to examine the social and emotional issues of growing up gifted. The book offers anecdotes about a gifted child’s place in society and advice for both parents and teachers.

 

Bright Child: An Educational Guide for Parents and Teachers of Young Gifted Children Lynn Fox & Andrea Prejean (1999)

This resource, written by two experts in the field, contains examples and characteristics to identify children who are particularly gifted in reading, mathematics and science. It presents a framework for educating both in the home and in the classroom as well as an extensive gifted resource section.

 

The Gifted Kids Survival Guide Judy Galbraith, Pam Espeland & Albert Molnar (1984)

This kid-friendly resource, especially geared towards gifted children ages 10 and under, helps them understand what it means to possess the talents they do and how to navigate through both the joys and challenges of being a very bright student. The book contains resources for both parents and students, including dealing with the labels, approaching teachers, making friends, figuring out what to do if things aren’t challenging enough and dealing with high expectations.

 

You Know Your Child is Gifted When …: A Beginner’s Guide to Life on the Bright Side Judy Galbraith (2000)

A lighthearted introduction to understanding what it means to have a gifted child, the books offers stories from other parents to learning what to expect from your child as well as how to support them in their journey.

 

The Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook Judy Galbraith & James Delisle (1996)

For students in seventh grade and up, discussions in the guide include: definitions of giftedness; IQ tests and testing, perfectionism, self-assertion in educational surroundings, goal setting, relationships with parents, teachers and peers, general concerns of adolescence, gender and ethnic considerations of giftedness, choosing a college and teen suicide, especially among gifted and talented students.

 

The Joys and Challenges of Raising a Gifted Child Susan Golant (1991)

Through the lens of one parent’s story of raising a gifted child, this book offers different approaches to dealing with the problems that parents and children are bound to encounter along the way, including an evaluation of IQ tests, schools, social and emotional issues, pushing the child and peers and siblings.

 

Girls and Young Women Leading the Way Frances Karnes, Suzanne Bean & Rosemary Wallner (1993)

One girl started a lending library with the members of her local scout troop. Another child started collecting food for the homeless and now at age eight is running her own foundation. Others have organized recycling projects and food drives. Still others have instituted programs about endangered species and for the handicapped and latchkey children. Each of the 20 stories contained within this book proves that young women can and do make a difference. Chapters are followed by a “What You Can Do” section and a list of questions and resources to contact for more information about a particular cause.

 

Aiming for Excellence: Gifted Program Standards Landrum, Callahan & Shaklee (2001)

This comprehensive review of the National Association for Gifted Children’s program standards represents the professional consensus on gifted education practices to help school and teachers to develop and evaluate their gifted programming. It is organized into seven sections: program design, program administration management, socioemotional guidance counseling, student identification, curriculum instruction, professional development, and program evaluation.

 

They Say My Kid’s Gifted: Now What? Olenchak (1996)

A great resource for parents looking to avoid the jargon and find instead simple and easy ways to help their gifted children by working with their schools. Developed by the National Association for Gifted Children, the guide introduces parents to issues in gifted education, from understanding identification procedures and choosing a teacher, to ensuring a child’s success with a gifted program and curriculum. Also includes a comprehensive additional resources section.

 

Growing Up Too Fast: The Rimm Report on the Secret World of America’s Middle Schoolers Sylvia Rimm (2005)

An important book for all middle-school parents, Growing Up Too Fast offers real accounts of the hardships of teenage life and effective methods to deal with its often unsettling findings. Leading child psychologist Dr. Sylvia Rimm surveyed more than 5,400 third- through eighth-grade students from a wide variety of backgrounds and communities in 18 states as well as conducting more than 200 focus group sessions. All of this experience both informs and guides the narrative in order to help parents guide their children.

 

See Jane Win: The Rimm Report on How 1,000 Girls Became Successful Women Sylvia Rimm (2001)

The New York Times bestselling book follows Dr. Rimm’s tale of interviewing 1,000 successful women in order to find a common thread through their upbringing in order for parents to offer their own children the same benefits. Specific issues addressed include middle school grade decline, math anxieties, eating disorders, social and academic insecurities, feelings of being different. self-esteem and competition, the career family balance and the glass ceiling.

 

How to Parent so Children Will Learn Sylvia Rimm (1990)

Offering basic strategies for parenting both the young child and the young adult, Dr. Rimm writes her book with an organized sensibility. Innovative techniques, called “parent pointers,” are placed in the margins to help those looking for guidance on specific issues such as shyness, bedtime battles and attention deficit disorders. Also included are less frequently discussed topics like immigrants as parents, grandparenting and insights into how a couple’s marital relationship may affect their children.

 

Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child Sylvia Rimm (1994)

One of the greatest challenges facing parents of gifted children is ensuring that schools offer sufficient challenges for their children. This book gives practical advice on how to recognize gifted children, how to deal with teachers and administrators to ensure that children receive the best education and how to deal with the emotional stress that often accompanies a high level of intellectual ability.

 

Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades Sylvia Rimm (1996)

Dr. Sylvia Rimm developed the Trifocal Model to help the millions of gifted children who are failing to reach their potential, a condition that she calls underachievement syndrome. Rimm uses her years of counseling experience to develop the model, a practical, six-step program to help these children succeed.

 

Bringing Out the Best: A Resource Guide for Parents of Young Gifted Children Jacquelyn Saunders (1991)

Parents of gifted children will find answers to basic questions about raising gifted children in Bringing out the Best, including research, anecdotes and basic jargon to facilitate discussions with teachers. Each chapter ends with a resource section offering easy descriptions of each reference and the importance of each.

 

How to Stand Up for Your Gifted Child: Making the Most of Kids’ Strengths at School and at Home Joan Smutny (2000)

A gifted child can only fulfill his or her potential with the right education at their disposal. This book serves as an instruction manual for parents who believe that their child’s school may not be providing the right type of challenges for their gifted children. Especially helpful are the sections on district policies on gifted education and various options to explore, including pull-out programs, acceleration, grade-skipping and clustering.

 

Your Gifted Student: A Guide for Parents and Professionals Karen Distin ed. (1993)

What is “normal” for a gifted child may not always be visible on the surface, and this resource written by counselors who are also parents, gives parents the ability to recognize the social and emotional strengths and limitations of their intellectually talented child. Self-acceptance and communication with others are emphasized, as well as a discussion of gifted children who may be afflicted with poor social skills, dyslexia or other difficulties.

 

Acceleration of Gifted Learners, K-5 Joan Smutny, Sally Walker & Elizabeth Meckstroth (2007)

This how-to manual weighs both the advantage and disadvantages of acceleration, offering parents and educators a full picture of what it means to educate the gifted child in a variety of ways. Among other things, it dispels common myths about acceleration and reviews social/emotional considerations along with helping to determine the proper course of action for educating gifted elementary school students.

 

Helping Gifted Children Soar Carol Strip & Gretchen Hirsch (2000)

Features in this user-friendly guidebook for both the experienced gifted teacher and the educator new to the gifted field include:

Gifted minority and gifted disabled issues.
Strategies for parenting and teaching gifted children.
Social and emotional concerns specific to gifted children.
A question and answer section for further understanding.
An in-depth reference appendix for additional support.

Often called “The Dr. Spock book for parents of gifted children,” this award-winning resource deals with the risks that accompany the characteristics of being gifted as well as current educational practices. It contains chapters on motivation, discipline, peer relationships, sibling relationships, stress management and depression.

 

A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children James Webb, Janet Gore, Arlene Avries & Edward Amend (2007)

This book addresses the challenges of raising gifted children through practical guidance in areas such as: characteristics of gifted children, peer relations, sibling issues, motivation & underachievement, discipline issues, intensity and stress, depression and unhappiness, educational planning, parenting concerns and finding professional help.