My new book...
Now
Available!
Losing Our Minds:
Gifted Children Left Behind. Deborah's new book, published by
Great Potential Press, combines four
years of data gathering from 50 families with nearly 30 years of research and
experience in the field of giftedness, individual differences, and high
intelligence. The book is aimed primarily at parents and vividly describes the
upper 10 to 15 percent of the intellectual continuum in human beings from birth
to adulthood as manifested in their behaviors, thoughts, accomplishments, and
test scores. She introduces the concept of Levels of Giftedness and makes it
very clear how many factors contribute to a person's intellectual levels and
achievement.
Or order from
Great Potential Press.
Everyone should read, and it's FREE!
The
long-awaited Templeton Report called
A Nation Deceived: How
Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students. Copies of this
report are available free. Read it today!
Books Primarily for Parents:
Children:
The Challenge : The Classic Work on Improving Parent-Child
Relations--Intelligent, Humane & Eminently Practical (Plume), by Rudolf
Dreikurs and Vicki Soltz.
One of the books I frequently recommend to parents, now reprinted and
available...
A
Parent's Guide to Gifted Children,
by James T. Webb, et al.
The
Power of Positive Talk: Words to Help Every Child Succeed : A Guide for Parents,
Teachers, and Other Caring Adults,
by Jon Merritt, et al.
Motherstyles:
Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths,
by Janet P. Penley and Diane Eble.
Guiding the Gifted Child,
by James Webb, Elizabeth Meckstroth, and Stephanie Tolan. This is my favorite
overview of gifted children; I call it the gifted primer. It taps into the
essential elements of giftedness and helps parents recognize their own
experiences with high intelligence throughout their own lives.
Exceptionally Gifted
Children, by Miraca Gross. This is the second book that details the social,
emotional, academic, school and family lives of a number of very highly gifted –
exceptionally gifted – Australian children over a ten-year period. The author
describes what it is like for the families and children to try to find
appropriate and nurturing social environments while still trying to learn at
their own paces. Excellent.
You
Know Your Child Is Gifted When … A Beginner’s Guide to Life on the Bright Side
by Judy Galbraith. Truly a beginner’s guide and one that may be good to share
with other family members who are starting their journey on giftedness.
The
Survival Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids, by Sally Y. Walker, Free Spirit
Publishing, Minneapolis, MN. This book lays out some truisms about raising
gifted children that is very useful and reader-friendly.
The
Gifted Kids' Survival Guide: For Ages 10 and Under, by Judy Galbraith. This
little book addresses in humorous, light and friendly terms many of the common
issues that gifted children face in the regular mixed-ability classroom. A
wonderful guide and stimulus for talk between parents and children.
The
Gifted Kids' Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook, by Judy Galbraith and Jim
Delisle. I can’t say enough good things about this book and the positive and
helpful affect it can have on teenagers as they navigate their inner and outer
lives at home and school. It addresses social and emotional issues, college
planning, and—truly—how to survive.
When
Gifted Kids Don’t Have All the Answers: How to Meet Their Social and Emotional
Needs, by Jim Delisle and Judy Galbraith. Parents and older gifted children,
as well as educators, can find answers to the questions that they often don’t
know where else to find. This book addresses through anecdotes and very personal
terms what giftedness is—inside and out—and how to set up the environment to
nurture and enjoy it.
Reforming
Gifted Education: Matching the Program to the Child
by Karen Rogers. The author describes various types of gifted children, as
well as options for school enrichment and acceleration. She reports the
effectiveness for each option according to the research. Having this information
can help parents and educators to know better what is possible and how to go
about setting it up.
Empowering
Gifted Minds: Educational Advocacy That Works by Barbara J. Gilman. The
author draw from her many years at Denver’s Gifted Development Center to discuss
both the nature of gifted children and how to get them what they need in the
schools. Very personal and engaging book.
Stand
Up For Your Gifted Child: How to Make the Most of Your Kids’ Strengths at School
and at Home by Joan F. Smutny. “You’ll explore various options for your
child’s education and learn how to communicate effectively with the local school
and district, connect with other parents, and provide enrichment at home. You’ll
discover your rights as a parent—and the benefits of taking a stand.”
Helping
Gifted Children Soar: A Practical Guide for Parents and Teachers, by Carol
A. Strip. “The information and useful advice provided make this book an ideal
resource both for those just starting out in the gifted field as well as those
who are already seasoned veterans.
Creative
Homeschooling for Gifted Children: A Resource Guide for Smart Families
by Lisa Rivero. This terrific book is for homeschooling parents and more -
there is information for schooling parents, schoolteachers, gifted teachers, and
additional information on gifted children, learning styles, and Internet
resources. Whether you home school full-time or merely want to set up some good
units for partial home schooling (on or off the school’s campus), this book as
invaluable.
Some of My
Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Pre-School to High School,
(Second Edition), Judith Wynn Halsted. This book’s extensive indexing makes it
easy to find books that are appropriate and yet advanced and engaging enough for
gifted children. Many classic books are listed by social or emotional topic so
that adults can use books for bibliotherapy – the heroes and heroines of the
books deal with problems familiar to the gifted child.
Books On Specific Issues and Parenting:
Educating
Gifted Students in Middle School: A Practical Guide by Susan Rakow.
Bullies
Are a Pain in the Brain by Trevor Romain.
Get
Off My Brain: A Survival Guide for Lazy* Students (*Bored, Frustrated, and
Otherwise Sick of School) by Randall McCutcheon, et al.
Get
Organized Without Losing It by Janet Fox, et al.
The
Kids' Guide to Working Out Conflicts: How to Keep Cool, Stay Safe, and Get
Along by Naomi Drew.
Literature
Links: Activities for Gifted Readers by Teresa Masiello.
More
Than a Test Score: Teens Talk About Being Gifted, Talented, or Otherwise
Extra-ordinary by Robert Schultz, et al.
The
Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD by John Taylor.
The
Teenagers' Guide to School Outside the Box by John Taylor.
What
Do You Really Want? by Beverly Bachel.
What
to Do When Good Enough Isn't Good Enough: The Real Deal on Perfectionism: A
Guide For Kids by Thomas Greenspon.
When
Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for Depressed Teens by Bev
Cobain.
The Mislabeled Child: How Understanding Your Child's Unique Learning Style
Can Open the Door to Success by Brock Eide and Fernette Eide.
Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults: ADHD, Bipolar,
OCD, Asperger's, Depression, And Other Disorders
by James T. Webb, Edward R. Amend, Nadia E. Webb, Jean Goerss, Paul Beljan, F.
Richard Olenchak, and Sharon Lind. Physicians, psychologists, and counselors are
unaware of characteristics of gifted children and adults that mimic pathological
diagnoses. Six nationally prominent health care professionals describe ways
parents and professionals can distinguish between gifted behaviors and
pathological behaviors.
Different
Minds: Gifted Children With AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and other Learning
Deficits by Deirdre V. Lovecky. The author guides parents and professionals
through methods of diagnosis and advises on how best to nurture individual
needs, positive behavior and relationships at home and at school, using case
studies to illustrate emotional, intellectual, creative and social development.
Upside-Down
Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner by Linda Kreger Silverman.
Gifted Development Center, Denver, CO. 2002. Learn practical ways to recognize,
reach, and develop visual-spatial abilities (such as imagination,
three-dimensional perception, visualization, artistic expression, intuitive
knowledge, scientific & technological proficiency, invention, emotional
responsiveness, discovery, holistic & whole-part thinking, spirituality,
holographic understanding), an overlooked form of giftedness, the gifts of the
right hemisphere. Adults and children alike will find in this book an opening to
hidden abilities they may not even know they have.
Up
From Underachievement: How Teachers, Students, and Parents Can Work Together to
Promote Student Success by Diane Heacox. This book gives good ideas about
how to get things going in a better direction in school, but parents and
teachers really do need to consider first whether a student’s level of
giftedness is an interfering or complicating issue.
Freeing
Our Families From Perfectionism by Thomas Greenspon. A parenting guide for
kids who seem too competitive or constantly compare themselves to others, have a
hard time relaxing and enjoying themselves, hesitate to take risks for fear of
failing, procrastinate a lot, expect too much of themselves and others, etc.
See
Jane Win for Girls: A Smart Girl’s Guide to Success by Sylvia Rimm. A fun
planning guide for smart girls, very inspiring as it draws from the real lives
of successful women.
Smart
Boys: Talent, Manhood, and the Search for Meaning by Barbara Kerr and
Sanford J. Cohen. “Why do so many of our brightest boys and young men
underachieve in school and fail to reach their full potential in the world of
work? Why do so many smart boys have problems with depression in adolescence or
later in their adult years? The authors use their extensive work with gifted
youth, current research, reviews of other books, and interviews with gifted men.
They give suggestions for parents and teachers to help, as well as insights for
gifted men.
Smart
Girls: A New Psychology of Girls, Women, and Giftedness (Revised Edition) by
Barbara Kerr. The book provides practical information on bright beginnings,
adolescence, college, extraordinary talents, barriers to achievement, minority
girls and women, what research tells us, eminence, self-actualization, and
guiding gifted girls.
Positive
Discipline A-Z, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition: From Toddlers to Teens, 1001
Solutions to Everyday Parenting Problems, by Jane Nelson. Many parents are
overwhelmed by their very bright children and their own sensitivity to making
life for their gifted children as good and positive as possible. This book is a
follow-up to Children the Challenge by Richard Dreikurs (1964) – still the best
parenting book if you can find it.
Problem
Child or Quirky Kid? A Commonsense Guide by Rita Sommers-Flanagan and John
Sommers Flanagan. Drawing on years as counselors and teachers, the authors
consider what is ‘normal’ and what’s not. They explain problem in clear
language—fears and worries, problems with sleeping or eating, attention and
hyperactivity, up-and-down moods, sexual development issues, getting along with
others, childhood stress and trauma, resistance, disobedience, anger, aggressive
and destructive behaviors, suicidal tendencies, alcohol and drug use, etc.
A
Grandparents’ Guide to Gifted Children, by James Webb, Janet Gore, Frances
Karnes, and A. Stephen McDaniel. A great gift idea for proud grandparents or
those to whom you are trying to introduce the concepts of what gifted children
are and what they need. Grandparents can provide important emotional support for
bright, talented (exhausting!) children, especially when they understand them
better.
Crossover
Children: A Sourcebook for Helping Children Who Are Gifted and Learning
Disabled by Marlene Bireley. (2nd edition, 1995). The Council for
Exceptional Children, Reston, VA. This very readable “how to do it” book for
parents, regular classroom teachers, teachers of learning disabled/gifted and
talented students, school psychologists, counselors and administrators provides
guidelines for a better education and therefore better opportunities for this
group of children. This is a rich resource that provides specific strategies,
recommendations for academic interventions and enrichment activities to help
these children (who may also be ADD) to control impulsivity, increase attention,
enhance memory, improve social skills, and develop a positive self-concept.
Sections of the book deal with educational planning and programming for
gifted/learning disabled children, behavior and social interventions, academic
intervention, academic enrichment, and some things to consider as crossover
children grow up. The author has more than 35 years of experience as a teacher,
psychologist, and university professor. Excellent appendices include resources,
organizations, computer programs and a bibliography.
The
Spatial Child by John Philo Dixon. Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1983.
One of the first books written about this topic. Although often a primary sign
of giftedness, spatial ability may be unrecognized, misdiagnosed or
misunderstood. The author describes ways to identify spatial children and
methods of classroom instruction, with emphasis on approaches that encourage the
spatial gift while compensating for possible deficiencies, especially in social
learning, the language arts and memory. Includes a section on the lives of
spatial geniuses such as Picasso, Einstein and Newton.
Right-Brained
Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child
by Jeffrey Freed and Laurie Parsons. Simon &Schuster, 1997. An in-depth look
at visual-spatial kids and gifted kids with ADD. Includes strategies to help
these kids cope and succeed.
Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child
by Alexandra (Allie) Shires Golon. 2005. Gifted Development
Center, Denver. A celebration of the gifts of students who prefer a
visual-spatial learning style and who can use help in the following areas:
spelling; handwriting; taking timed tests; memorizing times tables; getting and
staying focused during auditory lectures; creating outlines and written reports;
and lots more. Website for Visual Spatial Resource Center at the Gifted
Development Center: www.visualspatial.org
If You Could See
the Way I Think: A Handbook for Visual-Spatial Kids, by Golon, Alexandra (Allie)
Shires. 2005. Gifted Development Center, Denver. A celebration of the gifts of
students who prefer a visual-spatial learning style and who can use help in the
following areas: spelling; handwriting; taking timed tests; memorizing times
tables; getting and staying focused during auditory lectures; creating outlines
and written reports; and lots more. Website for Visual Spatial Resource Center
at the Gifted Development Center:
www.visualspatial.org
The
Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What Do We Know? by
Maureen Neihart, Sally M. Reis, Nancy M. Robinson, Sidney M. Moon. A
publication of NAGC, available from Prufrock Press, 2002.
Leading scholars comprehensively summarize several decades worth of the best
research on the social and emotional characteristics of, and issues faced by,
gifted children and adolescents. They offer what they learned from the research
they examined, not absolute truths that will apply to all gifted children. The
book’s 24 chapters explore underachievement, perfectionism, acceleration, peer
pressure, depression, delinquency, risk and resilience, and social acceptance
among gifted students. Also addressed are specific populations within the gifted
community, such as the special concerns of girls and of boys, students with
disabilities or AD/HD, the creatively gifted, and gifted children who are gay,
lesbian or bisexual. Each chapter reviews and presents research relevant to a
topic, with authors carefully distinguishing fact from fiction regarding the
social-emotional and psychological characteristics of gifted children. They
stress, for example, that there is little research to suggest that gifted
students are psychologically or emotionally vulnerable because of their gifts.
However, gifted students may be at risk because of the frequent disparity
between their cognitive abilities and their educational program.
Why
Bright Kids Get Poor Grades: And What You Can Do About It by Sylvia B.
Rimm. Random House, NY, 1995. (An update of her earlier book,
Underachievement Syndrome: Causes and Cures.) Sections have been added that are
based on her experiences as a psychologist in clinical work in the area of
gifted underachievers. Covers the many causes of underachievement and offers
strategies to assist parents and teachers in nurturing achievement and reversing
underachievement.
Smart
Kids with School Problems: Things to Know and Ways to Help by Priscilla L.
Vail. Gifted Psychology Press, 1985. Discusses learning disabled gifted kids --
their identification, school problems at each grade level, how to know when
professional evaluation is needed, and specific ways to compensate for or
surmount academic problems.
Teaching
Kids With Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom: Strategies and
Techniques Every Teacher Can Use to Challenge and Motivate Struggling Students
by Susan Winebrenner and Pamela Espeland. Free Spirit Publishing, Inc.,
Minneapolis, MN. This book is a comprehensive menu of options, a gold mine of
proven, practical ways to help students labeled “special education,” “slow,”
“remedial,” or “LD” succeed in school - without
watering down content, lowering expectations, or depriving other students of a
teacher's time and attention.
Books for anyone interested in knowing more about giftedness:
Genius,
Creativity, and Leadership: Histriometric Inquiries, by Dean Keith Simonton.
Creativity
in Science: Chance, Logic, Genius, and Zeitgeist, by Dean Keith Simonton.
Origins
of Genius: Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity, by Dean Keith Simonton.
Understanding
Those Who Create, by Jane Piirto.
Mellow
Out, They Say. If Only I Could, by Michael Piechowski. This is the
long-awaited book from Dr. Piechowski on emotional intelligence. About gifted
children and gifted adults.
What
Could He Be Thinking? How a Man's Mind Really Works, by Michael Gurian.
Gurian uses PET scan and MRI brain research and his own years of psychological
work with individuals, couples, and families to interpret just how very
different the brain chemistry, motivations, and overall thought processes and
abilities differ between males and females. Invaluable guide for everyone
interested in guiding boys into men and learning how to interpret and
communicate with them.
The
Wonder of Boys and
The
Wonder of Girls, both by Michael Gurian. These books go into more specific
details and suggestions for parents and educators working with boys and girls.
They are so different in their needs that one would be remiss not to learn more
about it.
Counseling the Gifted and Talented, edited by Linda K. Silverman. A useful
and informative textbook about gifted children and their various different
social, emotional, and academic needs. Numerous authors contributed chapters on
issues such as the quest for meaning, a developmental model for counseling,
techniques for preventive counseling, family counseling, and more.
Growing Up
Gifted (5th
edition paperback or
6th
edition hardback), by Barbara Clark. This textbook is the definitive
portrait of what high intellectual ability is and where it comes from.
Excellent.
Understanding
Creativity by Jane Piirto. In this textbook, the author’s descriptions of
well-known people in various creative fields—art, music, dance, theater,
writing, science, math, business, technology—are fascinating, particularly the
predictive behaviors apparent in childhood. She outlines the creative process
and theories of how it develops.
Gifted Children: Myths and
Realities, (1996), by Ellen Winner. The author uses case studies and
biological and psychological evidence to explore numerous misconceptions about
giftedness; and she looks at the role schools play in fostering—or too often
squandering—the abilities of gifted (intellectually and artistically) children.
Cradles
of Eminence: Childhoods of more than 700 famous men and women, (2nd Edition)
updated by Ted George Goertzel and Ariel M. W. Hansen. Several truisms that the
book reveals are that most subjects strongly disliked school but had families
who valued education, most had highly opinionated parents often with a
domineering mother, and most grew up “feeling different” from others. “Their
finding suggest that the assumptions we make about childhood environments
require a close and hard look.”
Greatness:
Who Makes History and Why by Dean Keith Simonton. The author explores the
many aspects of greatness, including intelligence, creativity, leadership,
social forces, and more. Essential reading for anyone interested in what makes
some people stand out from the rest.
Intellectual Talent: Psychometric and Social Issues, edited by Camilla
Persson Benbow and David Lubinski. “This book examines the political
ramifications of emotionally loaded findings about individual
differences—documenting cases in which findings that contradict prevailing
social values are simply ignored. The book also explores what is known about
educating gifted children and why educators sometimes fail to act on that
knowledge.”
The Bell Curve:
Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard Herrnstein and
Charles Murray. The authors use data and research from the previous hundred or
more years to detail what intellectual ability is, where it comes from, how
mutable it is or is not, and how intellectual level affects a person’s potential
outcomes. Fascinating and informative.
Gifted Grownups:
The mixed blessings of extraordinary potential, (1999), Marylou Kelly
Streznewski. Good grouping of anecdotes on a variety of topics. Ms. Streznewski
has captured "the feel" of modern day gifted adults. [She does not have a test
and measurement background and erroneously states that one can have a 115 IQ and
actually be quite gifted. The test was inadequate for correctly assessing the
person. A person who is quite gifted has a higher IQ but may not know precisely
what the IQ is.]
The
Gifted Adult: A Revolutionary Guide to Liberating Everyday Genius, by
Mary-Elaine Jacobsen. “There are millions of unidentified individuals of high
potential lost within the fabric of a society that seems to have issued an edict
against knowing oneself, being oneself, and expressing oneself fully.” Great
book for adults who are just starting to realize they may be gifted.
Developing
Talent in Young People, edited by Benjamin Bloom. Only available used, the
book details the early childhood development and family lives of children who go
on to professional, expert levels in music and the arts, athletics, and
mathematics and science. Very helpful and eye-opening.
Nature's Gambit:
Child Prodigies and the Development of Human Potential by David H. Feldman.
The author writes a sensitive and penetrating study of six prodigies that
illuminates the nature, development, and possible fates of all human gifts. He
emphasizes the important ‘forces of coincidence’ in the lives of any successful
person.
The Prodigy/a Biography of William Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy
by Amy Wallace. Wallace writes in a straightforward manner about the early
precocity and childhood of Sidis, the genius famous for prodigious failure in
adulthood, of “burning out.” If you read between the lines, however, you’ll see
how sided never got the emotional support or understanding he really needed—and
neither did his parents.
Genius: the Life and
Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick. The biography of a great
American scientist, his humble roots but obvious early precocity. Gives readers
a sense about what sorts of things matter in the life of any highly and
unusually intelligent person—pretty much what we all need and want. Loved it!
Genius
Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Minds, by Jan and Bob Davidson. “A
highly readable and important book about some of the most important issues in
the field of gifted education today. The authors make a compelling case that
schools are not meeting the educational needs of our brightest students, and
offer clear recommendations on what we can do about it.”
The
War Against Excellence: The Rising Tide of Mediocrity in America's Middle
Schools, by Cheri Pierson Yecke. “The book explains the extent to which
American education has turned ‘giftedness’ from a blessing and asset into an
embarrassing mark of ‘elitism.’ It describes the typical middle school not as an
educational institution where children learn important skills and knowledge but
as a social engineering vehicle that … has put a glass ceiling on student
achievement in the name of an equity of mediocrity.”
Journals
Gifted Child Quarterly and Parenting for High Potential, National
Association for Gifted Children, 1707 L Street NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC.,
http://www.nagc.org
Roeper Review, P.O. Box 329, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
Understanding
Our Gifted, Open Space Communications, Inc. 1900 Folsom, Suite 108, Boulder,
CO 80302, http://www.openspacecomm.com
Journal of Secondary Education
Advanced Development: a Journal of
Adult Giftedness, contact 777 Pearl St., Denver, CO 80203.
Gifted Children Today
Journal for the Education of the Gifted
High Ability Journal
Other publications are available through the numerous organizations listed.
Readers are invited to make their own suggestions by contacting
inquiry@educationaloptions.com.
Suggestions will be added on a regular basis.
