Thursday, April 27, 2023
Twelve years ago, I started my gifted advocacy journey. After years of misunderstanding—on my part, the school’s part, and society’s part—I found myself frustrated, confused, fearful, and also angry. How can a school ignore a student who is clearly ahead of his classmates and shows mastery of all content at his current grade level? How can a teacher give busywork to a student who consistently completes his classwork long before every other student? How can a principal tell a parent, “He’s making straight A’s! What more do you want? Let him slide instead of moving him up a grade level.”
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Wednesday, October 6, 2021
From their precocious first words, they were branded. At a very early age, the gifted are branded with the expectation of achievement. At a very early age, the gifted are branded with the expectation of achievement.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so smart! He’s going to go far in life!”
“Wow, her vocabulary is so advanced. She’s going to breeze through school!”
“I predict she will be a doctor, a scientist, a CEO, or our future president!”
Far too many gifted people feel the pain of that branding. It burns, and it scars, sometimes for life.
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Thursday, December 5, 2019
Every gifted child is different, and every situation concerning whether or not to test will vary, even among siblings within the same family. Deciding to test or to not test depends on each individual case and its specific considerations.
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Monday, January 22, 2018
When most of us think of gifted children, we automatically think of high-achieving students—the smart ones. I think this misperception began in our schools. Well, I am not…
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
It’s only human nature. When faced with having to deliver a subjective judgement or choosing one person over another, we humans often decide with our hearts and not…
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Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Too smart for your own good. What does this familiar saying really mean? How can being smart undermine what should be good? And how does this relate to…
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Tuesday, December 15, 2015
“Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” Often when I think of the perception most of society seem to hold about gifted children, I am always reminded of…
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Friday, October 30, 2015
My child is gifted, and I can’t talk about him— Because there is an incredibly fine line between simply talking about your gifted child and appearing to be…
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Wednesday, October 7, 2015
It All Starts at an Early Age At 18 months of age, he could identify all of his colors, the primary ones as well as most of the…
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015
When Gifted Children Challenge Authority and Their Teachers Oh boy! Here comes one of those steep, steep slopes on the raising-a-gifted-child roller coaster. It is that scary ascent…
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Crushing Tall Poppies
