Prepare Yourself First

Before ministering to your child, be sure that you understand the nature and scientific underpinnings of the test which will be administered to your child. An 鈥淚Q test鈥� is not a fill-in-the blanks worksheet. When your child takes a , it will be scheduled in advance and administered on a personal basis, one-to-one, by an independent clinical psychologist, counselor, or school psychologist.

An IQ or giftedness test is not given in a group or classroom environment. Such screenings can produce inaccurate results, skew the outcome, or provide a frame which is too narrow to fully assess a student. They are a first step, a single data point. The test will not, then, take place in the usual time-driven, anxiety-producing environment you or your child might associate with 鈥渢esting.鈥�

Parents should also understand that IQ tests do not, and should not, form the entire basis of whether or not a child should be considered IQ tests are but one form of information, and the of IQ testing provide a window into your child鈥檚 cognitive abilities. As such variables as the psychologist administering the test, your child鈥檚 state of mind, and even the conditions of the room might cause variance in the outcome, it鈥檚 important to treat IQ testing as what it is:聽 Part of a discernment process which takes place over a child鈥檚 entire educational career.

Avoid Placing Too Much Emphasis on One Test

If you are overly anxious about the test, your child almost certainly will be, too. Fretting over this single data point will communicate to the child that he or she may 鈥渟ucceed or fail鈥� based on this single encounter. Such , which in turn will likely negatively impact the experience. Emphasizing the supposed importance of a single IQ test, then, could ultimately prove counterproductive.

If the child feels the evaluation is not progressing well, he or she may feel attacked or defeated. As gifted children may place out-sized importance on and outcome-based performance, they need to understand that the evaluation will not impact their grades, that you will love him or her regardless of what the outcome is, and that the test does not reflect on who he or she is as full person.

Explaining Gifted Testing to Your Child

Once gifted testing is scheduled, inform your child about it, honestly answer any questions he or she may have, and explain that the evaluation is designed to help his or her teachers find out more about how he or she learns.聽 Rather than stressing the IQ test as a the child should understand it as an 鈥渆xploration,鈥� one for which they cannot prepare by studying or practicing. This might assist children who have testing anxiety or who do not perform well in traditional academic environments. Using the term 鈥渢est鈥� or 鈥渆xam鈥� may cause him or her to approach the evaluation with dread or fear.

It is important, however, to have a balanced approach to the evaluation. While children should not fear it, they should also understand that it ought to be viewed as part of a learning experience. Encourage him or her to have fun, but to also do his or her best.

Your child, especially one with perfectionist or , should be forewarned that some parts of the evaluation may seem difficult, and to not feel upset or like a failure. Explain that the evaluation is designed for students of all ability types, and that there is no 鈥減assing the test.鈥�

Day of the Test

How to treat the day your child takes an IQ test? Like any other one. Showing nervousness will only transmit itself to the child. Enforce a usual bedtime, provide a normal routine in the days leading up to the IQ test, and ensure that the child has had sufficient rest and nutritious meals.

If the child has many questions, answer them honestly, but avoid peppering him or her with reminders or encouragement. If you don鈥檛 know what the test will specifically entail, tell him or her so, but reiterate that the evaluation will not measure class material, enter a teacher鈥檚 gradebook, or affect his or her peers.

Keep your replies simple and avoid over-dramatics. He or she might put together puzzles, draw pictures, answer questions, or describe drawings. If at all possible, ask your child鈥檚 teacher, school psychologist, or guidance counselor what the IQ test might entail so that you can properly prepare your child for the experience.

Once you see your child after the test, avoid persistent questioning about it. This, too, can generate anxiety. Should he or she want to talk about the experience, engage him or her, but avoid pressuring him or her into revealing or quantifying 鈥渉ow well鈥� he or she did.

Working Through the Results and Findings

When your child鈥檚 test findings are communicated to you, it鈥檚 important to have a holistic view of the process. Would you love your child more or less with a higher or lower number?聽 Of course not. Having an 鈥渋t is what it is鈥� attitude towards the results will help temper your reaction to the outcome of the evaluation.

telling a child what his or her IQ is. Doing so may place undue pressure on the child, encourage him or her to compare peers favorably or unfavorably, or anchor his or her self-esteem in scholastic or gifted pursuits.

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Gone are the days of students simply skipping a grade or taking extracurricular courses. Now that charter schools, individualized facilities, and online learning are possible, parents are given a choice in how to best educate their gifted children. It鈥檚 a good problem to have, but still a cause for anxiety for many parents.

Here are some suggestions to take into consideration when deciding on a school for your gifted child.

鈥淢ost Prestigious鈥� is Not Always 鈥淏est Fit鈥�

The has expanded enormously in the past few decades. Once applied only to students who performed well academically, students who show any kind of exceptional skill, , are recognized as 鈥済颈蹿迟别诲.鈥�

The changing definition means that educational choices have expanded as well. In the past, the term 鈥減rivate schools鈥� or 鈥渟chools for the gifted鈥� tended to bring to mind images of prep school uniforms, a mile-long family legacy, and exclusive or expensive private schools. Fortunately, the current reality is far more diverse and flexible.

A well-established school which may be part of your family history might well be the best option for your child, particularly if he or she is amenable to attending it and seems to have a personality which is a good match for the campus鈥� vibe. An attraction to a school with a track record of excellent , distinguished graduates, college placement, and top-notch facilities is fully understandable.

However, brand name should be at the bottom of the list when considering what鈥檚 best for a gifted child. There is no replacing these formative years. If your child鈥檚 giftedness is not a match with the expectations of a particular school, other options should be considered; a lesser-known school with a more modest profile but passionate faculty just might be the right fit. There is little good in forcing, for example, a child with exceptional artistic abilities into a competitive academic powerhouse with no art enrichment program just because Grandpa went there and its overall SAT average is off the charts. While these schools are no doubt a crucial forming ground for some gifted students, that does not make it the case for all.

Flexibility

While some standards are provided for schools specializing in gifted children, these should not create an atmosphere of 鈥渢eaching to the test鈥� or full replication of a competing school鈥檚 curriculum. Your child鈥檚 giftedness should be developed in a number of ways outside the classroom, including extracurricular activities, opportunities for tutoring, and performance art. A flexible school is an agile and effective one.

Staff and Teachers

Parents should look for schools with teachers who are themselves well-educated. However, as is the case with their own students, the place a teacher鈥檚 diploma is from is not as important as how well he or she understands how to encourage, engage, and challenge gifted children.

Another sign of a robust and committed faculty is advanced degrees or strong development in their field. This indicates that in addition to recognizing the importance of educating a new generation, teachers are passionate about and immersed in their subject area. While having formal training in education itself is desirable, a faculty member who can bring to his or her students the latest developments in a subject and an honest excitement about participating in it can have a far-reaching impact on a learner.

The National Association for Gifted Children has for faculty skills and knowledge, baselines for gifted programming, and expectations of teacher classroom preparation from grades pre-K to 12. These benchmarks help school districts to measure and maintain gifted programs. Consider familiarizing yourself with these and asking how your student鈥檚 potential school addresses these standards.

When exploring a potential school for your child, ask if continuing education or professional development is required of or provided for the faculty; a teaching staff in touch with current techniques and research is important to the continued growth of any facility.

The school鈥檚 student to teacher ratio should also be considered. While it might seem that a low ratio is immediately desirable, it should be balanced with a cohesive faculty of wide-ranging areas of expertise. Larger class sizes with mixed grade levels and abilities can also prove beneficial for . Think about your child鈥檚 learning style, social skills, and ability to meet and work with other exceptional children while digesting this information.

Perhaps most importantly, a good faculty is a caring faculty. Staff members who are on the alert for who model good ethical decisions for their students, and who place personal development above scholastic or athletic achievement are vital, and can have long-reaching effects upon a student鈥檚 character development. Effective teachers know when to challenge a student, how to provide support, and what to do about a child who is struggling socially.

Individualized Curriculum

A primary or secondary school which focuses exclusively on, for example, STEM related subjects is ideal for a student who is gifted in mechanics or mathematics. However, concentrating there to the total exclusion of language development or attention to such important subjects as social studies or music deprives your gifted student of new ways of expressing his or her exceptionalism. Learning to operate tangentially of his or her gift, and developing skills which are necessary for higher education. Seek rather than 鈥渇orced participation.鈥�

Exceptional children should be encouraged to explore the potential of their giftedness, but also to find related or multiple ways to develop it. Strong schools for the gifted provide opportunities not only in academics and athletics, but the arts, community service, outdoor exploration, and basic technological skills.

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Early in this century, giftedness was determined by testing a student鈥檚 IQ. Overall intelligence was the measure until more advanced testing became available. The more testing that was done, the more was learned about gifted students and their disabilities.

A difference was also made between , which was seen as an aptitude for learning and talent, which was seen as superior mastery in a given field or particular skill.

Another difference noted was between students who showed a high level of academic ability and those who showed a high degree of motivation and creativity.

The federal government defined and talented students as those who performed at a high level in areas like mathematics, writing, leadership, or other creative areas.

When special education programs were created for gifted students, they had to demonstrate their need and motivation to take advantage of these opportunities. Students were selected for these programs through testing and teacher recommendations.

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) has recognized that gifted children may be gifted in more than one area. They view gifted students as those who show or have the potential to show exceptional performance in one or more areas.

How gifted students learn

Researchers and educators now say that gifted students do learn differently from their non-gifted peers in at least 11 ways.

1. Gifted students learn new material much faster than their peers.They process information similar to the way adults do it by capitalizing on patterns of information.
2. Gifted children learn earlier than their peers.Research work with children above 180 IQ showed that these children developed much earlier than other children in talking, reading, and imagination.
3. They have better memories and remember more of what they learn. This means they need little time to review if any.
4. They have an ability to think abstractly and to grasp concepts much better than their peers. They have exceptional problem-finding abilities and can conceive higher-order relations.
5. They can focus intensely on subjects and become highly motivated to learn more about them while excluding other subjects completely.
6. They are very aware of their surroundings and can absorb many stimuli while focusing on a given task.
7. Gifted children have more intellectual curiosity and fascination with ideas and words.
8. They have a need for precision and have the ability to perceive many sides of a question using metaphorical thinking andthe visualization of models and systems. They have logical imperatives related to their complex thought patterns that make them expect the world to make sense. This leads them to argue extensively, correct errors, and strive for precision of thought in every endeavor.
9. They have an early moral concern for others and for society.
10. Gifted children have a high level of metacognitive knowledge and awareness. They think about their own ways of knowing, remembering, and understanding. They have that non-gifted children do not have. Superior metacognitive ability is considered an essential component of giftedness.
11. They have a greater capacity for empathy with another. This usually means that one projects oneself into another鈥檚 persona and determines what the other person is feeling. But it also means the ability to project oneself into something. Visual artists project themselves onto the canvas when they paint and musicians project themselves into their music.

How they are being taught

Teachers are responsible for the education of both gifted and non-gifted students but the challenges of time and training make it difficult to accommodate all students. Teachers will offer whatever enrichment programs they can, which include independent projects during or after class, special learning centers within the classroom, and small-group discussions.

There have been special education programs for several years where students with learning disabilities were pulled out of their regular classrooms to be taught at their own level of learning. The same technique is being offered to gifted students.

Gifted secondary school students are being offered acceleration opportunities to take more advanced courses or to skip a grade or two, or even take college courses.

More private schools are being created with staff and resources to specialize in the education of gifted and talented students.

Classroom strategies include using higher-level questions to draw out concepts and challenge thinking. Tiered assignments allow more in-depth study. Student contracts and independent assignments allow more extensive research and exploration. and apprenticeships enable the students to work with a resource teacher, a media specialist, a parent volunteer, or a community member to work on projects.

Developmental issues

Although gifted students can process information like adults, they have other issues that interfere with the effectiveness of that processing that adults don鈥檛 have to worry about. Their cognitive development proceeds faster than their chronological, social, moral and emotional development.

All these developmental traits happen asynchronously at different intervals for different students.聽 Gifted students may be able to think abstractly and form hypotheses but at the same time have problems in organizing material or presenting an argument. This presents unique challenges for teachers, parents, and school counselors.

Gifted students have trouble with material that non-gifted students find easy. They see so many possible answers to questions that they don鈥檛 know how to respond. If asked 鈥淲hat does a doctor do?鈥� they can think of so many kinds of doctors that they can鈥檛 pick one. They have a higher level of analysis and integration than is required.

With a growing body of research and increasing awareness of how gifted students learn, there are more resources, strategies, and support becoming available. Teachers are being trained in how to address the unique needs of the gifted and talented. Legislatures and school systems are starting to recognize that funding is required to recognize the needs of gifted students the same way as those with disabilities. And sometimes a student has both gifts and disabilities. The best way to treat these students are still a work in progress.

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She also gets angry sometimes, and she gets frustrated when she makes mistakes. Her disappointment leads to sulking and hints of despair. She may argue with brothers or sisters, and you鈥檙e finding out that she doesn鈥檛 have too many friends.

How do you handle such a young person? How do you help her learn and have fun? How do you help her to get along better with friends and siblings? How do you get her ready for school and a formal education? How do you help her handle those disappointments?

There are some areas you can focus on and some specific things you can do to make her life a lot more enjoyable while increasing her chances of success at school. Here are a few suggestions.

Listening to your gifted child builds self-respect

The first thing to do is spend some time alone with your child and get to know her better. Try to make some time on a regular basis to get together without the other kids in your family and without your cell phone or the TV to distract you. It is important for you to hear what is important to her.

Attentive listening can show for your child鈥檚 uniqueness. It can show you respect her ideas and opinions, perhaps expressed differently from her brothers or sisters. Listen to her dreams and wishes.

You shouldn鈥檛 worry too much about her fitting in or doing things like other members of the family or like other children she may be playing with. She is different, and you both should celebrate that difference. Appreciate her for who she is. Validate her concerns and talk about how to handle them.

In to your gifted child, find out what her passions are. What subject does she like to study? Is it something in the environment? Is it mathematical in nature? Is it music? Does she like to draw or design or build or teach others?

Once you learn those passions, help your child explore them with trips to a local or library. Take her to a crafts store or a children鈥檚 theater or a play at the local high school. These experiences will spark discussion, fuel imagination and add momentum to further learning.

Talking to your gifted child spurs interest and confidence

Your gifted child wants to learn. She is interested in everything around her. She likes to be challenged with and puzzles and mysteries. She wants to think out of the box 鈥� and probably doesn鈥檛 even know there is a box of traditional thinking and problem-solving.

Ask your child her opinions on events and activities. her 鈥渨hat do you think would happen in this situation?鈥� Open ended questions are better than 鈥測es/no鈥� questions. Don鈥檛 be afraid to use more sophisticated words. She knows more than you think. She will ask you to explain anything she doesn鈥檛 understand.

Gifted children learn words by hearing them in context. If she hears the words 鈥渕easuring tape鈥� being used in a workshop setting to measure the length of a piece of wood, she will get the idea. Some parents with workshops describe all the tools they use, and their gifted children learn tool names and applications very quickly.

The same can be said for cooking in the kitchen. Gifted children love to know what different utensils are for. They love to learn about recipes and cooking processes. You might ask the question, 鈥淗ow do we change this recipe to serve eight people instead of four?鈥� See what steps your child would take to make that change.

to your gifted child as a person with unique thoughts and ideas will help her build confidence and learn how to express herself better, and maybe reduce her frustrations in communicating with peers or teachers later on.

Reading to your gifted child opens doors of imagination

Parents who love to read are great models for their gifted children. Reading can become contagious in a reading family. Parents encourage reading by keeping books visible on shelves, in baskets, and on coffee tables. Perhaps there is a group of books on the child鈥檚 bookcase in her bedroom.

Reading together provides vocabulary development, stirs the imagination, and provides the warmth of cuddling on a couch or bed or sitting by a fireplace. Kids need to be cuddled.

Encouraging your child to read is a building block of learning because gifted children can absorb a great amount of information. Access to a variety of books and stories is fundamental to success in school. Reading helps the brain develop connections among bits of information in a child鈥檚 world, facilitating a better understanding of life in general.

assists the child with accumulating and integrating information from many different areas including science, art and drama. It teaches children about successes and failures, what is expected and what surprises. It teaches flexibility and recovery from mistakes. It shows how relationships can develop over time. It teaches some great life lessons through reading the stories of others in history.

Praising efforts 鈥� not results 鈥揺ncourages hard work

Don鈥檛 judge your gifted child by the number of trophies or ribbons or even grades in school. Don鈥檛 talk about your child as being smart. Talk about her as being a problem solver. Congratulate her on working hard. It is the process and the effort, not the performance that is important. If she is learning to work hard at solving problems, then she is learning a valuable lesson that will make her successful not only at school but in a career in general.

Children who are praised for solving problems do better in school than children who were just called smart. They are more motivated and less likely to be frustrated when they face difficulty. Parents should recognize their children for finding new solutions rather than getting high grades.

Becoming an advocate removes obstacles

Parents of gifted children should become their children鈥檚 . 聽Parents should learn all they can about and how it applies to their children. It is helpful to get testing and of gifted children to validate their unique intelligence and skills. Contacting teachers and school officials can make sure the educational system is welcoming and can plan for the children鈥檚 special learning requirements.

Getting in touch with other families of gifted children will enable parents to share experiences, resources, successes and failures. Having the children interact with each other will boost their confidence and help them with social skills.

Taking a personal interest in working with your child as well as the teachers and others in similar situations will ensure the best opportunities for your gifted child to thrive now and in the future.

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These smart children become labeled by parents and teachers as聽high achievers or gifted students. But is there a difference between these types and labels? Or should we just lump them together as being 鈥渄ifferent鈥� or 鈥渟pecial?鈥�

Actually, the two types of students are very different in many ways, from learning styles to handling emotions to language and study habits.

Some differences are obvious and are part of the category definitions for each 鈥渓abel.鈥� Other characteristics are similar and make it a little more difficult to discern one from the other.

Some children exhibit the characteristics of both kinds and can be both gifted and high achieving. It is worthwhile to look at the two types of students to see what is important to each and to become more knowledgeable in helping them.

The gifted student: innate abilities

students have higher IQs than other students with and potential for demonstrating exceptional levels of proficiency in one or more areas of endeavor. That includes areas like math, science, language, music, art, communication, or almost any area of high interest.

Researchers have established ranges for giftedness, from 鈥淢ildly Gifted鈥� with IQs of 115-129 to 鈥淧rofoundly Gifted鈥� with IQs of 160+. 聽The IQ levels are identified by tests and subtests to assess various cognitive abilities and are given by registered clinical psychologists

grasp information so quickly and remember it so well that they don鈥檛 really have to study hard. They don鈥檛 need to acquire organizational skills or other higher-order intellectual disciplines to guide them.

Gifted students can fly through elementary and secondary schools and get to the college or university level with ease. But as more and more demands get placed on them, they can be overwhelmed and become frustrated.

These students can benefit from academic counselors who will show them how to organize material, plan their homework and study schedules, and develop good study habits.

At the elementary level, these students need an individualized education plan (IEP) which addresses both their strengths and weaknesses. These plans look at what the children are good at (speaking, drawing, telling stories, interact with people, etc.).

The plans also look at disabilities and where the students need assistance. Sometimes the student creates a portfolio that shows personal strengths and helps understand him or her better.

Recommendations might be working with a peer student or in groups, or practice speaking, or other projects to encourage skill development and the feelings of success. The plan helps the student establish and work toward specific goals.

Gifted students strive for perfection. They want to master everything they try. This sometimes leads to failure and frustration. Gifted students have trouble coping with failure. Teachers and parents need to help these students learn to handle failure and provide the emotional support they need.

Emotional balance is very important for gifted students. They feel things very intently and can become obsessed over their particular interests. They have and different views of the world and delve deeper into subjects than other students. They can react unexpectedly in almost any situation.

The high achievers: earned abilities

Smart students are easy to recognize. They always have their hands up to answer questions. They volunteer for projects. They are joiners and leaders.

know how to study. They have good study habits and spend a lot of time on homework and getting ready for tests. They are .

Enrichment for high achievers can include special projects, field trips, leading group activities, advanced programs, or outside events and activities that they pursue on their own.

These students can also act as tutors for other students if they are asked to do so 鈥� and agree as a personal choice. Achievers can share their own personal ways of looking at problems and reveal their insights that can help their peers.

Just like gifted students, achievers do not like failure, either. But the difference is that achievers get over it quickly. It is not the emotional burden it is for gifted students.

High achievers know they work hard and are generally happy with their work ethic and results. Conversely, gifted students are highly self-critical and always feel they could have done more.

High achievers ask that typically have answers. On the other hand, gifted students as hypothetical questions and abstract questions that are more difficult to answer and may in fact have more than one answer. They think in abstracts.

Sense of fairness is another differentiator. High achievers understand fairness as it applies to them in various situations. Gifted students, however, are very concerned about fairness not only regarding themselves and peers but also on a much larger scale.

High achievers prefer to learn in a sequential manner and typically need 6-8 repetitions to learn material. Gifted students like complexity and need only 1-2 exposures to material to learn it.

This has far-reaching implications for teaching and learning environments. Repetition is a traditional educational philosophy in most public schools. This approach favors high achievers but hurts gifted students.

Private and specialized programs for gifted students in public schools minimize repetition and focus on enrichment, faster pace, multitude of media, and independent study.

Both types face problems

Both gifted and achievers have problems, whether academic, emotional or social. Many gifted students can lack motivation, be misunderstood in school, fail, underachieve, and even drop out of school. Giftedness is often associated with learning disorders.

Some gifted children are 鈥溾�� or 鈥渢wice blessed鈥� and have Autism Spectrum disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Asperger鈥檚, physical disabilities or other challenges. In cases like these, obviously medical, psychological and social professionals should become involved.

So it is important to really understand the nature of your child鈥檚 intelligence. In addition to educational concerns there can be emotional, social and medical issues that are of equal or even greater importance that need to be addressed.

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Private schools are able to set their own standards and requirements and may offer smaller class sizes and more individual attention for students. These schools may be more oriented toward secondary education and college preparatory needs. However,聽they may also fail to meet the needs of gifted children.

Private schools designed specifically for children do the best job of providing educational opportunities and should be considered as a prime alternative.

If parents feel that any school is not meeting their child鈥檚 academic needs, does not recognize their child鈥檚 giftedness, or doesn鈥檛 see the social problems being caused for their child, then they may want to consider homeschooling.

However, homeschooling . This choice comes with many caveats where several issues need to be carefully considered. Homeschooling is a lot of work and puts pressure on parents to fulfill educational needs for their children while also supporting the social and emotional needs that go along with them.

There are also issues related to the personalities of both child and parent. Can the parent handle the demands of time and finances, and does the parent have the patience to deal with emotional stress that can be caused in the process?

Here are a few areas that parents need to assess when considering homeschooling for their gifted children.

Time and schedules

Homeschooling takes a lot of time. Keep in mind that a school day is many hours long. One or both parents have daytime jobs. Does one parent have to give up a job to accommodate the homeschooling? And will this put a financial burden on the family?

The parent who does the homeschooling must do more than teach. He or she must find the materials and resources to be used in the instruction. And schedules need to be set up for different subjects. Children have many interests, and they have favorite subjects and unpopular subjects, but they have to learn both. Parents need to plan for both.

Schedules have to be flexible. A child who is working in an area of strong interest may want to spend an entire afternoon on that subject. Other subjects may need to move to the evening or to another day. Parents need to be flexible, too.

Temperament and emotional stability

Teaching gifted children can be intense. They can be passionate about some area of interest and highly focused. They are perfectionists and often get frustrated by not having all the answers or not knowing all that they expect of themselves.

This frustration can lead to temper tantrums and being upset with the parent. Can the parent handle these situations with a calm and steady hand?

Academic guidelines and curricula

There are standards and for school curricula in every state. Parents need to be aware of these and provide the structure to allow their children to develop proficiency in the required areas of learning. Some states may require parents to provide lesson plans before approving homeschooling.

Teaching gifted children goes far beyond having them memorize information and then asking them to recall the information with prompts and questions. Formal instruction involves following the educational principles of Bloom鈥檚 Taxonomy.

Bloom鈥檚 Taxonomy

is a classification of learning skills that teachers use to prepare lesson plans. It provides a hierarchy of learning that starts with simple acquiring of knowledge and proceeds to higher levels of thinking like understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing (or creating).

In public and private schools, more time is spent at the lower levels of learning, in the memorization phase. In private schools for gifted children 鈥� and for homeschooling parents 鈥� more time should be given to higher levels of learning.

You can think of Bloom鈥檚 Taxonomy as a pyramid with the base being wider for memory and recall, and the top being narrow for the creation of new knowledge.

For gifted children, the pyramid is inverted. Synthetization of knowledge is wider at the top, with memorization the smallest part of the pyramid. Gifted children do not need to spend much time on memorization. They want to explore and expand their knowledge and move into application areas.

Parents need to understand this order of information and be ready to move up the pyramid of learning with their gifted children.

Social aspects

Homeschooling is a two-edged sword regarding socialization. It removes the gifted child from an environment where isolation and depression may be present, resulting from lack of understanding of teachers and peers.

Other children may look at a gifted child as weird or antisocial. Teachers may see a gifted child as distracted or unmotivated rather than gifted.

While homeschooling eliminates these problems, it can also create its own isolation where the child does not have the opportunity to develop interactions with other children who have similar interests and abilities.

Parents can help their children socialize by getting them involved with outside activities like sports, theater, and music or art groups.

There are homeschooling organization and parent groups that also provide opportunities for gifted children to socialize with other children and build lasting relationships.

Legal requirements

Different states have different laws regulating homeschooling. Parents may be required to submit lesson plans or curriculum descriptions.

Other states do not have specific requirements other than the parents declaration that they will be homeschooling their children. And still other states ask for some combination of simple declaration and planned structure.

Parents need to look into the legal requirements for their own particular location to see if this affects their decision to homeschool. One place they can look is the which is a nonprofit organization designed to help homeschooling parents with the education of their children.

Resources for enrichment

Finding the right resources can be overwhelming. There are textbooks being used in the local schools and they are libraries.

Parents can find innovative tools and programs at sites like or university sites like Northwestern University鈥檚 .

More resources including programs and online schools can be found at . Talking with other parents and support groups can help as well. Parents can find out more at .

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The future of education will be technology-based. It鈥檚 in today鈥檚 classrooms and in virtual environments. It is the medium for immediate and widespread social interaction. However, the pervasiveness of technology begs an important question.

Is technology good or bad for gifted children? Does it interfere with learning or does it spur learning and growth? How do gifted children feel about technology? What should parents do to in the face of this constant exposure to technology in their child鈥檚 life?

Young people are immersed in smart phone technology

Young people spend a lot of time with technology, especially with Children and young adults aged 8-18 spend over 7-1/2 hours a day on entertainment media. Teenagers spend almost two hours sending text messages to each other.

70% of gifted and talented children use cell and . While some gifted children use their smart phones to check the news, most of them use phones for music, social media, or talking with friends.

25% of gifted children spend 4-7 hours a day with technological devices, and over a third of them use social media at least a few days a week if not more.

Since technology is so prevalent for the gifted and talented, how is it being used for their benefit? What are the ways technology can gifted children?

Technology offers differentiation for gifted students

Gifted students have more access to than ever before. The internet provides a myriad of websites, educational content, audio and video files, and online libraries that provide learning opportunities and differentiation for gifted students.

Students can follow their special interests in music, art, or particular academic area and go beyond typical classroom subject presentation to extend their opportunities of discovery and creativity.

Gifted students can also be given differentiated assignments, with tasks geared to their abilities, learning style and pace, and preferred response method. often combine areas of study and create a response project that simulates real-world problems involving multiple disciplines.

Benefits include sharpening of skills

The use of technology by gifted students has been studied for many years. The research has concluded that video gaming technology helps gifted students with hand to eye coordination, faster response times, and increases in spatial visualization.

Research also found that surgeons who played video games were more skilled at surgical procedures like suturing. Gifted students with exposure to technology like had more developed motor skills and made excellent physiotherapists and other medical professionals.

Gifted students who used technology were more confident and more likely to seek higher levels of challenge and more difficult content. They were better at problem solving and had higher cognitive development. They also learned new ways to learn.

Technology helped children with with the ability to focus. Children learned social skills from games and simulations. They became better decision-makers.

Research has also shown that the use of technology like gaming helped with pain management by taking children鈥檚 minds off the pain and/or discomfort.

Gifted students learn more about themselves

The internet and other electronic media present opportunities for gifted children to learn more about themselves. They can pursue areas of special interest, discover their strengths, and create friendships with other students who share their interests and abilities.

Students in research studies have said they can express themselves better on the internet. They feel that technology helps them find and share a greater level of detail in their areas of interest. Technology makes it possible to develop a more meaningful dialogue on shared interests with friends.

Technology can have negative influences

Too much time spent on gaming technologies can have negative consequences. It can lead to decreased academic performance. It can lead to problems with interpersonal relationships. It can even lead to an increase in negative behaviors like over-aggressiveness.

Technology can be misused in the . Teachers may not be good at using it. Technical troubles take up time. Not all students have the same skill levels. If not managed correctly can lead to an obsession with gaming.

Gifted children 鈥� like all children 鈥� can get lost in the vastness of the internet. It is easy for them to go down the wrong paths and land on the wrong websites, play games that are inappropriate for their age, or get the wrong impressions from TV or movies.

Individual attention and focus on electronics can have a negative impact on family life. To prevent this, some families ban electronics completely during the week. Others limit the use and time spent on electronics devices to a minimum.

Activities should fit your gifted child鈥檚 needs for growth

Some children are very active and love to move around and enjoy interacting with others. They share experiences and develop socially with chosen friends.

These children can afford to spend more time on the computer. They can be encouraged to explore educational opportunities to expand their knowledge and develop their interests.

Other children, however, are already spending a lot of time with and computers. They are the ones who need to be encouraged to spend more face-to-face family time and more time with peer groups.

Parents should determine which areas of development are needed for their gifted children. 聽They should identify strengths, abilities and interests as well as weaknesses and opportunities for growth and development.

Parents need to monitor TV, texting, social media

Trust is needed, but so is common sense and interest in child鈥檚 welfare. Technology is a fact of life. Gifted students will be influenced by it one way or another. The future of education will no doubt include more technological advancements in the field of education. So need to come up to speed on technology and find ways to influence its direction, including school programs.

Computers are good sources of learning. Smart phones are ways of learning and communicating. TV and electronic games are good forms of relaxation and recreation, and can be sources of education.

However, as good as these choices are, there is the danger of misuse and misdirection. Parents want their gifted children to fully develop their special skills and abilities, learn effectively, make friends, and maintain family values.

Parents need to monitor their children鈥檚 electronic involvement. This includes social media access, smart phone talking and texting, appropriate web sites and TV shows, even music and lyrics.

The most important thing for parents concerning technology and their children is to teach them how to be their own . Teach them how to apply the right values to the methods and media they choose.

Gifted children tend to learn faster than they develop good judgement. 聽Parents 聽can help them to manage themselves. Parents can monitor and set guidelines and hopefully the children will eventually internalize these standards.

What do gifted children say they want?

When asked about technology, the answers given by gifted children are very illuminating. 聽They say they cannot dream of a life without it. They say technology makes their lives easier.

They say with technology they can communicate with more people in a shorter amount of time. They can express themselves better. They feel that technological devices contribute to their education.

Gifted children say they don鈥檛 like to be interfered with when they are on a technological device, expressing feelings of nervousness.

Results show that as technological device use habits, most of the gifted children have stated that 鈥渢hey cannot dream of a life without technology.鈥� They have also expressed that they can express themselves better on the Internet.

They say they are sad or angry when there is no internet connection.

Conclusion: technology is good but it shouldn鈥檛 be left alone

Gifted students love technology 鈥� at home or in school. Technological devices will continue to proliferate in both places. It provides the potential for personal, intellectual, social and emotional growth. It also has its dangers. Parents will make technology work for their children with total awareness, involvement, and support.

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There are several reasons why parents this option, ranging from school philosophy to programming to issues like safety and character development. Here are some of the most popular stated reasons why parents choose the private alternative.

Academic Excellence

In many communities, private schools have over the years established reputations for , preparing students for post-secondary education and professional careers. Studies have shown that students in private high schools in many areas reflect higher and higher college admission test scores than those in public schools. The academic emphasis in private schools is supported by the organizational structures, staff, rules and discipline that put academics first.

Controlled Class Sizes

Many parents believe that class size has a lot to do with their children鈥檚 chance of success in school. They see smaller class size as an opportunity for more personal attention and fewer distractions. Smaller class sizes give teachers more time with each student, making sure they understand material, and can give them more support if needed. Some research shows private schools have student-teacher ratios at 13:1 or lower compared with public school ratios of 16:1. Other research claims smaller lead to better than average performance on achievement tests.

Smaller class sizes allow teachers to spend more time with students on every aspect of education, including personal counseling. A Massachusetts study found that its public schools provided one counselor for every 415 students vs. one counselor for every five students in private schools. The study showed that many private school counselors also worked in college administrative offices which provided more valuable information and guidance for college-bound students.

Emphasis on Discipline聽

Character development is extremely important for most parents. They send their children to school to learn and grow, both academically and socially. They want their children to learn responsibility and how to interact with others in a fair and acceptable way.

Private schools differ from public schools in the way they structure their learning environments. Public schools are governed by constitutional law while private schools use contractual law. That means that, while all public school students are treated according to traditional law, private school students are subject to whatever contract the school draws up and is agreed to by students.

Students are asked to read, understand and agree with the terms of the school contract before they are enrolled in the school. They have to agree to the Many schools have zero tolerance policies for offenses like cheating, stealing, or substance abuse. Unlike public schools, violations of these policies can lead to expulsion.

The code of conduct regulates all school behavior. It is a contract among students, teachers and parents. It specifies the discipline resulting from misbehavior and deviance from the rules. The code is used to teach responsibility, trust and self-respect as well as respect for teachers and other students. It fosters principles like truth and honesty in all school activities and behavior. It becomes a leadership tool.

Higher Standards

Academic coursework is typically more challenging in private schools and graduation requirements are stricter. Studies by the U.S. Department of Education have shown that private schools require more years of math and foreign languages than public schools. They also require four times more community service than public schools as a requisite to graduation.

School Safety

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan said 鈥淐hildren cannot get a quality education if they don鈥檛 first feel at school.鈥� Federal reports have indicated that students do feel safer in private schools. In studying crimes at school, the reports summarized that students at public schools were four times more likely to report being victims of such crimes as theft, robbery (including the threat or use of force) and sexual assault.

Many parents feel that their children are safer in private schools. They feel a stronger sense of community and one which actively discourages dangerous behavior. They feel that this safety improves the quality of education and improves their children鈥檚 ability to focus on learning and personal development.

Fewer Conflicts and Less Bullying

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) studied school problems like bullying, conflicts among students, and acts of disrespect toward teachers. The study showed that public schools were four time more likely to report these issues than private schools. Educational professionals say a safe school is one that has a culture of respect and caring. Students do not disrupt classes, wander hallways, spend time texting other students, bully others, or curse or threaten teachers. Many professionals and parents feel that independent schools like private and parochial ones are better suited to provide this kind of safe environment.

Gifted and Talented Programs

Many parents choose private schools for the special academic, skill, or religious that they offer. Some schools may emphasize a certain language like French, Spanish, Mandarin or Russian. Some focus on one religion and single sex education. Other schools offer more opportunities in music, art or sports.

Some schools provide more challenging educational opportunities like (AP) programs, international programs or .

Private schools are also known for providing many extracurricular choices like clubs and group activities centered on particular interests. One study at Stanford University found that students who were involved in the arts were more interested in school in general and more likely to have high attendance.

A Family Environment

Private schools encourage involvement and invite students, parents, teachers, administration, and area volunteers to join together in common support. Activities can include parent-teacher organizations and meetings, parent breakfasts or luncheons, camping trips, dances or social gatherings, fundraising events, sporting events, religious, or other family-oriented themes.

Teachers share this feeling of family are often dedicated beyond their commitment to teaching courses. They want to see students succeed in life as well as academics. Teacher dedication is one of the biggest reasons parents choose private schools. Parents see teachers as passionate about and view them as potential role models for their children.

Students and alumni of private schools establish relationships that go on for many years, even a lifetime. Alumni feel a sense of pride and are often involved in supporting the school they graduated from. Their sense of commitment is strong, especially for those who attended schools of faith but for others, too.

Students do learn in both public and private schools. But many parents choose private schools because they perceive a warmer, safer, more structured, and more opportunistic environment for their children.

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Maybe they will and maybe they won鈥檛. Gifted students聽may be very successful in their school environment and get a jump on secondary education or early enrollment in college. However,聽for some reason or other, and this may be a shock to parents of gifted children, gifted students may become disenchanted, go the other way and eventually drop out of school altogether. It happens. But why and what are some of the more notable reasons that have been discovered through research?

Dislike of School

There are several reasons why gifted students drop out of school. Traditional schools don鈥檛 always have the philosophy, understanding, school leadership, trained teachers, or adequate resources to help gifted children accelerate.

The result of this less-than-ideal environment can turn off gifted students. Some shows that students, male students in particular, drop out of school because they did not like the school, were taking a job outside school and couldn鈥檛 keep up their grades, and were failing.

Research also shows that gifted female students left school because of similar reasons 鈥� they didn鈥檛 like school, were failing, or became pregnant.

When the gifted students dropped out, for whatever reason, they did not plan to return at any time. The research showed that they left school with a high self-image but felt the school wasn鈥檛 serving their needs.

The dislike of school can be more encompassing of other factors like a lack of interest in school subjects, lack of friends, cultural or racial inequalities, lack of stimulating media or teaching techniques, or even lack of parental support.

Lack of Parental Support

Parents of the students involved in the study also played a role in whether the gifted students dropped out of school. Many parents were not involved in their child鈥檚 decision to leave school. They offered advice but rarely sought professional counseling for their child.

Many drop-outs were of lower socio-economic status or were minorities, especially Hispanics and Native Americans. Many of the parents had lower levels of education themselves, did not graduate from high school, or had not gone onto college.

Research studies have shown that gifted students who had who did not finish high school were three times more likely to drop out of school. However, the opposite is true of the mother鈥檚 education level. Gifted students were less likely to drop out if their mothers dropped out or failed to complete high school. This research concludes that the education level (and presumably interest level) of the father is more important in determining whether a gifted student will drop out or stay in school.

Gifted children benefit from parental advice. Parents can help their children be more successful if they discuss giftedness with their children and explain how they might be different from their peers.

Parents can discuss what their children should expect from the schools including a change in educational direction from class-oriented learning to individual-oriented education where they will (or should) get more personalized instruction. The learning demands for high school may be more challenging for gifted students who found it relatively easy to learn in elementary and middle school classes.

Parents should also be monitoring the coursework and teaching techniques offered by the school. It is very possible that teachers are not trained to educate gifted students, or the school does not have .

There are many for parents of gifted children to get them started on how to go about preparing their children and guiding them through the process of managing their children鈥檚 educational and social development.

The Need for Gifted Education Programs

Some gifted students dislike the being taught, like mathematics, where they feel under-challenged and get bored easily. They often comment on getting the same kind of work over and over again and felt they were learning 鈥渘othing new.鈥�

School can also be cumbersome or irrelevant to gifted students. This can lead them to think there is no need for them to go to school at all.

Students in families that moved or traveled a lot found that they could not transfer credits from previous schools and had to repeat courses they had already taken.

Some students felt there was a big change from elementary school to high school. They no longer felt 鈥渟pecial鈥� and were disappointed that there was no programming to address their own particular needs and interests.

There is a lot for school systems and teachers to understand about gifted students. They need to study gifted students from diverse backgrounds to include underrepresented students in gifted education programs. This is discussed more below.

Schools need to provide for twice-gifted children, gifted females, highly gifted, and gifted and talented children who are on the autistic spectrum. They need to for students who are culturally or linguistically diverse.

Schools that have not studied giftedness from these perspectives and teachers who are not prepared for these challenges will only increase the chances of gifted students deciding to leave school.

Social Challenges

The Gifted students who dropped out felt that they did not have close friends at school. They saw peers as being interested more in socializing than in pursuing academics. While peers are OK with standard course structures, gifted students are not, and they tend to drift away from relationships.

Finding peers who accept gifted students is often a problem. When friends are found, gifted students identify with them. Research studies even suggest that gifted students leave school when a friend is expelled, or when they have a break-up with a friend. The sometimes fail on purpose just to emphasize with a friend.

Gifted students who stay in school usually come from middle or upper-class families that can support them. Those of sometimes have to get jobs which in turn add stress and puts pressure on time for homework and course projects.

There are gifted students who experience a loss at home 鈥� possibly the death of a relative. The profound emotional reaction can lead to a total disinterest in school. This can lead to leaving school unless school officials reach out with concern to the student for his family situation.

Limited Teacher Training

need to understand the many facets of gifted children including academic, personal, social, emotional and physical. Many teachers have no training or are limited to a day or two. This is simply not enough.

Teachers should be for training the gifted and talented. If not trained properly, students will dislike their classroom experience and as shown above school dislike is a leading cause of school drop-out.

Proper training includes knowledge on learning behaviors of the underrepresented students and understanding of cultural differences.

It includes on children with multiple exceptionalities. To create the best environment for the gifted student to want to stay in school, the training should show the teacher how to create a positive peer culture of inclusiveness.

It takes a village to support gifted children and keep them interested in school. Parents, teachers, school administrators, counselors and other professionals with experience in the field of giftedness all need to contribute.

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