How to Find Gifted Education Resources

Today's culture reinforces the notion that all children have the capacity for exceptional achievements. While all children are special in their own way, statistically speaking, very few of them are truly gifted in the technical sense of the word. Gifted children present a unique parenting challenge that, left unmet, can often lead to frustration for both the child and the parents. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Learn how to recognize the signs of giftedness in young children by visiting the Gifted Development Center (GDC). Founded by Linda Silverman, a pioneer in understanding and identifying giftedness, the GDC includes a list of the observable characteristics most highly correlated with giftedness in children.
2. Request information from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) or visit its website to find information on state and national conferences, legislation and links to resources for parents, educators and program administrators. You can also find a link to your state's gifted education association from the NAGC's website.
3. Read, read and then read some more at Hoagie's Gifted Education Page. The website is a tremendous collection of gifted education information for parents, educators and kids. It includes tons of information on the latest research as well as discussion forums where you can ask specific questions to other parents who have more experience than you do.
4. Contact your school district to find out if it has a gifted education program. If it does, contact the coordinator and ask her for information on services that the school district provides to gifted children.
5. Determine if your child is the right age to be formally identified as gifted through testing. You may want to consult with staff at the GDC to find out what types of testing is available to someone your child's age and, depending on your child's special circumstances, which of those tests the GDC recommends. You can meet with GDC staff in person or do a telephone consult if you live too far away. The GDC will conduct testing or refer you to qualified testers in your local area.

Tips & Warnings

• Let your child's interests be your guide. Don't force activities on your child because he "should" want to do them. Giftedness expresses itself in many different ways, including academically, musically, artistically and athletically to name a few. Very often your child's interests will be revealed at a very young age. Or, you may have a child who is gifted in many areas. Either way, make resources and opportunities for exploration and expression available to your child, and he will pick those that most interest him.
• Just because a child is gifted doesn't mean that she will excel in all areas. Formal testing can help identify your child's learning style, areas of strength and areas of challenge so that you can find appropriate social and academic opportunities and support.
• Testing for giftedness is a controversial issue. There are many standardized tests that can be used. Unfortunately, because most of them are actually designed to identify learning disabilities, they have ceilings that are incapable of measuring the full intellectual capabilities of gifted children. Do your homework beforehand.
• In addition to the limits of the tests themselves, very often the testers are trained in administering the tests to kids who have learning difficulties. This can influence the testing environment and result in skewed or inaccurate test results for your child.
• You will probably soon discover that using the term "gifted" to describe your child elicits different responses depending on with whom you are speaking. Very often, parents of gifted children are viewed as overachieving "stage moms and dads" who are pushing their child to excel against the child's best interests. Don't let this deter you in advocating for your child, but do ensure that you are truly acting in your child's best interests.

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