While spending quite a bit of time in schools observing student teachers, the author of this article began to think about the way gifted children and their parents view school because the children do not seem to feel safe in their schools. The author observed that many of these children are very bright and are bored or frustrated, yet they do not…

Today the author received the umpteenth parental request from a mother wanting help with her child who is reading far above grade level and yet remains in an on-grade-level reading group. The frustration from this and every other parent who has spoken to the author about this subject is palatable. Parents want what is best for their child, but in…

Summer activities have grown old. Going swimming has lost its allure, and boredom has set in. No matter how well parents have planned interesting and educational activities for the summer months or how much they have enjoyed the freedom from stricter schedules and more rigid bedtimes, it is time to transition back to the routines of the school…

"Developmentally appropriate practice" (DAP) is a term tossed about by practitioners as if everyone understands exactly what it means. DAP seems self-explanatory in that it requires educators to use only those strategies for teaching and discipline that are appropriate for the age of the child. The basic tenet of DAP rests on the assumed knowledge…

In this article, the author shares the story about her son who has advanced intellectual ability and how she used science to motivate him. She says for advanced learners, the study of science encourages them to ask those deep questions without feeling as though they are out of step with their peers. Parents can support their children's natural…

Young gifted children can become passionately interested in social justice. It makes sense that children who are astutely aware their own differences could and would become interested in the well-being of others. It seems that preschool programs have been slow to recognize the value of service-learning to their students, but Freeman and King…

Discovering that a child is gifted can be both exhilarating and daunting. Parents watch in amazement and awe as their 3-year-old reads a first-grade-level book flawlessly, or they might listen to their preschool child's distress over seeing a homeless person on the street. Parents observe as their 6-year-old dismantles a broken CD player and…

The author was pondering the parent perspective of acceleration, and she realized that people are always hearing "ifs" and "buts" when discussing this topic. There are many "if" and "but" questions. In this article, the author focuses on the following four: (1) "If" my child is complaining of being bored in class, does that mean he or she needs to…

As chair of the Parent and Community Network, the author gets e-mails from parents asking how they should handle their gifted child. Concerns range from super sensitivity to enhancing content areas in which their children excel. Although differentiated instruction is a hot topic in the field of education, many parents find that the teacher with…

Bullying happens every day in classrooms and on playgrounds all over the world. Parents, when faced with the fact that their child has become the target of a bully, experience a stream of emotions: anger, fear, the need to protect, and the realization that the child must go back to school or out to play and face the bully again the next day. Many…