Each year during the month of May, organizations like National Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health America, raise awareness and highlight the importance of mental health through local events, media, and health screenings. The unfortunate reality is there is a growing number of Americans who are living with mental illness or have been impacted by trauma. This, in turn, can significantly affect their physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Mental health organizations, like NAMI, work to support, educate, and advocate for policies that assist children, families, and communities.

As an organization, IEA is also dedicated to serving the holistic development and needs of gifted youth by recognizing that they have important aspects of themselves, including intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical. These unique facets of gifted youth must be met for them to find balance in their lives and actualize their full potential. We know that some of these young people are more vulnerable to facing social and emotional challenges that stem from being gifted and trying to navigate a world that doesn’t readily accept or understand them.

In support of National Mental Health Month and to acknowledge the importance of mental well-being among our gifted youth, we’ve compiled a list of mental health professionals and organizations who understand and have experience working with gifted families and communities.

Dr. Vula Baliotis

Licensed and SENG-certified psychologist, Dr. Vula Baliotis, is based out of the Los Angeles area and specializes in working with gifted, creative, and highly sensitive youth and their parents. She offers psychotherapy and consultation for children and parents and assessment for twice exceptionality, learning disabilities, and emotional, social, or behavioral difficulties.

Center for Connection

CFC utilizes a connection-based model that provides more comprehensive services for families, with independent professionals ranging from psychotherapy to parent education to neuropsychological assessments, from physical health and educational therapy to occupational therapy, and more.

Center for the Gifted

The Center for the Gifted, located in Philadelphia and led by Dr. Suzanne Schneider, was established in 1983 to meet the needs of gifted people of all ages. Services include counseling and psychotherapy, gifted identification, vocational interest testing and guidance, and workshops and publications focusing on the needs of the gifted population.

Child Mind Institute

The Child Mind Institute is an independent, national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. They work to deliver the highest standard of care, advance the science of the developing brain, and empower parents, professionals, and policymakers to support children when and where they need it most.

Creative Recovery Solutions

Gloria Sandford MA, LMHC specializes in Marriage and Family Therapy and has worked with a variety of issues concerning adults, children, marital issues, families, and support groups. She is a professional member and trained Parent Facilitator of and a Certified Lifespan Integration therapist.

Daimon Institute

The Daimon Institute for the Highly Gifted provides psychotherapy and educational consulting to support the overall development of exceptionally and profoundly gifted people. Located in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, their practice implements the Integral Practice for the Gifted model which addresses all aspects of the gifted individual: intellectual, emotional, moral, spiritual, social and physical.

Gunn Psychological Services

Gunn Psychological Services is a group of professionals dedicated to providing the highest quality psychological services and referrals, including developmental, psychoeducational, and intellectual giftedness assessments, as well as individual, family, couples and group therapy.

Linda Powers-Leviton, MFT

Linda Powers-Leviton is a licensed Marriage, Family and Child therapist who specializes in counseling for the gifted. Since 1974, she has developed and taught programs to help parents and educators best reach children with learning and emotional challenges. Her expertise with the gifted population, particularly twice-exceptional youth, has prepared her to offer a unique specialized program to address the needs of this community.

Dr. Gail Post, Ph.D

As a clinical psychologist in practice for over 30 years, Dr. Post specializes in gifted adults and adolescents. Through private practice, she offers individual, couples, family and group therapy for adults and adolescents; consultation and supervision for treatment professionals; and educational consultation services for gifted children and adolescents.

Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG)

SENG is a national organization which seeks to inform gifted individuals, their families, and the professionals who work with them, about the unique social and emotional needs of gifted persons. SENG supports programs that foster in gifted individuals the mental health and social competence necessary for them to be free to choose ways to develop and express their abilities and talents fully.

Summit Center

Summit Center provides educational and psychological assessments, consultation, and treatment for children, their parents, and families. Summit works with all kids – including those who are gifted, those with learning challenges, and those who are twice-exceptional.

Terry Bradley

Terry Bradley is a gifted education consultant specializing in the social and emotional aspects of giftedness. Her services include a full-day workshop training for school personnel and mental health professionals on facilitating discussion groups for gifted K-12 students; a professional development training on the affective needs of the gifted; and a presentation for parents on what to know when raising gifted youth.

Tyler Institute

Tyler Institute provides high-quality mental health services by qualified professionals to children, adolescents, adults and families. Anne Tyler, its founder, is devoted to helping children, adolescents, families and adults work through mental health challenges in order to live up to their potential and manifest their talents and strengths in a more vibrant way in everyday life.

Dr. Patricia Gatto-Walden, Ph.D

Over the past 30 years, Dr. Patty has provided individual, couple, family, and group counseling to gifted and profoundly gifted individuals across the life span, from very young children to people in their elder years. Her therapeutic orientation is holistic with a relationship focus.

For additional resources, visit our online Gifted Resource Center (GRC) which contains an ever-growing and robust listing of over 800 resources appropriate for gifted learners from pre-k through high school.

Want to share a resource? Email GRC@educationaladvancement.org or comment below!

As part of the festivities, we will be honoring two groups instrumental to the founding of IEA.

IEA Senior Fellows

The Senior Fellows have years of experience working with gifted youth and shaping gifted discourse. Their expertise was crucial to the development of IEA through the research and implementation of the awarding winning Yunasa camps.  Their years of service as facilitators at Yunasa and advisors to IEA remain invaluable.

Dr. Patricia Gatto-Walden is a licensed psychologist who has worked holistically with thousands of gifted and profoundly gifted children, adolescents, and adults for more than 35 years. In her adjunct educational consulting practice, she has helped parents, educators, and administrators understand and accept the multifaceted inner world and needs of gifted individuals. Dr. Gatto-Walden additionally provides two-day comprehensive family retreats, entitled “educational consulting and family renewal,” which blend counseling and consulting services. She is a featured speaker at gifted conferences and educational workshops throughout the nation.

Michael M. Piechowski, Ph.D. is the author of Mellow Out, They Say. If I Only Could: Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright and Living with Intensity (with S. Daniels). Earning a PhD first in Molecular Biology and later in Counseling Psychology, he served as a faculty member at three universities and one small college. He has published extensively in the areas of emotional development, developmental potential of the gifted, and emotional and spiritual giftedness. He is one of the original designers of Yunasa. In 2016 he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by SENG and the NAGC Global Awareness Network Annemarie Roeper Award.

Stephanie Tolan, M.A. is author of 27 books of fiction for children and young adults, including the Newbery Honor Award-winning novel Surviving the Applewhites and Applewhites at Wit’s End, Listen!, Welcome to the Ark, Flight of the Raven, and Ordinary Miracles. Her non-fiction writing includes Guiding the Gifted Child (co-author), Change Your Story, Change Your Life, and an article about highly gifted children that has been translated into more than 40 languages, “Is It a Cheetah?” She is a well-known lecturer and advocate for highly gifted young people.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has been a pivotal supporter of IEA since the organization’s inception. Their generosity has assisted IEA in its general operations, public policy efforts, and technology program.

In 2014, with generous support from Sarah D. Barder, The Bradley Foundation has continued to fund the  Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship initiative.  Since its inception in 2002, the program has awarded 293 high school students with merit based scholarships. These students are provided with the resources and guidance to find and attend an optimally-matched high school program that meets their unique intellectual and personal needs. This guidance and support continues throughout their high school careers.

Support from The Bradley Foundation has enabled IEA to serve thousands of gifted children over the years and continues to help us fight for a population very much in need of services.

Join the Celebration!

Join us on February 9th at our 20^th Anniversary Celebration, to be held at The Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, and help show our appreciation for these and other exceptional advocates for gifted education.

To sponsor and/or purchase tickets or a program ad to the event, click here.

When you recognize that your child may be gifted, and has not been identified as such, or has been identified as gifted but is not reaching his/her potential, then you will need to advocate for your child so they will receive the most appropriate services.  Children have a right to a safe, academically challenging and positive experience in school. (Kim Pleticha, Publisher/Editor Parent: Wise Magazine)

Advocating for your child requires research, preparation, identifying your child’s interests, strengths and skills, knowledge of the school system, and tenacity. Once you are ready to advocate for your child, here are some suggestions:

• Your first ally is your child’s teacher. If you are able to, volunteer at least a few times in the classroom so that you may observe how your child is performing; understand how the teacher addresses the individual needs of each student; and most importantly, develop a working relationship and rapport with the teacher.
• Start collecting documentation about your child, such as reports or observations from the teacher, and/or the coordinator; student work, test scores, report cards.
• Don’t wait until the first Parent/Teacher Conference to talk to the teacher.
• Familiarize yourself with the curriculum, the contact information of the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) coordinator at your school, the types of assessments that are administered.
• Find out the assessment and identification process at the school or the district, and when the process starts. Some schools or districts begin the process at 2^nd grade, others at 3^rd  Some schools will identify students during their second semester in kindergarten.  Some districts will accept private assessments, some do not. At times, it is helpful to have a private assessment from a psychologist or consultation services from Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA), to provide as supporting documentation. Access the school district website to find out about their Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program.
• Grade or subject acceleration may be an option. Acceleration allows students to move up a class or grade that matches their academic and cognitive abilities. It includes matching the level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum to the readiness and motivation of the student[1]. Examples of acceleration include early entrance to school, grade-skipping, moving ahead in one subject area, or Advanced Placement (AP). Research what your school’s policy is on acceleration.
• It is important to know that any type of testing administered by the school requires parent permission. Therefore, you must be informed if and when your child is being tested, the type of test being administered to ensure that it is appropriate, and that your permission is required to administer the test.
• Develop a plan that includes compromises because you are working for the best interest of the child. Parents are encouraged to think in terms of effectiveness, rather than correctness. Quite simply, this means searching for the most effective educational arrangement for your child that addresses the greatest proportion of her or his needs rather than looking for the “perfect” situation[2].
• Familiarize yourself with the terminology, i.e. differentiation, cluster grouping (for a complete list, go to nagc.org, Glossary of Terms).
• Research and join national and local advocacy groups such Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA), National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), The Davidson Institute, Acceleration Institute, Support the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), and Hoagies Gifted Education Page. Join local parent groups, such as the Gifted Support Group at IEA, and attend workshops and parent conferences that provide information on gifted students and programs.

Resources:

• Institute for Educational Advancement
• National Association for Gifted Children 
• Davidson Institute 
• Educational Advocacy for Gifted Students, Julia B. Osborn,  2001
• A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, Vol. 1, The  Templeton National Report on Acceleration, 2004
• NAGC’s Glossary of Terms
• Gifted and Talented Programs, Los Angeles Unified School District
• GATE, South Pasadena Unified School District
• Gifted and Talented, La Canada Unified School District
• Gifted and Talented Education, Alhambra Unified School District
• Gifted and Talented Education, Pasadena Unified School District

To learn more about how IEA advocates for gifted students, visit our Advocacy page.

References

[1] “A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, Vol. 1”, The  Templeton National Report on Acceleration, 2004

[2] http://www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10558

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The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, but can be even more so for families with gifted children. Between intensities, veering from normal routines and the challenge of gift-giving, it’s enough to stress out even the most patient caregiver.  Below are some helpful posts from gifted bloggers and organizations to help this season be peaceful and enjoyable.

Holiday stress: What parents of gifted children need to know
Licensed Psychologist Gail Post, Ph.D. shares practical tips on how parents can help gifted children, and themselves, handle their unique stressors around the holidays. Tips include setting realistic expectations and taking time for yourself as a parent to decompress.

Parenting Gifted Children Through the Holidays
More practical tips for parents, this time from a fellow parent of three gifted children, published by Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG). The author focuses on parents of children with intensities.

Managing Your Child’s Intensity During the Holidays
An enjoyable and honest guide about managing intensities from gifted parenting blogger Raising Lifelong Learners. The author includes some much-needed encouragement to parents at the end.

‘Tis the Season to be…Anxious?
Written from the perspective of a parent, this post from Gifted-Ed Connections is a short reflection on parental anxiety and how that translates to the holiday season. An encouraging short read for anxious parents.

Holidays with the Quirky
Adventures of Hahn Academy shares some of the “quirky” gifts her gifted son has requested throughout the years. The post includes a list of her son’s favorite past gifts, which may be helpful to anyone searching for a last minute Christmas gift for the gifted child in their life.

A Recipe for a Peaceful Holiday Season
More practical tips from SENG, this time from a therapist specializing in gifted children, who is a mother of the gifted herself. A nice reminder not to forget the simple things, like sleep and maintaining eating habits, in a busy season.

Surviving the Holidays with a House Full of Gifted Folks
Finally, a post from the IEA archive on managing the intensities of multiple gifted individuals. The post includes advice for both hosts and guests on how to have a peaceful holiday season.

What are your favorite tips for managing the holiday stress?

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When I saw the topic for this month’s Hoagies Gifted Education Page blog hop was “Emotional Intelligence” I have to admit I was a bit stumped. Not a topic with which I’m very familiar, I was overwhelmed with the possibility of having to write an informed blog post. So, I turned to the trusty Google search and did some digging. It did not disappoint.

I found several articles on all facets of emotional intelligence (EQ), from how it affects your career to its signs in gifted children. Rather than merging these together in a hodgepodge of my own thoughts, I wanted to share the ones I found most useful. Hopefully, these will be helpful to those who are in the same place I was.

Definitions of Emotional Intelligence

What is Emotional Intelligence?
This short primer from the University of New Hampshire gives a basic definition of emotional intelligence, along with a glossary of terms related to the subject. Perfect if you are strapped for time and want a one-minute read.

Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence,
On the other end of the spectrum, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence is full of resources about emotional intelligence and its effects on our lives. They even host events to share recent research and announcements. Great for those who want to dive deep into the subject.

What Emotional Intelligence Is and Is Not
A helpful article from Psychology Today for those like me who think best in broken-down categories. The author reviews misconceptions about emotional intelligence common in the larger media. He also gives a brief overview of study he and a colleague conducted to measure emotional intelligence in children.

Are You Emotionally Intelligent? Here’s How to Know for Sure
A list of common traits of those with EQ coupled with brief explanations. Since the article is published on the career site Inc., it also notes studies that have found those with high emotional intelligence tend to be star performers in the work place.

Emotional Intelligence and Society

The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence
The author of this Atlantic article explains how the trait can be used for “evil,” particularly in the workplace. He explores studies conducted in workplaces that have found some employees with high EQ possess almost Machiavellian tendencies.  A very interesting read on the dangerous power of manipulation.

Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?
This feature from the New York Times highlights Northern California schools that attempt to teach elementary-age children to be emotionally intelligent. I was fascinated by the methods the schools used and the debate over whether or not they are effective.

Emotional Intelligence and Gifted Children

Gifted children: Emotionally Immature or Emotionally Intense?
A well-rounded piece from the Davidson Institute that emphasizes the importance of being attentive to the emotional development and needs of the gifted child. I appreciated the fact that the author acknowledged the overexcitabilities common in the population and how they can be harnessed to ensure a child thrives.

Emotional Intelligence and Gifted Children
Brainy Child provides another overview of emotional intelligence, but this one specifically relates to gifted children. Parents will appreciated the list of tips for developing EQ in the gifted, as well as notes on common emotional stressors and how to overcome them.

Encouraging Emotional Intelligence
More tips, this time from SENG, on how to nurture emotional intelligence in your gifted child. The author specifically advocates for a hands-on but not helicopter approach, guiding the child while allowing them to learn and grow on their own.

What are your favorite resources about emotional intelligence?

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This post is part of the Hoagies’ Gifted Blog Hop Emotional Intelligence. Please click the image below to keep on hopping!

It’s a question almost every parent of a gifted child struggles with at some point: should my child skip a grade (or more)? For many gifted children, grade acceleration is beneficial. Students are placed in classes where they are truly challenged and with peers more on their intellectual level. But, for some children, skipping a grade can be harmful to their social and emotional development. Being away from age group peers and automatically viewed as the “whiz kid” has the potential to lead to bullying or other emotional damage.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. (Frustrating, I know.) However, there are some common pros and cons to guide you as you make the decision.

Pros

Academic Satisfaction
Several studies have shown that children who accelerate do not suffer academically. In fact, their grades are often higher than their peers who did not accelerate and on par with older students in their grade-level, according to SENG. Accelerated students also report increased interest in and enthusiasm for school, leading to a higher rate of academic satisfaction.

Community of Intellectual Peers
Several studies have noted that, when students are among intellectual peers, they feel better socially and perform better academically. Allowing a child to skip ahead places them in learning environments with students who, while not their age, are on par with them intellectually. This community is invaluable for all children, but can be particularly meaningful for gifted students who have never before experienced it.

Reduced Behavior Problems
Behavior teachers see as trouble-making is often boredom for the gifted student. These students spend up to 50% of their class time waiting for other students to catch up and grasp the material. As a result, they engage in activities to occupy their downtime, which can include distracting other students and disrupting lessons. However, when students feel challenged by academic material, they are less likely to cause problems in the classroom. Additionally, being appropriately challenged can help behavior later in life by building appropriate coping skills for encountering obstacles.

Cons

Emotional Unpreparedness
Since gifted children sometimes experience asynchronous development, they may be academically advanced but emotionally immature. If a child is already lagging behind their peers emotionally and socially, acceleration into an older age group could intensify the problem, especially if there are not many other accelerated students. While certainly not an issue for all gifted children, it’s important for parents to consider their child’s temperament and if they can handle the pressures of being the young kid in class.

Unexpected Challenges
Gifted kids who are being considered for acceleration are often used to being at the top of the class. When moving up, this may change and can present frustration for some students. Parents should prepare students for this ahead of time, support them as they adjust to the new environment and ensure them they are not a failure if other students are above them or the arrangement doesn’t work out.

Bullying
Bullying is an unfortunate reality in the modern school system, most notably for any child perceived as “different.”  Ken Newman, who skipped a grade in elementary school and went on to attend Cornell University at age 15, recounts being bullied in high school for being smaller and younger-looking than his classmates. This can be especially prevalent in middle school, where the differences of gifted kids are most likely to be noticed. Luckily, incidents like Newman’s are more outliers than the norm, but they still happen on occasion.

If skipping an entire grade isn’t ideal for your gifted student, there are other options.

“Skipping a grade isn’t the answer for every gifted student,” said Maureen Marron of the Connie Belin and Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. “Acceleration means matching the curriculum to a student’s abilities. For one student, that may mean grade skipping; for another, it may mean acceleration in a single subject, like math; for other students, enrichment-based activities in the classroom are all they need.” Other acceleration options include starting kindergarten early, enrolling in high school AP courses or advancing to college.

At IEA, we believe every child has a unique set of needs, and whether or not grade acceleration is the right choice depends on the needs and personality of your child. And no one knows your child like you.

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This post is part of the Hoagies’ Gifted Blog Hop Grade Acceleration. Please click the image below to keep on hopping!

The gifted brain is a unique place. In fact, it is so unique that many of the complexities of giftedness are still not fully understood. Still, there are some common quirks that have been identified as being associated with the gifted brain.

Overexcitabilities

Dambrowski identified five overexcitabilities that he believes are strongly connected to giftedness: intellectual, psychomotor, imaginative, sensual, and emotional. These overexcitabilities give gifted individuals some of their unique traits, but can also make it hard to function within a traditional classroom environment.

Psychologist Carrie Lynn Bailey noted in Overexcitabilities and Sensitivities: Implications of Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration for Counseling the Gifted:

“A challenge for gifted individuals is that they can often be viewed negatively, or pathologically, particularly in educational settings.”

So how do you deal with a gifted child with overexcitabilities? An article from the California Association of the Gifted suggests a combination of teaching stress management techniques, ensuring clear verbal and nonverbal communication skills and creating a comforting environment can help gifted children manage their overxcitabilites.

Social and Emotional Vulnerabilities

Many gifted children are very emotionally sensitive. A passing comment that may seem harmless to you can be crushing to a gifted child, who could internalize and overanalyze it. Because of their high-sensitivity, gifted children often perceive others to have a lower view of them than they actually do, leading to social issues, such as interacting and bonding with their peers and teachers.

The article “The dark side of being the ‘gifted’ kid”  highlights the extremes of gifted social and emotional issues. It notes that many gifted kids live in a world that doesn’t fully understand them, leading them to feel isolated and lonely. The author suggests gifted students should learn in environments that focus not just on their brains, but also the “fragility of their hearts”.

(Hoagie’s Gifted Education Page has a plethora of resources on the social and emotional lives of the gifted for further reading.)

Twice-Exceptional

Twice-exceptional children demonstrate both giftedness and a learning or emotional disability, making them the most under-identified group in today’s schools, according to the National Education Association. These students are often forced between choosing programs that serve their giftedness or their disability. Consequently, they are often underserved.

This “quirk” of the gifted is often difficult to diagnose even by professionals. SENG notes that even those in the gifted community have trouble imagining a gifted child with a learning disability. Luckily there is a growing awareness of 2e and, as a result, more resources available on serving these children.

If your child has been diagnosed as twice-exceptional or you expect they may be, the 2e Newsletter has some helpful tips for serving 2e students.

Although we still don’t understand everything about the gifted brain, identifying the quirks and giving students, parents and teachers the tools to deal with them is a win-win for everyone.

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Nicole LaChance graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Journalism before moving West in pursuit of milder winters. Prior to joining the IEA team, she spent time working in marketing for an architecture firm and completed two years of national service in the AmeriCorps program. Over the past few years she has worked with nonprofits to communicate their message and impact to the world around them, work she is excited to continue at IEA. When not at the office, she enjoys reading, cooking, traveling wherever she can and making bad puns.

This post is part of the Hoagies’ Gifted Blog Hop Mysteries of the Brain. Please click the image below to keep on hopping!

Summer days at IEA continue to be filled with time spent with our amazing community members across the country! Take a look at some of the highlights from the month of July:

Students jumped in to fill more than 40 spots in Academy Summer Session II, where they explored everything from Algebra to Jane Austen and were taught by content area specialists.

68 campers gathered in Michigan for Yunasa. Stay tuned for more updates and photos at the conclusion of camp!
           

IEA Apprenticeship Mentor and Caltech researcher Ashish Mahabal gave a mini-lecture on transients – astronomical objects that change in brightness on short time-scales.

CDB Finalists were interviewed in Houston, Boise, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Boston, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Orlando, and Washington, D.C.

Adventures in the Planetary Science Academy students examined meteorites from the Moon, Vesta, and other celestial bodies.

Brianna, IEA’s Resources Coordinator, joined our friends from The Gifted Development Center at the 2015 SENG Conference in Denver.

We filmed interviews at The Barder House and Academy for our new IEA video, coming soon!

Students in the Adventures in the Planetary Science Academy class took a field trip to explore the light and optics exhibit at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

A new staff member, Niña, joined the IEA team as a Program Coordinator.

Academy students taking Astronomy went on a field trip to the Griffith Observatory for more hands-on learning.

Have news to share? Please send the community member’s name and affiliation with IEA along with a photo or video to IEAgifted@educationaladvancement.org. We’d love to showcase your milestones, accomplishments, and interests with the rest of the IEA community!

Want to see more highlights from this summer? Check out what happened in the IEA community in June!

One of the greatest frustrations for parents is the assumption that giftedness means performing well in traditional school environments. Gifted children are not intrinsically motivated by good grades; they are more passionate about the acquisition of knowledge than performing rote tasks. This causes a problem when the school structure and grades rely on repetition and memorization.

With budget cuts, growing class sizes, and an emphasis on standardized test scores, it is difficult for educators to differentiate instruction and meet the needs of every student in the classroom. Often, it is the gifted students who are short-changed because they already know much of the material they need to demonstrate on high stakes tests.

Bored, unchallenged students are often a result. Many check out of the learning process, which can lead to underachievement and even academic failure.

Although there are many reasons gifted kids underachieve, the most common are

• A mismatch between students and their classroom environment
• Disinterest in content
• Poor self-concept and fear of failure
• Learning disabilities
• Lack of self-regulation and study skills

It is important for underachievement to be spotted early, when possible, and addressed quickly. If your children think that learning and school require little to no effort, they may continue to slack off and may not ever learn to challenge themselves and work to their full potential in higher level thinking (Winner, 1996). If this is a problem your children encounter, it is important that you work with their school and challenge them whenever possible.

Start this process by finding out more. Why exactly is your child bored? A teacher will not be able to make the necessary accommodations without this knowledge. Is it because the class is struggling to understand division, to which several days of class have been devoted, but your child has perfectly understood division for six months and has nothing to do while the teacher continues to explain it? Approach the teacher with this specific challenge and ask for an accommodation to solve the problem.

When speaking with your child’s teacher, you may have to combat misunderstandings about giftedness and underachievement in gifted children. Be prepared. Bring support to show your child’s gifts (test scores, GATE qualification, assessments, etc.). Many parents also find it helpful to bring research and journal articles to meetings like this to support your concerns and give the teacher the opportunity to learn more. You can also provide the teacher with several potential solutions, including some form of acceleration.

Remember that a good relationship with your child’s teacher or a school administrator is crucial to receiving special accommodations, so do your best to show how this can be a mutually beneficial relationship. Approach the teacher in a positive manner. Acknowledge that the teacher is the expert in education, and you trust his or her expertise there. However, you are the expert on your child, and you can offer the teacher some suggestions on what will be positive or negative situations for your child. Once you’ve discussed the problems, you can try to reach agreements with the teacher on how to mitigate these challenges. Also explain to the teacher that you are available to discuss your child at any time. The better your communication is with the school, the more your child will benefit.

Outside of school, give your child an environment that encourages inquiry and critical thinking. Provide access to supplemental programs geared towards your child’s intellectual ability and pace of learning. The more opportunities you provide for your child to be challenged outside of school, the more you will emphasize that hard work does pay off, even if that isn’t being demonstrated in school. You should also help your child develop communication skills so that he or she can effectively communicate with you and teachers if school is not challenging or engaging enough.

Understanding, spotting, and addressing factors that lead to underachievement early can help your children learn to challenge themselves and work towards their full potential.

This post is a part of SENG’s National Parenting Gifted Children Week Blog Tour. We encourage you to browse the list of participating blogs to find more posts about parenting gifted children.

What has your experience been in addressing your child’s underachievement or unchallenging work at school? Please share your experiences with us in the comment section below!

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Gifted children are unique in so many ways, but are they unique when it comes to depression? The most cited piece of scholarly literature on the psychological well-being of gifted children is “The Impact of Giftedness on Psychological Well-Being: What Does the Empirical Literature Say?” (Neihart, 1999). This meta-analysis reviewed dozens of findings, primarily from research conducted in the 1980’s and 1990’s, in the areas of giftedness and self-concept; depression, anxiety and suicide; social competence; deviant behavior; and psychiatric disorders. The first piece of good news is that Neihart found that gifted students did not have any higher levels of depression than their non-gifted peers nor, after some early findings to the contrary, that there was any higher prevalence of either suicide attempts or ideation among gifted adolescents. Next, the meta-analysis concluded that anxiety levels among gifted children were actually lower relative to their non-gifted peers. Finally, the research concluded that any connection between giftedness and self-concept was inconclusive, given the variety of factors that affect self-concept. (There was, however, some evidence to suggest that students in segregated gifted classrooms had lower self-concepts than those in only part-time classrooms.)

On the issue of social competence, Neihart found that the gifted population was diverse and that whether a particular child had the necessary social skills to cope depended on “their specific domain of talent, their degree of giftedness, and their self-perceptions or other personal characteristics.” Specifically, he found that the verbally gifted felt less socially accepted and self-important than the mathematically gifted and the extremely gifted were more at-risk than the moderately gifted.

Finally, the author concluded, “Intellectually or academically gifted children who are achieving, and participate in special educational program [sic] for gifted students are at least as well adjusted and are perhaps better adjusted than their non-gifted peers. These children do not seem to be any more at-risk for social or emotional problems. It is clear then from the research that giftedness does influence psychological outcomes for people, but whether those outcomes are positive or negative seems to depend on several factors that interact synergistically. These factors are the type and degree of giftedness, the educational fit or lack thereof, and one’s personal characteristics.

That’s the good news. Now for the bad. First, some researchers question the methodology of Neihart’s study arguing that some segments of the gifted population were underrepresented.

Next, some research, in particular a study by SENG (Supporting the Educational Needs of the Gifted), suggests that gifted children may be more likely to suffer emotional or social difficulties because of their “overexcitability,” perfectionism, and other differences from the norm. “Poorness of fit” of educational programming was identified in the SENG study as a major component leading to a depressive state because of the ensuing social isolation.

Gifted children appear to be especially susceptible to a type of depression called “existential.” Existential depression occurs when a child (or adult, for that matter) confronts the big issues of life like death, freedom, isolation and the meaning of life. It is sometimes called “what’s the point” depression. Though sometimes the result of a major loss, the belief is that gifted children are more prone to this type of depression because they, on their own, reflect more often on these issues rather than on the more superficial aspects of our day-to-day existence.

Additionally, research suggests that highly gifted children are extremely adept at masking the symptoms of depression. Those symptoms include social withdrawal, acting out in an immature manner, “the acute intellectualization of all phenomena, and highly focused pursuits that preclude engaging in a broader social context.” Often, there is a physical component as well, such as ill health and loss of appetite. Gifted children try to hide these symptoms both out of a sense of shame and failure and their perception that they need to protect others from their emotional state as well as the belief that others just would not understand.

What should be done about those gifted students who do struggle with psychological disorders? Early intervention is critical. Treatment for major depression usually includes psychiatric consultation and medication and psychotherapy. Because of the unique attributes of a gifted child, researchers advise finding a clinician familiar with these children. Gifted children who are suffering from “existential” depression are aided by knowing that others, including adults, have similar experiences. Touch is also helpful, whether a hug or just a fist bump. Ultimately the studies returned to the conclusion that a compatible educational fit and a connection to other highly gifted teens create the best possible circumstances for good emotional health.

And, after all, isn’t that what the IEA is all about?

Mark Erlandson, the parent of a gifted student who presently attends a boarding school out East, is a former lawyer and public high school English teacher from Wisconsin starting a new business as a legal writing consultant.