Teaching TIPs for Parents of Gifted Students Recently, we shared a list of TIP resources for parents to draw upon as we try to navigate this uncertain time during the spread of COVID-19 and find activities to motivate, occupy, and enrich our children’s learning. Today, we focus on practical tips for parents of gifted students to keep them learning and engaged as they study from home: Minimize Distractions: One common cognitive characteristic of gifted students is a tendency to focus for … [Read more...] about Home Alone: Part 3
anxiety
A look at the movie “Gifted”
Gifted is a new movie by Fox Searchlight Pictures about a profoundly gifted child that opened on April 7, 2017. Several members of the Duke TIP staff attended an early showing of the film and have shared their thoughts on it below. We've tried to give you some different perspectives on the movie, including whether it accurately portrays the issues involved in giftedness. Enjoy -- and please feel free to share your own opinions about Gifted in the Comments section below. … [Read more...] about A look at the movie “Gifted”
Nurture the Nature: Understanding and Supporting Your Child’s Unique Core Personality
Heraclitus wrote, “Our own nature hides from us, but wants to be found.” Do you remember moments in your life when you asked “Who am I?” Perhaps you were interacting in a social situation in which you realized you didn’t fit, reflecting near a river or in your place of faith, or talking to someone you love. The self was somewhere that you needed to discover, and you sensed a primal drive to find it. … [Read more...] about Nurture the Nature: Understanding and Supporting Your Child’s Unique Core Personality
Helping Children Cope with Personal Tragedy
Children are much more resilient than we tend to give them credit for. In the face of personal tragedy, simple supports, structure, and assurances go a long way toward helping children recover. Events that cause children distress include the death of a family member, friend, or classmate; an accident that disables them or others close to them; and damage to their home or belongings by natural disaster. … [Read more...] about Helping Children Cope with Personal Tragedy
Helping Children Cope with Anxiety
Paulette dreads piano recitals. Even though she’s given many of them, anxiety makes her feel sick before performing. It abates once she begins to play, but stage fright takes the fun out of playing before an audience. What can her parents do to ease her anxiety? … [Read more...] about Helping Children Cope with Anxiety
Mislabeling Gifted Children
Some gifted children may be misdiagnosed as having psychological or behavioral disorders because of a lack of knowledge about characteristics commonly associated with giftedness, according to Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults, by James T. Webb et al. (Great Potential, 2005). The authors compare the traits of giftedness with those of disorders often diagnosed in the gifted and detail the important differences. … [Read more...] about Mislabeling Gifted Children
Helping Children Cope with Global or Community Tragedy
“Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time.” This chilling announcement was made on television and in newspaper headlines in the fall of 2002 after a sniper in the Washington, DC, area had killed ten and critically wounded three people, including a middle school boy on a playground. Accounts of the ordeal of Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 years old when she was snatched from her own bed in Salt Lake City in June 2002, badly frightened children who normally felt safe in their homes. … [Read more...] about Helping Children Cope with Global or Community Tragedy
Smooth Transitions
The phone call came in May, just days after my niece had completed the eighth grade. The spunky preteen who had begged to copilot a small plane at age 12 said, “I just don’t want to go to high school.” It took patience and counseling skills to get her to express her fears of demanding academic work, getting lost between classes, and getting teased by older students. … [Read more...] about Smooth Transitions
Being Me and Fitting In: The Dilemma of Differentness
Stephen is a 13-year-old math whiz. He’s also a good all-around student, energetic, and curious. He sometimes drives his parents to distraction with his questions and ideas, and he has alienated more than one neighborhood friend with his information about and zeal for mathematical equations. His parents worry that Stephen has few close friends and few prospects of making any. … [Read more...] about Being Me and Fitting In: The Dilemma of Differentness
Perfectionism: When Excellence Isn’t Good Enough
We want our children to strive for excellence. Whether in schoolwork, ice skating, music, art, scientific experiments, written work, or other activities, striving for excellence is usually a healthy way to develop talent. But when excellence does not seem good enough, perfectionism results, leaving children no room for error and allowing them little satisfaction in what they do. … [Read more...] about Perfectionism: When Excellence Isn’t Good Enough