Witherspoon, S. & Witherspoon, T.
Davidson Institute for Talent Development
2012
This Tips for Parents article is from a seminar hosted by Steve and Tonya Witherspoon concerning children who are gifted, talented, and ready to succeed. The seminar was about sharing information, cultivating introspection, and developing plans for academics and the rest of children’s lives.
This article is based on a seminar concerning children who are gifted, talented, and ready to succeed. The seminar was about sharing information, cultivating introspection, and developing plans for academics, and the rest of our children’s lives.
We discussed anecdotal, and researched information probing methods and strategies that have succeeded, and failed, while raising gifted children.
Some of the characteristics of gifted children addressed during the seminar were uneven, or "asynchronous development,” peer relations, excessive self-criticism, perfectionism, risk-aversion, attention deficit, physical ailments, multipotentiality, and the influence of gifted parents raising gifted students.
The seminar brought realization to many parents that they share many of the same challenges motivating and monitoring their children’s academic performance, based on various combinations of the characteristics previously listed. Many were concerned that their children were not progressing in satisfactory fashion in the topics covered:
- Learning from, and accepting failure
- Social and emotional growth
- Self-advocacy
- Identifying passions and career goals
Resources
These sites address ways in which gifted students typically fail, and strategies to overcome those failures.
These sites address both external and internal limits to social and emotional growth, and how conscious recognition and cultural awareness lead to true growth.
These sites focus on student practices that will make the learning environment more productive in terms of appropriate accommodations.
These resources provide practical advice for career choice, gifted adults who succeed in the workplace, and special career considerations for female gifted students and workers.
- Career Guidance for Gifted Students; Chapter 5 of A Handbook for Consulting with Gifted and Talented
By Barbara Kerr, Ph.D., Published by the University of Kansas Department of Psychology and Research in Education CLEOS Project
http://cleoslab.org/resources/chap5.pdf
- Counseling Gifted and Talented Girls; Chapter 6 of A Handbook for Consulting with Gifted and Talented
By Barbara Kerr, Ph.D., Published by the University of Kansas Department of Psychology and Research in Education CLEOS Project
http://cleoslab.org/resources/chap6.pdf
- High School Reform and Gifted Students
By Cheri Pierson Yecke, PhD, Published in Duke Talent Identification Program Digest of Gifted Research
http://www.tip.duke.edu/node/898
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