. . . How can we help?
The consulting services available to Young Scholars revolve around the family's relationship with their Family Consultant. This is a caring, experienced person who is assigned to your family as soon as you enter the program. The Family Consultant is available by phone and email to get to know you and your child, and your unique needs and goals. In partnership with this experienced helper, you will begin to formulate a plan based on your child's abilities and challenges; a plan that will undoubtedly be under revision throughout your participation in the program.
Along the way, you will decide among the four types of consulting services to best meet your needs. While all are available to every family, you make the decision as to how your Family Consultant can best assist you.
Academic Support
Finding an appropriately challenging schooling situation for a student with extreme intellectual ability is one of the most difficult tasks parents face. To make this task less daunting, the professionals at the Davidson Institute can offer guidance, resources and information addressing the following options:
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- Grade Acceleration
- Subject Acceleration
- Assessment
- Enrichment
- Homeschooling
- Curriculum Development
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- Talent Searches
- Distance Learning
- Independent Study
- Concurrent Enrollment
- Tutoring/Mentoring
- Early College Admission
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Educational Advocacy
We can help you prepare for school meetings and provide information to key school personnel. Our team of professionals can also serve as active advocates or help you find one in your area.
Talent Development
Young people with extreme intellectual abilities often have an intense, driving need to explore and develop their interests and talents. Research indicates that talent development is a process. Children who have access to appropriate teachers, resources and mentors along the way are much more likely to develop to their fullest potential.
The Davidson Institute's role in talent development is to help parents work with their children to identify the path they want to take and then keep walking at the pace that fits their changing needs. Practically speaking, this may mean assistance in locating mentors, special classes, camps, or other resources that will nuture the child's area(s) of passion.
“My mentor has taught me that the most important thing is to ask the right question so that you work on solving the right problem. Before I had a mentor I was getting frustrated because I was wasting time solving the wrong problem." -Davidson Young Scholar
Child & Adolescent Development
Profoundly intelligent young people often have unique developmental trajectories, which can make parenting them quite a challenge. Since the Young Scholars program addresses the whole child rather than just intellectual abilities, the team of professionals are available to help parents locate resources that address common developmental issues such as perfectionism, underachievement and peer relationships.
The Institute may also be able to help parents find ways to address their child's learning-based exceptionalities and disabilities, such as ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia. Telephone consultations with pediatric specialists in these areas can be arranged. We recommend that children with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Asperger's syndrome, depression or other such conditions work with local professionals as we do not provide direct therapy or counseling services and because our services are primarily provided long distance via phone and email.
Outside Consultants
We work with some of the top professionals and specialists in the field of gifted education, including:
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- Edward Amend, PsyD
- Susan Assouline, Ph.D.
- Wes Beach, M.A.
- Paul Beljan, PsyD, ABPdN
- Deborah Claymon, M.A.
- Nicholas Colangelo, Ph.D.
- Tracy Cross, Ph.D.
- James Delisle, Ph.D.
- Megan Foley-Nicpon, Ph.D.
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- Steven Graybar, Ph.D.
- Julia Osborn, Ph.D.
- Jon Reider, Ph.D.
- Sylvia Rimm, Ph.D.
- Deborah Ruf, Ph.D.
- Nancy Robinson, Ph.D.
- Robert Schultz, Ph.D.
- James Webb, Ph.D.
- Nadia Webb, PsyD
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