Davidson Discussions delve deeper into information and topics specific to parents of profoundly gifted students who seemingly experience the same issues time and time again. These videos are a current and fresh way for the Davidson Institute Family Consultant team to share our experiences of working with this unique population of students during the past 12 years. As an added benefit, each monthly episode will coincide with the school year to ensure relevance. Thank you to Dylan B. for shooting and editing these videos!
Episode 10 - May 25, 2012
Parental Guilt: Meeting Your Child’s Needs to the Best of Your Ability (and being OK with that!)
As a parent of a profoundly gifted student, you want to do all you can to provide your child educational opportunities that offer academic challenge and social success. Such placements can be difficult to find, leading parents to question and second guess their decisions. In this Davidson Discussions video, the process of guilt-free decision making is examined, including communicating with your child about specific educational, academic and social issues, along with the notion of not being trapped by prior decisions and how to handle self-doubt regarding “am I doing enough?”.
Episode 9 - April 27, 2012
Early College
This Davidson Discussions video is a Q&A interview format that addresses frequently asked questions about early college. Some of these questions include: What signals let parents know that it could be time to consider early college? How do early college and traditional college compare? How can parents gauge their student’s social and academic readiness for early college? What alternatives to early college are available? The interviewer also covers possible pitfalls to early college and what characteristics colleges look for in an early college applicant.
Episode 8 - March 30, 2012
Motivation – Learn It, Live It, Love It
In our work with gifted students and their parents, we know this time of year can be difficult for students as many struggle to gain the motivation needed to finish the school year strong. This can be especially true for a profoundly gifted student functioning in the top 1 percent, who attends a school system geared for other students. This episode of Davidson Discussions explains how both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators often coexist, and how parents can help their student(s) achieve to the best of their abilities throughout the entire school year.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 7 - Feb 23, 2012
Communicating with Teens
By working with gifted teens involved in Davidson Institute programs and The Davidson Academy, we know how challenging it can be to communicate with an adolescent, especially a gifted young person who may be dealing with asynchronous development. In this episode of Davidson Discussions, Bryan and Rebecca provide five easy-to-follow communication tips for parents to try the next time they find yourself themselves struggling to communicate with their teen.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 6 - Jan. 27, 2012
Searching for a Summer Camp
With summer program application deadlines quickly approaching, January is a good time to ask your student(s) what activities they would like to participate in this summer. For many gifted students, summer camp is a way to find academic challenge, make new friends, build self-esteem and have fun. Drawing upon knowledge from Young Scholar families and THINK Summer Institute students, the content of this Davidson Discussions video is intended to assist parents with the process of finding a good match between endless summer camp possibilities and your student(s).
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 5 - Dec. 23, 2011
Organizational Routine Part III and Strategies for Fostering Social Skills
In this monthly installment of Davidson Discussions, we conclude our three-part series titled Organization Routine with tips about homework, in addition to information on nurturing social skills. Guidelines are offered to help you and your student instill a routine for bringing homework assignments home and successfully turning in these assignments on time. In the second half of this episode, strategies for fostering social skills in your gifted child are provided. Similar to organizational skills, social skills can also be practiced and improved. Specifically, the art of simple conversation is broken into manageable pieces for you and your child, as well as ways to work together to improve this important skill set.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 4 - Nov. 23, 2011
Helping Kids Handle Bullying
In this monthly installment of Davidson Discussions, Bryan discusses bullying, a serious problem among school-age children that can happen anywhere. Bullying can take many forms including verbal, social, physical and even online (known as cyberbullying). In this video, we discuss how to identify if your child is being bullied, what to do about it and how to avoid it.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 3 - Oct. 28, 2011
Study SmarterIn this monthly installment of
Davidson Discussions, Rebecca provides strategies and tips intended to help students study smarter. Specifically, this video focuses on the role active studying can play in helping a student gain a deeper understanding of the materials they are given in class by detailing three steps: identifying major concepts, creating new study materials and how to study the new material.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 2 - Sept. 30, 2011
Self-Advocacy
In the second episode of
Davidson Discussions, Bryan offers specific tips on how parents can help their child, or children, identify academic needs and then share those needs with their teacher(s) through self-advocacy. Basic self-advocacy strategies, such as student-teacher meeting preparation, are presented as well as how parents can support their child's advocacy efforts in school.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Episode 1 - Aug. 26, 2011
Back to School Transitions: Nurturing an Organizational Routine
In the first episode of
Davidson Discussions, Bryan provides tips and strategies for parents to aid gifted students in making the transition from the long days of summer back to school as smooth as possible. Also included are steps to aid your gifted student in fostering an organizational routine.
View the PDF of the slides featured in this video.
Other Links
Davidson Gifted Database -
www.DavidsonGifted.org/DB Visit our
YouTube Channel.
Do you have topic suggestions for future episodes? Please send an email to
communications@davidsongifted.org.