Davidson Gifted Perspectives

A Davidson Institute Video Series

This video series by the Davidson Institute examines a number of different gifted-related issues and viewpoints.

YouTube Playlist

Part 1: Explaining Giftedness to Others

How to discuss a gifted or twice-exceptional diagnosis with a child.

Part 2: Finding Multi-age Interest Based Community for PG Children

Making friends is hard. Making friends as a profoundly gifted or twice-exceptional child can come with some additional challenges.

Part 3: Screen time and Constant Stimulation

Some children are always “on” and needing stimulation. Does “having no chill” come with the territory of being a gifted kid? Is there research or a consensus on screen time for gifted kids? Hear our take!

Part 4: Profoundly gifted kids can talk a LOT and passionately about their interests

Many profoundly gifted children can be intensely passionate about their interests. Sometimes this means they want to talk A LOT about those interests. You may wonder: Should I just be a receptive, engaged listener? Should I be doing something differently to be more of a partner in the conversation?

Part 5: Talking to classmates about an acceleration

Some parents have fears that accelerating their child will be misunderstood by their new class cohort. How would a child explain their acceleration or grade skip? What can parents say to guide their child?

Part 6: Navigating the social landscape for tweens

Parenting a profoundly gifted tween or teen doesn’t come with a roadmap. As parents of profoundly gifted tweens and teens, you may be worrying about their social life during these years. The landscape can shift quite a bit. Helping profoundly gifted tweens and teens to navigate social landscapes in a way that is authentic and genuine can be tricky.

Part 7: Learning the basics

Sometimes it can be confusing why profoundly gifted children can have a high-level conversation about something, but at the same time can’t seem to do the ‘basic’ skills that we think as coming before the high-level stuff. Is there anything you can do to help bridge those gaps and ease some of the frequent frustration or confusion?

Part 8: Acceleration and off ramps

As a parent, it can be frustrating or confusing to make educational decisions for your child when anecdotal evidence and the findings from research don’t match up. With factors that are less predictable, like social changes and puberty, how do you know if acceleration is going to be the right choice?

Part 9: Balancing the schedule

Balancing a family’s schedule can be difficult. Between school, doctor’s appointments, sports games, and anything else that comes along. But there can be some particular challenges that come with balancing schedules in a family with Profoundly gifted or twice exceptional children. Sometimes these kids are doing so many things and yet they are saying that they want to do more. How does that make sense?

Part 10: Acceleration and Executive Functioning

When making acceleration decisions, some of the most common concerns that parents have are executive function and social dynamics. Can a student be successful in a higher grade if their executive function skills are still developing? Can a student be successful on an accelerated track if they are still developing their social-emotional skills?

Part 11: Empathy, Social Justice, and Current Events

During one of the most recent members-only virtual events, a few parents asked a Family Services team member to share her thoughts on gifted children’s heightened sense of justice and empathy.

Here’s the Family Services team member sharing a few strategies that our families use to support Young Scholars.

Part 12: Deadlines and the Development of Executive Functioning Skills

Recently, during one of our members-only Q&A events, a family asked if not setting due dates for their homeschooler would hinder the development of their executive functioning skills. Here’s a Family Services team member sharing her thoughts.

Part 13: Considerations For a Single Grade Acceleration in Early Elementary School

During one of our recent virtual events, exclusive to Young Scholar families, a parent asked how often single-grade acceleration works for students. They mention the possibility of their student ending up academically ahead, but physically behind.

Part 14: Balancing Enrichment with After School Restraint Collapse

During one of our recent virtual events, a parent shared that they hear enrichment suggested frequently to help profoundly gifted students cope with in school boredom. But how is after school activities a solution when students come home melting down after trying to handle their school day?

Part 15: Balancing Supplemental Academics with Being a Kid

During one of our recent virtual events, a parent asked a question that we get a lot on the family services team. The family wanted to know how to balance supplemental academics with just being a kid. As our Director of Family Services discusses, this is a big question, but one of the things to consider is that play might look different for PG kids.

Part 16: Gifted Children and Physical Activity

We’ve heard from families in our community that some profoundly gifted children struggle with physical activity or “don’t like sports.” Many Young Scholars struggle with competition. So, what’s going on there?

Part 17: What Options for Acceleration Can Parents Discuss with a School

Many families with profoundly gifted children are familiar with the idea that they might have to advocate for their student’s unique educational needs. But many families don’t know what to ask for, or how to present their ideas to a school.

Part 18: Adolescence and Profound Giftedness

Sometimes, people think of giftedness as an identity that only children have. There’s still a stereotype that someone “grows out of giftedness.” But, with giftedness being a brain-based difference, it’s more conducive to see giftedness as a lifelong cognitive profile.

Part 19: Self-Discipline Motivation and Enriching Gifted Children

Commonly, families in the Young Scholars program will tell us that their children are bored in school and so they are supplementing their education with outside enrichment options. But sometimes, because profoundly gifted children can develop asynchronously, they struggle with the self-discipline and motivation that it takes to participate in online enrichment themselves.

Part 20: Resilience and Sports

A family asked if resilience and grit are transferrable from sports to academics. Many families can relate to this one. This family shared that they can see their son working hard to improve his basketball skills, but he doesn’t work to the same level as his academics. Our Director of Family Services shares her thoughts and insights into the situation.

Part 21: Building Community While Homeschooling

Recently, a parent shared that their student had been attending a gifted school, but, for this year, they had switched to homeschool. While they were at the gifted school, their son did have a community, but they’ve been ghosted now that they are homeschooling. With the boy’s birthday coming up, the parent didn’t know how to address the situation or talk about this.

Part 22: Schools for 2e Children

One of the questions that many families have boils down to “what’s the best school for my child?” For families with twice exceptional children, that question has even more resonance. Is there a single school that can engage them in all of the ways that they need?

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