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Social/Emotional Development: Psychological

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  • Organizations: Local
  • Organizations: National
  • Organizations: Regional
  • Organizations: State
  • Printed Materials: Books
  • Printed Materials: Online Documents
  • Printed Materials: Periodicals/Reports & Studies
  • Websites & Other Media: Commercial
  • Websites & Other Media: For Educators
  • Websites & Other Media: Informational
  • Organizations: Local

    Amend Psychological Services, PSC (Lexington, KY)
    Amend Psychological Services provides comprehensive psychological services including assessment and evaluation, consultations, counseling, and therapy for children, adolescents, and their families. Populations served in our practice include: students with LD, ADHD, or other learning and behavior difficulties; gifted/talented students; special needs students; twice exceptional learners; children experiencing life adjustments associated with divorce, grief and loss, and other family transitions; and, children with chronic illness or chronic pain such as migraines.
  • Organizations: National

    American Psychology Association (APA) (DC)
    "Based in Washington, DC, the American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With more than 150,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide."
    Family Achievement Clinic - Dr. Sylvia Rimm
    This website contains links to numerous articles are relevant to the profoundly intelligent and their parents. Dr. Rimm's Family Achievement Clinic specializes in gifted children who have problems in school as well as counseling on other gifted issues.
    Greater Good Science Center
    Based at UC Berkeley, the Greater Good Science Center provides a bridge between the research community and the general public. The organization studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being and teach skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.
    Mental Health America - Coping With Bereavement
    Among other things, this informative page on the Mental Health America website covers the various emotions one can expect when experiencing the loss of a loved one and how to move forward to lead a productive life.
    National Association for Self-Esteem (NASE), (MD)
    The purpose of this organization is to fully integrate self-esteem into the fabric of American society so that every individual, no matter what their age or background, experiences personal worth and happiness.
    National Association of School Psychologists
    The National Association of School Psychologists represents and supports school psychology to enhance the mental health and educational competence of all children.
    Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG)
    Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) is a national non-profit organization "dedicated to fostering environments in which gifted adults and children, in all their diversity, understand and accept themselves and are understood, valued, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, workplaces and communities."
    The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology
    The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, a national nonprofit organization, is committed to advancing psychology as a profession and improving the delivery of health services to the public.
  • Organizations: Regional

    Center for the Gifted (Philadelphia, PA)
    The Center for the Gifted was established in 1983 to meet the needs of gifted people of all ages. Services include: Counseling and psychotherapy for gifted individuals, couples, and families; Gifted identification and psychoeducational assessment; Vocational interest testing and career guidance; Workshops and publications focusing on the special needs of people who are gifted.
    Summit Center (California)
    Summit Center provides educational and psychological assessments, consultations, and treatment for children, their parents, and families, as well as parent discussion groups and educational opportunities. Their specialties include managing stress and anxiety, learning differences such as dyslexia, and issues related to giftedness and twice-exceptionality.
  • Organizations: State

    Gifted Resource Center of New England (Providence, RI)
    The Gifted Resource Center of New England, located in Providence, Rhode Island, serves the needs of gifted children, adolescents and their families. Clinical psychological and educational services are offered in assessment, psychotherapy, curriculum design, school consultation and teacher in-service. Also, articles, resource lists, and suggested readings are offered. This center also engages in research about giftedness, testing techniques and interventions with gifted children and adolescents, presents at conferences on the gifted and writes about many aspects of giftedness.
    North Dakota Psychological Association (ND)
    The North Dakota Psychological Association is the voice of psychology in the state of North Dakota. The NPA provides information to consumers and the media, about psychological issues.
  • Printed Materials: Books

    A Love for Learning: Motivation and the Gifted Child
    Dr. Carol Strip Whitney presents concepts and techniques to counteract many de-motivating factors gifted children are susceptible to. These factors can lead to depression and academic underachievement. Whitney, along with help from Gretchen Hirsch, offers helpful advice to help spark the motivation in your gifted child or student.
    A Mind at a Time
    Recognizing each child's intellectual, emotional, and physical strengths--and teaching directly to these strengths--is key to sculpting "a mind at a time," according to Dr. Mel Levine. A professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School, Levine substantiates his claim that developmental growth deserves the same monitoring as a child's physical growth. Click here to read a review of this book.
    A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children
    Four experts (Webb, Gore, Amend, DeVries) in the field of gifted and talented provide practical guidance in the areas of: Characteristics of gifted children; Peer relations; Sibling issues; Motivation & underachievement; Discipline issues; Intensity & stress; Depression & unhappiness; Educational planning; Parenting concerns; Finding professional help; and much, much more! Click here to read a review of this book.
    A Parent's Guide to Gifted Teens: Living with Intense and Creative Adolescents
    A Parent's Guide to Gifted Teens will help parents understand their gifted adolescent's intensity and excitability and provide tips for nurturing self-discipline, being supportive without being controlling, and for caring for yourself while guiding an intense, creative teen. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Am I Naturally This Crazy?: Poems
    This book by author S. Holbrook is for ages 9-12 and contains poems about self-esteem, embarrassment, divorce, discipline, sports, dreams, pets, school, friendships, mischief, and family relationships.
    Anxiety-Free Kids: An Interactive Guide for Parents and Children

    Written by Bonnie Zucker, Psy.D., this book offers parents strategies that help children become happy and worry free, methods that relieve a child’s excessive anxieties and phobias, and tools for fostering interaction and family-oriented solutions. Using a unique companion approach that offers two books in one—a practical, reader-friendly book for parents and a fun workbook for kids—this solutions-oriented guide utilizes the cognitive-behavioral approach to therapy by integrating the parent in the child’s self-help process. The new edition offers two new chapters—one on sleep and one on how to best parent kids with anxiety. Click here to read a review of the 2008 edition of this book.

    Authentic Happiness: Using the New Postive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
    In this practical book, Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D. introduces the revolutionary idea of "Positive Psychology." Happiness can be cultivated by identifying and nurturing traits that we already possess - including kindness, originality, humor, optimism and generosity.
    Children's Friendship Training
    This book is a manualized guide for therapists treating children with peer problems. This unique, empirically validated treatment is the first to integrate parents into the therapy process to ensure generalization to school and home. Representing more than 12 years of research, this guide presents the comprehensive social skills training program developed by these pioneering authors.
    Counseling Gifted and Talented Children: A Guide for Teachers, Counselors, and Parents
    This book from Roberta Milgram highlights the role of regular classroom teachers and teachers of the gifted in counseling; provides teachers, counselors, and parents with information about the wide variety of approaches to enrichment and/or acceleration.
    Counseling the Gifted & Talented
    This book by Linda Kreger Silverman is an aid for any person related to or working with a gifted child. Ms. Silverman provides specific strategies for individual and group counseling in meeting the unique social and emotional needs of these individuals.
    Creating Strong Kids Through Writing: 30-Minute Lessons That Build Empathy, Self-Awareness, and Social-Emotional Understanding in Grades 4-8
    Teachers are always looking for activities that not only enhance the mechanics of writing—grammar, spelling, and syntax—but also allow students to express themselves in creative and personal ways. This book is the perfect resource for teachers seeking quick, ready-to-use writing lessons that encourage social and emotional growth, personal development, introspection, and innovative thinking in students. Each of the 20 lessons has been classroom-tested with students of all ability levels in grades 4–8, and each lesson contains one or more samples of student work to help guide and inspire student writers. This book is a resource teachers will turn to again and again when they seek writing lessons that, although short in duration, are lasting in their personal impact on student growth.
    Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
    Written by Daniel H. Pink, this book provides a paradigm-changing examination of what truly motivates us and how to harness that knowledge to find greater satisfaction in our lives and our work.
    Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students: Helping Kids Cope with Explosive Feelings
    This book by Christine Fonseca provides readers with helpful, specific information about this population, as well as helpful interventions to attempt that are easy to implement and supported by research. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Fighting Invisible Tigers: A Stress Management Guide for Teens
    Now in its fourth edition, the revised and updated edition teaches teens proven techniques and stress management skills to face the rigors of growing up. Packed with useful information on how stress affects physical and emotional health, readers will learn: smart approaches to handle decision-making; easy steps toward greater assertiveness; relaxation and mindfulness exercises to focus their minds; time management skills to avoid feeling pressured; how to avoid online drama; positive self-talk techniques; and more! Click here to read a review of an older edition of this book.
    Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
    This book summarizes, for a general audience, decades of research on the positive aspects of human experience - joy, creativity, the process of total involvement with life called 'flow'. The author reveals how this pleasurable state can, in fact, be controlled, and not just left to chance, by setting challenges for ourselves. This book is the ideal introduction to this remarkable subject and a book that can lead its readers to discover the true richness of everyday life.
    From Worrier to Warrior: A Guide to Conquering Your Fears
    A companion guide to Make Your Worrier a Warrior (for parents), this book is designed to teach students how to conquer the Worry Monster by using several easy-to-follow strategies to overcome worry and fear. From Worrier to Warrior teaches readers how to create a “toolbox” of ways to combat fear and anxiety, and conquer the Worry Monster at any time.
    Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall: A Parent's Guide to the New Teenager
    Despite the best efforts of parents, today's adolescents frequently drink, experiment with drugs and are sexually active. According to the Anthony E. Wolf, however, it is still important to have rules even though a teenager may break them. He clearly has a feel for both the angst of young people who must deal with an evermore complex world and the difficulties parents face when a cooperative loving child morphs into a teenager who lies, talks back and avoids parental company.
    Gifted Children: Myths and Realities
    Dr. Ellen Winner's book focuses on both intellectual and artistic giftedness. This book has a developmental psychology perspective, but also addresses educational issues. Of particular note to those who work with the profoundly gifted, Winner makes a case that public funding for gifted programs should be focused on the most profoundly gifted students first, with higher classroom standards the means for meeting the needs of the moderately gifted.
    Gifted Kids Speak Out
    Hundreds of kids ages 6 to 13 talk about school, friends, their families, and the future. In the introduction, Dr. Jim Delisle writes that he hopes that his book will provide young readers with "a feeling that you are not alone.'' Delisle has listened to young voices speak out about understandings of giftedness; adult expectations of gifted kids; parent, sibling, and peer relationships; schooling; and future hopes and dreams.
    Gifted Parent Groups: The SENG Model
    This book by Arlene Devries and Dr. James T. Webb, provides provides the essential information for persons wishing to conduct SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) Model parent support groups for parents of gifted children. The groups are designed to help parents gain a better understanding of their children and to help their children develop positive self-esteem and interpersonal skills.
    Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers
    This award-winning practical source for parents and teachers discusses the unique social and emotional needs and concerns of gifted students. Includes chapters on motivation, discipline, peer relationships, sibling relationships, stress management, depression, and many other issues that parents and teachers encounter daily. See also A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children for an updated version of this book.
    Handbook of Gifted Education, 3rd Edition
    The 3rd edition of this classic text is a comprehensive resource addressing important research-based considerations in gifted education. Many respected professionals have contributed chapters that cover the following topics: conceptions and identification; instructional models and practices; creativity, thinking skills, and eminence; psychological and counseling issues; populations of giftedness; and special topics, including technology, rural schools, and legal issues.
    Handbook of Psychosocial Characteristics of Exceptional Children
    This in-depth handbook examines the categories of exceptionality most often described in educational, behavioral, and health practices. Here, editors Vicki L. Schwean and Donald H. Saklofske compile valuable information from leading authorities in the medical, psychological and educational fields.
    Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child
    Alissa Quart shows how a gifted childhood that is "relentlessly tested, totally overscheduled and joylessly competitive" is being created by some parents and concludes that "enrichment" not only doesn't necessarily work, it may be harmful.
    I Like Being Me: Poems for Children, About Feeling Special, Appreciating Others, and Getting Along
    A collection of 26 poems intended to boost children's self-esteem. A companion leader's guide to the book is available and the two titles may make an appropriate addition to a guidance counselor's curriculum.
    Introduction to Gifted Education
    This definitive textbook is designed for courses that introduce teachers to gifted education, whether that is in graduate school or in certification or continuing development programs for teachers. The book is inclusive in nature, addressing varied approaches to each topic while relying on no single theory or construct. The book includes chapters that focus on critical topics such as gifted education standards, social-emotional needs, cognitive development, diverse learners, identification, programming options, creativity, professional development, and curriculum.
    Just Because I Am: A Child's Book of Affirmation
    This children's book is an excellent introduction to self-esteem. Easy to understand statements and enchanting full-color illustrations invite young readers ages 3-8 to love and accept themselves. They learn to respect their bodies and acknowledge their needs. They name their feelings, discover that everyone makes mistakes and hear that it's okay to say "yes" and "no".
    Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
    Martin Seligman, a renowned psychologist and clinical researcher, has been studying optimists and pessimists for 25 years. "Pessimism is escapable," asserts Seligman in this book, by learning a new set of cognitive skills that will enable you to take charge, resist depression, and make yourself feel better and accomplish more. "Pessimism is escapable," asserts author Martin Seligman, by learning a new set of cognitive skills that will enable you to take charge, resist depression, and make yourself feel better and accomplish more.
    Make Your Worrier a Warrior: A Guide to Conquering Your Child's Fears
    A companion guide to From Worrier to Warrior: A Guide to Conquering Your Fears, this book offers parents the opportunity to help their children or teens do the most courageous thing they will ever have to do: conquer their Worry Monster. Make Your Worrier a Warrior provides useful and comforting methods that parents can use to help their children create an anxiety-reducing “toolbox” to carry with them wherever they go. In building this foundation for their children, parents might even find that these strategies will work just as effectively to manage their own anxieties.
    Malleable Minds: Translating Insights From Psychology and Neuroscience to Gifted Education
    This illuminating volume from The American
    Psychological Association, the National Association for the Gifted and Talented, and The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented offers insights from social and cognitive psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists as they share and connect their research findings and perspectives with experts in gifted and talented education. Collectively, the scholars offer an intriguing discussion of how their research might support the optimal performance of gifted and talented individuals, and inform the quality of services they must receive to do so.
    Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
    The Oxford American Dictionary defines mindsent as "an established set of attitudes held by someone." According to author and professor of psychology at Stanford, Dr. Carol Dweck, a set of attitudes is not so set. Dweck proposes that everyone has either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Dweck provides a checklist to assess yourself and shows how a particular mindset can affect all areas of your life, from business to sports and love. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger’s, Depression, and Other Disorders (2nd edition)
    Gifted children and adults are frequently misdiagnosed, particularly those who are twice-exceptional (2e). This much-anticipated second edition of a best-selling book is your guide to help prevent that. Some of our brightest, most creative children and adults are misdiagnosed as having behavioral or emotional disorders such as ADD/ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or Asperger’s Disorder. Many receive unneeded medications and/or inappropriate counseling. How can this happen? Physicians, psychologists, and counselors often are unaware of characteristics of gifted children and adults that mimic pathological diagnoses. Seven prominent healthcare professionals guide parents and professionals to distinguish between behaviors that are pathological and those that are “normal” for gifted individuals. Click here to read a review of the first edition of this book.
    Models of Counseling Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults
    Sal Mendaglio brings together a group of contributing authors who share in detail their approaches to counseling clients who are gifted and talented. This book is designed to help interested professionals, as well as those in preparation programs, conduct effective counseling techniques with highly able clients.
    More Than a Test Score: Teens Talk About Being Gifted, Talented or Otherwise Extra-Ordinary
    Based on a survey of thousands of gifted teens, Robert Schultz, Ph.D. and James Delisle, Ph.D., offer this self-help book for young adults filled with stories, insights, honesty, and humor. You'll read gifted teens' thoughts on what it's like to feel left out, overwhelmed by expectations, underwhelmed by school and excited about life's possibilites.
    More Than Moody: Recognizing and Treating Adolescent Depression
    In this book, Dr. Koplewicz uses his experience as a clinician and researcher to help parents distinguish between normal teenage angst and actual depression, a serious psychiatric illness. He combines prescriptive advice and compelling stories to show parents the warning signs, risk factors, and key symptoms that distinguish this behavior from depression, an under-treated problem that can have serious long-term consequences, and that can even be life-threatening.
    On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines
    Jeff Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines.
    On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children (5th ed.)
    In this book, the nation’s leading authority on the psychology of gifted children offers advice and encouragement for both parents and teachers. In a thoughtful, conversational style, the author offers an in-depth look at the complex social and emotional issues faced by gifted children. This revised and updated fifth edition of the popular text contains more than 12 new chapters. On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children tackles important and timely issues dealing with the social and emotional needs of today’s gifted children, including who gifted children are and what giftedness means; how parents, teachers, and counselors can guide gifted children; the issues facing gifted students in the 21st century, such as technology and terrorism; and how the education of gifted children can adapt for the future. This concise, sensitive look at gifted children and their social and emotional world offers unique insights for both teachers and parents who support these special children.
    One Child
    One Child is the story of Sheila, an emotionally disturbed, profoundly gifted child who ended up assigned to teacher Torey Hayden's classroom because there were no beds in the children's unit of the state psychiatric hospital. Sheila, 6 years old, and the daughter of an economically disadvantaged migrant worker, had tried to kill a three-year-old. This is the story of how Torey "tamed" Sheila, discovered her extraordinarily high IQ, and eventually helped her to change her behavior enough so that she was able to be accelerated and mainstreamed into a regular third grade classroom.
    Perfectionism: A Practical Guide to Managing “Never Good Enough”
    For perfectionists of all types, whether children or adults, this practical guide explains myths about perfectionism and provides a new paradigm with practical steps to turn the negative into positive, build resilience, and develop optimism. Goals, perseverance, mindset, and self-talk are emphasized. The author, Lisa Van Gemert, is an educator and widely-known speaker and was Youth and Education Ambassador for Mensa. She understands perfectionism in herself as well as through her work.
    Prisoners of Childhood: The Drama of the Gifted Child and the Search for the True Self
    Today's responsible parents strive to raise children with healthy egos. But for a lot of adults, the word "ego" carries the negative connotation of "narcissism." Traditionally, the "good" child learned self-control, self-denial and placed parental needs and wishes first. If those needs were abusive to the child, there was no choice but to block the hurtful behavior in order to hold onto adults who were loved and needed. Miller recognized the link between certain emotional problems in adulthood and repressed childhood anguish.
    Psychology for Kids Vol. 1: 40 Fun Tests That Help You Learn About Yourself
    Are you an extrovert or an introvert? An optimist or a pessimist? Can you predict the future? Are you creative? Left-brained or right-brained? What body language do you speak? Do you have ESP? Based on sound psychological concepts, these 40 fascinating tests help kids explore their interests and abilities, find out why they act the way they do, and discover what makes them unique.
    Psychology for Kids Vol. 2: 40 Fun Experiments That Help You Learn About Others
    A follow-up to Psychology for Kids (1990), this book explores why others behave as they do. People, paper and pencils, and a copy machine to reproduce written tests are the principal requirements of the 40 experiments, which investigate such things as gender differences, learning skills, perception, and logic. with an added sprinkling of classic concepts, terms and guidelines for interpretation, the experiments aren't rigorously scientific, just fun and challenging. A great change from the usual "science experiment" book.
    Raising an Optimistic Child: A Proven Plan for Depression-Proofing Young Children - for Life
    This book from Bob Murray and Alicia Fortinberry, offers a safe, drug-free approach to protect your child from depression. Parents can learn how to spot the early signs for depression and even prevent your own depression from influencing your child.
    Real Boys' Voices
    Dr. William Pollack provides an inside look into the secret emotional lives of boys. The reader is able to hear boys speak for themselves, in their own voices, about everything from violence, school, parents, depression and girls to suicide, sports, sex and spirituality.
    Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
    Based on William Pollack's groundbreaking research at Harvard Medical School for more than two decades, Real Boys explores this generation's "silent crisis": why so many boys are sad, lonely, and confused although they may appear tough, cheerful, and confident. Only when we understand what boys are really experiencing, says Pollack, can parents and teachers help them develop more self-confidence and the emotional savvy they need to deal with issues such as depression and violence, drugs and alcohol, sexuality and love.
    Searching for Meaning: Idealism, Bright Minds, Disillusionment, and Hope
    This book aims to help individuals who find themselves disillusioned in today’s world by teaching them to understand themselves and their struggles. It also includes helpful information and suggestions for actions that disillusioned idealists can use to better manage their feelings and thoughts in ways that will nurture their idealism and provide a sense of satisfaction and contentment. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development
    This innovative text sheds light on how people work --why they sometimes function well and, at other times, behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive. Author Carol Dweck presents her groundbreaking research on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive-motivational patterns and shows: how these patterns originate in people’s self-theories; their consequences for the person – for achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being; their consequences for society, from issues of human potential to stereotyping and intergroup relations; the experiences that create them.
    Shadow Syndromes
    This book brings to light a theory on life-limiting behaviors and tools for changing them. The book is about mild forms of major mental disorders that sabotage our life, including chronic sadness, obsessiveness, and acute anxiety. The authors incorporate information into chapters, such as The Noisy Brain, The Hidden Epidemic and The Biology of being "Difficult".
    Smart Boys: Talent, Manhood and the Search for Meaning
    Written by Barbara Kerr and Sanford Cohn, this book explores the relationship between being highly gifted and being male. The book cites research and case studies showing that many gifted boys don't live up to their potential and suffer social isolation, having to choose between excellence and "normality." Click here to read a review of this book.
    Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential
    There’s nothing more frustrating than watching your bright, talented son or daughter struggle with everyday tasks like finishing homework, putting away toys, or following instructions at school. Your “smart but scattered” child might also have trouble coping with disappointment or managing anger. Drs. Peg Dawson and Richard Guare have great news: there’s a lot you can do to help. Small changes can add up to big improvements--this empowering book shows how.
    Smart Girls: A New Psychology of Girls, Women, and Giftedness
    From preschool to college dating, bright young girls and women endure countless challenges and opportunities. Written by Barbara Kerr and Sanford Cohn, this book explores many of these obstacles and offers practical advice for parents and teachers on how to help gifted girls grow and succeed. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Smart Talk: What Kids Say About Growing Up Gifted
    Noted experts, Robert Schultz, James Delisle, Tyler Page, publish their survey of thousands of young people around the world. This candid book helps gifted kids know they're not alone and they're definitely not "weird." Activities help readers relate the information and issues to their own lives.
    Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students (The Critical Issues in Equity and Excellence in Gifted Education Series)
    Written by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., Tracy L. Cross, Ph.D. and F. Richard Olenchak, Ph.D., this book by provides a thorough introduction to methods for developing social-emotional curricula for use with gifted and talented learners in the school setting. It covers theories to guide affective curricula, the needs of minority students, models to develop social-emotional curricula, tips for counseling gifted students, and strategies to promote the social-emotional needs of gifted students, along with discussions of suicide prevention among this population, the use of bibliotherapy and discussion groups, and the teacher-counselor connection in affective curricula.
    Some observations of highly gifted children
    The authors summarize their observations of extremely gifted children observed in the course of testing and counseling at the New York University Clinic for the Social Adjustment of Gifted Children during the middle years of the 20th century. The chapter includes several clinical case studies and a discussion of educational and psychological problems faced by this population.
    Speak Up and Get Along!: Learn the Mighty Might, Thought Chop, and More Tools to Make Friends, Stop Teasing, and Feel Good About Yourself
    What if every kid had a handy toolbox of ways to get along with others? That’s just what this book is: a collection of 21 concrete strategies kids can pull out and use to express themselves, build relationships, end arguments and fights, halt bullying, and beat unhappy feelings. Like the Mighty Might, which takes all the fun out of teasing. And the Thought Chop, which helps kids resist self-defeating thoughts. And the Squeaky Wheel, a type of persistence that gets results. And the Coin Toss, a simple way to resolve small conflicts. This revised and updated second edition incorporates electronic communication, cyberbullying, and social media with age-appropriate guidelines and stories. A note to adults includes up-to-date research on and recommendations for social skills and bullying.
    Stick Up for Yourself!: Every Kid’s Guide to Personal Power and Positive Self-Esteem
    Stick Up for Yourself!: Every Kid’s Guide to Personal Power and Positive Self-Esteem, written by Gershen Kaufman, Ph.D., Lev Raphael, Ph.D., and Pamela Espeland, is the ultimate resource for any kid who’s ever been picked on at school, bossed around, blamed for things he or she didn’t do, or treated unfairly—and for any kid who sometimes feels frustrated, angry, powerless, or scared. Simple words and real-life examples show how children can stick up for themselves with other kids (including bullies and teasers), big sisters and brothers, even grown-ups.
    Strong-Willed Child Or Dreamer?
    In this book from Ron Braund and Dana Spears, learn a new parenting approach for your special needs child to be principle-oriented rather than rule-oriented, highly creative, overly sensitive and frustrated. Understand the crucial differences between a strong-willed child and a creative-sensitive child.
    Students with Both Gifts and Learning Disabilities: Identification, Assessment, and Outcomes (Neuropsychology and Cognition)
    Authors, Tina Newman and Robert Sternberg, provide the reader with a broader conceptualization of the gifted/LD learner to include students who have gifts in other areas than high IQ and who would benefit from being identified and having their talents nurtured.
    Suicide Among Gifted Children and Adolescents (2nd ed.): Understanding the Suicidal Mind
    This book explores the phenomenon of suicide among students with gifts and talents. It provides the reader with a coherent picture of what suicidal behavior is; clarifies what is known and what is unknown about it; shares two major theories of suicide with explanatory power; and offers an emerging model of the suicidal behavior of students with gifts and talents.
    Teaching Your Children Sensitivity
    Helping a child become aware of the needs and feelings of others is one of the most difficult aspects of parenting. This nine-month program, designed for families with children aged three years and older, combines solid advice and telling anecdotes with quizzes, games, and other activities to guide parents every step of the way.
    The Blessing of a B Minus
    In the book titled, The Blessing of a B Minus, author Dr. Wendy Mogel helps parents navigate the teenage years, when a child’s sense of entitlement and independence grows, the pressure to compete skyrockets, and communication becomes fraught with obstacles. She emphasizes empathy and guidance over micromanaging teens’ lives and overreacting to missteps. Mogel reveals that emotional outbursts, rudeness, rule-breaking, staying up late, and other worrisome teen behaviors are in fact normal and necessary steps in psychological growth and character development to be met with thoughtful care, not anxiety.
    The Caring Child: Raising Empathetic and Emotionally Intelligent Children
    We live in a self-centered world, despite the call from employers and thought leaders for more cooperation and compassion. Empathy, or the ability to understand other people's thoughts and emotions from their point of view, is a vital component of cooperation and necessary in our increasingly diverse world. This book pulls together the latest research from positive psychology to provide parents specific tools to help their children develop healthy empathy and emotional intelligence. Presented in an easy-to-read, conversational style, the book uses a combination of evidence-based strategies, real-world examples, and role-playing scenarios to provide parents with the tools needed to develop these important skills. With specific strategies to address diverse populations and LGBTQ youth, The Caring Child is the must-read resource for anyone dedicated to cultivating a more compassionate world.
    The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Create and Sustain Lifelong Joy
    This book provides a refreshing look at what children really need to grow into happy adults. Author Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. argues that kids do not need straight A's, a crammed schedule or even a traditional family to become contented adults. What children need are unconditional love and the opportunity to revel in the magic and play of childhood. For the best chance of future happiness, Hallowell says, they need five basic tenets: to feel connected, to play, to practice, attain mastery and receive recognition.
    The Drama of the Gifted Child - The Search for the True Self
    Why are many of the most successful people plagued by feelings of emptiness and alienation? This wise and profound book has provided thousands of readers with an answer - and has helped them to apply it to their own lives.
    The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
    This book by Ross Green deals with identification of the frustrated-explosive child and ways to deal with explosive behavior. This text examines the underlying reasons for explosive behavior. The author helps parents to identify the early stages of meltdown and also gives strategies for dealing with these types of children.
    The Mislabeled Child: How Understanding Your Child's Unique Learning Style Can Open the Door to Success
    This book from husband and wife team Brock Eide, M.D. and Fernette Eide, M.D., ofers this informative, clinical aid to labeling and dealing with various "brain-based learning challenges." Each of the 11 chapters focuses on a single type of learning system and the challenges that affect it.
    The Myth of Laziness
    The Myth of Laziness, by Dr. Mel Levine, discusses neurodevelopmental dysfunctions that can cause "output failure" (commonly referred to as laziness) and shows parents how to nurture their children's strengths and improve their classroom productivity. It focuses on how correcting these problems in childhood will help children live a fulfilling and productive adult life. Parents who are told their gifted child is lazy or not living up to his/her potential can learn more about what laziness actually is, what causes it, and how to overcome it to avoid future problems, including in adulthood.
    The Optimistic Child: A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and Build Lifelong Resilience
    Written by Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, this book offers parents and teachers the tools to teach children of all ages life skills that transform helplessness into mastery and bolster self-esteem. Learning optimism not only reduces the risk of depression but also boosts performance in school, improved health, and provides children with the self-reliance they need as they approach adolescence and adulthood.
    The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids
    A practicing psychologist in Marin County, Calif., Madeline Levine counsels troubled teens from affluent families, and finds it paradoxical that wealth, which can open the door to travel and other enriching opportunities, can produce such depressed, anxious, angry and bored teenagers.
    The Resilience Factor: 7 Essential Skills for Overcoming Life’s Inevitable Obstacles
    In the capable hands of psychologists Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatté, resilience is not a Band-Aid or a buzzword. It is a habit of mind. The Resilience Factor is a practical roadmap for navigating unexpected challenges, surprises, and setbacks at work and home. Their premise--that your thinking style determines your resilience--underlies the books promise: you can boost resilience by changing the way you think about adversity. Click here to read a review of this book.
    The Sensory Child Gets Organized: Proven Systems for Rigid, Anxious, or Distracted Kids
    In this book by Carolyn Dalgliesh, the author helps parents with understanding what makes sensory children tick; how to create harmonious spaces through sensory organizing; how to use structure and routines to connect with children; preparing a child for social and school experiences; and, make travel a successful and fun-filled journey.
    The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What Do We Know? (2nd ed.)
    The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children provides a comprehensive summary of the empirical research on the social and emotional development of gifted children by leading authorities in the field. It includes several features that make it the leading text on what we know about the social and emotional development of gifted children. For example, it summarizes the most significant findings from the empirical research on the topic. It also includes noteworthy variations that have been observed across cultural groups or global contexts. Each chapter also provides a short description of the practical applications that can be made from the research. The second edition includes an entirely new section on the psychosocial aspects of talent development, as well as addresses the burgeoning interest and research base regarding gifted performance. The text also includes several new topics that have emerged from the research in the past decade, such as the neuroscience of talent development and motivation for talent development. Click here to read a review of the first edition of this book.
    The Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Kids: Understanding and Guiding Their Development
    Tracy Cross, Ph.D. is considered the nation's leading authority on the psychology of gifted children. In this book, he helps provide a framework for understanding the wide range of needs gifted students have and the potential role that differing groups of adults undertake to help these students. Cross' Continuum of Psychological Services, makes it evident that parents, teachers and counselors need to work together to cover most of the services gifted students will need and that no one person can assume all of the necessary roles. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Transforming The Difficult Child - The Nurtured Heart Approach
    Howard Glasser and Jennifer Easley unveil an amazing set of strategies developed specifically for children with ADHD and other challenging behaviors to facilitate parenting and classroom success. These methods have helped thousands of families to transform their child from using their intensity in primarily negative ways to using their intensity in beautifully creative and constructive ways. This approach has also helped teachers and other school personnel to have a dramatically positive effect on all children.
    Understanding the Gifted Adolescent: Educational, Developmental, and Multicultural Issues
    This book by Marlene Bireley and Judy Genshaft is from the Education and Psychology of the Gifted Series published by Teacher College Press.
    Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Learner
    Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman delivers a blueprint for parenting, teaching and living with these delightfully different beings. It is also a manual for discovering and honoring your own hidden gifts.
    What to Do When Your Temper Flares: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems with Anger
    Written by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D., this book helps guide children and their parents through cognitive-behavioral techniques used to treat problems with anger.
    When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All The Answers: How to Meet Their Social and Emotional Needs
    In this book, authors Jim Delisle and Judy Galbraith explain what giftedness means, how gifted kids are identified, and how we might improve the identification process. Then they take a close-up look at gifted kids from the inside out—their social and emotional needs. Topics include self-image and self-esteem, perfectionism, multipotential, depression, feelings of “differentness,” and stress. The authors suggest ways to help gifted underachievers and those who are bored in school, and ways to encourage healthy relationships with friends, family and other adults. Click here to read a review of this book (previous 2002 edition).
    When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for Depressed Teens
    Handling the topic of teen depression, this author tells about treatment options, presents the facts about therapy, explains the differences between various types of helping professionals (psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, physicians, counselors, etc.), discusses medications and more.
    Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind
    Is it possible to make sense of something as elusive as creativity? This book offers a glimpse inside the messy minds of highly creative people. Revealing the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology, along with engaging examples of artists and innovators throughout history, the book shines a light on the practices and habits of mind that promote creative thinking.
    Working with Emotional Intelligence
    In his second book, Daniel Goleman takes the concepts from his first book Emotional Intelligence into the workplace. Business leaders and outstanding performers are not defined by their IQs or even their job skills, but by their "emotional intelligence": a set of competencies that distinguishes how people manage feelings, interact, and communicate.
    You’re Smarter Than You Think: A Kid’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences (Revised and Updated Edition)
    Written by Dr. Thomas Armstrong, an award-winning expert on the topic of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, this book introduces the theory, explains the different types of intelligences (like Word Smart, Self Smart, Body Smart), and helps kids identify their own learning strengths and use their special skills at school, at home, and in life. As kids read the book, they stop asking “How smart am I?” and start asking “How am I smart?” Resources describe related books, software, games, and organizations. This revised and updated edition includes information on a newly researched ninth intelligence, Life Smart—thinking about and asking questions about life, the universe, and spirituality.
    Your Anxious Child: How Parents and Teachers Can Relieve Anxiety in Children
    This book is for parents and teachers wanting to learn more about how to help their student(s) cope with anxiety. Filled with strategies, solid information, a four-step program, engaging activities and personal vignettes, this tome offers effective tools to help your child and/or student become a creative problem solver.
    Your Child: Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Development from Birth through Preadolescence: What's Normal, What's Not, and When to Seek Help
    This book is the result of a group effort of more than 6,500 members of The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Many of the most common physical, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social and moral issues and the challenges of parenting that you will confront in raising a child are discussed.
  • Printed Materials: Online Documents

    Suicide among gifted adolescents: How to prevent it
    This article outlines the risk factors and vulnerabilities of gifted students and suggests ways parents and educators can work to prevent such tragedies.
  • Printed Materials: Periodicals/Reports & Studies

    Love and Work: The Legacy of Early University Entrance
    Published by the University of Washington, this report is an overview of the second follow-up study discussing their early entrance program. It outlines the strengths, weaknesses, and evolution of various aspects including the fact that early entrants need a welcoming college or university environment. In addition, this report compiled by Kathleen Noble, Robert Vaughan, Christina Chan, Sarah Childers, Bryan Chow, Ariel Federow, and Sean Hughes reveals possible effects of acceleration and graduation rates.
  • Websites & Other Media: Commercial

    Counseling the Gifted - Andrew Mahoney
    Academic underachievement. Workplace performance problems. Inflexible institutions. Talents developed fully, at the expense of the full self. In more than 15 years of working with gifted and talented people, I've seen many of them struggle with issues like these. As a result, I've become convinced that focusing on their identity as a gifted person -- and how that relates to the whole self -- is the foundation for their growth. Learning how people are gifted and understanding it in the context of family, friends and co-workers is always the first step to reaching full potential and leading more fulfilling lives.
    Dr. Roger Taylor presents Curriculum Design Online
    This online curriculum resource was developed by Dr. T. Roger Taylor. In his 35 years as a classroom teacher, administrator, professor and internationally-known educational consultant, Dr. Taylor has authored/co-authored more than 5,000 integrated, interdisciplinary thematic curriculum units. The units are written based on the AHA (Analyzing Human Activities) model created by Dr. Taylor. This unique model includes specific application of the most recent brain research, multiple intelligences and constructivist hands-on project-centered learning in alignment with state defined benchmarks and standards.
    Magination Press Special Books for Children's Special Concerns
    Magination Press publishes innovative books that help children deal with challenges and problems they face growing up. These books deal with topics ranging from the everyday—starting school, shyness, normal fears, and a new baby in the house—to more serious problems, such as divorce, attention deficit disorder, depression, serious injury or illness, autism, trauma, death, and much more.
  • Websites & Other Media: For Educators

    National Center for Youth Issues (NCYI)
    National Center for Youth Issues provides educational resources, books, training and support programs to foster the healthy psychosocial, emotional, and physical development of children and youth. NCYI hosts local, regional, and statewide “Healthy Choices for Youth” educator training events, and provides conference management services to help school districts, nonprofits, and government agencies as they work to improve life outcomes for children and youth. This organization also provides free training resources and sells books on various youth issues.
  • Websites & Other Media: Informational

    Advanced Psychology Resources - Resources for Parents of Gifted Children
    This organization contains a number of articles related to gifted education on topics such as identification, emotional complexity, asynchronous development, twice-exceptionality, and more.
    An examination of the literature base on the suicidal behaviors of gifted students
    Published in September 1999 issue of The Roeper Review by Dr. Tracy Cross and Karyn Gust-Brey, this article presents an overview of the literature regarding suicide and a deeper examination of the literature of gifted teens.
    Assessment 101: Choosing the Right Evaluator
    Assessment 101 is a series of three articles about developmental assessments by Dr. Aida Khan, clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist and Lecturer in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This article provides advice on choosing the right evaluator.
    Bullying In School and What To Do About It
    Ken Rigby addresses the fact that bullying abuse will affect 20 percent of school children and offers strategies to identify both bullies and victims.
    Can parents praise children too much?
    According to some psychologists and researchers, praising everything children do does not build self-esteem -- eventually the praise becomes meaningless. Instead of continually praising students, teachers should substitute descriptive comments or cite specific improvements in work.
    Competing with myths about the social and emotional development of gifted students - Social/Emotional
    This article by Tracy Cross discusses eight common myths about the social development of gifted students. The author hopes that by challenging such myths they can be eliminated through appropriate counseling and learning environments. A definition of the term gifted is also explored in the article.
    Counseling the Gifted
    Counseling for the gifted, individually and in groups, allows the opportunity to experience being accepted: neither denigrated nor venerated for their gifts. Too often, people with intellectual, creative, physical, spiritual, or emotional gifts are misunderstood, disparaged or neglected. All people benefit from emotional support and good counsel. The more exceptional an individual is, the less likely she or he has satisfactorily experienced either. This information is from the website of educational therapist Shulamit Widawsky.
    If You're So Smart, Why Do You Need Counseling?
    This article reveals some of the issues counselors of the gifted need to address in order to assist their clients toward the achievement of more accurate self-concepts and support them as they try to find meaning, purpose, and higher-level emotional development.
    Mind Matters Podcast
    The Mind Matters Podcast features discussions with leaders in the fields of psychology, education, and beyond, with an emphasis on gifted/talented and 2e (twice-exceptional) children and adults. Mind Matters explores parenting, counseling techniques, and best practices for enriching the lives of high-ability people.
    Motivation: The Key to Academic Success
    This article makes some sound points that can be applicable when working with all types of children. Some of the factors the author covers are: fear of failure, lack of challenge, emotional problems, desire for attention and there is a list of what parents can do to help.
    Overexcitabilities in Gifted Children
    Overexcitabilities in Gifted Children, by Lesley Sword, depicts the term ‘overexcitability’ in gifted individuals. She explains how extreme stimulation of the nervous system affects a gifted individual. There are five forms of Overexcitability that Sword discusses; psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imagination and emotion.
    Piaget's Stage Theory of Development
    This theory of cognitive development from Piaget has had a tremendous influence on all modern developmental psychologists. After observing a number of children, he posed that children progress through a series of four stages (described on this website's page) and that they all do so in the same order.
    Psycho-social Needs: Understanding The Emotional, Intellectual and Social Uniqueness Of Growing Up Gifted
    In this article, hosted by the Talent Development Resource's website, Lesley Sword explains the psycho-social needs of gifted children. Gifted children see the world differently due to their intellectual complexity and emotional intensity. Sword describes the forms and expression of emotional intensity, idealism and perfectionism, expanded moral awareness, and essential differences between introverts and extraverts.
    SAGE Center for Gifted (California & Colorado)
    SAGE Center for Gifted is a family's first step in securing needed guidance and direction for the decisions they need to make regarding the education and support of their students when traditional processes are not their path. Some of the SAGE services for gifted children include: assessments clinical psychologists to guide educational planning; school placement guidance; staffings with school teams to collaborate on educational planning; parent consultations to support with cognitive and affective needs of gifted children; and coordination of after-school sessions at SAGE as a supportive complement to school programs.
    Social & Emotional Needs of the Gifted, Adults and Children
    In this artice posted on the Talent Development Resources website, Deborah L. Ruf explains the social and emotional needs of gifted adults and children. Ruf emphasizes the influence teachers, adults and others have in childrens lives and gives helpful tips on how to be a positive mentor to ensure healthy emotional, social and intellectual development for their child.
    The Blame Game: Are school problems the kid's fault?
    This article, by Pamela Darr Wright, M.A., discusses the frustrations parents of special ed kids feel when their children are blamed for certain problems that arise in school.
    The Emotional Needs of the Gifted Child
    Annemarie Roeper discusses the emotional needs of the gifted child, which are often overlooked as the focus is more on the brain and logic of the gifted. The importance of a bond between child and parent(s) is also discussed. Per Roeper, "It is in the area of emotions where the gifted differ most from others. This is particularly evident in the most highly gifted. The emotions of the gifted grow out of their greater cognitive awareness which then translates into feelings. They understand early on that it hurts when you get injured and learn to avoid it by being extra careful. That means they develop fears earlier and stronger; sometimes, to an exaggerated degree."
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