Seeking book recommendations on parenting gifted kids
May 10, 2018 6:42 AM Subscribe
I’m looking for books on how to parent gifted kids, ideally with a focus on kids who have some discrepancies in their abilities.
Context: my kindergartener is bright and doing very well at a gifted school. However, in terms of social/emotional and physical development she is typically-developing, maybe a little bit behind (and she’s very young for grade, which exacerbates the difference). This has come up a few times at parent-teacher conferences and the teacher seems to think it’s just developmental. My partner is worried that the discrepancy means we’re not giving her something she needs and/or that she is on a path toward being kicked out of her school (nobody has said anything like this); in contrast I think our kid’s set of skills is, if not the most common pattern for gifted kids, at least a very normal one (regression to the mean!) and I am inclined not to worry that much, beyond making sure she’s getting some exercise and regular practice with stuff that’s hard for her. We could probably both use some grounding in fact.
(This is my first AskMe post so please correct me gently if I am doing it wrong! I did look for other related posts, and many that I found seem to be about recommending educational resources (we’re good there) or blogs/other web resources (I’m looking for something a little more in-depth as I think my partner might trust it more).)
Context: my kindergartener is bright and doing very well at a gifted school. However, in terms of social/emotional and physical development she is typically-developing, maybe a little bit behind (and she’s very young for grade, which exacerbates the difference). This has come up a few times at parent-teacher conferences and the teacher seems to think it’s just developmental. My partner is worried that the discrepancy means we’re not giving her something she needs and/or that she is on a path toward being kicked out of her school (nobody has said anything like this); in contrast I think our kid’s set of skills is, if not the most common pattern for gifted kids, at least a very normal one (regression to the mean!) and I am inclined not to worry that much, beyond making sure she’s getting some exercise and regular practice with stuff that’s hard for her. We could probably both use some grounding in fact.
(This is my first AskMe post so please correct me gently if I am doing it wrong! I did look for other related posts, and many that I found seem to be about recommending educational resources (we’re good there) or blogs/other web resources (I’m looking for something a little more in-depth as I think my partner might trust it more).)
Another term to google if you haven't yet is "asynchronous development." This is very very typical for gifted kids.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:03 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:03 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
This isn't directly an answer but imo you don't need a book to deal with this specific set of concerns: in my gifted ed cohort about 90% of the boys appeared to have autism/asperger's in their early years and grew out of it naturally. encourage her where she's bright, let her take the rest at her own pace.
posted by ahundredjarsofsky at 9:43 AM on May 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ahundredjarsofsky at 9:43 AM on May 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Nthing that this is normal and not a problem. There's a chapter on asynchronous development in this book.
posted by hungrytiger at 2:04 PM on May 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by hungrytiger at 2:04 PM on May 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by Empidonax at 7:00 AM on May 10, 2018 [3 favorites]