Gifted Children:

Resources for Parents

We need your input! If you are the "responsible adult" for any child who may be participating in our Gifted Child Program, please take a few minutes to complete a survey to help us improve our GCP!

If you have just discovered that your child is gifted, visit Hoagie's Gifted 101: A Guide for First Time Visitors.

Sometimes parents need to advocate for their children in order for them to receive a free and appropriate education. You'll need to learn about differentiation and acceleration strategies and buzz words before your EP/IEP meetings. Read about Florida EP rules.

Visit the FL DOE website for your free parent handbook, list of district gifted supervisors and contact information, state laws and policies, information on identification and staffing, procedural safeguards and services.

Mensa's National Gifted Child Program Director, Dr. Deborah Ruf has an interesting article about the Levels of Giftedness.

Of Special Interest to Parents:

Special Items of Interest

Definitions - What does that mean?

Gifted and LD

The Highly Gifted

Educational Options:

Acceleration:

A Nation Deceived : How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students -- America’s schools routinely avoid academic acceleration, the easiest and most effective way to help highly capable students. While the popular perception is that a child who skips a grade will be socially stunted, fifty years of research shows that moving bright students ahead often makes them happy.

Acceleration of Gifted Students

NAGC Position Statement on Acceleration

Iowa Acceleration Scale

Homeschooling:

Homeschooling Highly Gifted Children by Kathi Kearney

Florida Homeschooling

Homeschooling Gifted Children from Hoagie's

Florida Virtual School is another option for some families.

Differentiation and Flexible Grouping:

Curriculum Differentiation

What We Know About Academically Talented Students: A Sample of our Findings

Differentiating Instruction For Advanced Learners In the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom

Talent Searches and Scholarships

Advocacy Groups in Florida

Broward County Gifted Advisory
The Highlands Advanced Academics Parent Network HAAPN
Florida Gifted Network (FGN). Join the free discussion forum.
Florida Association for the Gifted (FLAG)
PAGES of Hernando CountyPartners Allied for Gifted Education and Support
Citrus Organization for the GiftedCOG
Seminole County Special Education PTA (SEPTA)
Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System(FDLRS)

Other Advocacy Groups

Social and Emotional Issues

Underachievement

Understanding Tests and Measures

Gifted Middle Schoolers

College Prep

Other Educational Resources

Email Groups and Newsletters

BrightKids--The list for parents, guardians, teachers and others who are interested in bright children to discuss issues related to educating the gifted, raising gifted children, and exchanging information or resources for gifted children. BrightKids is a public mailing American Mensa mailing list. It is open to the public, and Mensa membership is not required. To join, go to http://lists.us.mensa.org/mailman/listinfo/brightkids or email brightkids-request@lists.us.mensa.org with the one-word subject: subscribe.
About The TAGFAM and other Gifted Education Mailing Lists
GiftedNet
Tag-L
Duke University's Talent Identification Program (TIP) publishes the Duke Gifted Letter. The online version of the newsletter that is free and accessible to all the parents in search of guidance in raising and educating their gifted child.
FL DOE Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services - Gifted Student Education provides information such as state laws and regulations, publications, technical assistance papers, and resources and school district contacts. http://www.firn.edu/doe/commhome/gifthome.htm
FLAG Florida Association for Gifted Children (FLAG) is an Affiliate of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) whose mission is to support educationally appropriate programs for gifted students through exchanging information, promoting research, supporting constructive changes. http://www.flagifted.org/
The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is an organization of parents, educators, other professionals and community leaders to address the unique needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents as well as those children who may be able to develop their talent potential with appropriate educational experiences. www.nagc.org
World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC) is an organization that focuses attention on gifted and talented children and ensure the realization of their valuable potential. http://www.worldgifted.ca/
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. www.cec.sped.org/index.html
The Association for the Gifted (TAG) was organized as a division of The Council for Exceptional Children in 1958 to help both professionals and parents deal more effectively with the gifted child. www.cectag.org
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (part of the National Library of Education [NLE], Office of Educational Research and Improvement [OERI], and the U.S. Department of Education) is the world's largest source of education information. You can find information on a wide-variety of education topics such as gifted, social/emotional issues, and educational options. www.ericir.syr.edu/eric
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) focuses primarily on the adults in the lives of gifted children. SENG provides information on identification, guidance, and effective ways to live and work with gifted individuals. www.SENGifted.org
The National Parent Information Network (NPIN) is a project of the ERIC system and is administered by the National Library of Education and the U.S. Department of Education. The mission of NPIN is to provide access to research-based information about the process of parenting, and about family involvement in education. www.npin.org
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page is a resource guide for the education of gifted children with links to resources on nearly every aspect of gifted education available on the Internet, plus annotations and first hand information provided by parents. www.hoagiesgifted.org
Gifted-Children.com: Identification, Encouragement, and Development (GCC) is an on-line parents' newsletter with networking and information dedicated to making a difference in the education of children with special talents and abilities. www.gifted-children.com
GT World is an on-line support community for parents of Gifted and Talented children. www.gtworld.org/index.html
The Gifted Development Center serves parents, schools, and advocacy groups with information about identification, assessment, counseling, learning styles, programs, presentations, and resources for gifted children and adults. www.gifteddevelopment.com
Davidson Institute for Talent Development is currently one of only two national foundations supporting the profoundly gifted population. The Davidson Institute's mission is to recognize, nurture and support profoundly gifted young people and to provide opportunities for them to develop their talents in positive ways to create value for themselves and others. www.davidsoninstitute.org
FREE Gifted and Talented Newsletter from Family Education.

The links above are provided as informational resources and in no way indicate an endorsement of or any particular partnership with any organization. American Mensa is not responsible for the content of any of the linked Web sites; this includes updates to or availability of linked sites and the accuracy, reliability or helpfulness of the information on these sites.