In this article: Exactly what to do when your child’s needs aren’t being met at school It’s an open secret that the relationship between parents and schools can be complicated, and this is especially true if parents feel the school isn’t meeting the needs of the child. It can get
The reasons not to give IQ tests to young children are compelling. As the Youth & Education Ambassador for Mensa, I received inquiries every day (sometimes with accompanying videos) from parents (and grandparents) wanting to know how to get a young child tested. Mensa allows youth fourteen and over to
This may come as a surprise, but your child is not the center of the universe. Your child, is, in fact, not even special. I’m ducking right now, but please, hear me out. Special means “better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual.” If everyone feels this way about
Want to try something really daunting? Raise a bunch of kids who are smarter than you are. Been there… Is your child’s magical power an atypical mind? This is great, but it comes with its own set of issues and fears. We don’t have every answer to the question, “How
What parent isn’t looking for free, terrific summer activities for kids? And who better than the Mensa Foundation to come up with brain-tastic ideas? (In the interest of full disclosure, I work for the Mensa Foundation and created this. That’s okay, right?) If you’re looking for totally awesome things to
We’ve long believed you’re either creative or you’re not, but that’s simply not true. Encouraging children’s creativity (which often means preventing the world from driving it out of them) is as crucial as their cognitive development. I wrote an article for the Mensa Bulletin on this, and you are welcome
Confession: I loathe Accelerated Reader. Perhaps the title of this post was a spoiler. My friend Jen Marten wrote this terrific article about what’s wrong with Accelerated Reader. I would like to add a few points to her wonderful list. Much has been written about the problems with Accelerated Reader,
When your child is the star of the football team, no one blinks an eye when you wear a jersey with his number on it or a photo button with his picture. This is so far from the case when your child is gifted that the only similarity between the two
Archimedes. Omar Khayyám. Leonardo da Vinci. Maria Agnesi. Thomas Jefferson. Goethe. Steve Jobs. All of these people have something in common: they have been described as “polymaths” – people who are experts in multiple fields. Nearly synonymous with the term “Renaissance Man,” a polymath is unconstrained by narrow fields of
Every parent can use these essential tools, and I can practically guarantee that if your child is gifted, you will face at least five of the issues the tools below help fix. In fact, I’ll give you your money back if you don’t. I have no magic ball, so how do
Conference season is beginning, and I’m off to Iowa and Washington next week to share some ideas and best practices for teaching and parenting the gifted. Here is my presentation The Gift of Self on developing self-concept in kids (particularly the gifted). There is a handout that goes with it. Although
I’m a fan of celebrating strengths, and I’d love to tell you why. I learned a lot about it from a shell. It may sound odd to take advice from a shell on celebrating strengths, yet one of the things that strikes me as a problem is the difficulty people
