Hi Suz-e-Q,
Welcome!
Wow that was a big step!
Did you used to do some Advocating while you were a professor?
Fisrt thing I would do to reach parents 'like me' would be to develop some general mental guidelines for 'level of giftedness.' To say that you have
and working with exceptionally brilliant students
gives me the idea that you'd 'ohh and ahh' over my child, which is so NOT what I am looking for. If you say that you have worked with Moderately Gifted, Highly Gifted and Profoundly Gifted children, then I think, ok now, this person can see my child as a 'normal' HG kid.
If I was going to go this route, I would try to look around at my region, and find out what are the availible services to MG,HG, and PG kids in your region, met that people who are already working in your field, and talk to the parents who you already know who are facing the kinds of challenges you want to help with.
I would consider myself a 'community organizer' of Gifties. Interview people. Work with any State organizations. Develop lectures that you can be asked to give at Parent Meetings or Schools. Write a book. Join SENG, and take their class in leading Parent-Support Groups, then lead some.
Think of ways that you can 'give free samples' of yourself -
Book club for preschoolers? early elementary schoolers? By listing the books you can imagine a preschooler could read and discuss, you are signaling to me that you 'get' my life. If you are going to gush over a kid reading 'see spot run' before Kindergarden then you won't attract the parents of a kid who is reading Harry Potter at that age. ((My son wasn't an early reader, but he was an 'precosious listener' and wanted to sit and listen to me read Harry Potter for hours and hours at age 5 - I was shocked to see that other parents were reading 'Hop on Pop' to their 5 year olds before bed. I was still in denial.))
Alternativly, you could hold book discussion groups - say for the Percy Jackson Series, for any kid of any age who has read or heard the book in question, and have no age limit, or say, for ages 3-11. There are the little tip offs I look for.
I would offer Saturday enrichment classes in Art or Photography or Math or Writing or Chess or whatever you love to explore at a reasonable price, with perhaps a 'free coupon' for a single class in exchange for phone numbers and emails, and call each parent to get an idea what they were looking for when they brought their child.
I would offer low cost or free 'Parenting Talks' - perhaps one time only at first, where you have a topic like: 'So smart, but won't do their homework!' or 'How to disipline a budding Lawyer.' that might draw parents in. Maybe offer an activity the kids would enjoy while talking to the Parents.
I would spend lots of time in schools getting to know the local gifted coordinators, if your school have such. Have you acctually attended advocacy meetings with parents? The main thing that HG and PG kids need is for educational settings that are within their 'readiness level' not too easy and not too 'hard.' So helping parents actually solve that particular problem is much more important that dealing with the emotional fall out of the problem.
'Every child deserves to be thought about well.' Each kid is unique, with their own challenges and strengths.
Best Wishes,
Grinity
BTW - which books have you read, and which ones do you find the most useful?
