http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704559904576230570655238148.htmlRaising an Accidental Prodigy
by Sue Shellenberger
Wall Street Journal, MARCH 30, 2011
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Fewer than 1% of children in the world are considered profoundly gifted, and even fewer are regarded as prodigies�defined as children under 10 who perform better than most highly skilled adults. While having such a child is a wonderful gift, raising one challenges the whole family.
"It is a tricky proposition for parents: How do you support that talent without pushing too hard?" says Colleen Harsin, director of the Davidson Academy of Nevada, a Reno school for profoundly gifted students.
After Ric and Vickie Ladt's daughter Kelsey started reading as a toddler, they had to race to keep up with her needs while still allowing her a normal childhood. Kelsey was so easily bored that when she was 2, they hired a high-school student to teach her Spanish. Kelsey later sped through her Paducah, Ky., elementary school in 2� years. At age 8, she entered both high school and community college, and graduated high-school valedictorian at 11. Then, it was on to the University of Kentucky, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in biology at age 14.
To keep ahead of Kelsey's appetite for learning, the Ladts took seminars and joined groups for parents of gifted kids. When Kelsey left for university in 2006, the Ladts decided to live apart. (Kelsey's older brother, Preston, now 31, had already left home.) Ms. Ladt, a human-resources consultant who can work from anywhere, moved near the Lexington, Ky., campus with Kelsey, and Mr. Ladt remained in Paducah, where he is chief executive of a manufacturing company. He commuted nine hours round trip each weekend to visit.
Today, Kelsey, now 16, and her mom live in Bethesda, Md., making Mr. Ladt's commute even longer. Kelsey is doing a two-year training program at the National Institutes of Health, where she is studying regulatory processes of the nervous system.
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