There are some amazing books I have read. We just moved and most are in boxes. I'll look for the best titles. My suggestion is to start reading anything you can get your hands on. The books, and my daughters last teacher with a master's degree in gifted ed, and our school gifted coordinator, and the school psychologist all say to throw out any parenting book that is not specific to gifted kids. In the beginning I thought that might be a little extreme. But my daughter is 6 and starting 2nd grade and now I get it! It is true they have some unique triggers. We are lucky because noise and activity do not seem to bother her. She knows how to seperate. Her only real sensitivity is to sound - but crowds are OK. What I have seen is that a lot of the parenting techniques for handling tantrums or modifying behavior just don't work. For instance, my daughter refused to open the car door herself and sat there and cried and then screamed for about 40 minutes before she decided to start honking the horn - which I had to stop of course. I kept thinking "she is such a smart girl. Obviously she will open the door and get out if she really wants to." Well, I discovered she would not. Later I found exactly that example in a book and thought, wow, really? They get really caught up in their emotions and can't seem to unwind. I am sure she will learn. The point is, however, that reading will really help you learn to understand your child. And it is important in school too - because even an educated teacher does not always identify the meanings behind the behavior. My daughter is "shy" and after 3/4 of the school year had elapsed her teacher wanted to put her in a different reading group. My daughter all of a sudden was stumbing over words she read fluently the day before. Her teacher was quick enough to realize that she just did not want to change groups. Never mind that she has know the children practically the entire year - is even friends with them! The teacher creatively kept her in the same group and change all her assignments and she was happily reading again. It takes creativity to understand your gifted child. Examples in the books give you valuable clues.
