Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Book review: Development of GT Across Life Span

This is exactly my worry, too. It's why I stress that while it's possible to improve achievement through specialization and pushing, that improvement comes at a cost.

The hardest job I ever had was cleaning out a boiler at a coal fired plan right out of the Army while waiting for College to start. I did it with men who lived in a half-way house for violent felons. They had tattoos and scars ( which was not cool 20 years ago ) and had some pretty amazing stories to tell.

Some of them read at quite a high level while some could not read at all, some were Muslim, some were Atheists, some were black, some white, but most of them share one thing - they hated their parents.

I also fostered 18 kids.

The biggest problem in our society is not poverty or the schools, its parents who will not raise their kids properly or at all. Sometimes its drugs, sometimes its depression or other mental illness, sometimes they don't protect them, and sometimes its lack of knowledge, and sometimes its just a lack of attention. It all begins at home.

One step that would make this better is some form of Parent Education taught in schools. The big battle over sex ed misses the point and the broader topic should be some sort of Family Education - or better - how to care for and raise kids, budget and plan meals, find a place to live, etc.

One could argue that with better sex ed there would be fewer reluctant parents...

Charisma is a funny thing to me.

Charisma is that undefined quality that makes people want to do things for you. Its also called star quality. It opens doors. Literally. Some people keep it after their looks fade. Some people's Charisma is so good it burns through predjudice or even convictions - just watch Hillary or Palin work a room. My wife has this as well and she works it and why she made President in her early 30s.

Speaking solely for myself - I know that there are two leadership roles I can assume well- and the rest do not work for me. The first, is the military/ranching role or emergency situations where clear instructions, hard labor and a brave face work. The second is the intellectual leadership and force of will when something has to be done that is intellectually complex with lots of smart people involved - such as getting something big and complicated to work. I am not good at other roles because I cannot stand lack of perfection or vague relationships or interactions based upon non-concrete things.

I also do not respond like those who respond to Charisma such as those who hang around stars, sports players, politicians, etc. Social proof means nothing to me and I am offended by people trying to charm me.

Thinking specifically about GT, kids should learn about their leadership styles. Everyone has a leadership role to play in their lives. Leadership can be studied like any other topic and its quality can be discerned like any other personality trait or role. Kids can learn where they would work best and worse as leaders and then try not to force their squareness into a round hole. They can also learn about leadership and management in some easy ways ( large scout troop) or the hard way ( manage a retail store ) while they are still at home.

LOL.

My oldest niece had to carry that whiny doll around for a week, feed it, clothe it, change it, etc.

That did more for making her careful than any book argument read by a stuffy teacher other than my "God's Gift to Women" comments.

It is The Development of Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span
by Frances Degen Horowitz (Editor), Rena F. Subotnik (Editor), Dona J., Ph.D. Matthews (Editor)

Wow, just came back to this after several busy days. What a lot of great comments! I have been operating with a serious lack of sleep, so I don't think I can add anything profound to this discussion. I do need to go back and watch the mark yu video. I stopped before I got to anything dealing with physcial changes in the brain of teenagers. I do think that in the next few years, with all the brain research exploding because of new technologies able to better look at the brain's functioning, we are going to see some new developments in how children learn best. And with luck, these new developments will benefit every child, GT or not. I hope this book touches on some of the research possibilities.

Not having "felt" gifted growing up (though knowing in retrospect that I was) I have a hard time deciding what I think about whether you can lose giftedness. I think it is much easier to learn when you are young, however, and we need to make a concentrated effort to get to kids when they are young, before 3rd grade when most gifted programs start.

OK, i'm babbling. Off to take nap...

Thanks. I found it.

Wednesday Nov 19, there is an EdWeek Live chat w/ the authors of this book. I learned about it at Unwrapping the Gift blog. Unwrapping the Gifted

Thanks for posting that, looks very interesting. I'm going to try to attend or at least read the transcript.

Here's the transcript:
Evolving Definition of Giftedness

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