How can we better encourage and reinforce the most entrepreneurial and talented among us? We can start by changing the ways we set up schools and the ways we address the very different learning abilities and needs of the students in them. The well-known “achievement gap” refers to the difference in the average academic performance between our highest and lowest achieving population groups...I believe our most worrisome achievement gap should be the performance gap we see within each individual rather than those between any groups of people.

Adolescence is a difficult time for most people, but social and emotional issues are exacerbated in the exceptionally or profoundly gifted adolescent who discovers the needs for friendship connections, romance, and greater independence in school and home.

There are many different ways to raise and educate a profoundly gifted child; and for readers of Parenting for High Potential, I will dispense with the usual, “How did you know your child was so gifted?” stories. For most of us, the story is completely similar from our child’s birth to about age 5 or 6 when we started dealing with the schools. How we handle the school years, and how our child handles the school years, can vary tremendously. This is a brief overview of the approach I took with my middle son, Charlie.

Because I believe that giftedness is an inborn trait, I also believe the qualities of giftedness are present throughout people's lives, even if they are underachievers or hide their abilities.

One must earn the gift through hard work, accomplishment, and good attitude. Many people view high intelligence with a mixture of fear, interest, admiration, resentment, contempt, suspicion, and appreciation. Most of us are familiar with the sometimes rather delighted observation, “Even though he was really smart as a kid, he hasn’t amounted to anything.”

A reasonably clear perception of self appears to be one prerequisite to advanced emotional development. For people who are outside the norm in any significant way, as gifted people are, obtaining accurate feedback about their abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and the acceptability of their personality characteristics is difficult.

Emotional  intelligence (EQ), rather than being an inborn ability, is a skill that needs to be taught and facilitated in individuals who deviate significantly from the norm in their intellectual intelligence (IQ).