Gifted Children Grown Up (Nace/Fulton Publication) [Paperback]

Joan Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2001 | Series: Nace/Fulton Publication

More than a quarter of a century ago, Joan Freeman began this study of 210 children, comparing the recognized gifted, the unrecognized gifted and their classmates. This book: describes what happened to them and their families as they grew up and coped with their different circumstances. It also looks at the problems they faced, often described in their own words and contains personal details from in-depth interviews in homes and schools all over Britain, which are at times startling and sometimes depressing. It lays to rest many myths about the development of gifted children.

The book offers insights into the special situations of the gifted and points out much needed changes in their care and education. It is not only important for their own fulfillment and happiness, but for the future of society.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joan Freeman is Visiting Professor, University of Middlesex

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers; 1 edition (August 24, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853468312
• ISBN-13: 978-1853468315
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,783,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Smug, Non-Factual, August 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Gifted Children Grown Up (Nace/Fulton Publication) (Paperback)

I expected to read a book of the calibre published by Dr. Freeman's American rival, Dr. Silverman. I was horribly dissapointed. This book is short, dry and non-compassionate. There is a particularly smug character to it that I found offensive. Adding to this is contradiction - Dr. Freeman believes there is no such thing as Gifted people, but she writes a book on them. Forgive my confusion. I strongly advise anyone interested in the Gifted to look elsewhere.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rare Book on Giftedness Based on Scientific Research, December 10, 2003

By 

Karl M. Bunday (Minnetonka, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gifted Children Grown Up (Nace/Fulton Publication) (Paperback)

I had the privilege of meeting the author of this book at her invited talk at the Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) conference in suburban Minneapolis, MN in 2002. What a breath of fresh air! Freeman, whose articles on the development of gifted young people are in all the better anthologies on giftedness, used a rare research design with two control groups--a group of gifted young people (by IQ test) who were not identified as gifted, and a group of matched controls not selected by IQ. This experimental design ought to be used more often in studies of giftedness in the United States. Freeman has also followed her subjects more closely, and for longer, than most other current authors of books on gifted childen as they grow up. I can tell from meeting her that she is very intelligent herself, and her book makes a great contribution to the literature, refuting the mythology found in many other books on the subject. Freeman's book is definitely worth reading for any parent of an identified gifted child.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Silly, September 19, 2003

By 

Max Power (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gifted Children Grown Up (Nace/Fulton Publication) (Paperback)

Half-way through the book, I had to remind myself what it was supposed to be about.

As a teacher, I am very concerned about the gifted youth in our world. I was dismayed to see Freeman was more interested in promoting herself, than promoting the gifted. Sometimes, she seemed to have consistent idea about giftedness, while other times in the book, and in most of her other work, she does not accept giftedness exists. She advocates peculiar ideas about working with gifted children. One is called the "Sports Approach," which, in her convoluted reasoning, will turn her abstractly-defined and supposedly docile gifted kids into David Bekhams. For the PG child, the "Sports Approach" is degrading and wasteful.

People I know have contacted her and found this attitude to be her main strength. Considering the work done in America on the gifted, it is unfortunate that Britain lags so far behind.