High IQ Kids: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts [Paperback]

Kiesa Kay (Editor), Deborah Robson (Editor), Judy Fort Brenneman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2007

Profoundly gifted kids often get the least help in school. It’s assumed they’re smart enough to succeed on their own, plus teachers (and parents) feel out of their depth with these unique kids. A blend of personal stories and practical strategies, scholarly articles and entertaining essays from a community of voices—parents, educators, authors, researchers, and other experts—this book addresses the joys and challenges of raising and teaching, living with and understanding exceptionally gifted kids of all ages. Recommended for any adult who wants to know more (and may be desperate to know more) about high-IQ kids and how to support them, advocate for them, and meet their social, emotional, and learning needs. Contributors include Karen Rogers, Ph.D., Carolyn Kottmeyer, Sally Reis, Ph.D., Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., Miraca U. M. Gross, Ph.D., and many more. 

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Winner, 2008 Legacy Book(tm) Award, Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented

About the Author

Kiesa Kay is the mother of two high-IQ kids. She has published articles and essays about profoundly gifted students and other topics and edited the anthology Uniquely Gifted. She served as the program coordinator of Universal High School, a public school program in Colorado designed for highly capable autonomous learners. Kiesa is also a poet and playwright, and she recently founded Oleander Cottage, a writers’ retreat in the south of France.

Deborah Robson is a writer, editor, visual and textile artist, and book designer, as well as the owner of Nomad Press, a small publishing company specializing in traditional and ethnic knitting books. She was cofounder with Judy Fort Brenneman of Greenfire Creative.

Judy Fort Brenneman is a long-time volunteer advocate for “kids who look normal but aren’t” and has served as an organizer, board member, and program director for support groups and conferences addressing the needs of these children. She is the owner of Greenfire Creative, a small business that helps individuals, agencies, and institutions tell their stories. Judy is a speaker and has developed and presented workshops on writing, creativity, and the power of story in forming identity and showing us who we can become.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing (September 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575422611
• ISBN-13: 978-1575422619
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,016,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and inspiring vignettes, December 5, 2007

By 

Lorel Shea (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: High IQ Kids: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts (Paperback)

High IQ Kids- Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts is not a guidebook on how to raise a profoundly gifted child. It is, rather, a collection of deeply moving personal experiences from parents of highly to profoundly gifted children packaged together with professional observations from some of the world's foremost experts on these children. Children who are twice exceptional are given center stage, which is not surprising, as Kiesa Kay, the project's originator, is a well known champion of children who are both profoundly gifted and also learning disabled or challenged. Kay is co-editor of the book, along with Deborah Robson and Judy Fort Brenneman.

High IQ Kids is for both parents and for educators who may be searching for answers as to how to address the needs of a child who is "way out there" on the far right of the bell curve. Stories alternate between touching and humorous; informative and inspirational. Unfortunately, there is no single "right" way to raise and educate these enigmas. Highly gifted children are different both inside and out, and they tend to learn in a manner that is unusual; not just faster than the norm.

I particularly loved Annemarie Roeper's chapter on the SAI model of education. Roeper says, "Giftedness includes heart and soul and is not limited to intelligence and achievement." I find her ideas on education and life for profoundly gifted kids to be very uplifting. She views gifted individuals holistically, and not just as a set of numbers on a test.

Carolyn K., founder of the number one online resource for and about gifted children, Hoagie's Gifted, outlines her family's struggles with school advocacy. Eldest child "Dolphin" is followed through the ups and downs of her public school career. As one with some insider information, I believe it would enhance the story to have included details of Dolphin's more recent success with early college.

"Normal Kids Don't Quack" by Cathy Marciniak is a hilarious look at life with high IQ children. Cathy muses, "My life is full of things that other parents can't relate to." A baby who quacks, a seven year old who wonders if she should pick up her beanie babies in a, "sequential, chronological,or alphabetical" order... normal is a relative term, isn't it?

Annette Revel Sheeley and Linda Silverman collaborate on a chapter titled, "Defining the Few" which opens the book and sets the stage for later reading with a clear description of the various levels of giftedness. This entire book is based upon the "old" SBLM standards, so referenced IQ scores are on a scale that measures beyond two hundred. Sheeley and Silverman continue to recommend the Stanford Binet form L-M for children who have taken a more modern IQ test and scored 99th percentile on two or more subtests. These more commonly used tests, such as the Wechslers, have an upper limit of 160.

An excellent piece on homeschooling profoundly gifted children by Kathryn Finn might just nudge parents on the fence into giving it a try. Homeschooling has become a commonplace educational solution for gifted kids, and it offers many advantages.

There are many other notable contributors to High IQ Kids, including Dierdre Lovecky, Karen Rogers, Sally Reis, Miraca Gross, and Stephanie Tolan.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High IQ Kids: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts, January 22, 2008

By 

Avid Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: High IQ Kids: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts (Paperback)

High IQ Kids: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts

I really like this book with all the different perspectives it offers from its many different writers. Its biggest plus point is that it draws from a vast variety of writers with articles ranging from good to really great. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a suspected HG+ child. It was also personally illuminating, reflecting back on my own childhood difficulties and how some of them could have been avoided...

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average not high on this one, April 24, 2009

By 

L. J. Spector (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High IQ Kids: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts (Paperback)

There are many books on this subject. This one is a collection of essays, and as such has "highs and lows". There were some essays I found "spoke to me" and informed what I feel and know to be true about high IQ kids and adults; others were either flat or not terribly informative. I am happy to have this in my collection, to draw on, but it isn't my "go to" book.