About the Author

Barbara J. Gilman, M.S., is Associate Director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, where she has worked since 1991. She holds degrees in Child Development and Psychology and has extensive experience assessing gifted children and making educational recommendations for them. She specializes in highly gifted children and gifted children with learning disabilities, ADHD, and underachievement issues. A mother of highly gifted sons, she is a veteran of gifted committees, helped create an accelerated charter middle school, and is a popular speaker for parents and teachers on advocacy and classroom accommodations for the gifted. Gilman devotes much of her time to school advocacy consultation, helping parents worldwide to document the unique instructional needs of their gifted child, find curricular options that meet the student's needs, and negotiate with school personnel for programming accommodations. As a member of the National Association for Gifted Children's Task Force on IQ Test Interpretation, Gilman has been writing and speaking extensively on the appropriate use and scoring of current major IQ tests with gifted children, as well as working with test companies to create tests capable of assessing our most highly gifted children. She penned the NAGC position statement Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification.

Reviews

"The best book I've ever read about advocacy for gifted children. Gilman provides us refreshing nitty-gritty reality, equipping parents and teachers with specific skills to advocate for real children in real schools." Kathi Kearney, M.A., M.Ed. Gifted education consultant and nationally recognized expert in curriculum for gifted students, home schooling, and assessment of gifted students. "This book is a treasure. It provides the advice parents need...based upon Gilman's professional training, as well as her own experiences as a parent of highly gifted boys. The chapter devoted to teachers is among the best I have seen. If the advice in this book is followed, one could almost guarantee rewarding education experiences for a gifted child." Karen Rogers, Ph.D Professor of Gifted Studies, University of St. Thomas Author of Re-forming Gifted Education: How Parents and Teachers Can Match the Program to the Child "I like this book because it is about kids who are like my kids, but I love it for the expert information on advocating for them at school. For children who learn fast and differently, motivation to learn at all can be lost if they are held to the slow pace of regular classrooms. Why parents must advocate becomes clear through poignant examples both dark and hopeful." Ken Arenson Parent, activist for better education for exceptional learners, trial attorney, part-time woodworker, and father of gifted learners. "All the priceless information that it took me years to collect, all in one easy-to-read book! Barbara Gilman pulls together the collective wisdom of decades of parents and professionals, from identification to accommodations to acceleration and beyond... This is the manual we all wish came with our gifted children!" Carolyn Kottmeyer, Hoagiesgifted.org "The wisdom in this book is so important to know when planning for success for your child or student. This is a must-read for every parent or educator of gifted children. If there were only one book to read on the gifted, this is the one!" Joyce R. Schilling, parent and advocate, Denver, CO "If you are the parent of a gifted child, you MUST READ this book! Author Barbara Gilman gently guides the reader through the maze that is educational advocacy...(to ensure) that gifted children receive an education appropriate for their special needs." Nancy Golon, Highlands Ranch, CO "I am a mom of gifted children and have read much of the literature available on giftedness. Two reasons to buy this book are: one, there is a wealth of knowledge offered here that is extremely helpful in understanding giftedness, and two, much of this information isn't readily available elsewhere. If you suspect your child...may be gifted, then this is THE book to buy." Sarah B., Maryland