Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind

Deborah L. Ruf

Great Potential Press, Inc., 2005 - Family & Relationships - 351 pages

Wouldn't it be a disgrace if we lost the brightest students now attending our nation's schools? Dr. Deborah L. Ruf establishes that there are far more highly gifted children than previously imagined, yet large numbers of very bright children are "never discovered" by their schools. Using 78 gifted and highly gifted children as her examples, she illustrates five levels of giftedness. Parents will be able to estimate which of the five levels of giftedness their child fits by comparing their own child's developmental milestones to those of the children described in the book. This book contains practical advice for parents, including how to find a school that works for your child. Book jacket.

What people are saying

Review: Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind

User Review  - Tiffanny Bernsee - Goodreads

While I appreciated the examples of actual experiences, I felt there were a lot to get through. I did get a lot of information from the book and some ideas to work with at school.

Review: Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind

User Review  - Angela Wade - Goodreads

The best resource on the subject I've found so far. Immensely helpful and filled with technical data that's easy to understand, a break-down of tests/ scores, and a step-by-step guide to the various ...

Contents

• One Familys Story: 3
• A Family Affair: 4
• Early School Years: 7
• Radical Adjustments: 8
• Taking Matters into Our Own Hands: 9
• Issues for Parents: 11
• Positive Feedback: 12
• Negative Feedback: 13
• Conflicting Feedback: 14
• How Parents Learn What to Do: 15
• Pressure from Others: 19
• Misdiagnoses of Medical and Behavioral Issues: 20
• Maintaining Modesty as Parents: 21
• Loneliness of the Parents: 22
• Summary of Parent Issues: 23
• Intellectual Level and Why it Matters: 25
• What Is Intelligence?: 27
• Who Are the Gifted and How Do We Find Them?: 30
• Giftedness According to Test Scores: 32
• Understanding the Confusion over IQ Scores: 33
• The Intelligence Continuum and Education: 35
• How Common Are Gifted Children?: 36
• The Assessment Process: 37
• Summary of Intellectual Assessment: 48
• Levels of Giftedness: 49
• Ruf Estimates of Levels of Giftedness: 50
• Early Indicators of Giftedness: 52
• Indicators of Uniquely High Ability: 53
• Who Are the Subjects of this Book?: 54
• Level One Gifted Approximately 90th to 98th Percentiles: 57
• The Children: 58
• Age Two to Three Years: 60
• Age Three to Four Years: 61
• Age Four to Five Years: 62
• Age Five to Six Years: 63
• Age Six to Seven Years: 65
• Age Seven to Nine Years: 66
• Age Nine and Older: 68
• Summary of Level One Gifted: 69
• Level Two Gifted Approximately 98th and 99th Percentiles: 73
• Age Two to Three Years: 79
• Age Three to Four Years: 81
• Age Four to Five Years: 86
• Age Five to Six Years: 89
• Age Six to Seven Years: 91
• Age Seven to Nine Years: 93
• Age Nine and Older: 96
• Level Three Gifted Approximately 98th and 99th Percentiles: 101
• The Children: 102
• Age Two to Three Years: 106
• Age Three to Four Years: 108
• Age Four to Five Years: 113
• Age Five to Six Years: 115
• Age Six to Seven Years: 117
• Age Seven to Nine Years: 120
• Age Nine and Older: 121
• Summary of Level Three Gifted: 123
• Level Four Gifted 99th Percentile: 127
• The Children: 128
• Birth to Two Years: 129
• Age Two to Three Years: 134
• Age Three to Four Years: 139
• Age Four to Five Years: 143
• Age Five to Six Years: 146
• Age Six to Seven Years: 151
• Age Seven to Nine Years: 153
• Age Nine and Older: 155
• Summary of Level Four Gifted: 158
• Level Five Gifted Above the 99th Percentile: 163
• The Children: 165
• Age Two to Three Years: 171
• Age Three to Four Years: 174
• Age Four to Five Years: 178
• Age Five to Six Years: 181
• Age Six to Seven Years: 183
• Age Seven to Nine Years: 185
• Age Nine and Older: 187
• Summary of Level Five Gifted: 191
• Gifted Children School Issues and Educational Options: 197
• What These Kids Are Like: 199
• High Demand for Attention in Infancy: 200
• Feisty Independent and StrongWilled: 201
• EasyGoing and Flexible: 204
• Concentration and Attention Span: 205
• Schedules and Transitions: 206
• Perfectionism: 207
• Issues with Authority: 209
• Demonstrations of Emotions and Feelings: 211
• Intensities and Sensitivities: 212
• Idealism Compassion and Sense of Fairness: 214
• Asynchrony of Development: 216
• Sense of Humor: 217
• General SociabilityHow They Spend their Time: 218
• Bossiness: 222
• Sportsmanship and Competitive Nature: 223
• Interests and Approach to Play: 224
• Performance and Leadership: 227
• Androgyny of Interests and Behaviors: 228
• Summary of Gifted Behaviors and Traits: 229
• The Crash Course on Giftedness and the Schools: 231
• Schools Are Problematic for Gifted Students: 233
• Age Grouping and the Demise of Ability Grouping: 234
• Societal Priorities and Funding: 237
• Teachers Are Not Trained to Recognize Individual Differences: 239
• Negative Effects of the Same Pace for Everyone: 240
• Social and Emotional Ramifications: 242
• The Way Gifted Children Are: 243
• Intellectual Differences: 247
• Personality Differences: 248
• Other Important Factors: 249
• School Years and Ongoing Issues: 251
• Social Adaptation Trumps Academic Abilities: 253
• Theyll Help My Child: 256
• Parents Assume that They Can Work with the Schools: 258
• Problems for the Gifted in School: 261
• Abilities Surpass Maturity: 262
• Teachers Overlook High Abilities: 264
• Behavior Problems: 266
• Poor Fit between Some Teachers and Gifted Children: 268
• Gifted Students Learn Poor Study Habits: 269
• Not Completing or Turning in Homework: 270
• Not Showing Enough Effort: 272
• Disorganization: 273
• Not Paying Attention in ClassBeing Distracted and Distractible: 274
• Confused SelfConcept: 275
• Depression: 276
• Loneliness and Feeling Different: 277
• Additional Problem Areas: 279
• Writing: 281
• Summary of School Issues: 283
• Educational Needs for Each Level: 285
• Types of Schools: 286
• Type III Schools: 287
• Early Entrance: 288
• Differentiated Instruction: 289
• WholeGrade Acceleration: 290
• FullTime Home Schooling: 291
• Radical Acceleration: 292
• Individualized Approach: 293
• Middle School Years: 294
• College Life and Career Planning: 295
• Social Life for Level One Children: 296
• Early Grade School Years: 297
• Middle School Years: 298
• High School Years: 299
• College Life and Career Planning: 300
• Social Life for Level Two Children: 301
• Early Grade School Years: 302
• Middle School Years: 303
• High School Years: 304
• Social Life for Level Three Children: 305
• Early Grade School Years: 306
• Middle School Years: 307
• College Life and Career Planning: 308
• Social Life for Level Four Children: 309
• Early Grade School Years: 310
• Middle School Years: 311
• High School Years: 312
• Social Life for Level Five Children: 313
• What Parents Can Do for Level Five Children: 314
• Developmental Guidelines for Identifying Gifted Preschoolers: 317
• Public School Curriculum Expectations by Grade Levels: 319
• Levels of Giftedness for Some Historical Figures: 327
• References: 329
• Endnotes: 337
• Index: 347

About the author

Deborah L. Ruf, Ph.D., author of Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind (2005), works as a specialist in intelligence assessment and individualized interpretations and guidance for gifted children and adults. She lives in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota, where her research, writing, speaking, and practice focuses on school and educational issues and their related social and emotional adjustment for gifted children, particularly children at the highest levels of giftedness. Dr. Ruf founded Educational Options in 1998. Her familiarity with a diverse range of experiences enables her both to guide families through the educational system and to interpret where they actually “fit” (or don't fit) in these systems. She has worked in a variety of settings: elementary classroom teacher in Alexandria, Virginia; supervisor of elementary teachers for Moorhead State University in rural and small towns in North Dakota and Minnesota; Cass County Superintendent of Schools in North Dakota; part time home schooling and other educational alternatives for her own children; university class instructor in classroom management, school law, and gifted education; elementary school gifted education teacher in large district; principal intern in large school district; Boys and Girls Club tutor, and public speaker. Dr. Ruf's Ph.D., University of Minnesota, is in Educational Psychology with emphases in Test & Measurement and Learning & Cognition. Her Master's degree, University of Virginia, is in Administration and Supervision. One of her primary goals is to translate educational research into understandable and meaningful language for the general public, particularly families, so that they are empowered to work more effectively on behalf of their children within the educational systems. She wrote the High Ability Assessment Bulletin for the Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition (2003) for Riverside Publishing, and it avoids the usual statistical jargon associated with assessment manuals. In 2003, Dr. Ruf accepted an ongoing volunteer appointment with American Mensa as the National Gifted Children Program Coordinator and is working to coordinate the efforts of numerous gifted advocacy groups while making Mensa a more welcoming organization to young people. A national level conference presenter, researcher on Levels of Giftedness and how intellectual profile affects adjustment, Dr. Ruf also consults with adult groups on the social and emotional intelligence of their members. For more information see http://www.educationaloptions.com/.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind
• Author: Deborah L. Ruf
• Publisher: Great Potential Press, Inc., 2005
• ISBN: 0910707707, 9780910707701
• Length: 351 pages
• Subjects: Family & Relationships / Emotions