Messages for Parents and Teachers

By Charlotte A. Akin, M.Ed

Originally Published as “Messages for Parents and Teachers” Gifted Child Today,
Spring, 2004
Reprinted here with permission from the publisher.

Both teachers and parents have similar agendas when it comes to children: the fulfillment of academic potential and the creation of lifelong learners who are well-adjusted, productive members of society. However, basic communication between parents and teachers is often difficult. When children are exceptional, problems with communication are only magnified (Penney & Wilgosh, 2000; Alsap, 1996).
The solution is to intentionally facilitate communication (Bauman, 1988)…

Academic Asynchrony

By Charlotte A. Akin, M.Ed.

Originally published as “Academic Asynchrony”

Gifted Child Today,
Spring, 2005
Reprinted here with permission from the publisher.

Social, physical, emotional, and cognitive developmental rates for gifted children do not correspond to each other and – except for physical development – do not necessarily correspond to age peer norms. Giftedness itself causes asynchrony; that is, it causes children to be out of sync with other components. Gifted Children by definition have a mental age that does not correspond to their physical age, and their emotional maturity may not correspond to either of them. There is also a close intertwined relationship between emotion and cognition, which sometimes leads to perfectionism in gifted children. Elementary classroom teachers see this in children who become frustrated and angry when they do not easily master a difficult skill. Asynchrony can also exist within one of these components. In describing the gifted child, Linda Silverman notes that socially, physically, emotionally, and cognitively the gifted child develops at rates that do not correspond to each other, and…