I recommend that you read my first post, Parenting Gifted Children: Is the New School Year Okay? Part 1, before or after reading this article, as it will contain context and discussion that may help you better implement some of the ideas presented here. 

Let's start with a situation that recently came my way. 

Lynn is a seven-year-old, second grade, high ability learner who has started demonstrating some early warning signs that she is not feeling challenged enough at school.  These details are important to note because the way they manifest, they may overlap with other issues such as behavioral issues, ADHD, etc. and sometimes it is hard to tell which issue is the real.  The problem with that is that parents, teachers, and other support systems may wind up "addressing" a non-issue, while the real problem goes unattended and, in some cases, worsens. So it's good to keep one's eye on this feeling of being under-challenged.  

In this situation, Lynn's mother had noticed her daughter's trying to find ways- on her own - to spike the challenge of some of her homework assignments. And this worked to hold her interest to some extent, but in her mother's estimation, and her own, not enough.

So mom did a Goggle search and located the William and Mary (school of education) Center for Gifted Education.  You can find it at:  http://education.wm.edu/centers/cfge/. 

This is where she came across a tremendously helpful book for language development titled, Journeys and Destinations (Kendal Hunt Publishing).  This is a book I highly recommend to any parent of a high ability learner.  It is chock full of curriculum design models, materials and suggestions on how to use them, and a teacher's guide. It was exactly what mom was looking for to get her started, trying to recuperate her daughter's interests in language arts. 

But the book gave her another idea as well; perhaps she could use it as a launching pad for developing alternate assignments for Lynn at school.  She decided to give it a whirl.  She ordered the book.  To her pleasure, she found it easy to use. 

She began with something short:  The Wolf and the Lion, a fable by Aesop (included in the text). Lynn's sensitivities to "justice" and "injustice" were immediately sparked and challenged by the fable. So far so good, mom thought, and took a Journey's and Destinations suggestion to vault interest and challenge even further by bringing in yet another text. 

She decided to bring into play a poem she had used herself in a literature class she teaches at her local college.  The poem was no light weight.  It was "The Heaven of Animals" by James Dickey.  It was also an opportunity to address experiential questions Lynn had been bringing up regarding some of the behaviors of her own pets, 2 cats and a dog as well as bigger questions she had posed about life and death and spirituality (nondenominational, as her mother refered to it).   Mom said that she and her daughter then happened to find a PBS special dealing with the continued problem of radiation at Chernobyl.  The special dealt with animal life, now twenty-five years after the nuclear catastrophe.  Interestingly the mother was thinking that the show was above Lynn's capacity, but the child wanted to watch it and was comfortable with the context.  The clip focused on a wolf, which required food, and a bison which had died, and other bison which were present to mourn its death.  So the group of bison chased the wolf away.  They mourned.  Then they went away - because they could not stay any longer.

Lynn surprisingly in a way (yet not) responded with comments making associations to all three scenarios presented (fable, poem, television show), building on her interests and, perhaps more importantly, deepening her understanding of the life-cycle, as well as - and significantly - the concept of grieving.

Mom continued to work with her, checking her comprehension, opinions, values, and arguments as they gently explored various aspects of the life-cycle together. Both mother and daughter enjoyed the results and mom is now attempting to layer other of Lynn's readings (from JD) in a similar way.  She has begun to notice positive changes in Lynn's behaviors elsewhere in their relationship.  "She felt challenged," mom said.  "She became calmer, happier, and her self-confidence and motivation increased."

Now mom has made a call to Lynn's school.  She has been discussing with them the possibilities of implementing an "alternative" program for her daughter for language arts, math, and science. So far, everyone is not only interested, but cooperative and facilitating.  Mom is doing a lot of the leg-work, but nonetheless is pleased with results so far, in particular that the alternate program is being treated as just that - not an add-on - but as an alternate: assignments, grading and all.  This was mom's immediate goal. With the school's and teacher's cooperation, she hopes to see her daughter's gifts grow their natural potential over the remainder of the year. Everyone is off to a good start.

This, however, is just one family's story.  What else can be done? At school?  At home?  What other materials and strategies might be available. Let's take a look.

I recently contacted Shannon Harrison, the Young Scholar Program Manager, from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development and asked her to chime in on a few talking points such as:  early warning signs that intervention is necessary, some strategies parents can use in approaching and speaking with school administrators and teachers, some great books that can help (parents, et. al.) in creating alternate programs that can be customized to your child's needs and interests.

At the Davidson Institute, says Harrison, "we work closely with parents and offer information, resources, research and support as they consider educational advocacy for their students. Since every student, family and schooling situation is unique, we focus on identifying potential educational options rather than giving advice."

Harrison recommends "that parents approach advocating as preparing for a journey. Before beginning the journey," she says that parents should ask themselves:

• What is the goal of advocating?
• What needs to change?
• When will you know it's working?
• Where to start?

The Davidson Institute provides a free Advocacy Guidebook at http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_14781.aspx.

I asked Harrison if she might cite some texts that Davidson uses in their program or any other texts that could help a parent generate an alternate program for their child.  Some books she recommends for parents are:

• Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds

           Davidson, Davidson & Vanderkam, 2004) http://www.geniusdenied.com/