THE GIFTED TEEN SURVIVAL GUIDE

While gifted teens may seem to be best prepared of all adolescents to cope with life, this effort offers specific, often pithy advice for a sometimes-neglected group’s special needs.

Many school systems now make some effort to identify students who are gifted, while not fully agreeing on what that term means. Beginning with a close look at how giftedness is identified, the authors move on to cover in detail how to deal with parents, friends and teachers, twice exceptionality (for example, Asperger’s syndrome and giftedness together), how to make schools better serve unique talents, how to choose and prepare for college, how to deal with relationships and, finally, good advice on a variety of topics relevant for most teens: sexuality, depression and “existential crises.” Sections of advice are interrupted by smart, sometimes funny essays by a variety of gifted people talking about their teen years. This is an updated, fourth edition of a work that was first published in 1983; it feels fresh and timely, with information about current topics such as online education and the distractions of and dependence on electronic media. A detailed table of contents will make it easier for readers to identify especially pertinent sections, if they don’t want to read through the entire work.

An intelligent, entertaining look at the unique and not-so-unique issues that gifted teens face.