Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers

This book has become a classic in the fields of gifted education and gifted psychology. For years, parents have referred to it as “the Dr. Spock book for parents of gifted children.” Gifted children have unique social and emotional concerns, and this book provides the guidance that parents need to support them. Each chapter features problems or issues common to gifted children and their families. Topics include communication, discipline, friends, sibling rivalry, and educational needs.

A frequent keynote and workshop speaker at state and national conventions, Dr. Webb, a licensed and board-certified psychologist, has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, The Phil Donahue Show, CNN, and National Public Radio. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, he served for three years on its governing body, the Council of Representatives. Dr. Webb is also a Fellow of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and the Society for Personality Assessment. In 1992, he received the Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy by the American Psychological Association, and also the National Award for Excellence, Senior Investigator Division, from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation. He has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association for Gifted Children and was President of the American Association for Gifted Children. Currently, Dr. Webb is President of Great Potential Press, Inc. Dr. Webb was President of the Ohio Psychological Association from 1974 to 1975 and a member of its Board of Trustees for seven years. He has been in private practice, as well as in various consulting positions with clinics and hospitals. In 1978, Dr. Webb was one of the founders of the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, and from 1978 to 1995, he was a Professor and Associate Dean. Previously, Dr. Webb directed the Department of Psychology at the Children's Medical Center in Dayton and was Associate Clinical Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Wright State University School of Medicine. From 1970 to 1975, Dr. Webb was on the graduate faculty in psychology at Ohio University. Dr. Webb is the lead author of Guiding the Gifted Child, which sold more than 125,000 copies, has been translated into several languages, and won the National Media Award of the American Psychological Association as the best book for "significantly contributing to the understanding of the unique, sensitive, emotional needs of exceptional children." His books Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults, A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children, and Grandparents' Guide to Gifted Children have won numerous book awards. In addition, Dr. Webb has authored more than 70 professional publications, 15 books, three videos, and many research papers for psychology conventions or conferences regarding gifted and talented children. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Webb graduated from Rhodes College and received his doctorate degree from the University of Alabama. Dr. Webb is the parent of six daughters.

Since 1979, Elizabeth "Betty" Meckstroth, M.Ed., M.S.W., has worked in supportive cooperation with organizations for gifted children and their families, co-authoring Guiding the Gifted Child and Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom, assessing children, speaking, consulting, counseling, facilitating parent discussion groups, and publishing numerous book chapters and journal articles.

Stephanie S. Tolan, M.A., playwright and Newbery Honor winning author of 24 critically acclaimed novels for children and young adults, is co-author of Guiding the Gifted Child. Since its publication in 1982, she has served as a consultant to parents and educators about the social, emotional, spiritual, and academic needs of the gifted, with a particular focus on the highly to profoundly gifted. Her articles about gifted children and adults have appeared in numerous journals, including Roeper Review (for which she is a contributing editor), Gifted Child Monthly, Journal of Advanced Development, Understanding Our Gifted, TIP Network News, ERIC Flyer Files, G/C/T, and The Communicator. A popular and dynamic speaker, Tolan has spoken at regional, national, and international conferences, and her article "Is It a Cheetah?" (based on a 1992 keynote speech at the Hollingworth Conference for the Highly Gifted) has been translated into more than 20 languages and reprinted by individuals, publications, and organizations for the gifted all over the world, many of whom have adopted the cheetah as a logo. As the mother of a highly gifted and creative child, Tolan discovered by the time he was in kindergarten that educators did not know what to do with her son, so she needed to learn all there was to know about the special needs of this population. She has spent more than 20 years helping other parents learn about themselves and their children and find ways to support them. In addition to writing and speaking about the gifted, Tolan served for two years as an advisor to the first director of the Davidson Institute to design and set up the Young Scholars program, and she spoke at the first Young Scholars gathering. She is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Educational Advancement and serves on the faculty of Yunasa, its summer camp for highly gifted 10- to 14-year-olds. She has been on the advisory boards of two schools for the gifted and is on the Board of Directors of the Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina, a charter school for the highly gifted. Her novel Welcome to the Ark has been said to offer a more in-depth view of the lives of profoundly gifted children and adolescents than can be found in most textbooks. It has been used in many educational programs for teachers of the gifted and in gifted classrooms across the country.