A handbook for parents, daycare providers, preschool teachers, program administrators, medical providers, caseworkers, and everyone else who cares for and about children

Winner of a Mom’s Choice Award Honoring Excellence!

Most gifted children are not identified as such until they reach elementary school age, when schools typically do an initial assessment of the intellectual abilities and academic achievement levels of their students. This is often the point at which children are first compared with other children of the same age—and, notably, to children outside of the family, where the other members usually tend to be gifted as well. As a result, most parents don’t realize that they have a gifted child until that child is at least five years old.

The problem, of course, is that gifted children don’t magically become gifted on their first day of school. In fact, most gifted children demonstrate characteristics of giftedness almost from birth. Knowing what to look for—and how to nurture the gifted traits that are evident—is key to ensuring that gifted children grow and develop in compassionate, supportive, and intellectually stimulating environments.

Bright from the Beginning offers readers a wealth of information and advice to help identify and support potential gifted traits in children from birth to age five. It covers topics ranging from identification to asynchrony, to twice-exceptionality, to school readiness issues. It actively dispels myths and misconceptions about giftedness and highlights risk factors that can impede both accurate identification and the ability for giftedness to develop in the first place. Its pages brim with advice on how to maximize intellectual potential and minimize possible difficulties that can arise. It even includes helpful lists of gifted traits by age group and a list of organizations that offer additional resources for gifted children of all ages.

Gifted children deserve to be nurtured and supported appropriately from the moment they arrive in this world. Bright from the Beginning gives the adults in their lives the tools to do just that.