It's a tough time to raise, teach or be a highly gifted child. As the term "gifted" and the unusual intellectual capacity to which that term refers become more and more politically incorrect, the educational establishment changes terminology and focus.

Giftedness, a global, integrative mental capacity, may be dismissed, replaced by fragmented "talents" which seem less threatening and theoretically easier for schools to deal with. Instead of an internal developmental reality that affects every aspect of a child's life, "intellectual talent" is more and more perceived as synonymous with (and limited to) academic achievement.

Test scores and teacher comments show that your child is bright, academically advanced, gifted.

You rejoice … until you see that D on their report card.

Is this normal? Yes.

Need proof? Here are eight things we know about bright kids, according to the National Association for Gifted Children.

1. They shouldn’t be ignored. Academically advanced students need nurturing and guidance from trained educators who know how to challenge and support them in fully developing their abilities and encourage their love for learning.

It’s easy to assume that our brightest students are confident and capable, bursting with self-esteem. However, high self-expectations and surprising insecurities cast a long shadow over their accomplishments.

Like a lot of other 12-year-olds, Caleb Anderson of Marietta, Ga., loves outer space. "I'm fascinated that there's another world beyond ours. There's another place. There's a better place," he tells NPR. But unlike most kids his age, he's a sophomore in college, where he's studying calculus, U.S. history, humanities and macroeconomics.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — If we told you a 10-year-old feels at home in a high school precalculus class, you might be impressed.

But Elliott Tanner isn’t just keeping up with college-bound high school students. He’s tutoring them.

“I just take great pleasure in teaching people,” Elliott says.

Moments later, Elliott spins in a dizzying circle as 10-year-olds are prone to do.

As parents, we want our children to excel. We want them to strive for excellence, and to feel accomplished with a job well-done. Whether it’s their education, music lessons, dance, performance, or any other skill they’re pursuing, we teach our kids to aim high and master new things from an early age.

Gifted children know this expectation well. Because they rarely struggle with anything they attempt early on, we set high standards for them. After all, striving for perfection in the sense of learning to excel can be healthy and admirable. We just want our children to succeed.

Raising a gifted child is full of surprises. Emotional intensity, asynchronous development, and advocating within the schools, to name a few, become routine challenges most parents face. But just when you think you've got it figured out and life gets a little more predictable, college looms on the horizon.

Parents of gifted children are often surprised and dismayed when their children underachieve in school. Learning disabilities in gifted children can sometimes lead to underachievement,1 but it is often simply a lack of motivation. Motivating some gifted children can be difficult; neither rewards nor punishments seem to work, especially for intrinsically motivated children. What can parents do to motivate their gifted children? Here are eight ideas to try...

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