I liked the book The Underachieving Gifted Child. Part of the reason I requested this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in the first place was because I raised three talented and gifted children, all of whom struggled academically at various points. Part of what I liked about the book was the discussion of what constitutes giftedness, and also what constitutes underachievement. A concept difficult for many educators to understand is that a student can be both gifted and disabled, thus twice exceptional, and that a student may have okay grades, but should be performing much better (given their IQ and test scores.) Perhaps the book is geared less toward the layman and more toward the educator, but as a parent with a foot in both the education and psychology worlds, I found it easy to read and understand. There were some good, concrete examples of how to encourage self-motivation and self-efficacy, and these are the things that ultimately resolve underachievement. At some point, the individual needs to decide to become a better student. Or not. One does not have to be a "good student" to be a success in the world, even today. All of us have surely heard of the utter scholastic failure of Albert Einstein! And this book does not address students making that choice. So much for diversity. But if encouraging your student(s) to get along in school and live up to their academic potential is what you're looking for, this book should give you some ideas. ( )

This book has loads of information about Gifted Children. It looks like a good book for a professional, but it is too much for the layman to sort through. It doesn't invite me in to "talk" about the subject or make me feel welcome. The subject is not an unfamiliar one to me, but there are more helpful books available.

This book is a nice survey of what motivates the gifted (or in fact, probably any) student, and of how behaviors at home and at school can influence student achievement. A variety of factors and strategies are discussed. This book is a useful addition to any teacher's or parent's library, though it will probably be dipped into selectively rather than read extensively. I found especially interesting the section on standardized test scores - on how it is ineffective, as sometimes happens, to use standardized tests to both predict and measure student achievement, and how test scores are, in the long term, an ineffective measurement of overall success. ( )

The Underachieving Gifted Child
Recognizing, Understanding, and Reversing Underachievement
By Del Siegl, PH.D.

A CEC-TAG Educational Resource

Some of this book was worthwhile to me, even I as I approach my 25th year of teaching middle school. Having been associated with the gifted program in my school system for most of those 25 years I have experienced and been able to deal with some of the problematic students alluded to in Doctor Siegle’s book. Some of these students I have been able to move to higher achievement levels others I have not. Elements of Siegle’s book have given insight to things I could have tried. I thank him for this.

Boy do I wish I had this book when my sons were in school. Even though it was known that my boys were underachievers there seemed to be nothing that could help them but to lecture them on the need to try harder. My oldest son once asked how was he supposed to try harder. This book helps to identify underachievers and techniques to help them. I shared some of the info with my sons and asked if they thought it would have helped. Both not only thought it would have been helpful but want the book for their kids.
It has a lot of useful ideas to help your gifted child work at his potential taking in to consideration their varies learning abilities. Well written and easier to understand then I first expected. ( )