5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options

Giftedness exists on a continuum―there is a broad range of traits and behaviors that children can exhibit based on where they fall in that continuum. 5 Levels of Gifted is an award-winning book describing these differences within the gifted population. Author Deborah Ruf looks at 78 gifted children and groups them into five levels of giftedness based on developmental milestones, as well as test data. This information gives parents and educators a reference guide to compare with their own gifted children or students. The author then offers different educational approaches and practical advice, including how to find the best type of school for children at each level.

Deborah L. Ruf earned a Ph.D. in Psychological Foundations of Education with a double major in Tests & Measurement and Learning & Cognition at the University of Minnesota. She worked as a private consultant and specialist in gifted assessment, test interpretation, and guidance for the gifted for 30 years. Among her volunteer roles, she served as the National Gifted Children Program Coordinator for American Mensa from 2003 to 2008. Dr. Ruf was awarded the Mensa Foundation's Intellectual Benefits award in 2007 for her professional work in the field of intelligence. Early Having been a parent, classroom teacher, and administrator in elementary through graduate education, she continues to write and speak about school issues and social and emotional adjustment of gifted children and adults. Dr. Ruf maintains an interest in educational policy, particularly how to set up schools that meet not only academic but social and emotional needs of children through grouping and instruction with true peers. She is the author of the award-winning book Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind (2005) and retitled 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options in 2009. Her focus has now progressed toward the social and emotional health of the gifted adults who parent gifted children. Her most recent invited paper, How Parental Viewpoint and Personality Affect Gifted Child Outcomes (2020, Gifted Child International Journal). Her newest book is the longitudinal follow-up of the 2005 book and called The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us (2023).