Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind

Written for parents and teachers who work with gifted children, this book describes behaviors of children who are measured at the highest ranges of intelligence. The data indicate there are many more of these children than previously thought.Fascinating vignettes from 50 different families and their highly intelligent children are included. Testing, test scores, and interpretations of scores are explained in a new, eye-opening way. Parents and teachers will be able to compare a child’s behaviors and developmental milestones to those of children in the five Levels chapters, and thus estimate their child’s I.Q. The Levels have implications for educational planning.

Deborah L. Ruf, Ph.D., author of Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind (2005), works as a specialist in intelligence assessment and individualized interpretations and guidance for gifted children and adults. She lives in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota, where her research, writing, speaking, and practice focuses on school and educational issues and their related social and emotional adjustment for gifted children, particularly children at the highest levels of giftedness. Dr. Ruf founded Educational Options in 1998. Her familiarity with a diverse range of experiences enables her both to guide families through the educational system and to interpret where they actually “fit” (or don’t fit) in these systems. She has worked in a variety of settings: elementary classroom teacher in Alexandria, Virginia; supervisor of elementary teachers for Moorhead State University in rural and small towns in North Dakota and Minnesota; Cass County Superintendent of Schools in North Dakota; part time home schooling and other educational alternatives for her own children; university class instructor in classroom management, school law, and gifted education; elementary school gifted education teacher in large district; principal intern in large school district; Boys and Girls Club tutor, and public speaker. Dr. Ruf’s Ph.D., University of Minnesota, is in Educational Psychology with emphases in Test & Measurement and Learning & Cognition. Her Master’s degree, University of Virginia, is in Administration and Supervision. One of her primary goals is to translate educational research into understandable and meaningful language for the general public, particularly families, so that they are empowered to work more effectively on behalf of their children within the educational systems. She wrote the High Ability Assessment Bulletin for the Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition (2003) for Riverside Publishing, and it avoids the usual statistical jargon associated with assessment manuals. In 2003, Dr. Ruf accepted an ongoing volunteer appointment with American Mensa as the National Gifted Children Program Coordinator and is working to coordinate the efforts of numerous gifted advocacy groups while making Mensa a more welcoming organization to young people. A national level conference presenter, researcher on Levels of Giftedness and how intellectual profile affects adjustment, Dr. Ruf also consults with adult groups on the social and emotional intelligence of their members. For more information see http://www.educationaloptions.com/.