Survey of Identified Gifted and 2e Children

Has your child been identified as gifted or twice exceptional? Researchers at Columbia University's Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences are studying how children who are unique in some way are identified and developed. They are currently collecting stories from parents with children who have been identified as gifted, children who have unique artistic, scientific, or physical abilities, children on the autism spectrum, and children who have been identified as having attention disorders.

While all children are unique, the goal of their study is to identify how children with unique developmental abilities or trajectories develop over early childhood. Parents have different experiences and observations of their child's development and they have different personal resources with which they access services or programs. Parents also differ in the type and extent of their support networks and social relations. And finally, parents make different decisions when finding the right academic, extra-curricular, or other placements for their children. Now is your chance to tell your stories. Survey responses will help the researchers understand the experiences of unique children as well as their development over time.

They are collecting stories of parents of unique children through an online, semi-structured survey: http://uniquechildstudy.org. The more families who participate, the better the researchers' understanding of the gifted and 2e community will be. Let your voice be heard!

For more information, please contact the researchers at the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences via e-mail at uniquechildstudy@columbia.edu or by telephone at 212-854-3440. You can also find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unique-Child-Study/171533039569039.

Article by Sarah J. Wilson