Deborah L. Ruf, Ph.D., is a specialist in intelligence assessment and individualized interpretations and guidance for both gifted children and adults. Her research, writing, and speaking focuses on school and educational issues as well as related social and emotional adjustments for gifted children particularly those at the highest levels of giftedness.
In a previous post, I talked about my early school years the post called How Author Background Affects What They Write. Here I am the summer before I became an 8th grader. About
Thanks for being a crucial part of our Substack journey, Crystal! Support like yours is the absolute backbone of my work! Paid subscribers allow me to dive deeper, dedicate more
In mid-November 2023, shortly after I released my 18 year longitudinal follow-up study in the very big book (3 pounds), The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell
What else makes IQ scores hard to count on? Different ability tests have different scales or ranges of scores. The ones you can take free online generally have a higher
“What exactly is the point of my life?” Do you wonder? The viewpoints of those who raised you, as well as the zeitgeist of the time you were born and
In the first post about parenting styles, I framed up a series of concepts about the interactions between gifted children and their parents. Then we launched into the authoritarian style
Why do we continue to have same-aged classrooms? hashtag#giftededucation For gifted children, being grouped day in and day out with your same-aged peers — your age-mates — can leave you
In 1999 I developed an intake form called “Developmental Milestones.” Parents who came to my new consultancy gave me all the information I thought I might need to figure them
The Grayson School left this insightful comment on “Preschool Behaviors in Highly to Profoundly Gifted Children” on Substack: “This is a fabulous summary of the gifted preschooler at various ages.
Most intellectually gifted adults don’t think of themselves as gifted. Smart enough maybe, but not so special as to be gifted. Most intellectually gifted adults don’t think of themselves as
The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up is a detailed follow-up to Dr. Deborah Ruf’s previous book, 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options. In this book, Dr. Ruf explores how background…. Read More
Dr. Delisle “I’ve finally read through the “5 Levels” update…and it is a monumental work. The amount of detail and insight you provide is unlike anything I have seen published elsewhere, and the respect you show to your 64 subjects is evident throughout. I won’t lie: I didn’t read through every one of the excerpts in each of the chapters. Instead, I read through a variety of them and then headed straight to the Summary and Conclusions portion of each chapter. It was in each of those that your synthesis of your respondents’ responses came most to life for me. Too, the Afterword was a great way to tie together the many conclusions that you reached, as well as additional questions that remain….Read More