Parents and carers have a lasting impact on their children’s lives. They can have a great influence on their children’s achievement and success through providing early experiences which encourage children to enjoy and develop their learning. By exposing their children to new experiences, by engaging with them through talk and discussion, by giving them encouragement and support, parents enhance their children’s ability to think creatively and critically, and stimulate their curiosity about the world.

 

Parental support is one of the most important factors in a child’s success in school. Children whose parents are interested and involved in their education – for example, by supporting their learning at home and working with the school – do better academically and socially. This is true for all children, but parents sometimes find it difficult to know how to best support a child who has a special need or exceptional abilities. What they can do, however, makes a big difference, and our NACE Essentials guide on this topic aims to help parents and carers provide that support.

 

This guide has been recently updated, and is now freely available to all families, alongside a new mini-guide aimed at parents and carers of children in the early years foundation stage.

 

Being the parent or carer of a more able or exceptionally able child can be both a delight and a challenge. In some cases that challenge can last well into adolescence, when peer pressure, personal identity crises and an exceptional intellect or precocious talent can lead to tensions and conflict.

 

Living with an able child can raise many questions for parents and the rest of the family. A parent’s responses to a child’s exceptional needs will, to a large extent, depend on the parent’s values, their own experiences of education, and what they believe about their own abilities. But it is important that parents and carers think through their response, in order to support their child to develop and express their ability, to find balance, emotional harmony and personal fulfilment – and to live as a child.

 

Our NACE Essentials guide for parents and carers aims to provide answers to some of the most common questions about caring for and supporting a more able child:

In addition, the guide includes a glossary of words frequently used when discussing the education of children with high ability.

 

The NACE Essentials guide for parents and carers is available to download now, free for all families. Get your copy.