Who We Help · Accelerated/Gifted Students

gifted is a starting point. we build from there.

Parents of children with excellent learning skills are often as perplexed as parents of children with learning difficulties, and school programs are often insufficient and start too late. NACD has worked with some of the top students in the country, and the goal is always the same: keep them challenged, keep them growing, in every area.

Start Your Free Get Started Program

Free application and interview. No obligation.

Auditory processing Visual processing Short-term memory Working memory Visualization Conceptualization Tonal processing Visual memory Motor coordination

For Parents

A different kind of perplexing

Parents of children showing excellent learning skills are often as perplexed as to how to best deal with this as are parents of children with learning difficulties. Programs offered by schools are often insufficient and start too late to take full advantage of what the children can do. NACD has worked with children who are some of the top students in the country.

An essential strategy in working with a highly capable child is to keep that child challenged and engaged in learning more and learning better.

NACD shares the goal of the parents, which is to maximize the child’s potential. And with NACD by their side, parents can move confidently toward the future knowing that their child is learning to both utilize and improve his or her abilities.

What NACD Offers

Three things school gifted programs don’t do

1

Assess and develop the whole child

NACD first assesses your child’s capabilities in all areas of function, and programs are written to improve function in all areas, so your child is not competent in one area only.

2

Maximize how your child learns

NACD provides instructional strategies and educational resource recommendations to make the most of your child’s ability to learn, working with you and your child’s educators.

3

Map the learning future

Instead of going it alone, you get help locating opportunities that let your child move further and faster in areas of interest, including advice on early college admission and extra courses.

The Program

Even a fast brain can get faster

Maximizing your child’s potential includes programs to further their ability to process auditory and visual information, improve short-term memory, visualize and conceptualize, and use their working memory, drawing on a toolbox of more than 1,000 techniques.

Auditory processing

Hold and work with more of what they hear.

Visual processing

Take in and organize more of what they see.

Short-term & working memory

The engine under complex thinking.

Visualization & conceptualization

See it, model it, reason about it.

Tonal processing

The listening foundation under music and language.

Visual memory

Retain what they read and observe.

Fine motor coordination

Output that keeps up with a fast mind.

Gross motor coordination

A whole child includes a capable body.

Pathways

Many gifted NACD kids learn at home

Many of NACD’s accelerated students thrive with NACD home education, where the pace of learning is set by the child instead of the classroom. Others stay in school while running their NACD program at home, and NACD works with parents and educators to maximize learning strategies and materials either way.

Not sure whether your child qualifies as “gifted”? It doesn’t matter as much as you’d think. Every child’s processing can be developed, and the typical children page explains how the same approach raises any child’s ceiling.

Testimonials From NACD Clients

No posts found.

How To Get Started

Three steps, starting free

1 · Free application and interview 2 · Evaluation and your child’s program 3 · Coaching and follow-ups, three times a year

Start Your Free Get Started Program

Common questions from parents

What does NACD do for a gifted child?

NACD assesses your child’s capabilities in all areas of function, then builds an individualized program to develop every one of them, alongside instructional strategies and resource recommendations that make the most of your child’s ability to learn. The essential strategy is keeping your child challenged and engaged in learning more and learning better.

My child is bored at school. Can NACD help?

Boredom is usually a pace problem: the material is moving slower than your child’s mind. NACD works with you and your child’s educators to raise the challenge level, and helps you find learning opportunities that let your child move further and faster in the areas that interest them.

Isn’t the school’s gifted program enough?

School programs are often insufficient and start too late to take full advantage of what a highly capable child can do. They also tend to add more content rather than developing the child’s underlying capabilities. NACD does both: more challenge, and a program that makes the learner faster.

My child excels in one area but struggles in others. Is that normal?

It’s common, and it’s exactly why NACD assesses the whole child. Programs are written to improve function in all areas so your child is not competent in one area only. A brilliant mathematician who struggles to get thoughts onto paper deserves a program that addresses both.

Can NACD advise on early college admission?

Yes. NACD assists parents with mapping out the learning future for their child, including advising on issues of early college admission and extra courses. You don’t have to figure out the road ahead alone.

Does this work with homeschooling?

Beautifully. Many of NACD’s accelerated students learn at home, where the pace is set by the child instead of the classroom, and NACD’s T.H.E. Targeted Home Education program is built for exactly that. Many others stay in school while running their NACD program at home.

What if my child hasn’t been formally identified as gifted?

No label is required. NACD’s assessment looks at how your child is actually functioning, not at test qualifications, and the program is built from there. If your child is capable of more than they’re getting, that’s reason enough.

What ages does NACD work with?

All of them, and with highly capable children, earlier is better: school programs often start too late to take full advantage of what a child can do. NACD works with families from the preschool years through the teens planning early college.

What happens at the first evaluation?

Your NACD Developmentalist works directly with your child and with you, mapping capabilities across processing, memory, visualization, language, motor function, and learning. You leave with a full picture of your child and a program designed to keep them challenged and growing.

How soon do families see progress?

Every child is different, and we do not make promises. What we can say is that input compounds day after day, and progress is measured concretely at follow-up evaluations three times a year, so you always know what is moving and what the program targets next.

Accelerated/Gifted Students