A Parent's Journey Through the World of Gifted in PA

Being the parent of a gifted child can be both incredibly rewarding and incredibly challenging. From early identification to navigating advanced academics, social-emotional needs, and the college search process - the journey is full of ups, downs, and everything in between.

In this episode, we sit down with Deanie Gauntlett, a parent who has experienced firsthand what it's like to raise a gifted child from elementary school all the way through college. You will also recognize Deanie as our Community & Affiliate Director of PAGE, in which she hosts the popular, P2P (Parent to Parent) webinars that support parents through a variety of topics and Q & A sessions. Deanie shares the stories through the world of Gifted with her children, describing the unique joys and struggles they've faced over the years.

In her podcast session, you'll hear about the initial signs of giftedness, the process of getting her children formally identified, and the challenges of ensuring their needs were met in the classroom. Deanie discusses how she advocated for them through transitions to middle and high school, and then into college, including the social-emotional considerations they navigated as a family.

The conversation also covers the college search process for a gifted student, including course selection, extracurricular involvement, and finding the right university fit. Deanie provides invaluable insights and advice for other parents embarking on a similar journey with their own gifted child.

Whether you're just starting out with a young gifted learner or your child is preparing to head off to college, this episode offers a raw and honest look at one family's experiences. Listeners will come away with a deeper understanding of the realities of raising an exceptional child and strategies for supporting their unique needs across all grade levels.

Deanie Gauntlett resides in Exton, PA (Downingtown Area School District) with her wonderful husband, two fantastic children, and an adorable dog. She currently works for ifm efector, inc. in Malvern, PA, and has been with them for 18 years in order fulfillment. Her work has her utilizing her technical and operational skills to help ship orders and work with customers. Ms. Gauntlett’s gifted education journey began in 2004 with the birth of her son, Daniel, and then her daughter, Abby, in 2006. From an early age, her children could read and do other things other children were not doing (like memorizing six forms of the periodic table), which led Ms. Gauntlett to look for resources for her children. She soon realized her children just needed more, and luckily, she found out about a nearby PAGE conference just in time. Ms. Gauntlett walked into the PAGE conference and begged to be let in, which PAGE happily accommodated. She then founded the Downingtown Area Gifted Education Network (Downingtowngifted.org) as an affiliate chapter of PAGE in 2013 due to attending that conference. Ms. Gauntlett has been active with PAGE, attending conferences and becoming a local expert on the Gifted Individual Education Plan, often meeting with parents to help them understand what a GIEP is and how they can best partner with their school district. DAGEN also has hosted speakers and met for monthly coffees. As part of her advocacy work, Ms. Gauntlett became interested in learning how her local school board worked and ran for school board (but lost) in 2017. Also, in 2017, Ms. Gauntlett was named the PAGE Parent of the Year for her advocacy work with parents and the local school district. Ms. Gauntlett has also led workshops on GIEPs. Ms. Gauntlett enjoys volunteering her time by answering Pennsylvania parents’ questions about gifted education on social media, such as the Hoagies Gifted Discussion Facebook group. She also volunteers with her church and her kids’ school, the University Scholars Program, part of the PA Leadership Charter School. For fun, she is an avid reader and wannabe knitter. As her children transition to college, Ms. Gauntlett is excited to join the PAGE board to represent the parent perspective. She looks forward to continuing to help parents make the best decisions for their gifted children, using her hard-won knowledge and PAGE resources.