About the Author

Award-winning author and publisher Judy Galbraith, M.A., has a master’s degree in guidance and counseling of the gifted. A former classroom teacher, she has worked with and taught gifted children and teens, their parents, and their teachers for many years.

In 1983 she started Free Spirit Publishing, which specializes in Self-Help for Kids® and Self-Help for Teens® books and other learning resources.

Judy is the author or coauthor of several books, including the perennially popular The Gifted Teen Survival Guide, The Survival Guide for Gifted Kids, When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All the Answers, and You Know Your Child Is Gifted When . . . She has appeared on Oprah and has been featured in Family Circle and Family Life, as well as numerous other magazines, newspapers, and broadcast and online media.

Judy served for ten years on the Board of Directors of Search Institute, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing the well-being of children and adolescents. From 2007–2010, she was a member of Minnesota 4-H Foundation Board of Trustees. In 1996, Judy received the E. Paul Torrance Creativity Award; in 2004, she was named the Midwest Publisher of the Year; in 2006, she was Honored for Excellence in Independent Publishing by Independent Publisher Book Awards; in 2011, she received the California Association for the Gifted (CAG) Ruth A. Martinson Award for significant contribution to gifted education; in 2012, she was given the Friend of the Gifted Award by the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented for her sustained advocacy on behalf of gifted children; and in 2015, she received the NAGC Annemarie Roeper Global Awareness Award.

A popular speaker on the social and emotional needs of gifted students, Judy is available to conduct professional development workshops and to give conference keynotes. She is also available for classroom visits via Skype. Judy lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jim Delisle, Ph.D., has taught gifted children and those who work on their behalf for more than forty years, including twenty-five years as a professor of special education at Kent State University.

He has taught students in elementary and secondary schools and, for the past six years, has worked part time with highly gifted ninth and tenth graders at the Scholars’ Academy in Conway, South Carolina. The author of more than 250 articles and twenty books, Jim is a frequent presenter on gifted children’s intellectual and emotional growth.

Jim and his wife Deb live in Washington, D.C., and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Reviews

“The Gifted Teen Survival Guide has done it again! This uniquely designed self-help guide shares what it means to be gifted by bringing the reader into the world of giftedness and showing how best to engage the creative, sensitive, highly cognitive mind of gifted individuals. Most impactful are the variety of gifted teen stories throughout the text that will resonate with the reader, helping them understand that it is okay to be who they are in a world that is sometimes resistant to their uniqueness. This book should be in the library of every school, in every home raising gifted learners, and in the hands of gifted teens everywhere going through this critically important time of their lives! Highly recommended.”
*Dr. Joy Lawson Davis, expert scholar in diversity & equity in gifted education, co-editor of Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students*

“The Gifted Teen Survival Guide truly has something for every gifted teen, including personal accounts from gifted teens around the world in each chapter. The fifth edition offers today’s readers current information about how best to navigate the challenges and choices they encounter as they move forward in school and in life. Galbraith and Delisle have approached each key topic with supreme care and consideration for supporting the success of these exceptional young people, making the book a must-read for gifted students and those who spend time with them.”
*Colleen M. Harsin, M.A., MSW, director, The Davidson Academy*

“Judy Galbraith and Jim Delisle’s Gifted Teen Survival Guide was a must-read for the students I taught as a gifted specialist. As with previous editions, this fifth edition does not disappoint. Written with their teenage readers in mind, Galbraith and Delisle have again produced an inviting resource to help gifted teens better understand their uniqueness and appreciate who they are. In this latest edition, the authors not only address challenges gifted individuals face, they provide a variety of helpful resources. The fifth edition of The Gifted Teen Survival Guide is essential reading not only for gifted teens, but also their teachers and parents.”
*Del Siegle, Ph.D., director, National Center for Research on Gifted Education*

“What an awesome book! This is a must read for every gifted individual, not just teens! IQ, EQ, CQ, 2e, intensities, and entrepreneurship? This book is the encyclopedia of gifted! Jim and Judy succinctly captured what every gifted individual needs to know to feel comfortable in their own skin, to feel validated, and to feel valiant enough to slay any invisible dragons!”
*Patricia S. Rendon, Gifted and Talented coordinator, Region One Education Service Center*

“My students have been able to relate to this guide’s straightforward, smart, and humorous writing style that explains what it's like to be a gifted teen. The new edition’s impact is punctuated by significant and meaningful student comments and contributions. Adults will appreciate this informal, comprehensive resource that feels like talking to a good friend as they strive to better understand the uniqueness of the gifted teens in their lives.”
*Terry Bradley, M.A., gifted education consultant and past president, Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented*