Peak Performance for Smart Kids

by Maureen Neihart

Peak Performance for Smart Kids provides success strategies, activities, tools, real-life examples, and checklists for parents to employ to help their kids to achieve their highest potential. Even the most talented child will not succeed if he or she has not developed the mental, psychological, and emotional skills to face the heavy demands of high performance. Maureen Neihart, a psychologist and leading authority on talent development in children, examines seven mental habits of successful kids, providing practical approaches for developing them in talented children of all ages in this easy-to-read guide for parents and teachers.

By working with parents to complete the activities included in this book, high-ability kids will learn to manage stress and anxiety, set and achieve goals, use mental rehearsal to improve performance, manage their moods and emotions, practice optimistic thinking, and resolve their frustrations of needing to belong while needing to achieve. With its research-based strategies and unique approach to maximizing potential, this is a book from which every parent of smart kids can benefit!

Educational Resource

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting

184 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Maureen Neihart, Psy.D., a leading authority on the talent development in children, is a licensed child psychologist with more than 25 years of experience working with talented young people and their families. A former teacher and school counselor, she now is an internationally recognized leader on the psychological aspects of talent development, addressing between 20,000 and 40,000 people each year in her many talks and workshops throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America.

Reviews

[Karen]

Not knowing exactly what I was looking for, I came home from the library with this.

It hits on some very specific skills one needs to master to become truly great at some performance ability. There are many references to musicians and athletes on their journey to greatness.

This is an easy read. Definitely some good ideas inside it. If my kids were older and I felt the need, I might actually do some of the activities listed to do with your kids.

Currently, I find it most helpful as a piano teacher, since once facet of my job is to help my students perform well.

[Angela Dryer]

When working with gifted kids, it is often easy to forget that it is common to come across students who are underachievers. This book is a great book for parents and teachers to understand the underachieving gifted and talented student, and understand strategies that could be used to help them reach their full potential and embrace who they are as learners.

[Cindy]

Back to school. My daughter asked me if the stress management exercises in the book were for me or for the kids. Hmmm.... I hate the title, but will probably end up buying a copy of this one to remind me to breathe if nothing else.

[Karen]

This was an easy to read book with specific exercises and strategies to support one's child in succeeding in school and other pursuits. I recommend it as a good reference, and frankly, I thought some of the suggestions were helpful for adults as well.