What do you think?
Rate this book
Empowering Underachievers: New Strategies to Guide Kids (8-18) to Personal Excellence
Updated and revised - Spevak reveals his dynamic method that has helped motivate 2000 failing students to perform at or near their full potential.
- GenresParenting
287 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2000
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 16, 2013
As the mother of an almost-middle schooler whose intellectual gifts currently far exceed his choice to deploy them, this book has more practical steps packed into its pages than a dozen similar titles.
The first half of the book details WHY a smart young person would decide not to exercise all the brainpower s/he's been given; what the common antecedents are, and a very interesting point that I've never come across elsewhere: that the despairing parents are taking on the emotions on behalf of the child, so that the child doesn't have to feel the angst, the hollow feeling of non-accomplishment, or the sadness. Rather, Spevak counsels repeatedly to practice nonchalance so that the underachiever is forced to feel his/her emotions and learn to act on them in order to reduce the distress. Eureka!
The second half of the book details what to do, specifically, for each of the four types of underachiever, along with exercises and even scripted interactions.
I found it interesting that the author's professional practice is located near my childhood home in suburban Washington, DC. That area is notorious for parental overachievement-- few of the power players there got into their places by underachieving, and much is expected of the local progeny. It was not until I moved to another part of the country for college that I realized how overprepared I was for nearly everything. Still, he could not have chosen a better location to find a population of families with astral expectations for their children.
It was calming and reassuring to read that my child is nowhere near as advanced or involved as some of the examples: he gets decent grades, does his schoolwork, and has not checked out-- but he's at that exit, so to speak, and with this very helpful set of tools, he's not nearly as likely to take it.
The first half of the book details WHY a smart young person would decide not to exercise all the brainpower s/he's been given; what the common antecedents are, and a very interesting point that I've never come across elsewhere: that the despairing parents are taking on the emotions on behalf of the child, so that the child doesn't have to feel the angst, the hollow feeling of non-accomplishment, or the sadness. Rather, Spevak counsels repeatedly to practice nonchalance so that the underachiever is forced to feel his/her emotions and learn to act on them in order to reduce the distress. Eureka!
The second half of the book details what to do, specifically, for each of the four types of underachiever, along with exercises and even scripted interactions.
I found it interesting that the author's professional practice is located near my childhood home in suburban Washington, DC. That area is notorious for parental overachievement-- few of the power players there got into their places by underachieving, and much is expected of the local progeny. It was not until I moved to another part of the country for college that I realized how overprepared I was for nearly everything. Still, he could not have chosen a better location to find a population of families with astral expectations for their children.
It was calming and reassuring to read that my child is nowhere near as advanced or involved as some of the examples: he gets decent grades, does his schoolwork, and has not checked out-- but he's at that exit, so to speak, and with this very helpful set of tools, he's not nearly as likely to take it.
June 26, 2018
Great read! This book had a lot of useful information and actual interventions and activities to do with your kids to help them become achievers.
February 3, 2013
Self help books are a tough read, novels are more enjoyable. For this genre, this is a well done book. I found the breakdown of different types of underachievers to be thorough. I am particularly happy with the exercises in the back of the book. They are easy to reference, easy to implement, and have a short explanation of why each exercise is helpful to the child.
This book says its about 8-18 year olds. I found most examples to be of teenagers in high school. More examples from younger children would have been helpful.
This book says its about 8-18 year olds. I found most examples to be of teenagers in high school. More examples from younger children would have been helpful.
July 8, 2013
This is an area that I really felt that I needed help with. I work with students who invariably underachieve and I wanted to know what was normal middle school behavior what was evidence of more chronic underachievement. There are great explanations of the types of underachievement and applicable strategies that parents can use to help their children.
As a teacher I found most of the application came from the parental side of the equation but I now have a resource that helps me begin conversations with parents if I feel or they feel the child is showing signs of underachievement.
As a teacher I found most of the application came from the parental side of the equation but I now have a resource that helps me begin conversations with parents if I feel or they feel the child is showing signs of underachievement.
January 14, 2008
Don't ask....
Read
August 6, 2018It's a good resource for specific issues.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews