This digest provides parents of highly or profoundly gifted children with practical suggestions based on the experience of other parents and the modest amount of research available. Parents are encouraged to understand that such children are significantly different from other children and have two primary needs: to feel comfortable with themselves and to develop their astonishing potential. Suggestions are given for dealing with public attitudes toward exceptional performance in very young children and for dealing with the multiple developmental ages the gifted child may exhibit simultaneously. Problems of schooling the highly gifted child are discussed in terms of lack of fit with the usual school, the various possibilities of acceleration for this type of child, and ways to help the gifted child meet his or her social/emotional needs. Stressed is the importance of providing the child with a safe home in which the child feels loved and accepted. Includes 18 references. (DB)