You are not alone in the challenge of educating your child, especially if your child has special needs or is gifted. The following articles are filled with good information for every parent.

• Stay calm! Find a therapist who works with highly gifted (HG) kids.
• Talk to your child’s guidance and college counselors at high school, to try to make personal connection(s) with her.
• Have him take the local state equivalent to the GED, e.g., the California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE).
• Have her take the ACT and the SAT.
• Have him apply for concurrent high school enrollment at the local community college and take the math and English placement tests.
• Enroll her in “ learning how to learn” classes at the local community college, including developing learning skills, career planning, student success, and speed reading and college vocabulary, as well as English, math, and foreign language. To choose simpatico instructors, check RateMyProfessor.com. 
• His goal is to complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) sequence while getting an AA, in order to be able to transfer 3rd//junior year to a 4-year university. Community college transfers get higher priority from many colleges and universities; community college grades can be significantly lower than those in high school for successful university/college admission; high school grades are not necessarily relevant; good ACT/SAT scores from before community college are a plus.
• Ask your child’s therapist for a referral to a professional college counselor, with an organization such as the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
• A checking account with a debit card would be helpful to buy school supplies and go out for coffee with classmates.
• When your teen’s grades are up to a “B”/3.0 (“ good student discount”), have her apply for a driving learner’s permit. A driver’s license can come in handy for sharing some of that community college commuting with you.
• Although your HG child may no longer be on the path to MIT, Cal Tech, or the Ivies, at least at the undergraduate level, there are loads of schools out there ready to match up with your child’s interests and needs. Check out the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Loren Pope’s Colleges That Change Live  is a good read, with a discussion of the merits of sending your child off to one of these 40 colleges with less than 3,000 students, which might just be a better fit.
• Your state may participate in a regional higher education admissions program which offers out-of-state undergraduate public university enrollment for reduced tuition, such as the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE).
• Keep your sense of humor!