The Gift & The Gap™ 

A Learning Lab for Thriving Families

Gift and the Gap supports families in developing the life skills school doesn’t teach—emotional regulation, executive function, communication and personal agency—through parent-led learning at home.

What We’re Not:

We’re not here to “fix” kids, force skills before readiness or reduce complex kids to behavioral data and charts.

Our work is about seeing kids fully and meeting them where they are - creating conditions where kids feel safe to trust, explore with curiosity and grow in their own time.

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How to work with us…

There’s no single right way to begin. We offer a few clear entry points, depending on your family’s needs right now.

Start with understanding

Self-guided resources (for parents who want clarity before intervention). Our workbook, card deck and guided tools help you see your child more clearly, and begin creating an environment that fosters trust, curiosity and growth — right away, at home.

Start with the Framework

Apply it to real life

Parent support and small groups (for families who want help putting the framework into practice). This work is relational, practical and grounded in real life family dynamics. We support both the child and the parent’s nervous system so regulation, connection and learning can grow together.

Explore Parent Support

Expand the environment

For schools, therapists and organizations working with bright, complex kids.

We offer training and consultation focused on development, nervous system regulation and designing environments that support learning without pressure or coercion.

Work with us professionally

Families (Parent Training & Workshops)

  • Parent Training (Flagship)

    Learn the Gift & the Gap Approach. This training gives parents a simple, research-informed framework for supporting emotional development, executive function, communication, and creative resilience in their children—especially those with twice-exceptional traits. You’ll learn tools you can use immediately and practices that strengthen connection over time.

    Join the Waitlist
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  • Workshops & Groups

    We host small-group experiences where parents learn together, share stories, and practice new tools in a supportive environment. These offerings blend lived experience, developmental insight, and practical strategies you can use the same day.

    View Upcoming Dates
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  • Research Participation

    We partner with families who want their lived experience to help shape better tools and understanding for exceptional kids everywhere. Participation is simple, confidential, and designed to support your family—not burden it. Families: Get early access to tools, a supportive learning environment, a chance to influence research & future programs.

    Apply to Participate
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Products & Tools

A gift set titled 'The Gift & The Gap' includes a deck of cards, a workbook wrapped with a string, and an audiobook on a smartphone, all featuring a lightbulb logo with a pencil filament on a wooden surface.

  • Self-regulation, emotional awareness, creativity

  • Parent guides, youth exercises, communication tools

  • Audiobooks, mantras, meditations, and grounding practices

  • For educators, clinicians and coaches

Shop All Tools
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Founder’s Story

Lauren Christian is the founder of The Gift & The Gap™, a learning lab dedicated to understanding how exceptional children grow and helping families translate that insight into practical tools. She brings nearly twenty years of experience as a yoga, meditation, and mindfulness teacher, where she guided thousands through somatic practices that build emotional steadiness and self-awareness.

Lauren is completing a dual Master of Divinity and Master of Pastoral Counseling at Loyola University Chicago, focusing on the intersection of spiritual development, emotional intelligence, and family systems. Her academic training deepens a professional path shaped by lived experience: raising a gifted, twice-exceptional son. Through games, regulation strategies, communication tools, and close collaboration with his father and teachers, she helped him strengthen executive function, emotional regulation, and self-advocacy—an approach that transformed their entire family system.

The Gift & The Gap™ grows out of this combined expertise. Lauren’s work blends research, embodied practice, developmental insight, and real-world problem-solving to create accessible tools that help exceptional kids—and their families—thrive with clarity, confidence, and connection.