How to recognise a gifted child
Is My Child Gifted? | How to Know if Your Child is Gifted
Determining whether or not your child is gifted is no easy task. As you have likely already discovered, there are a plethora of definitions, characteristics, assessments, theories – a virtual abundance of information. To help parents unravel some of the conflicting information, the Davidson Institute has put together this article summarizing gifted characteristics, the difference between tests and assessments, points to consider in having your child tested or assessed, different types of tests that can be utilized, and tips for locating a professional if you decide to seek a full assessment.
How do I know if my child is gifted?
There are many definitions of giftedness and equally as many ways to formally identify whether or not a child is gifted. Essentially, as NAGC defines in the article “What is Giftedness?”, “Children are gifted when their ability is significantly above the norm for their age.” Students can exhibit gifted abilities in various spheres – creatively, intellectually, musically, academically across the board or in a specific subject area such as math, language arts, or science. The Davidson Institute focuses on serving students with profound intellectual talents.
Signs of Giftedness in Children Include:
- an extreme need for constant mental stimulation
- an ability to learn and process complex information rapidly
- a need to explore subjects in surprising depth
- an insatiable curiosity, as demonstrated by endless questions and inquiries
- ability to comprehend material several grade levels above their age peers
- surprising emotional depth and sensitivity at a young age
- enthusiastic about unique interests and topics
- quirky or mature sense of humor
- creative problem solving and imaginative expression
- absorbs information quickly with few repetitions needed
- self-aware, socially aware, and aware of global issues
Gifted children may demonstrate some but not all of these traits; every child is different.
To determine the extent of your child’s abilities, testing or a full assessment may provide some of the answers you are seeking. Because there are no federal mandates or national policies requiring gifted education, it is important for parents to review what gifted identification policies and procedures are in place in their area prior to seeking a test or assessment.
Should I have my child tested for giftedness?
Deciding whether you should pursue gifted testing or seek out a full professional assessment will be based on your overall goals and the questions for which you are seeking answers.
In fact, you may find it helpful to jot down the specific questions that led you to seek information about having your child assessed. What do you hope to discover about your child’s abilities? Will you use the results to gain entrance into a specific program? If so, which tests do they accept? Will you share the results with your child’s school? Which tests do they find most informative in understanding a student’s learning profile? Do you have concerns about your child’s performance or behavior?
Educational placement and access to talent development programming are common reasons for seeking an evaluation.
If you are looking for a cost-effective option or are seeking admittance to a specific program, such as a talent search or the Davidson Institute, you may opt for having your child take an above-level test such as the PSAT 8/9, ACT, or SAT. Another option is to speak with a testing professional about administering an individualized test – such as an achievement or intelligence test – without a complete assessment or full report. Choosing this path will not provide much, if any, information other than your child’s scores, but that may be enough to meet your goals.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a more complete picture of your child’s abilities, strengths, challenges, and needs, experts recommend a comprehensive assessment of the child’s abilities rather than simple testing. The rationale for assessment typically centers on the need for developing an understanding of a child’s relative strengths and weaknesses and how these relate to educational and social settings.
Learn more about the difference between tests and assessments in our article, Gifted Testing and Assessment.
In regards to when to have your child tested, testing is generally believed to be most reliable and most predictive between the ages of six and nine years old. Although many assessments are approved to be administered to children as young as two years old, the consensus among professionals is that there is rarely a need to test before the child is ready to enter school and that testing at younger ages may not provide reliable results.
In the end, remember that test scores or results of a full assessment don’t change who your child is. The results are intended to provide you specific words and tools for better understanding your child. How you use those words and tools is up to you.
Which test should I have my child take?There seems to be little consensus about which tests are most effective, especially when assessing exceptionally intelligent young people. Again, deciding which test is best for your child will partly be determined by your goals.
If your child is assessed by a professional, the tester will typically discuss which tests will be used during the assessment based on their knowledge, training on specific tests, and their professional insight regarding the questions and concerns you have presented.
For academic planning, particularly if working with your child’s educators, you may want to find out which tests they are familiar with and will consider when determining how best to meet your child’s needs. Intelligence test scores, for example, may not provide as much information in relation to educational planning as an achievement test that delineates grade and age equivalents, or a proficiency test administered by the school. Parents can also read our article, Special Considerations in Gifted Identification and Assessment, to think through additional concerns and options.
The most widely used intelligence tests have long been criticized by the GT community. These tests were not developed to adequately identify individuals at the extremes.
By definition, scores in the profound ranges occur less than one time in a thousand. The statistical infrequency of these extreme scores makes accurate measurement difficult. For this reason, many experts recommend utilizing a variety of tests or test sections to get the best combination of skills assessments.
Above-level tests are particularly useful for bright students as they provide a higher ceiling, allowing for more accurate assessment of the child’s true abilities. The results of these tests can often be compared to other students of a similar age or grade through talent searches. The PSAT 8/9, designed for students in eight and ninth grades, can be taken by students in third through sixth grade. The SAT or ACT, designed for students in their junior or senior years of high school, can be taken by students starting in the sixth grade.
Out-of-level testing and the talent search model are addressed in the following Davidson Gifted Database articles:
- Eight considerations for mathematically talented youth
- Discovering highly gifted students
- The talent search as an identification model
- Talent Search Opportunities for Gifted Students
We recommend consulting with a therapist or psychologist to discuss and determine what type of testing or assessment might be best fit for your child and your goals.
They will be better able to discuss the specifics of available testing and discuss any concerns or questions you may have about specific tests and your child’s profile.
Finding a professional to evaluate your child can be challenging, but there are several resources available. You can start by finding options through our Gifted Testers and Therapists List. Your state’s gifted association, a regional special education advocacy group, a local parent’s group, the state department of education, or your child’s school counselor, psychologist or social worker may also be able to refer you to a local professional. Websites such as Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), the 2e Newsletter, and Hoagies’ Gifted provide lists of professionals that have experience working with gifted children.
For more information on where and who to go to for gifted identification, read our article on How to Get Your Child Tested for Giftedness.
The Davidson Institute has identified certain questions that can be helpful in identifying a knowledgeable professional to evaluate your child. If you receive answers that are not satisfactory to you, you may wish to seek a second opinion or continue your search for a tester. Ideally, you will encounter a very knowledgeable professional, whom you and your child feel comfortable working with, to conduct a comprehensive assessment of your child’s abilities and make specific recommendations. If you are unable to find a local tester, you will need to weigh the relative pros and cons of searching more broadly for an appropriate professional.
Credentials/Training
- What is your training and background?
- Are you licensed and/or certified to practice as a testing professional?
- What do you consider your specific area of expertise to be?
Experience with Gifted Children
- How much experience have you had in testing very bright or precocious children?
- What is your experience in working with a child of this age and with children of advanced cognitive abilities? NOTE: The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, has a list of licensed practitioners that includes their documented areas of expertise.
- Are you licensed to make mental health diagnoses? Are you familiar with the ways in which gifted students can be misdiagnosed, as well as how mental health diagnoses often present in intellectually advanced students? NOTE: See Interview with Marianne Kuzujanakis on Misdiagnosis for more information on this topic.
About the Tests
- What tests do you typically administer in the context of a comprehensive assessment? How do you decide which tests to utilize?
- What is your practice when you don’t get the information you need from a standardized test; how do you gather other types of information about a child?
- If a child reaches the end of a subtest or test, without reaching a ceiling, how do you interpret that and how do you indicate that in your assessment report?
- How do you evaluate issues of underachievement in gifted children?
- What is your experience with “out-of-level” testing?
Information about the Child
- What is the array of tests and information you have or need to have to evaluate my child?
- How much do you want to know about my child’s previous testing? NOTE: The parent should inform the examiner of previous testing the child has had and the results that were obtained, if these are known.
If testing results are discrepant, you can ask for an interpretation of the conflicting results. It would also be helpful for the parent to share evidence of the child’s talents both within the educational as well as home and community settings.
How to Prepare Your Child
- How should I best prepare my child to be assessed?
- How do you prepare my child?
- How long should we expect the assessment to last?
- How are break times determined?
- Is there anything we should bring to the assessment to ensure my child is comfortable?
Using the Results for Educational Planning
- Are you familiar with gifted program eligibility at the state and local level?
- How would you decide if a child is a candidate for grade or subject matter acceleration?
- Are your test reports accepted by local schools and programs for the gifted as part of their admissions process?
- Pragmatically, how can the information you expect to gather be put to use in the service of my child?
- Have you worked with students in my school system before? If so, how would you describe your effectiveness?
- Are you available to explain the educational implications of the test results to school officials? Is there an additional fee for this type of meeting?
Follow-up
- How do you suggest the results be explained to my child? Are you available for discussing this with my child, or will you advise us on how to do this?
- If the results seem inconsistent with what was anticipated, what would be the next course of action?
- What type of follow-up will we receive? Will you be preparing a written report for us? What will be included in this report? When will we receive the report?
- What are your procedures for providing results to my child’s school? NOTE: Some psychologists will provide a “sanitized” report to the school that thoroughly addresses test results and recommendations but doesn’t include information that is unlikely to have a direct benefit for the child in the school setting.
Information on family dynamics and labels, for example, is omitted so that parents have a choice of sharing the full evaluation report with the school.
More Resources for Gifted Children & Their Families:
- Gifted Programs & Scholarships
- Gifted Testing & Assessment
- Gifted Characteristics
- How to Get Your Child Tested for Gifted Identification
- Special Considerations in Gifted Identification and Assessment
Identifying Gifted Children: The Definitive Guide
by Becton Loveless
Identifying a gifted child is a difficult process that requires the effort of both educators and parents alike. In many cases, parents are the first to notice if their child is performing a little ahead of schedule in their development. Maybe the child learns to read or write faster than the kids around them, or maybe they just have an exceptional ability to learn new tasks.
Whatever the case, it leaves parents curious as to whether their child might be gifted.
Educators and schools are the next to identify giftedness in students. Educators may pick up on some of the same signs that parents do, but schools may also employ testing that’s designed to identify potentially gifted children. As a result, identifying giftedness is not a single process. Instead, it’s the combined effort of many people coming together to piece together different types of evidence that indicate giftedness. Here is how that process occurs in greater detail.
What is a Gifted Child?
The National Association for Gifted Children defines giftedness as simply children demonstrating abilities significantly above average when compared against their peers. These abilities may be demonstrated in different areas ranging from leadership to intellect or artistic ability. Sometimes, these gifted children manifest incredible aptitude in a specific area like math or science.
The definition National Society for the Gifted and Talented doesn’t differ much and includes talent, performance, and accomplishments.
The Society also emphasizes that giftedness can encompass numerous domains, ranging from the academic to the artistic. However, one additional point of emphasis is that giftedness requires more than just talent. Instead, giftedness refers to children who both have talent and the ability to use that talent at a notably high level.
This isn’t to say that gifted children don’t sometimes underachieve. Due to a variety of circumstances, students with the talent to be considered gifted may at times fail to live up to their potential. While giftedness requires the ability to draw upon talent and perform at a high level, the Society recognizes that many circumstances do negatively impact performance. Consequently, there are times when it’s important to identify and nurture this talent to determine to what degree talented students can perform.
A prime example of how environment may sometimes negatively impact performance can be seen among underserved populations. Parts of the student population may be hindered because their school lacks resources, teacher turnover is high, or because the environment is unsafe for one reason or another.
This creates conditions in which it is hard for even the most talented of students to maximize their potential, and their performance may not suggest they are actually gifted. It’s incumbent upon educators and school staff to provide all students with the highest quality education possible, which includes identifying particularly gifted students and finding ways of guiding them toward programs that will help them reach their maximum potential.
How Many Gifted Children Are There?
It’s difficult to gauge just how many kids in the country may actually be gifted. After all, there are many ways in which a child may be gifted. A guideline used by the National Association for Gifted Children suggests that children who perform in the top 10% of a specific domain may often be considered gifted. Research suggests that there is a similar percentage of gifted children among students who are disabled. Roughly one in 10 children with disabilities are gifted. Unfortunately, they are often harder to diagnose than their peers who have no disabilities.
This makes it all the more important to be rigorous when testing for giftedness among students. Despite the difficulties associated with identifying giftedness, according to a report from Purdue University's Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute, GER2I, in 2019 there were as many as 3.6 million gifted children in the United States.
Although it seems that there aren’t likely many gifted children in the entire school going population, there is a chance that some gifted children may be under identified. This may be, as previously noted, because they aren’t high achievers due to their environment or lack of study skills. They may have all the talent necessary to perform at levels far beyond their peers but lack the training. Sometimes kids may actually underperform in school and demonstrate qualities that indicate that they have learning disabilities or simply lack the aptitude for learning at the same pace as their peers. However, upon testing, they may demonstrate exceptional skill.
This shows how difficult it is to gauge the number of gifted children since so many go unrecognized.
Identifying Giftedness
General Guidelines
The National Society for the Gifted and Talented suggests that there are three ways in which giftedness manifests.
Talent – Students can have the raw talent to overperform in one or more domains. The National Association for Gifted Children specifies five domains where children may demonstrate their talent: intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, and academic domains.
Performance – Students should demonstrate the ability to draw upon their raw talent to perform at impressive levels in one or more domains.
Comparative – Students should have their performance compared against their peers to reveal whether that performance is significantly better than other students.
While these are three general means by which giftedness can be identified, there are also relatively concrete ways by which giftedness can be identified.
Behavioral Checklists
Gifted children often demonstrate several signs and behaviors that are associated with being gifted. Gifted children are often perfectionists who have a heightened sensitivity regarding expectations of them. This combination means they will often attempt to perform at a high level and feel as if they have let others down when they fail to meet expectations. As a result, they may feel they have failed if they get anything less than an “A” grade for their work.
A clear behavior that distinguishes gifted children is their propensity for learning their lessons and curriculum before their peers, often placing them far ahead of their peers when it comes to learning. These children are more aggressive in seeking out answers and are typically problem solvers. However, though they demonstrate behavioral traits that are often different from their peers, they also learn in many different ways, just like other children. As such, it’s important not to discount some children as gifted simply because they prefer certain learning styles.
Testing
Since performance compared to their peers is an important way of gauging whether a child is gifted or not, it should be no surprise that giftedness is partly determined through testing. Achievement tests often generate that data from which giftedness is first recognized. These tests may be specific to subjects, like math or science. However, standardized tests such as the SAT may also help teachers identify giftedness. When students outperform their peers to a significant degree on these tests, it’s often a sure sign that a student is gifted.
However, besides achievement tests, there are also ability tests that students can take that may reveal giftedness. These tests include IQ tests, the Stanford Binet test, and the Wescher Intelligence Scale for Children test. These are only a few of the tests that students may take. There are even nonverbal tests that can be used whenever a student is gifted but isn’t linguistically skilled. For instance, students from different cultures may be incredibly gifted but lack skills in the English language that would help them perform to their full potential on standard, heavily verbal tests.
In these cases, nonverbal tests are preferable.
A very specific form of identifying giftedness is known as dual exceptionality identification. This form of identification is used whenever giftedness is present in a child who has a disability. Children with a learning disability, such as dyslexia, may nevertheless be exceptionally intelligent. Dual exceptional identification asks teachers and school administrators to identify this talent among those who are disabled. Kids who have a disability and also gifted often demonstrate extreme skill in one area while also lagging behind in a separate domain. For instance, a child may demonstrate advanced logical reasoning skills but struggle with writing. This may indicate extreme intelligence but also the presence of a learning disability. Parents and educators should be on the watch for kids who demonstrate such behaviors, since it indicates that they may be able to tap into their incredible potential after receiving the support needed to help them overcome their disability.
Schools often have screening programs that are used to identify gifted children. These programs use a group testing method to compare performance between students and identify students who are particularly outstanding performers. Typically, testing for giftedness cannot be done too early. Experts agree, for the most part, that testing before the age of six is too early to truly identify giftedness. Even when younger children are tested, alternative measurements are used to gauge whether the child is truly gifted. As such, there is no one universal test that will be used in all cases to gauge whether a student is gifted or not.
When tests are conducted, the results are interpreted according to different metrics. The student’s raw score is taken into account, and then they’re graded into percentile ranks, which essentially means their performance is compared against the performance of others in their grade level. These tests are based on recent performance across the country, not data from decades ago, to ensure that the student’s performance is impressive according to current standards.
However, local demographics are also important when identifying giftedness, since some populations may generally underperform when compared against nationwide statistics. However, even within that underperforming population, specific students may stand out because their performance is impressive when compared against their local peers.
Is a Child Gifted?
Given how easy it is for gifted students to go missed and the many types of assessments that may gauge them as gifted, it should be no surprise that it can be hard to recognize a gifted child just from day to day interactions. Both teachers and parents fail to identify gifted children all the time. The difficulty in assessing whether a child is gifted is also complicated by the fact that children can be gifted in so many different domains.
However, there are some things to keep in mind that may help identify a potentially gifted child. Writing for Psychology Today, Dr. David Palmer noted that there are several traits that both teachers and parents will want to watch for in kids.
Many gifted children developed language skills earlier than their peers, which parents may identify. Once these children get into kindergarten, their vocabulary may already be highly developed, they may speak in more complex sentences, and they may be able to read more advanced materials than their peers. Alert educators may notice these advanced language skills and recommend these children for gifted and talented programs.
Another way that suggests a student may be gifted is that they learn quickly when compared against their peers. Gifted children may be natural learners who learn quickly. They are often willing to ask questions that help them explore a topic in greater depth and show greater insights into a topic. Gifted children also often need the least direction when engaging in new activities. They may show little need for direction with those activities. Finally, parents will want to keep an eye out for how early their children develop motor skills. Gifted children often demonstrate advanced motor skills earlier and show an ability to assemble structures and put puzzles together before kids of comparable age.
Finally, both parents and teachers should be on the lookout for children who have more energy than their peers. Kids who are constantly asking questions, exploring new topics, and talking about things may be gifted. They may be able to put together information more quickly, which is why they speak more quickly. These kids will piece together related information, become curious, and ask about those topics. Because these kids grasp topics more easily, they’ll often take the lead when among other kids and even help their peers to get tasks done more quickly.
Conclusion
Clearly, identifying giftedness is not a simple process. Children may have the talent to be qualified as gifted, but due to various circumstances, they may not demonstrate that talent in their schooling. A lack of resources or even disabilities may lead to underperformance, and only significant testing may reveal that they have the potential to vastly outperform their peers. It’s up to parents and educators to come together in a combined effort to use observations and test results to identify gifted children before their potential goes untapped.
Other Gifted Education Articles:
- Gifted Education Forms and Approaches
- How to Homeschool Gifted Kids
- Pros and Cons of Gifted Learning Programs in Schools
How to identify a gifted child - features of work and education of gifted children, development of giftedness
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Who are gifted children
Gifted children have a high potential in any field of activity. American psychologist Joseph Renzulli believes that giftedness lies at the intersection of ability to do something, creativity and motivation.
Gifted children are often called " geeks "( from the German "wonder child" ), but these concepts should be distinguished.
Gifted children are distinguished by a high rate of development , that is, by a potential that can develop into talent or die out. Every fiftieth child is considered gifted in one area or another.
Geeks, on the other hand, are ahead of developmental norms from an early age and demonstrate culturally significant achievements. For example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart created his first piano works at the age of five, and the mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote a scientific treatise at nine. A child prodigy is born one in a million people. nine0003
Giftedness is a set of abilities that can be applied to the interests of the child. By developing only one skill, you can not assume that you are improving the giftedness.
Elena Petrusenko, Psychologist "Home School of Foxford"
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Types of gifted
Unified Classification, but most often psychologists distinguish five types of giftedness:
9000 osci- intellectual rewards0010 is characterized by increased observation, concentration and the ability to analyze information. These children have high IQs, strong critical thinking, and tend to excel in one subject.
- Academic talent means excellent memory. Such children easily learn school material, they can learn on their own, because the learning process brings them pleasure. As a rule, they are able to complete the program of several classes in one academic year. nine0056
- Creative giftedness can manifest itself in a rich imagination and out-of-the-box thinking. A special case is creative talent, that is, children's propensity for drawing, dancing, music, versification, acting and other arts.
- Social giftedness of lies in the presence of leadership qualities, a high level of empathy, intuition, and bright charisma. Such children can communicate easily with people of different ages and often have innate emotional intelligence - a receptivity to the feelings of others. nine0056
- Psychomotor giftedness implies physical development ahead of age. Such children from an early age show interest in outdoor games and sports.
How to identify a gifted child
Giftedness is the result of a complex interaction of heredity, upbringing and self-development. In 50% of cases, the special abilities of the child are manifested by the age of 5–6 and are fully revealed by 8.
To date, there is no single method that would allow you to accurately determine whether a child is gifted or not. As a rule, a complex of different tests is used. For example, the Stanford Achievement Test is used to assess the level of intellectual development, and the Torrens test is used to identify creative inclinations. nine0003
At home, a child's giftedness can be revealed only by observing how he spends time and what topics make him fire in his eyes, as well as helping him find himself in various activities.
Here are some factors that can indicate a child's giftedness. These criteria are not mandatory, but may appear from time to time:
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- Early development.
Gifted children often learn to speak, read and write before others. nine0056 - Good concentration and memory. If a child easily memorizes poems, lyrics and facts of interest to him, he may be gifted.
- Developed speech. The vocabulary of gifted children, as a rule, is wider than that of their peers. They easily introduce new words into the lexicon and use them skillfully.
- Mobile thinking. Gifted children learn hypothetical and abstract thinking early. They tend to improve games and find tricky ways to solve problems. nine0056
- Rich fantasy. By the way and what a child plays, one can also judge his giftedness. Talented children tend to invent entire worlds, plots with unbanal twists and selflessly transform into characters of their fantasies.
- Cognitive interest. Gifted children may be interested in deeper topics than their peers. If a child shows interest in a particular topic or activity for a long time and persistently, is not satisfied with simple answers and longs to get to the bottom of it, this may be a sign of talent.
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Identification of giftedness in a child should not be an end in itself, but it can help to reveal the child's potential. To do this, you need to encourage his hobbies, even if they do not seem to be something worthwhile. A child who loves to invent non-existent words may become an outstanding linguist in the future, and a young lover of drawing patterns in school notebooks has a chance to grow up to be a popular designer.
The world always makes higher demands on those who are not up to standard. The society reacts actively: competitions, olympiads, expectations of relatives and teachers, envy of peers. Failure and competition create tension that makes it difficult to focus. Therefore, it is important for gifted children to seek psychological counseling - to anticipate problems so as not to solve them later. nine0020
Elena Petrusenko, psychologist at Foxford Home School
Schools for Gifted Children
Tyumen State University School for the Gifted.
Source: abiturient.utmn.ru
Gifted children need a special approach based on several principles:
- Reliance on motivation. Learning should nurture the child's innate cognitive interest.
- Freedom of choice. The school should give students the right to receive knowledge, and not force them to study what they do not like. nine0056
- Individualization. The child should be able to devote more time to subjects that interest him.
- Respect for independence. It is important for gifted children to find answers themselves, “chewing” the material kills the motivation to learn.
- Freedom of expression. Gifted kids have their own point of view on almost everything. It is important that they can express it without problems.
- Project activities. Designing projects that involve children's different abilities develops them and awakens their interest. nine0056
- Group work. Many gifted children are introverts and individualists.
Working in small groups allows them to develop communication skills. - Tolerance. Some gifted kids find it hard to follow school rules, especially if they don't see the point in them. Teachers should treat their peculiarities with understanding.
- Teacher training. Teachers should know how to work with gifted children. Teachers are required to have sensitivity, developed empathy, a broad outlook, and a creative outlook. nine0056
There are few schools in Russia that meet these conditions. Most are located in major cities. Here are the most famous of them:
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- Boarding school of Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow)
- Higher School of Economics Lyceum (Moscow)
- Intellectual Boarding School (Moscow)
- Letovo School (Moscow)
- Sirius Educational Center (Sochi)
- N.N. Dubinin (Vladivostok)
- Governor's Svetlensky Lyceum (Tomsk)
One of the options for educating young talents is family education.
Parents can choose the right program for their child and create comfortable conditions for classes. Family education allows you to devote more time to additional activities, combine studies with tours, sports competitions, or complete the program faster than peers.
Tips for parents of gifted children
Together with psychologist Elena Petrusenko, we have prepared some tips for raising gifted children. nine0003
Advice 1. Contact a specialist
If you notice that your child is showing unusual abilities, contact a specialist. A psychologist will help determine the type of giftedness, and a tutor will help you choose a suitable development program.
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Tip 2. Try different things
Develop your child's talents by attending clubs and sections. There he will not only be able to learn more about his favorite business, but also meet like-minded people. nine0003
Advice 3. Don't push
It happens that a child does not want to do what he has a predisposition to.
For example, having absolute pitch, he hates to sing and loves hockey. He has a right to it.
You should not demand unconditional success from a child in everything he does. This leads to the development of an excellent student syndrome, which can have sad consequences.
Tip 4: Praise but don't overpraise
No matter how impressive the ability, you should not constantly emphasize the exclusivity of the child. Belief in his own superiority is unlikely to help him join any team. And if, with age, the child ceases to be ahead of others in development, he may suffer severe disappointment.
Advice 5. Balance development
If a child is an intellectual, he still needs to move a lot and be in the fresh air regularly. For a young athlete, in turn, it is important not to forget about mathematics, spelling and other disciplines. nine0003
Tip 6. Look for like-minded people
Precocious children often have difficulty communicating.
Peers shun them, or they themselves avoid contact with other children. It is important to help the child find a company in which he will become his own. It does not have to be peers, perhaps it will be more interesting for him with older guys. The main thing is that they understand his way of thinking and share his interests.
Tip 7: Be sensitive
Don't let your child's giftedness become a barrier between you. If his hobbies are not close to you and you don’t even understand what he is talking about, look for other points of contact and keep in touch. No matter how developed a child is, he is still a child, and he needs your love, support and approval.
Advice 8. Love the child as he is
If the child's abilities become average with age, don't be discouraged. Half of the gifted children by the age of 15 cease to stand out among their peers, and only a few grow into real geniuses. nine0023
Giftedness in childhood does not guarantee success in adulthood.
In turn, not all talented adults in childhood showed giftedness.
The presence or absence of any talents in a child should in no way affect your attitude towards him. Love him for who he is, let him be himself. After all, the main thing is not to raise a genius, but a mentally healthy and happy person.
Types of giftedness, why giftedness does not contribute to school performance and how to educate young talents. nine0003
Scientists have named signs of giftedness in children
How to discern a gifted child? When is the "golden period" for the development of talents in children? What is the "age of questions"? These and other questions of "RG" are answered by the leading researcher of the laboratory of psychology of giftedness of the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education Elena Belova.
Elena Sergeevna, a high school student from Yekaterinburg, who memorized and wrote more than 13 thousand numbers after the decimal point from the Pi sign, got into the Russian Book of Records.
There are kids who, by the age of 2-3, know the multiplication table, the capitals of all countries. Are they gifted kids? nine0010
Elena Belova: Giftedness and learning outcomes, training are two different things. If you show the letters of the alphabet and repeat the names to a two-year-old child every day, in a month or earlier he will know a lot by heart. But it will not be knowledge that will please him, but the approval of adults. A gifted child is ready to give up sweets, walks, and sleep for the sake of a new book, a favorite pastime. The main component of giftedness is a high creative potential. It allows you to think outside the box, unconventional, find original solutions and can manifest itself already in preschool childhood. No wonder the age from 5 to 8 years is called the "golden period" of the development of children's creativity. About 20 percent of today's preschoolers have a high creative potential. However, the disclosure of this potential can be delayed and even ruined at any stage of development.
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How can parents understand whether they have a gifted child or an ordinary one?
Elena Belova: Pay attention to how your child explores the world around them. There is evidence that gifted children in the early stages of development - up to 2-3 years old - have a more persistent and pronounced reaction to a new object, sound, image. New toys delight everyone, but one child will forget about the toy in an hour, and the other will try to study it better - throw it up, twist it, lower it into the water, cover it with a rug ... Speech is the most important indicator of development. Children have a so-called age of questions - from about two and a half to three and a half years. It is difficult to distinguish this age among the gifted. They ask a lot of questions all the time. Topics are deeper, and topics are broader. For example, a child at the age of four may be interested in how a computer or TV works, memorize chess combinations.
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What if you take tests that will tell you whether you have a miracle child or not?
Elena Belova: First, answer the question: why do you need to identify giftedness? To satisfy your own vanity, in order to relieve anxiety (all children are like children, but mine is not like that), for psychological help, in order to create conditions for the development of abilities?
Of course, for the development of abilities!
Elena Belova: Here is the simplest questionnaire for parents and teachers. Answer "yes" or "no" to five statements. 1. The child is proactive, lively, mobile. 2. He readily responds to everything new. 3. Curious, loves everything mysterious, incomprehensible. 4. Often needs the support of elders. 5. Shows the ability to concentrate for a longer period of time than peers. Did you answer "yes" to all questions? There are reasons to consider the child capable. The use of serious tests requires professional training, so it is better to contact specialists.
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And keep in mind, gifted children can be very sensitive, vulnerable.
8 percent of preschoolers and primary school children admitted that they cannot live without gadgets...
Elena Belova: them fade into the background. We cannot completely remove gadgets, but if we do not develop the creative potential of the child, it will hardly be possible to talk about giftedness. What's in Gadgets? Ready-made instructions, a series of changing sensory impressions instead of independent play, active creativity and communication with close adults. Perhaps gadgets contribute to the development of attention, memory, reaction speed, and the accumulation of visual experience. How useful this will be when initiative and independence are required is a question. nine0003 ...To make your gifted children grow up financially wealthy - read excerpt from Yakov Mirkin's book, published in today's issue. By the way Thomas Alve Edison neighbors, acquaintances, teachers considered mediocre child. He was absent-minded, studied poorly, and in addition had hearing problems. His parents had to pick him up from school. Photo: Gettyimages Ilya Mechnikov was known as a loser in his childhood, he endured ridicule from his brothers and their contemptuous attitude. The only place where he was head and shoulders above everyone else was botanism. He paid 2 kopecks to the brothers just for them to listen to him. Photo: Gettyimages Sergei Prokofiev was an adored child in the family, his parents became his first teachers in Russian, arithmetic, geography, history. By the age of 6 he had already written three plays. Photo: Gettyimages Charles Gounod was multi-talented: he composed sacred music, drew beautifully and wrote talentedly. His parents were also extraordinary people and supported their son. Photo: Gettyimages Specifically 1. Take your child for a walk, even if he is still in a stroller, put your phone in your pocket. Try to talk as much as possible with the child, show and name what surrounds him: "This is a tree, it is big, tall, this is a flower, look how beautiful it is!" The child's vocabulary begins to grow long before the child begins to speak. nine0003 2. Read books to your child, saying all the words. Pay attention to the illustrations, details. Ask: "Who is the bunny looking at?", "Where did the fox run?" etc. The child is silent and does not answer? Give the answer yourself: "The bunny looks at the house (wolf, grove ...)", "The fox runs to the lake (into the forest, on the path ...)". 3. When active speech begins, watch how it develops. Speech disorders are usually very closely related to the functioning of the brain. Remember: gifted children may speak later than usual, but they begin to speak a lot at once and quite correctly. 4. Preschool age - the age of play. When buying new toys, prioritize those that allow your child to use them creatively. 5. Keep a diary of your child's development; until the age of 7, development proceeds at a gigantic pace. Write down the ideas, sayings, writings of the baby. Be attentive to all his creative manifestations! Meanwhile Recently, on one of the TV programs about the unusual abilities of children, Kamilla Aliyeva from Dagestan amazed the host. The girl does mental arithmetic and solves two thousand examples in her mind in 20 minutes! How does a 12-year-old girl do all this? nine0003 Photo: 1tv.ru The basis is training with the help of a special counting board (abacus) like the one that all accountants used to have. Abacus is still different from the usual accounting board. Considered stupid.
.. ...and idolized
How to help your creative abilities unfold
But if there is still no speech at the age of three, perhaps this is a reason to turn to a speech therapist. nine0003 An account in favor of Kamilla
