What is GIFTEDNESS?
Many parents believe their child is gifted. The problem is there are many areas of exceptionality, and sometimes overachievers or bright children may seem gifted to the inexperienced observer.
To further complicate matters for an inexperienced teacher or parent, Professor Howard Gardner gives us at least seven very encompassing categories in which a child may be gifted.
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Helping the Gifted Child
So how can we HELP you help a potentially gifted child? Janice Szabos (1989) states that after spending 30 years in the classroom teaching these students, I saw four factors emerge:
- Gifted children are a diverse and frequently stubborn group, who sometimes use their intelligence to avoid being seen as intelligent.
- They are competitive and enjoy being best in the fields they feel confident about. However, they are reluctant to try new things for fear of failure.
- They are manipulative and tell you what they think you want to hear. If they are doing poorly and believe parents will try getting them out of a tough class, they will make sure evidence they present parents is overwhelmingly in their favor.
- They may resent being in classrooms where gifted students have to do more work, rather than different work.
Indeed, many schools encourage skipping grades to help challenge gifted students. This is a mistake if the child cannot accept the social ramifications. In addition, and this is very important, it puts students at a real disadvantage when taking SAT tests. That extra year of preparation and maturity could be worth many points and make the difference between the school of choice and the others. Remember, with grade inflation, many students have straight-A averages. SAT scores and community and extracurricular work separate students from the pack. So, the best way to help a gifted child is to challenge them and expand their interests, while providing depth in their gifted areas.
However, there is a downside when challenging a gifted youngster. To provide the depth of knowledge needed to keep a truly gifted child interested requires a parent to make two decisions:
- First, do you want to challenge the child in other areas and risk activating their stubbornness?
- Second, are you willing to accept the fact your child may fail?
These are not easy decisions to make and the PRAXIS Group can help you make the best decisions. Many parents delight in displaying honor-roll stickers and place a tremendous weight on grades, rather than learning. In addition, parents want to see happy children and tend to bulldoze anything that may jeopardize this.
SEE this Link for MORE INFORMATION: HOW TO SPOT A GIFTED STUDENT http://www.teachersfirst.com/gifted/spot.html
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