What do you think about this video......... sharing with me ok..........
Thursday, 30 September 2010
GIFTED CHILD VIDEO
Assalamualaikum everyone. How are you???? Today i want share with you all about gifted child video.
Monday, 27 September 2010
How To Identifying Gifted Children?
How can you tell if a child is gifted? There are two main ways to determine whether a child is gifted: observing characteristics and behaviors, and testing. No one definition of giftedness exists, and gifted children are often misdiagnosed with disorders like ADHD. The resources here will help you learn how to identify gifted children. You'll find traits of gifted children, including emotional sensitivity, as well as the different definitions of "gifted." Identifying gifted children is not always easy.
So anybody has idea to share? we can discuss here. tq
So anybody has idea to share? we can discuss here. tq
Saturday, 25 September 2010
.jpg)
good morning.....i have a new question for everyone has opinion about gifted child.
Many parents of gifted children wonder if their local school will be able to provide an appropriate education for their children. Should they stick with the local school? Look for a private school? Quite often a parent will assume that a private school is better than a public school. However, that is not necessarily true. Gifted children need a special environment, as does any special needs child, and it's important for parents to understand what to look for in a school, whether it's private or public.
So, we can discuss what element in a good programs we need to give for a gifted child....
Monday, 20 September 2010
CHATERISTICS
I took this article from internet and we can discuss about this topic. This article was going to elaborate about the creative characteristics of gifted child.
Gifted children's creative abilities often set them apart from their age-mates. These characteristics may take the following forms:
- Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related ideas.
- They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.
- They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusual, or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information.
- They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas, or facts.
- They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems.
- They are willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving.
- They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or "what if" questions.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Genetics and intelligence- Gifted Child
Main article: Heritability of IQ
Intelligence, which is a major component of giftedness, is influenced through a complex interaction of combinations of many genes and many different environmental contexts (Colangelo & Davis, 2003). Intelligence is a general cognitive ability that supports the fact that most reliable measures of cognitive abilities intercorrelate in some way. It is generally agreed that giftedness may have a genetic component.
Research on families has typically shown a correlation of about .45 in scores of g for parents, children, and siblings. Adoption and twin studies have also provided many valuable insights into the genetic component of intelligence. Studies of first degree relatives adopted apart show a correlation of .22, which is about half that of relatives who live together. Adopted children who are not related but reared together show a correlation of about .23 to genetically unrelated parents and siblings.
Heritability from adoption data is 44% for families, 52% for fraternal twins in a shared environment, and 72% for identical twins reared apart. The existing data for identical twins reared apart has been collected from studies conducted in adulthood and because heritability studies show that adults have higher heritability results than children, this number may be inflated (Colangelo & Davis, 2003). The question of whether intelligence has a genetic component has been confirmed through numerous studies. More research is necessary to determine the exact processes by which genetic dispositions interact with the environment.
Some children are born with innately higher intelligence levels than others. These children are often labeled as gifted or talented. Many researchers have investigated the early characteristics of gifted children. Hollingworth (1942) reported that 78 percent of the teachers agree that early detection of giftedness can be possible during early development. Children as young as preschool age tend to seek out highly stimulating environments. According to Raine, Reynolds, Venables, & Mednick (2002) increased stimulation seeking at age 3 years is associated with an increase in cognitive and scholastic test performance later in development. The advantages of identifying intellectual abilities of gifted children at an earlier age will allow educators to place them in the developmental classes that encourage and promote exploration in the domain of their giftedness.
Tannenbaum claims that the environment plays a major role in the nurturance of giftedness or higher intelligence. Giftedness and talent require a special environment just as special education would. The environment must be enriching and encouraging which will allow the child to mature through experience and exploration. The environment must facilitate creative activity in a developmentally appropriate manner which would call for classrooms to be designed for developmental levels as opposed to age or grade leveling. This type of environment with differentiated learning could result from acceleration, lateral enrichment, and special grouping. Also, a developmentally appropriate environment for the gifted child will reduce behavior problems among preschoolers due to an increased engagement and internal motivation for learning.
Furthermore, it is behavioral exploration of the environment that is indicative of the child’s intellectual ability later in life. The child’s innate motivation to engage in physical activity (hands-on learning) marks a curiosity which motivates task persistence. The increased physical exploration in a social play environment and goal-directed behavior in the stimulating environment facilitate superior cognitive functioning. In addition, gifted children will become high achievers when their interests are piqued by doing what they are innately motivated to do, empowering them to continue trying new skills. Furthermore, when gifted or talented children are supported by educational staff, their community, peers and families, they have higher possibilities to develop their cognitive abilities.
Intelligence, which is a major component of giftedness, is influenced through a complex interaction of combinations of many genes and many different environmental contexts (Colangelo & Davis, 2003). Intelligence is a general cognitive ability that supports the fact that most reliable measures of cognitive abilities intercorrelate in some way. It is generally agreed that giftedness may have a genetic component.
Research on families has typically shown a correlation of about .45 in scores of g for parents, children, and siblings. Adoption and twin studies have also provided many valuable insights into the genetic component of intelligence. Studies of first degree relatives adopted apart show a correlation of .22, which is about half that of relatives who live together. Adopted children who are not related but reared together show a correlation of about .23 to genetically unrelated parents and siblings.
Heritability from adoption data is 44% for families, 52% for fraternal twins in a shared environment, and 72% for identical twins reared apart. The existing data for identical twins reared apart has been collected from studies conducted in adulthood and because heritability studies show that adults have higher heritability results than children, this number may be inflated (Colangelo & Davis, 2003). The question of whether intelligence has a genetic component has been confirmed through numerous studies. More research is necessary to determine the exact processes by which genetic dispositions interact with the environment.
Some children are born with innately higher intelligence levels than others. These children are often labeled as gifted or talented. Many researchers have investigated the early characteristics of gifted children. Hollingworth (1942) reported that 78 percent of the teachers agree that early detection of giftedness can be possible during early development. Children as young as preschool age tend to seek out highly stimulating environments. According to Raine, Reynolds, Venables, & Mednick (2002) increased stimulation seeking at age 3 years is associated with an increase in cognitive and scholastic test performance later in development. The advantages of identifying intellectual abilities of gifted children at an earlier age will allow educators to place them in the developmental classes that encourage and promote exploration in the domain of their giftedness.
Tannenbaum claims that the environment plays a major role in the nurturance of giftedness or higher intelligence. Giftedness and talent require a special environment just as special education would. The environment must be enriching and encouraging which will allow the child to mature through experience and exploration. The environment must facilitate creative activity in a developmentally appropriate manner which would call for classrooms to be designed for developmental levels as opposed to age or grade leveling. This type of environment with differentiated learning could result from acceleration, lateral enrichment, and special grouping. Also, a developmentally appropriate environment for the gifted child will reduce behavior problems among preschoolers due to an increased engagement and internal motivation for learning.
Furthermore, it is behavioral exploration of the environment that is indicative of the child’s intellectual ability later in life. The child’s innate motivation to engage in physical activity (hands-on learning) marks a curiosity which motivates task persistence. The increased physical exploration in a social play environment and goal-directed behavior in the stimulating environment facilitate superior cognitive functioning. In addition, gifted children will become high achievers when their interests are piqued by doing what they are innately motivated to do, empowering them to continue trying new skills. Furthermore, when gifted or talented children are supported by educational staff, their community, peers and families, they have higher possibilities to develop their cognitive abilities.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Resource Group for Gifted and Learning Disabled Articles
Gifted and Learning Disabled...A Paradox?
By Tammy Ellston
Reprinted with permission from "Gifted Child Today" v16, n1, p17-19, January/February, 1993
Jonathan is in a "gifted" program at his school. The children in the program were selected because they either scored high on intelligence tests or have outstanding ability in some non-academic area. Jonathan, a fifth grader, has been in the program for 2 years and has done well. This year, however, he is not performing quite as well as his "gifted peers" and seems to be lacking conceptual understanding in math and also some essential writing skills. He is usually discouraged when he comes home, not knowing what the problem is exactly--why he can no longer keep up.
Andrea was very bright when she was in preschool, but has had a difficult time learning how to read and write. Her third grade teacher has been assigning extra work for her in these areas, but to no avail. She is wondering whether Andrea should be put into a learning disability class. Andrea's parents criticize her for her "slowness" in reading, ignoring her achievements in art. In fact, she has won a few school awards for drawings she has done this year. This success, however, is eclipsed by her problem in reading.
Robert does not enjoy school and has always had to work hard for "average" grades. In elementary school, he had some problems with writing, not being able to express himself clearly and with sufficient speed to finish assignments and tests. Because these problems were never corrected, they have turned him off almost completely to anything academic. The one thing keeping Robert from dropping out is a new experimental course he his taking where he is allowed to do a project using his best model of communication --video. He is excited about the project and devotes most of his time to it.
What do Jonathan, Andrea, and Robert have in common? They each are gifted and learning disabled. This combination has existed in children and adults for a long time, but has not received much attention until the last few decades (Weill, 1987).
What does it mean to be gifted and learning disabled? Don't these terms contradict each other? No more so than the presence of both strengths and weaknesses in one individual. A child who is gifted/learning disabled (gifted/LD) is simply one who exhibits great talent or strength in certain areas and disabling weaknesses in others (Baum, 1989). A more sophisticated definition can be obtained by examining the definitions of the two terms gifted and learning disabled, topics of great and lengthy debate.
Most school programs use the 1978 U.S. Office of Education definition of "gifted" which states that gifted and talented children are those who are capable of high performance in certain areas and who require differentiated educational programs (Davis & Rimm, 1989). Another type of definition, by Joseph Renzuli, focuses on "gifted behaviors" as opposed to labeling children as "gifted". This definition states that gifted behavior reflects interaction between three clusters of traits: above average ability, task commitment, and creativity (Renzuli, 1986 cited in Davis & Rimm, 1989).
The official meaning of "learning disabilities" is given in Public Law No. 94-142 (1975). The essence of the definition is that a learning disability is indicated by a discrepancy between potential and actual performance or achievement (Boodoo, Bradley, Frontier, Pitts, & Wright, 1989; Fox, Brody, & Tobin, 1983) What makes the dual exceptionalities possible is that the strengths and weakness lie in different areas.
The three children described above represent three categories of gifted/LD children (Baum, 1989). Jonathan is one of many who are noticed first for their high achievement or the "gift". As they move upward in grade levels, weaknesses begin to appear. These weaknesses are large enough to hinder the progress expected of a bright child but too small to be identified in a screening procedure for learning disabilities.
Andrea differs from Jonathan in that she was identified first for her disability. With this type of child, the learning disability looms large in the minds of parents and teachers, while any gifted behaviors or special interests are overlooked. Often, the gifted behaviors are displayed at home, with special art projects or Lego bricks, for example. In school, though, the children feel like failures and tend to be disruptive in their classes.
Robert represents the third group of gifted/LD children, those who are not identified as either gifted or LD. All their academic energy is used up in trying to compensate for their disability. For example, a dyslexic child who cannot learn to read because of a weak visual memory may come up some clever ways of coping, such as learning to spell "by ear", memorizing pages of a book just by hearing a teacher read it, and picking out enough clues from comprehension questions to answer them adequately (Weill, 1987). Thus, the student's creative ability increases tremendously as he is forced to think of effective ways to accomplish daily activities. In the process, however, usually neither exceptionality is noticed. Sometimes a student's talents are uncovered in an innovative classroom. The student may also recognize his own disability later on when taking a college course, for example, where dyslexia is discussed.
What are some other general characteristics of gifted/LD children? One of the most outstanding is a negative self-image. It has been shown that gifted/LD students feel like failures and feel less capable than do their learning disabled peers who have only average ability (Baum & Owen, 1988). That they feel like failures is understandable because they have high ability, but just cannot perform academically the way they are expected to. Maker (1977) says that to make things more complicated, these children set extremely high goals and tend to be highly critical of themselves. She goes on to state that gifted students have four characteristics which make it especially hard for them to be handicapped or disabled. These are their desire to be independent, as well as their goal directedness, self-criticism, and awareness of others' reactions to them.
Like some of their LD peers, gifted/LD children tend to be aggressive, careless, easily frustrated, and disruptive. They may act our in class, daydream, or complain of headaches and stomachaches (Baum, 1989). Some common learning problems are language deficits, poor memory and sequencing ability, and problems with conceptualization and spatial perception (Hokanson & Jospe, 1976, cited in Wolf & Gygi, 1981).
On the positive side, these children, like their gifted peers, may be adept at thinking abstractly and solving problems. They have superior reasoning ability and are able to recognize relationships well. They have good communication skills and may be creative, productive, and motivated, especially when their personal interests are involved (Baum, 1984). Other characteristics might be intellectual curiosity, a wide range of interests, and the ability to work well on their own (Wolf & Gygi, 1981).
Why is it important for gifted/LD children to be identified? Also, do they really need their own programs or special treatment? It is important to identify them (and early on), because, if not, they almost always will have negative emotional response. This response could take the form of depression or anxiety, a lower self-esteem, withdrawal, aggression, or disruptive behavior in the classroom (Jones, 1986). Compensating strategies become less effective as the children grow older, so "average" performance is more difficult to obtain. Early identification seems to be a worthy goal, to prevent these negative consequences to the individual. It allows their gifts to be fostered rather than stifled or permanently suppressed by negative behaviors. In addition, when gifted/LD students are identified and helped, the classroom is much more manageable for the teacher.
Such men as Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, George Patton, Woodrow Wilson, Churchill, and Albert Einstein had learning problems in their early lives. They were able to overcome them, however, through their own effort and, in some cases, help from their parents. The results were tremendous strides in a wide range of areas, from science to art to military and political leadership (Weill, 1987, Gallagher, 1983). One might wonder, though, how much more they could have accomplished if their problems had been recognized, and dealt with earlier.
So yes, we may agree that these children need to be identified ...but how can this be done? Ideally, each child would be treated individually so that individual areas of weakness could be recognized and worked on. The most frequently used test for this is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). This instrument allows the examiner to evaluate responses rather than simply the number of right and wrong answers (Rosner & Seymour, 1983). Gifted/LD children tend to give much more information than is required on these tests because they want to show the examiner that they are not "dumb". The y often are, in fact, extremely knowledgeable about particular subjects. They will also try to show off their ability to think in creative ways. Since these behaviors are known, it is relatively easy to spot a gifted/LD child during the test. Individual testing for all children is not likely to occur, however. It takes a lot of time, and there is already a shortage among teachers, guidance counselors, and educational psychologists.
Alternatively, educators should give more attention to children whose performance varies significantly in different areas (Wolf & Gygi, 1981). Close observation of children will lead to identification of both strengths and weaknesses. Also, assessment of a child should be a continuous and long-term process. Besides intelligence tests and observations, measures such as questionnaires for parents, teachers, and students, self-concept scales, talent check lists, and interviews may be used to assess this special group.
What exactly is the parents' role in all of this? Parents can help their children in at least three general ways. The first involves being alert to the possibility of gifted behaviors, a learning disability, or a combination of the two. It is critical to the well-being of exceptional children that they be identified early and be taught how to compensate for their disabilities. Parents have many opportunities to observe behavior in their children. Assessment, therefore, should not be solely the job of educators.
The second way parents can help is by support and encouragement - and a lot of it. Gifted/LD children need to know that they have value as people. not just for what they do, achieve, or produce. Parents should pay close attention to the child's feelings, especially to expressions of dislike, which may indicate a deeper problem. Some parents with lofty aspirations for their "gifted" child will need to change their perspective and being to accept the existing disabilities. They may need to learn that their child cannot read, spell, or write, as opposed to will not(Jones, 1986).
Parents of gifted/LD children should have a good understanding of both giftedness and learning disabilities and their complex interactions. Reading journals and books, getting involved in professional organizations, and talking with teachers and friends are useful ways to gain insight and learn effective ways of helping their children.
The third area is to work with the school to ensure that the needs of these special children are being met. In schools, which do not yet have a program for gifted children, it is unlikely that there will be much awareness of the unique needs of gifted/LD children. Parents who are knowledgeable in this area might be able to influence what goes on at the school. Involvement with parent/teacher organizations or a board of education may allow a parent to suggest program possibilities which will better meet children's needs. Some possibilities are the guidelines that have been established by researchers in the field.
Susan Baum (1988), an expert with gifted/ LD children gives the following four recommendations: (1) attention should be focused on the child's gift rather than the disability; (2) gifted/LD children should have a supportive environment which values and appreciates their abilities; (3) strategies should be given to compensate for learning problems; and (4) educators should help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses and how to deal with them.
Baum (1989) and others (Wolf & Gygi, 1981) have determined that remediation is not the primary need of these students. The focus on abilities in Baum's programs has enabled students to flourish, become excited about school, and beginning to believe in themselves. Students' weaknesses are circumvented by calculators, word processors, and tape recorders, while the students concentrate on using their abilities in projects which will be useful and valuable for some audience. Remediation is continued in the LD portion of the program, but time spent helping the students develop their gifts has a higher priority.
A counseling program might be a good way to follow through on Baum's fourth recommendation. Students would be told about in a straight forward manner. Once they understand the nature of their dual exceptionalities, they can then learn to accept their limitation and set realistic goals. These students may also benefit by having a mentor, a person to work with who is outstanding in the student's particular area of interest. Mentors who are gifted and learning disabled would be even more beneficial, since they are living examples of what can be accomplished despite limitations.
Although the gifted/LD field is not new, there is still much to be learned about this special group of children and adults. As more people are made aware of this dual exceptionality, more programs will be started and gifted/LD students will begin to reach their potential. Parents have a big role in creating a nurturing home environment for these children, one which will make them feel loved and valued and which will help them realize they can be come important contributors to their world.
By Tammy Ellston
Reprinted with permission from "Gifted Child Today" v16, n1, p17-19, January/February, 1993
Jonathan is in a "gifted" program at his school. The children in the program were selected because they either scored high on intelligence tests or have outstanding ability in some non-academic area. Jonathan, a fifth grader, has been in the program for 2 years and has done well. This year, however, he is not performing quite as well as his "gifted peers" and seems to be lacking conceptual understanding in math and also some essential writing skills. He is usually discouraged when he comes home, not knowing what the problem is exactly--why he can no longer keep up.
Andrea was very bright when she was in preschool, but has had a difficult time learning how to read and write. Her third grade teacher has been assigning extra work for her in these areas, but to no avail. She is wondering whether Andrea should be put into a learning disability class. Andrea's parents criticize her for her "slowness" in reading, ignoring her achievements in art. In fact, she has won a few school awards for drawings she has done this year. This success, however, is eclipsed by her problem in reading.
Robert does not enjoy school and has always had to work hard for "average" grades. In elementary school, he had some problems with writing, not being able to express himself clearly and with sufficient speed to finish assignments and tests. Because these problems were never corrected, they have turned him off almost completely to anything academic. The one thing keeping Robert from dropping out is a new experimental course he his taking where he is allowed to do a project using his best model of communication --video. He is excited about the project and devotes most of his time to it.
What do Jonathan, Andrea, and Robert have in common? They each are gifted and learning disabled. This combination has existed in children and adults for a long time, but has not received much attention until the last few decades (Weill, 1987).
What does it mean to be gifted and learning disabled? Don't these terms contradict each other? No more so than the presence of both strengths and weaknesses in one individual. A child who is gifted/learning disabled (gifted/LD) is simply one who exhibits great talent or strength in certain areas and disabling weaknesses in others (Baum, 1989). A more sophisticated definition can be obtained by examining the definitions of the two terms gifted and learning disabled, topics of great and lengthy debate.
Most school programs use the 1978 U.S. Office of Education definition of "gifted" which states that gifted and talented children are those who are capable of high performance in certain areas and who require differentiated educational programs (Davis & Rimm, 1989). Another type of definition, by Joseph Renzuli, focuses on "gifted behaviors" as opposed to labeling children as "gifted". This definition states that gifted behavior reflects interaction between three clusters of traits: above average ability, task commitment, and creativity (Renzuli, 1986 cited in Davis & Rimm, 1989).
The official meaning of "learning disabilities" is given in Public Law No. 94-142 (1975). The essence of the definition is that a learning disability is indicated by a discrepancy between potential and actual performance or achievement (Boodoo, Bradley, Frontier, Pitts, & Wright, 1989; Fox, Brody, & Tobin, 1983) What makes the dual exceptionalities possible is that the strengths and weakness lie in different areas.
The three children described above represent three categories of gifted/LD children (Baum, 1989). Jonathan is one of many who are noticed first for their high achievement or the "gift". As they move upward in grade levels, weaknesses begin to appear. These weaknesses are large enough to hinder the progress expected of a bright child but too small to be identified in a screening procedure for learning disabilities.
Andrea differs from Jonathan in that she was identified first for her disability. With this type of child, the learning disability looms large in the minds of parents and teachers, while any gifted behaviors or special interests are overlooked. Often, the gifted behaviors are displayed at home, with special art projects or Lego bricks, for example. In school, though, the children feel like failures and tend to be disruptive in their classes.
Robert represents the third group of gifted/LD children, those who are not identified as either gifted or LD. All their academic energy is used up in trying to compensate for their disability. For example, a dyslexic child who cannot learn to read because of a weak visual memory may come up some clever ways of coping, such as learning to spell "by ear", memorizing pages of a book just by hearing a teacher read it, and picking out enough clues from comprehension questions to answer them adequately (Weill, 1987). Thus, the student's creative ability increases tremendously as he is forced to think of effective ways to accomplish daily activities. In the process, however, usually neither exceptionality is noticed. Sometimes a student's talents are uncovered in an innovative classroom. The student may also recognize his own disability later on when taking a college course, for example, where dyslexia is discussed.
What are some other general characteristics of gifted/LD children? One of the most outstanding is a negative self-image. It has been shown that gifted/LD students feel like failures and feel less capable than do their learning disabled peers who have only average ability (Baum & Owen, 1988). That they feel like failures is understandable because they have high ability, but just cannot perform academically the way they are expected to. Maker (1977) says that to make things more complicated, these children set extremely high goals and tend to be highly critical of themselves. She goes on to state that gifted students have four characteristics which make it especially hard for them to be handicapped or disabled. These are their desire to be independent, as well as their goal directedness, self-criticism, and awareness of others' reactions to them.
Like some of their LD peers, gifted/LD children tend to be aggressive, careless, easily frustrated, and disruptive. They may act our in class, daydream, or complain of headaches and stomachaches (Baum, 1989). Some common learning problems are language deficits, poor memory and sequencing ability, and problems with conceptualization and spatial perception (Hokanson & Jospe, 1976, cited in Wolf & Gygi, 1981).
On the positive side, these children, like their gifted peers, may be adept at thinking abstractly and solving problems. They have superior reasoning ability and are able to recognize relationships well. They have good communication skills and may be creative, productive, and motivated, especially when their personal interests are involved (Baum, 1984). Other characteristics might be intellectual curiosity, a wide range of interests, and the ability to work well on their own (Wolf & Gygi, 1981).
Why is it important for gifted/LD children to be identified? Also, do they really need their own programs or special treatment? It is important to identify them (and early on), because, if not, they almost always will have negative emotional response. This response could take the form of depression or anxiety, a lower self-esteem, withdrawal, aggression, or disruptive behavior in the classroom (Jones, 1986). Compensating strategies become less effective as the children grow older, so "average" performance is more difficult to obtain. Early identification seems to be a worthy goal, to prevent these negative consequences to the individual. It allows their gifts to be fostered rather than stifled or permanently suppressed by negative behaviors. In addition, when gifted/LD students are identified and helped, the classroom is much more manageable for the teacher.
Such men as Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, George Patton, Woodrow Wilson, Churchill, and Albert Einstein had learning problems in their early lives. They were able to overcome them, however, through their own effort and, in some cases, help from their parents. The results were tremendous strides in a wide range of areas, from science to art to military and political leadership (Weill, 1987, Gallagher, 1983). One might wonder, though, how much more they could have accomplished if their problems had been recognized, and dealt with earlier.
So yes, we may agree that these children need to be identified ...but how can this be done? Ideally, each child would be treated individually so that individual areas of weakness could be recognized and worked on. The most frequently used test for this is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). This instrument allows the examiner to evaluate responses rather than simply the number of right and wrong answers (Rosner & Seymour, 1983). Gifted/LD children tend to give much more information than is required on these tests because they want to show the examiner that they are not "dumb". The y often are, in fact, extremely knowledgeable about particular subjects. They will also try to show off their ability to think in creative ways. Since these behaviors are known, it is relatively easy to spot a gifted/LD child during the test. Individual testing for all children is not likely to occur, however. It takes a lot of time, and there is already a shortage among teachers, guidance counselors, and educational psychologists.
Alternatively, educators should give more attention to children whose performance varies significantly in different areas (Wolf & Gygi, 1981). Close observation of children will lead to identification of both strengths and weaknesses. Also, assessment of a child should be a continuous and long-term process. Besides intelligence tests and observations, measures such as questionnaires for parents, teachers, and students, self-concept scales, talent check lists, and interviews may be used to assess this special group.
What exactly is the parents' role in all of this? Parents can help their children in at least three general ways. The first involves being alert to the possibility of gifted behaviors, a learning disability, or a combination of the two. It is critical to the well-being of exceptional children that they be identified early and be taught how to compensate for their disabilities. Parents have many opportunities to observe behavior in their children. Assessment, therefore, should not be solely the job of educators.
The second way parents can help is by support and encouragement - and a lot of it. Gifted/LD children need to know that they have value as people. not just for what they do, achieve, or produce. Parents should pay close attention to the child's feelings, especially to expressions of dislike, which may indicate a deeper problem. Some parents with lofty aspirations for their "gifted" child will need to change their perspective and being to accept the existing disabilities. They may need to learn that their child cannot read, spell, or write, as opposed to will not(Jones, 1986).
Parents of gifted/LD children should have a good understanding of both giftedness and learning disabilities and their complex interactions. Reading journals and books, getting involved in professional organizations, and talking with teachers and friends are useful ways to gain insight and learn effective ways of helping their children.
The third area is to work with the school to ensure that the needs of these special children are being met. In schools, which do not yet have a program for gifted children, it is unlikely that there will be much awareness of the unique needs of gifted/LD children. Parents who are knowledgeable in this area might be able to influence what goes on at the school. Involvement with parent/teacher organizations or a board of education may allow a parent to suggest program possibilities which will better meet children's needs. Some possibilities are the guidelines that have been established by researchers in the field.
Susan Baum (1988), an expert with gifted/ LD children gives the following four recommendations: (1) attention should be focused on the child's gift rather than the disability; (2) gifted/LD children should have a supportive environment which values and appreciates their abilities; (3) strategies should be given to compensate for learning problems; and (4) educators should help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses and how to deal with them.
Baum (1989) and others (Wolf & Gygi, 1981) have determined that remediation is not the primary need of these students. The focus on abilities in Baum's programs has enabled students to flourish, become excited about school, and beginning to believe in themselves. Students' weaknesses are circumvented by calculators, word processors, and tape recorders, while the students concentrate on using their abilities in projects which will be useful and valuable for some audience. Remediation is continued in the LD portion of the program, but time spent helping the students develop their gifts has a higher priority.
A counseling program might be a good way to follow through on Baum's fourth recommendation. Students would be told about in a straight forward manner. Once they understand the nature of their dual exceptionalities, they can then learn to accept their limitation and set realistic goals. These students may also benefit by having a mentor, a person to work with who is outstanding in the student's particular area of interest. Mentors who are gifted and learning disabled would be even more beneficial, since they are living examples of what can be accomplished despite limitations.
Although the gifted/LD field is not new, there is still much to be learned about this special group of children and adults. As more people are made aware of this dual exceptionality, more programs will be started and gifted/LD students will begin to reach their potential. Parents have a big role in creating a nurturing home environment for these children, one which will make them feel loved and valued and which will help them realize they can be come important contributors to their world.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Giftedness from a multiple intelligences perspective
Multiple intelligences has been associated to giftedness or overachievement of some developmental areas (Colangelo, 2003). Multiple intelligences has been described as an attitude towards learning, instead of techniques or strategies (Cason, 2001).
There are eight Intelligences, or different areas in which people assimilate or learn about the world around them: interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, naturalistic, and spatial-visual. If the Theory of Multiple Intelligences is applied to educational curriculum, by providing lesson plans, themes, and programs in a way that all students are encouraged to develop their stronger area, and at the same time educators provide opportunities to enhance the learning process in the less strong areas, academic success may be attainable for all children in our school system.
Gardner proposed in Frames of Mind (Gardner 1983/1994) that intellectual giftedness may be present in areas other than the typical intellectual realm. The concept of multiple intelligences (MI) makes the field aware of additional potential strengths and proposes a variety of curricular methods.
Gardner suggest MI in the following areas: Linguistic, logico-mathematical, musical, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic and existential.
Identification of gifted students with MI is a challenge since there is no simple test to give to determine giftedness of MI. Assessing by observation is potentially most accurate, but potentially highly subjective. MI theory can be applied to not only gifted students, but it can be a lens through which all students can be assessed. This more global perspective may lead to more child-centered instruction and meet the needs of a greater number of children(Colangelo, 2003).
Main article: Theory of multiple intelligences
Colangelo, N. & Davis, G. (2003). Handbook of Gifted Education.
Cason, K. (2001). Evaluation of a Preschool Nutrition Education Program Based on the Theory of multiple Intelligences [Electronic version]. Journal of Nutrition Education, 33,(p.161-166).
There are eight Intelligences, or different areas in which people assimilate or learn about the world around them: interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, naturalistic, and spatial-visual. If the Theory of Multiple Intelligences is applied to educational curriculum, by providing lesson plans, themes, and programs in a way that all students are encouraged to develop their stronger area, and at the same time educators provide opportunities to enhance the learning process in the less strong areas, academic success may be attainable for all children in our school system.
Gardner proposed in Frames of Mind (Gardner 1983/1994) that intellectual giftedness may be present in areas other than the typical intellectual realm. The concept of multiple intelligences (MI) makes the field aware of additional potential strengths and proposes a variety of curricular methods.
Gardner suggest MI in the following areas: Linguistic, logico-mathematical, musical, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic and existential.
Identification of gifted students with MI is a challenge since there is no simple test to give to determine giftedness of MI. Assessing by observation is potentially most accurate, but potentially highly subjective. MI theory can be applied to not only gifted students, but it can be a lens through which all students can be assessed. This more global perspective may lead to more child-centered instruction and meet the needs of a greater number of children(Colangelo, 2003).
Main article: Theory of multiple intelligences
Colangelo, N. & Davis, G. (2003). Handbook of Gifted Education.
Cason, K. (2001). Evaluation of a Preschool Nutrition Education Program Based on the Theory of multiple Intelligences [Electronic version]. Journal of Nutrition Education, 33,(p.161-166).
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Gifted Children and Language Development
One characteristic of gifted children is advanced language ability, which means these children reach developmental milestones relating to language earlier than developmental charts would indicate. This means that gifted children tend to talk earlier, have larger vocabularies, and use longer sentences than non-gifted children.
How can parents tell if their child's language development is advanced? A first step is to look at typical language developmental milestones. A second step is to look at what advanced language development is.
How can parents tell if their child's language development is advanced? A first step is to look at typical language developmental milestones. A second step is to look at what advanced language development is.
Language Developmental Milestones
At three months, a child:
• Makes cooing and gurgling sounds
At six months, a child:
• Babbles and makes sing-song sounds
At twelve months, a child:
• Babbles, but with inflection, which sounds like talking
• Says first word
At eighteen months, a child:
• Says 8-10 words others can understand
• Has vocabulary of about 5 to 40 words, mostly nouns
• Repeats words heard in conversation
• Uses “hi,” “bye,” and “please” when reminded
At two years, a child:
• Has a vocabulary of 150 to 300 words
• Uses 2-3 word sentences, usually in noun-verb combinations, such as "Dog bark," but also using inflection with combinations like "More cookie?"
• Refers to self by name and uses “me” and “mine”
At three years, a child:
• Uses 3-5 word sentences
• Asks short questions, usually using "what" or "where."
• Has a vocabulary of about 900-1000 words
At four years, a child:
• Has a vocabulary of about 1,500 to 2,500 words
• Uses sentences of 5 or more words
At five years, a child:
• Identifies some letters of the alphabet
• Uses 6 words in a sentence
• Uses “and,” “but,” and “then” to make longer sentence
By age six, a child's language begins to sound like adult speech, including the use of complex sentences, with words like "when," for example. However, children tend not to use sentences with "although" and "even though" until about age 10.
Advanced Language Development
Early Talking
Gifted children tend to begin talking early. While most children say their first word at around one year of age, gifted children may begin speaking when they are nine months old. Some parents report that their children said their first word even earlier than that, as early as six months of age.
Some parents have even reported that their children tried very hard to form words at three months! However, most babies are simply not physically developed sufficiently to control their mouths, tongue, and lips well enough to make the speech sounds they need. They may purse their lips and nearly turn blue with the effort and then become quite frustrated when they can't make the sounds they want to make.
Teaching babies sign language is a good way to help these children express themselves without vocalization.
It's important to note that not all gifted children speak early. In fact, some gifted children are late talkers, not talking until they are two years old or even older. When they do speak, however, they sometimes skip over the stages of language development and may begin speaking in full sentences. While early talking is a sign of giftedness, not speaking early is not an indication that a child is not gifted.
Advanced Vocabulary
An advanced vocabulary can mean two different things. It can mean the number of words a child uses and it can mean the types of words a child uses.
While a non-gifted child may have a vocabulary of 150-300 words at age two, gifted children may have surpassed the 100 word mark by the time they are eighteen months old. At eighteen months, most children have a vocabulary of from five to twenty words, although some do reach the fifty-word milestone by the time they are two years old. In their second year, most children increase their vocabulary to up to 300 words. Gifted children, however, will have a larger working vocabulary, approaching that of a four year old or even older children.
The other type of advanced vocabulary refers to the types of words a child has in his or her vocabulary. Typically, the first words a child learns will be nouns: mama, daddy, dog, ball, bird, etc. After that, simple verbs are added, for example, want, go, see, give. Gifted children, however, will be adding connecting words, such as and or even because. By age three, gifted children might also have added transitional words, such as however or multisyllabic words like appropriate.
Sentence Structures
A typical two-year old can construct sentences of two or three words, often without a verb. For example, a child might say, "There cat" for "There is a cat." A gifted child, however, will often be able to speak in fuller sentences at age two and by age three, their language may already resemble adult speech. They are able to use time markers, like now, later, first, and then, which, along with their advanced vocabulary and more complete sentences, allow them to carry on full conversations with adults.
Although most gifted children have this kind of advanced language development, its absence does not mean a child is not gifted. The range of normal language development is also as widely variable in gifted children as it is in the non-gifted population. These descriptions of what might be typical in a gifted child are meant to help parents understand what advanced language ability looks like.
A typical two-year old can construct sentences of two or three words, often without a verb. For example, a child might say, "There cat" for "There is a cat." A gifted child, however, will often be able to speak in fuller sentences at age two and by age three, their language may already resemble adult speech. They are able to use time markers, like now, later, first, and then, which, along with their advanced vocabulary and more complete sentences, allow them to carry on full conversations with adults.
Although most gifted children have this kind of advanced language development, its absence does not mean a child is not gifted. The range of normal language development is also as widely variable in gifted children as it is in the non-gifted population. These descriptions of what might be typical in a gifted child are meant to help parents understand what advanced language ability looks like.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)