Tall Poppies magazine
What are the needs of the gifted child?
by Peter Walters, (BA,Dip.Tchg)
We
reproduce here the third and final part of the article “Why
Help the Gifted?” by the founder president of the NZAGC. In
answering this question, Peter Walters (BA,Dip.Tchg) discussed:
1.
What is a gifted child?
2.
What are the needs of the gifted child?
3.
How can we help the gifted child?
The
first part answered the first question and was published in Tall
Poppies vol 29 no 1. The second part was published in vol 29 no
2. This article was written nearly thirty years ago—it is
sobering to reflect on how little some things have changed in that
time.
How
can we help the gifted child?
We
are here also concerned with a mental health problem. The NZAGC
recently [in the early 1970s—ed.] held a survey among its
family members. Returns were received from 116 families, involving
123 gifted children. They revealed the following statistics:
45
children (36.6%) received medical attention because of problems
associated with their giftedness
33
children (26.8%) received the attention of a psychologist or a
psychiatrist or both
20
children (16.3%) received medical prescriptions
14
parents (12.1%) received medical attention from a general
practitioner (9) or a psychologist (3) or a psychiatrist (2) because
of problems associated with the giftedness of their child.
When
asked whether they thought “the upbringing of a gifted child is harder, easier or similar compared to the upbringing of other
children”, 67 parents (57.7%) regarded it harder, 15 (12.9%) easier, 24 (20.7%) similar, and 10 (8.6%) expressed no opinion on
this matter.
What
can the school do?
It
is pleasing to note that in the last three years the teaching profession has shown a greater awareness of the needs and problems of
gifted children. Several teachers and schools make an effort to provide in some measure for these children. This is, however, by no
means universal. Much good work is done in the Auckland Education Board under the guidance of David Freeman, Inspector in Charge of
Children with Special Abilities. He has teachers actively involved in providing means of recognising such children and providing suitable
programmes for them. Withdrawal groups have been organised in the last two years with the intention of developing units of work
suitable for these children. In other parts of the country also, some efforts are made to make provision for these children both in
primary, intermediate and secondary schools. There is general agreement that some provision should be made for gifted and talented
children.
Vernon,
Adamson and Vernon in The Psychology and Education of Gifted
Children quote Ogilvie's report on “Gifted Children in
Primary Schools", a report to the Schools Council of the
Ministry of Education in England. Ogilvie lists the following as the
main requirements for an effective scheme for gifted children:
they
should be able to work along with others of similar ability level
they
should maintain ample contacts with peers of average ability
though
not set apart, they should have the opportunity to work by
themselves on occasion
they
need to be stretched or challenged, even to the point of
experiencing failure and being humbled thereby
they
should pass rapidly through the elementary stages of a subject to
more advanced work, for which appropriate resources should be
available
they
should be guided rather than directed toward a greater depth of
treatment in their studies
they
should be able to pursue their own lines of research
they
require contacts with teachers who are expert in their various
fields
they
should have opportunity and encouragement in exercising special
talents
both
children and their parents should have access to counselling
last,
but not least, they need to be treated like ordinary children
Some
additional points may be gleaned from various sources:
attention
should be paid to fostering personal and social, as well as
intellectual development, including understanding of, or empathy
with, the needs of others
efforts
should be made to bring into the scheme as many children as possible
from minority group or lower-class families, even though they may
initially appear less qualified linguistically or less outstanding
in achievement than gifted or talented middle-class children
any
scheme should incorporate procedures for systematic evaluation of
its success or failure. It is not sufficient to show that gifted
children do better academically or in other respects than average
children of their own age. It must be demonstrated that they do
better than could have been expected in the absence of special
provision, or better than a control group of comparable ability who
received no such provision.
The
following classification of possible methods is a somewhat modified
version of a list published by Roth and Sussman (1974). Naturally
there is a good deal of overlapping between the items, and many
schools or districts may combine elements from two or more.
Acceleration
by:
Segregation
in
separate schools, full-time
grouping
or streaming according to ability, also referred to as “multi-track”
or differentiated instruction
specialisation
by multiple curricula, options or electives
special
classes, part-time, serving one or more schools
summer
or Saturday schools and extracurricular interest groups
Enrichment
individual
study or small-group work within classes
library
or resource room projects
use
of community resources etc
Acceleration
implies that the rate of progress through the sequence of work in
school is faster than the average. For the gifted child, it means
that he is allowed to develop at his own rate. All research leads to
the conclusion that this is the best method of providing for gifted
children. The practical implications of this cause problems,
especially if the educator has fixed views on social adjustment. A
five-year-old child was recently admitted to school. He was a gifted
child who had taught himself to read, and by rights should join the
children in the group that works at an advanced level of reading. The
teacher, however, placed the child with the other five-year-old
children on the very early readers. Why? Because he was not mature
enough to be placed with the more advanced group. Why was he not
mature enough? Because he did not relate to the children of his own
age, did not play with them or communicate with them. This he had to
learn first. Why? No answer is given. The teacher fails to realise
that his advanced intellectual achievements make it impossible for
him to relate to these children, but would make him quite capable of
relating to the older children. He had already passed the so-called
five-year-old stage.
Some
schools allow children to skip a class. The most suitable points are:
from a P4/S1 composite to S2 or a F1/2 composite to F3, more rarely
from a S2/3 composite to S4. Other schools have a S2–S4 class
which consist of the very bright children drawn from these levels.
Enrichment
is the method used by most teachers who have some sympathy with the
gifted child in their class. It helps somewhat to alleviate the
frustrations, but does not really go far enough to satisfy their need
for more advanced work. Personally I am not in favour of complete
segregation, but temporary withdrawal periods are used quite
successfully by some intermediate and also some primary schools.
What
are the results of special programmes? I quote from the Marland
Report:
“Many
studies of acceleration have assessed the effect on children from
school entrance to college age. Studies showed that accelerants did
better than their peers academically, acquired more honours and
experienced fewer psychological problems than did non-accelerants. A
number of briefer studies found that acceleration produced no
unfavourable results, and the accelerants exceeded their classmates
academically, were socially more popular and were better adjusted
psychologically.
A
summary of a large group of studies indicated that special
provisions, including acceleration and various groupings, were
beneficial to gifted children. In general, the studies showed that
gifted children could condense school requirements with no difficulty
and with superior performance.
Follow-up
studies of pupils in special classes employed various measures of
academic achievement, social adjustment, health and personality.
Clear support for special groupings was found. Conclusions derived
from the studies generally agreed that participants did not develop
personality or social problems, did not become conceited or did not
suffer health problems because of pressures; rather, participants
showed improvement, not only in academic areas but also in personal
and social areas.”
To
the individual teacher who is concerned about the gifted in his/her
class, I would like to give the following advice. Be aware of the
child's potential. If it is proven to be of high intelligence,
provide challenging material for the child. Let him read books at a
higher level, do advanced projects, work advanced examples in
mathematics, even if it means letting the child work from the book of
the next class. Inform the parent; inform the teacher of the next
year. Even if that teacher does not take any notice and lets the
child repeat the work done, it is better that the child has had a
good challenging year with you than two years of no challenge. Your
memory will be treasured and the experience will enable the child to
pick up work better at a later stage when he is again more
challenged. The intellectually gifted child wants to see structure in
what he learns, so guide him in that direction. Above all, show an
interest in what he does, give praise and encouragement, but never
set him up as an example for the other children. The child won't like
it as it makes him too obviously different from the others. The other
children won’t like it because they can never live up to his
image.
It
is quite wrong to stop young children from taking out library books
of a higher level at school, as is the practice in some schools. If
the Standard 1 child is ready to read Standard 4 books he should be
allowed to do so. By the same token, there should be books of
intermediate and higher level available for the gifted child in
Standard Three or Four.
If
you have an advanced programme operating in your class for a gifted
child, have it openly available and do not stop any other bright
child using it. If he is not successful he will drop it; if he is,
his standard of work is raised. I believe that by providing for the
gifted child in the school, we will raise the standard of education
for all, just as there is some evidence that too much emphasis on the
slower learner has led to some deterioration of standards in the more
able children.
The
NZAGC was concerned that the 1977 Johnson Report on Sharing,
Growing and Learning, in Section 5.5 “Special Needs of
Children”, did not mention the special needs of gifted and
talented children. The Executive Committee of the NZAGC forwarded to
the Minister of Education the suggestion that the following
recommendation be added to Section 5.5 of the Johnson Report:
“In each school provision will be made in the staffing
allocation for one teacher to be placed in charge of the educational
needs of gifted and talented children”.
The
Minister has forwarded this recommendation to the department that has
the responsibility for collating all views expressed about this
report. We would like to see one teacher in each school who has the
responsibility of looking after the educational needs of all the
gifted and talented children in the school. He could guide the class
teacher in the design of special programmes for these children;
perhaps even plan the programme himself. He could take these children
as a group in a withdrawal period for enrichment or acceleration, and
generally make sure that feelings of frustration and boredom do not
occur.
What
does the Association do for gifted children?
Each
branch of the NZAGC has set up a club called Explorers Unlimited. The
activities are organised by a committee of parents. These could
include: a monthly meeting which enables the children to socialise
with children of their own level of intelligence, which is so
necessary if they are to find their own identity; special interest
groups outside school hours such as science, a language, mathematics,
astronomy, electronics, etc; outings to various places of interest
such as an observatory, museum, factory, etc.
In
addition, the local branch also organises a meeting for parents at
least once a term to discuss common problems or to meet an expert or
panel of experts in child education. The two main achievements of the
work of our Association in the last three years have been children
gaining a better self-concept, losing their sense of loneliness and
finding it easier to relate to other children and find friends;
parents gaining a greater understanding of their child and being able
to develop a better relationship with their gifted children.
How
can parents help their gifted child?
It
is your child; you have a duty towards this child. You will need to
devote about 20 years of your life to this child. It may not be
rewarding. It could be most enjoyable. That depends on your attitude.
Do
not seek self-glorification—you are going to be disappointed.
Your child may turn against you.
Accept
your child for what he is. Accept his high intelligence, which may be
much higher than yours, but don't use it as a weapon. "If you
are so intelligent why did you do such a stupid thing?" That
kind of remark is out. In the first place, they are still children,
fallible and able to do stupid things like any other child. In the
second place, perhaps it was not so stupid after all, but your
interpretation was.
Do
not get upset if your child corrects you, offers a better solution to
a problem, beats you at any game, is able to hold a better
conversation with a visitor than you are.
Enjoy
it; learn from the child. Teaching is not a one-way process; it is a
two-way street. Both teacher and learner learn and teach, and that
also applies to the first and best teacher the child ever gets, his
parents.
If
an interest is aroused: music, sport, a research topic, whatever,
encourage it, help the child to find information and resources. I
know it costs time, but that is your job as parent. If the interest
wanes, try to find out why, give more encouragement: “Yes, you
can do it”. Gifted children are very self-critical and often
perfectionists. They need to be reassured that they can do it, more
so than other children. On the other hand, do not force the issue if
there is absolutely no interest left. It is better dropped for your
sake and the child's sake.
Try
to get the best teachers for your child. If you do not succeed and
there are problems, discuss these with the child. Don't always hold
the teacher as correct. The child is quite capable of realising that
we are dealing with human beings who are fallible and may do some
stupid things, even though placed in responsible positions. At least
let the child know that you, the parent, understand and will support
him. You are his only security until he can manage on his own.
Do
not expect the child to be like other children. If he likes reading a
lot, let him. Don't force him to play if he does not want it. Never
ever say to your child, your gifted child: “Why can't you be
like other children?” or “Why can't you be like a normal
child?” The child has enough awareness of this difference
without you rubbing it in.
Your
child needs to learn to accept himself for what he is. All children
need to learn this. A child can only do this if you, as the parent,
let him be himself, and accept him for what he is.
Perhaps
I can express your relationship to your children best by a poem by
Kahlil Gibran, called “Children”:
Your
children are not your children.
They
are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They
come through you but not from you,
And
though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You
may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For
they have their own thoughts.
You
may house their bodies but not their souls,
For
their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.
You
may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For
life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You
are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent
forth.
The
Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you
with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let
your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;
For
even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that
is stable.
Apex: NZ Journal of Gifted Education