Friday, November 29, 2013
Giftedness in Early Childhood Education
Do you work with children that are curious, self-motivated, creative, and possess unusual leadership? Or students that have advanced vocabulary, exhibit high performance intellectually or are great problem solvers? If the answer is yes, you may be working with a gifted and talented child.
Often times when an individual thinks of ESE (Exceptional Student Education) they think of children that are struggling academically or behaviorally. Students that are excelling and possibly behavior issues due to boredom also fall under the ESE title. These children are referred to as gifted and talented.
Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines gifted as having great natural ability and revealing a special gift. These children with their special gifts and their parents with their questions are the challenge I have chosen for my course project. Specifically the challenge is children with varying abilities with the sub-topic of giftedness in early childhood. I have chosen this topic to look at the brighter side of education. I also want to give a voice to a group of children that are sometimes left to their own devices as schools focus on struggling children. Gifted and talented children need to be provided opportunities to maximize their potential.
My initial questions deal with identification of children that are gifted and talented. I am specifically interested in the identification of these children in unrepresented populations: various races, low socioeconomic and English language learners. A second question is resources available to support the families of gifted children. If the child is identified as gifted, does my child have to attend a different school and how will this affect the family? The final area to be addressed is gifted and talented children that are not challenged and thus become behavior issues.
References:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary online. (2013). Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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I think this is going to be such an interesting research topic. It is so unfortunate that these children get overlooked so often, as most educators focus on the weaknesses that children with delays exhibit and do not recognize the exceptional abilities of other, more advanced students. One year when I was teaching first grade, I wound up having six students who qualified for gifted services. Quite honestly, I had never really served many gifted students before, so maybe that was one reason these children stood out to me that year. I had one child even score so high, that he was almost placed in a genius level; he was doing problems dealing with negative numbers in my classroom. He also exhibited atypical behaviors and wound up being diagnosed as bipolar. I cannot imagine how frustrating it was for him; it was almost as if he were a small adult inside a child's body. I am looking forward to following your blog posts on this topic. Best of luck with your research.
ReplyDeleteDixie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story. I am sure that young boy was probably frustrated. I have worked with children who show gifted tendencies but the parents were comfortable having the child test. I provided enrichment as much as possible.
Sharon Lloyd
Sharon,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you are addressing the topic of giftedness in early childhood. Giftedness needs to be addressed more often, especially in such young children. One of the questions you asked was about children moving to another school in order to be academically challenged. As you know, I work at a private school and see families coming to me stating that they have had their child in other programs and the teacher or school failed to see that their child was gifted. I have to be honest and tell you that too often I have parents come to me stating that their child is gifted when indeed they are not. They are intelligent, but not gifted and unfortunately many parents do not understand the difference.
We need to be aware of the exceptional child and be prepared to meet their needs. I do not know if it is the school or teachers who need to be better educated to meet the needs of these children. What are your thoughts on this?
Darla
HI Darla,
ReplyDeleteI believe the teachers and the schools need to be better educated to meet the needs of gifted children. So often I think teachers focus on the struggling children and say that child is mastering standards he/she will be fine and not even notice how advance the child might actually be. Once the teacher identifies a child that might be gifted, the school comes into play and the processing of the paperwork for a child to receive services if qualified.
Sharon Lloyd