Giftedness

A diagnosis of giftedness may promote a better understanding of children who generally appear precocious, highly energized, and motivated. Strategies for enhancing these individuals learning experience involve differentiated instruction for a greater depth to learning, preventative strategies for perfectionism and anxious traits, and striving towards well-rounded social, academic, and emotional development.

What Does Giftedness Mean?
Giftedness by definition means a score at approximately the 98th percentile or higher on standardized measures of intelligence, such as the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) or the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test-Third Edition (WAIS-III). Parents and teachers are often alerted to these children’s talent by their large store of background knowledge, their advanced vocabulary, and their ability to think in the abstract. A number of characteristics have been widely recognized to aid in identifying those with Gifted and Talented characteristics, including:

1. Creative and productive thinking; the ability to play with ideas and generalize from specific facts. Examples include showing theoretical insight into arithmetical problems and concepts.
2. Openness to experience; preference for complexity and tolerance for ambiguity.
3. Leadership characteristics including self-confidence, responsibility, cooperative skills, and the ability to consider problems from a number of viewpoints.
4. Reading interest and capabilities far in excess of age or grade placement.
5. Creativity or imaginative expression in music, fine art, or drama.
6. Can sustain concentration for lengthy periods; shows responsibility and independence in the classroom setting.

Certain behaviors typically exhibited in Gifted children, such as asking endless questions or appearing as if driven by a motor, can try the patience of parents and teachers. It is no wonder that many children first identified as Gifted are initially referred to evaluate the possibility of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Though behaviours in ADHD children and Gifted children may both result in challenges in the home and school environments, the following comparisons may aid in differentiating a number of observable behaviours:

Children with ADHD typically exhibit problem behaviors in most settings, depending largely on the structure of that situation. In the classroom, a gifted child's perceived inability to stay on task is likely to be related to boredom. Gifted children may spend from one-fourth to one-half of their regular classroom time waiting for others to catch up. Their specific level of academic achievement is often two to four grade levels above their actual grade placement. Such children often respond to non-challenging or slow-moving classroom situations by "off-task" behavior, disruptions, or other attempts at self-amusement.

HOW TO STIMULATE AND ENHANCE LIFE EXPERIENCES

Responsive Parenting
It is important that parents read to their children frequently, even when the children are capable of reading to themselves. In the early years, parents are encouraged to “follow the lead” of their child. This approach of reinforcing curiosity and independence can help encourage discovering personal interests in a wide variety of subjects such as art, nature, music, museums, and sports. Enable children the opportunities to explore these interests in depth. Forcing children into parent-chosen activities and interests may be a precursor to loss of individuation, diminished curiosity and enthusiasm, and never truly discovering one’s calling. Assume a proactive effort in helping your children maintain positive friendships (e.g., through playdates, transporting children to special interest groups).

School
A previously devoted and enthusiastic learner who now complains of boredom or starts misbehaving in school may signal the need for additional classroom challenges and stimulation. Research has tended to support accelerating entire school grades or advancing in individual subject areas. Early entrance is the easiest form of acceleration, academically and socially. When a child expresses a willingness to be accelerated, the chances are good that an excellent social adjustment will be made. Gifted children who are accelerated tend to have higher grades and fit in better socially as compared to Gifted children who are not accelerated. Though accelerated children may occasionally encounter unfamiliar material from the skipped grade, arrangements are usually made to allow the children to cover such material without penalty. Gifted children at risk for acceleration related difficulties include physically or emotionally immature children or those pushed into the process against their will. As the Gifted child may no longer hold the same position academically in relation to his or her classmates, parents should be supportive and sensitive to the messages and feedback they provide in relation to academic performance.

Other Strategies for School Success
The curriculum content for gifted students would ideally take understanding to a deeper level (e.g., extrapolate from specific facts). Appropriately differentiated curriculum will aid in producing students who have worked very hard, have mastered a substantial body of knowledge, and can think objectively and critically about that knowledge.

Stress and the Gifted Child
Most talented students do not face any more social or emotional problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) than their peers. However, there are certain unique risks they run across:

1. Advanced intellect often makes gifted children aware of information that they are not yet emotionally ready to handle. Gifted and talented children often have fears similar to older children, but do not know how to cope with these fears as older children do.
2. Gifted children may find that their physical skills are not sufficiently developed to carry out the complex projects they imagined.
3. Gifted children may be vulnerable to perfectionism and indecisive tendencies. Constant striving to live up to self-expectation or those of others can be very stressful.
4. Many gifted students discover that they must work harder to earn top grades as they pass into high school and post-secondary schooling. This will present as a greater challenge if they have not yet been required to develop productive study habits.
5. Boring and monotonous work is thought to be stressful for individuals who prefer conceptualization and reasoning activities.

How Can Parents and Teachers Reduce Stress on Gifted Students?

1. Gifted children will benefit from discussions surrounding ways in which they are similar to others and ways in which they may differ. The idea is to help them accept their abilities and talents. This may be facilitated by watching movies about Gifted individuals (e.g., Little Man Tate, October Sky).
   
2. Parents would ideally analyze what perfectionist messages they may be sending to their child- one way to accomplish this goal it to use a tracking system. Tally the percentage of time the child is actually reinforced for good work habits and academic risk-taking as opposed to the final grade result.
   
3. Students who are able to find intellectual peers are less likely to feel pressure to conform.
4. Early presentation of career information and active exploration is suggested.
5. Stress management techniques may be pursued further through a psychologist.

There are certain assumptions that are not effective in dealing with Gifted individuals. These include:

• That the student should do more of the same (e.g., complete ten math sheets as opposed to two that the rest of the class is expected to complete). That the student should remain enthusiastic even though the content has already been mastered
• That the student should behave all the time and excel in every area
• That rude, uncooperative, and offending behaviour should be permitted because it highlights their reasoning and negotiating skills. Highlighting empathy, teamwork, and tolerance for individual differences is encouraged