CARING FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED KIDS•The key to raising gifted children is respect: respect for their uniqueness, respect for their opinions and ideas, respect for their dreams. •Gifted

CARING FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED KIDS

BY MRS.HIBA JAZZAR

FRUSTRATION AND WORRY

As a mom of two gifted boys, life is not easy. My days were filled with frustration , worry, anxiety, comparison and a

lot of questioning? Why aren’t my kids normal? Why aren’t they mainstream kids? Why do they ask a lot of questions?

Why do they notice details that almost any other kid does not see? Why would they prefer to go to a flower shop

instead of a toy shop?........

Thus I started reading, researching and going to workshops.

Today I will be sharing with you few tips that will help all care givers care better for gifted and talented kids.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

• LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PRINCIPALS, ADMINISTRATORS, EDUCATORS, STAFF, PARENTS AND

CARE GIVERS …..

• WE ARE TALKING TODAY ABOUT KIDS TEENAGERS, GIFTED AND TALENTED INDIVIDUALS AND

HOW TO CARE FOR THEM. THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO START MY PRESENTATION THAN A

FUN MEANINGFUL SONG HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=DSXTIMDVMIG

UNDERSTAND UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT

• “Adel needs socialization; he’s already so far academically, he doesn’t need anything in that area”.

• There are two major problems with this rationale:

-First, educators are essentially telling students that there is no need for them to learn anything in school.

-The second problem is revealed by examining the so-called socialization experienced by a brilliant 5-

year-old like Adel in a kindergarten class of 25 to 30 students. A major component of early socialization

involves a child’s feeling that she or he is accepted by others- teachers and children alike. If the teacher

does not validate a gifted child’s advanced abilities and intellectual interests by making them part of the

ongoing curriculum, the child experiences no feelings of acceptance from the teacher. If, as is highly likely,

this child makes the additional discovery that she or he is quite different from most classmates and that

communication is extremely difficult because of differences in vocabulary and modes of expression, then

the child misses peer acceptance as well.

• It is important to remember that these children like any other children very often do not develop evenly.

In fact, young gifted children frequently show peaks of extraordinary performance rather than equally

high skill levels in all cognitive areas. A child who learns to read at age 3 may not be the child with the

highest IQ.

• Another area of unevenness in the development of gifted young children is found in the relationship

between advanced intellectual development and development of physical and social skills.

• It is not uncommon to find gifted young children experiencing a vast gap between intellectual skills and

their less advanced physical and emotional competencies.

• Often these uneven developmental levels can lead to extreme frustration, as children find that their

limited physical skills are not sufficiently developed to carry out the complex projects they imagined.

These children may throw tantrums or even give up on projects without trying. Adult guidance in

developing coping strategies can help such children set more realistic goals for themselves and learn

how to solve problems effectively when their original efforts do not meet their high expectations.

• Understanding the unique developmental patterns often present in gifted young children can help both

parents and teachers adjust their expectations of academic performance to a more reasonable level.

SOCIAL LIFE: HOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

• Adults care givers parents and teachers take a deep breath no need to panic.

• Age mates/peers someone that shares your passion, your humor and your drive.

• Gifted children often prefer the company of adults or other children. The reason is obvious: they don’t

need to explain who they are or how they know what they know. They are simply understood and

accepted.

• Never forget that they are children first and gifted second.

• Putting the gifted child on display for other adults.

• Putting the gifted child on display in front of other kids.

• Expecting gifted children to be natural leaders.

• Loneliness and being alone, a fine-line distinction

• Being lonely hurts, and it is a state often accompanied by sadness, resignation, or lethargy. Being

alone means that you value your mind enough that you would like it to accompany you

occasionally on an otherwise solo mission into better understanding yourself and the world.

ACADEMICAL ACHIEVEMENT

• No gifted child is good at everything. Expect A’s B’s and C’s on the report card.

• Indeed, in more than not, the reason underachievement exists in some of our gifted children is

because we teach them to underachieve by asking a little more than blind devotion to a curriculum

that is either too easy or, yes irrelevant.

• Eliminate or reduce significantly any work already mastered.

• Allow independent projects on topics of personal choice.

• Place your child with teachers who understand and appreciate gifted kids’ intelligence, humor, and

sarcasm.

• Incorporate problem-solving techniques instead of rote drill to learn or practice needed skills.

• Whenever possible, combine the typical school subjects of math, science, language arts, etc. So

that students see the “big picture”.

• What should you do? Persevere, persevere, and persevere.

• Fulfilment through philosophy for children.

• Today parenting is as it has always been-a learn-as-you-go exploration…there are no definitive

responses and no guaranteed solutions that will work for every mom and dad.

STOP PAYING INTEREST ON A BILL YOU NEVER OWED

• …By asking gifted children to quiet down their brains, emotions and imaginations, and to see

things in more typical ways, we are telling them that the interest is due on their childhood notions

and they must “pay up” by relinquishing these views in an effort to fit in with everyday notions of

reality. In truth, though, they owe no bill at all. They are just being themselves.

• Let’s examine the five OE “overexcitability” in greater detail, with an eye toward helping our

gifted children better understand and appreciate them, in themselves and others.

• Psychomotor overexcitability is often characterized as a surplus of physical energy that can be

seen in a variety of ways:rapid speech, intense physical activity, and impulsive actions or nervous

habits.

• Sensual overexcitability is often characterized as a surplus of sensual awareness. Children who are

sensually overexcitable might be criticized as being too dramatic, too sensitive, too everything!

• Intellectual over excitability is characterized by having a mindfield of exploding thoughts.

• Imaginational is when the imagination, creativity, manufacturing parallel universe and inventing

friends who live in them is so vivid and intense.

• Emotional is characterized by intense positivity and negativity, an awareness of the emotions of

others.

• CONCLUSION :

• The key to raising gifted children is respect: respect for their uniqueness, respect for their opinions

and ideas, respect for their dreams.

• Gifted children need parents who are responsive and flexible, who will go to bat for them when

they are too young to do so for themselves. It is painful for parents to watch their children feeling

out of sync with others, but it is unwise to emphasize too greatly the importance of fitting in.

• Children get enough of that message in the outside world at home, children need to know that their

uniqueness is cherished and that they are appreciated as persons just for being themselves.