Channeling Students Into a Gifted Program

AED222

Incorporating children into a gifted and talented program should start early on when the children are young. Gifted children should have access to materials that can grow their minds at an accelerated pace. This accelerated pace should be reflected in a specialized syllabus designed specifically for the gifted child. Their activities should be more sophisticated and they should be exposed to a variety of schools of thought. This will keep their hungry minds fed and will prevent their attention from wandering elsewhere.

This accomplishments of the gifted students need to be recorded. Some of these accomplishments will be rare. I know on child in particular who is only one and a half. While at daycare this child successfully engages in activities with three year old children. Such documentation of these rare events is known as anecdotal.

We asked the director of this daycare center to place this one and a half year old child in a classroom with older children. In this situation the child would have a larger and more difficult activity list. At the same time the child would be with more advanced children. This would then keep the gifted child moving forward in achievement. If that is the case, boredom is not possible.

The director obliged, the child was given more advanced activities to work with. Already at one year old the child could count and say all of his colors. The child’s verbal skills were also extraordinary. How many one year olds talk in full sentences to the teachers and other children? One of the advance activities is real world experiences. Normal one year olds could not fathom this kind of activity. One problem that must not be overlooked is the fact that the gifted child may be completely normal in other ways. For example, this child may talk at a five year old level, but still have the emotional maturity of a one year old. This must be accounted for in the teaching.

References

Rosenberg, M.S., Westling, D.L., & McLeskey, J....