understanding and supporting your gifted child
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Understanding and supporting your gifted child. Leonie Nicholls Monday 17 March 2014. Topics in tonight’s presentation. Definitions of gifted and talented Characteristics of gifted learners Overexcitabilities Introverts and extraverts Perfectionism Underachievement - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Understanding and supporting your gifted childLeonie Nicholls
Monday 17 March 2014
Topics in tonight’s presentation Definitions of gifted and talented Characteristics of gifted learners Overexcitabilities Introverts and extraverts Perfectionism Underachievement Influence of parents on student
achievement
Giftedness and talent: What do they mean?
Question:
Aren’t all students gifted?
Giftedness and talent: What do they mean? Everyone has a personal strength and
also a personal weakness. We don’t confuse personal weaknesses
with disabilities. Equally, we shouldn't confuse personal
strengths with gifts.
Giftedness and talent: What do they mean?
Identifying a student as gifted doesn’t mean they are of greater worth than other students, just as identifying a student as developmentally disabled or physically disabled doesn’t mean they are of less worth.
The Gagné Model of Giftednessand Talent
Until mid-1980s, definitions of giftedness and talent used in Australia tended to be performance based.
Children identified as gifted were usually the successful, motivated students who were already achieving.
What about the children who had not been able to translate their high abilities into achievements?
The Gagné Model of Giftednessand Talent Françoys Gagné’s model recognises and
avoids this problem.
‘Giftedness’ and ‘talent’ are not synonymous.
They are two different stages in a highly able student’s journey from high potential to high performance.
The Gagné Model of Giftednessand TalentGagné’s definition of giftedness:
The possession of natural abilities or aptitudes at levels significantly beyond what might be expected for one’s age, in any domain of human ability.
The Gagné Model of Giftednessand Talent
Giftedness = high ability
Talent = high achievement
How does giftedness become talent?
Intrapersonal catalysts: Motivation and perseveranceConfidence in their abilitiesOrganisationConcentration
How does giftedness becometalent?Environmental catalysts:Milieu (surroundings) Significant personsSchool provisionsSignificant family/community
events
Some cognitive characteristics of intellectually gifted adolescents Ability to ask reflective and probing,
sometimes provocative, questions.
The capacity to see and create patterns and relationships in their field of special ability.
Can become deeply absorbed in work they find interesting.
Some cognitive characteristics of intellectually gifted adolescents Unusually fast rate of learning.
Reasons at a level more usually found in a student some years older.
Extremely well developed memory.
Some cognitive characteristics of intellectually gifted adolescents Dislike of slow-paced work.
Many gifted students have a preference for independent work.
It is unusual for a gifted student to have only one area of high ability.
Some affective characteristics of intellectually gifted adolescents Emotional intensity
Unusual ability to empathise with the feelings of other students or adults.
An unusually well developed sense of justice and fairness.
Some affective characteristics of intellectually gifted adolescents An unusually mature sense of humour.
Often prefer the companionship of older students.
May develop a strong attachment to one or two close friends.
Some affective characteristics of intellectually gifted adolescents Students with multiple talents have difficulty
deciding on a career.
Some gifted students can exhibit perfectionist tendencies.
For some gifted students the need to develop their gifts and feel pride in academic achievement may clash with their need to be accepted by classmates.
Social comparisons Some gifted students learn, surprisingly
early in their school careers, that to display abilities and opinions that are different than those of the majority of their classmates can lead to mockery and even ostracism.
Some students may have been ‘dumbing down’ their abilities for years before coming to high school.
Perseverance When students are presented only
with work which they can do effortlessly, they may never develop skills of time management, persistence or striving for success.
Some students may associate speed with quality.
The forced-choice dilemmaAcademically gifted students may be faced with a ‘forced choice dilemma’ if their desire to excel in their area of talent conflicts with their need to be accepted by the peer culture.
Can gifted adolescents be ‘over-excitable’? Tendency towards physical restlessness Often misinterpreted as a sign of
emotional immaturity
Overexcitability has positive connotations such as an insatiable love of learning, the capacity to care intensely for people and ideas, boundless energy, and a vivid imagination.
The five ‘overexcitabilities’ IntellectualEmotional ImaginationalSensualPsychomotor
Intellectual overexcitabilityA passionate love of learning
An enhanced capacity for analytical thinking
Meta-analysis (enjoys thinking about thinking)
Intellectual overexcitabilitySustained intellectual effort /
much longer attention span
Intense curiosity
Unwillingness to be satisfied with simplistic or incomplete answers
Emotional overexcitabilityUnusual sensitivity to the feelings of
other students
May develop a strong attachment to other people
May not easily forgive themselves if they have hurt someone’s feelings
Emotional overexcitabilityCan be extremely self critical
May become fond of places, as well as people
Imaginational overexcitability Explain events or ideas in such great
detail that adults beg them to get to the point
Often have a need to describe subtle nuances of a situation or interaction
Often visualise situations very vividly
Imaginational overexcitabilityMay demonstrate a capacity to
mix truth with fantasy for effect
May prefer to act out stories rather than simply telling them.
Sensual overexcitability Unusual sensitivity to particular pieces
of music or poetry
May enjoy the feel of particular materials
May develop a liking for a particular object
Some develop a strong dislike of the texture of particular foods even if they like the taste
Psychomotor excitability Surplus energy may show itself in
compulsive talking and chattering
May develop nervous habits
May show a love of fast games and sports
Psychomotor excitability May seem almost unable to stay in their seat
May have unusually rapid speech and exaggerated vocal expression
Some may be seem to be workaholics or compulsive organisers
Not to be confused with ADD or ADHD
Experiencing ‘flow’ When a student who deeply loves what
they are doing and is engaged in an activity where the level of challenge matches their level of ability, the experience can be totally absorbing and fulfilling.
Csikszentmihalyi describes this feeling as being ‘in flow’
Experiencing ‘flow’We can let ‘flow’ happen for our
gifted students by presenting them with appropriate levels of challenge.
Flow comes from optimal engagement with a task. It doesn’t come from doing, yet again, what one has been able to do for weeks, or months, or years.
Introverts and Extraverts Introverts gain energy from within
themselves; they tend to be reflective people who are ‘oriented towards the subjective world of thoughts and concepts’ (Silverman).
Extraverts are more directed towards the world outside themselves and gain energy from other people or events.
Introverts and Extraverts Introverts constitute a minority group in
western societies (approximately 25% of the population).
Studies of gifted adolescents and adults have found a much higher proportion of introverts.
Gallagher (1990) studied more than 1,700 adolescents in programs for the gifted and found that 50% were introverted.
Responding to the needs of introverts Give ‘wait time’
Don’t interrupt them
Don’t embarrass them in public
Reprimand them privately rather than publicly
Responding to the needs of introverts Let them observe in new situations
Develop an ‘early warning’ system
Don’t push them to make lots of friends
Don’t try to make them into extraverts
Perfectionism The gifted adolescent’s intellectual and
emotional characteristics are intertwined and closely influence each other.
The personality trait of perfectionism is also influenced by factors in the young person’s environment and that this will influence whether the perfectionism is manifested in healthy or dysfunctional ways.
Strategies to help perfectionists
Talk to your adolescent about what perfectionism means to them - and to you.
Is perfectionism a personality trait that you can recognise in yourself as well as in your child? Help to model appropriate responses.
Point out positive but imperfect role models in the media
Strategies to help perfectionists
Learn to set priorities in your own life and help your child to do likewise.
Help him or her to accept that making mistakes is a learning experience. Model your own acceptance of your mistakes.
Teach the concept of ‘constructive failure’ Help your adolescent to set high but realistic
standards for himself/herself but not to expect other students to conform to these same standards.
Strategies to help perfectionists Help them to understand that time, effort and
not giving up will help them attain the standards they are setting – if these standards are indeed realistic.
Work with your gifted adolescent to improve his or her self-evaluation skills.
Avoid comparing your gifted adolescent to siblings or peers.
Strategies to help perfectionists
Support, nurture and encourage your adolescent in activities in areas of interest or passion which bring them enjoyment.
Teach your adolescent that health is important. Don’t let study interfere with eating and sleeping.
Seek professional counselling if your gifted adolescent becomes so fearful of failure or rejection that s/he becomes unable to act or make decisions.
Underachievement Underachievement is widely recognised
as a substantial discrepancy between potential and performance
Gagné’s model clearly conceptualises underachievement
Important factors that inhibit the development of gifts Low academic self efficacy
Forced choice dilemma
Double-labelled students
Perfectionism
Important factors that inhibit the development of gifts Boredom
Dominant visual-spatial learners
Metacognition and cognitive inefficiency
Teacher expectationsResearch strongly supports the view that high teacher expectations can positively influence student academic achievement (especially for underachieving students)
Conversely, if a teacher holds low expectations for students, then the negative impact may be substantial.
Profiles of gifted and talented students Created by Betts and Neihart
Are useful for understanding gifted underachievers
Type 1: Successful Well behaved, conformist, seeks
approval from teachers and adults Neat, tidy, may be perfectionist Seeks order and structure Does not take risks Achieves, but at levels significantly
below their true ability
Type 2: Challenging Can be obstinate, tactless, sarcastic Questions and challenges authority Can be rude, arrogant Unpopular with peers but sometimes
buys acceptance as class clown Does not ‘suffer fools gladly’
Type 1 and Type 2 Type 2 students may be bored, angry
and resentful that their abilities are not recognised and may ‘take it out’ on their teachers and other students.
Unfortunately this decreases the likelihood of them being identified as gifted by teachers who associate giftedness with Type 1 behaviours
Type 3: Underground Conceals ability for peer acceptance
Strong belonging needs
May be insecure and anxious
May feel guilty for denying their gifts
Type 4: Dropouts May be physically present in the
classroom but intellectually/emotionally divorced from what is going on in it
Can be depressed and withdrawn or angry and defensive
Type 4: Dropouts Interests may lie outside curriculum and
are not valued by teachers or classmates
Extremely low self-esteem; low performance
Type 5: Double labelled (twice exceptional)Gifted students who are physically
or emotionally disabled or with specific learning disabilities
May display disruptive behaviours through frustration
Type 5: Double labelled (twice exceptional)May be confused about their
ability to perform
Very frustrated when teachers ignore their gifts and focus only on their disabilities
Type 6: Autonomous learnersThey use the system to succeed
They are confident enough to express their needs but do so in ways that teachers and peers will accept
Type 6: Autonomous Independent and self-directed
They don’t wait for others to do things for them
They are liked and respected by teachers and peers
Type 6: Autonomous
All gifted students should be assisted to become autonomous learners
Influence of parents Studies of young people who grew up to be highly successful in their careers have found that the messages transmitted by their parents had a lot in common. Their parents:
placed strong emphasis on trying to do one’s best, working hard and spending one’s time constructively.
emphasised the importance of study, learning and school.
Influence of parents taught respect for individuality and
tolerance for the points of view of others.
recognised a balance of work and play. provided a balance of support and
challenge. provided predictable and consistent
expectations for conduct.
