Gifted And Talented Children: Understanding Their Characteristics And Classroom Issues

Cognitive Characteristics of Gifted Children

Question:

Write an essay about the Growing Gifted Minds.
 

There is the significant difference between the gifted student and their peers as has been stated by Lymbery, J. Talented (Lymbery, 2009) and gifted are no those simply who have intelligence that is high (McLoughlin & Oliver, 1998).  The talent and giftedness concept which belongs to a certain group of people would be shaped by its values, beliefs, customs and attitudes. It from culture to culture that this concept and also over time there has been a lot of variation to this concept. Giftedness is viewed these as having multiple intelligence in the individuals. There two types of definitions of “conservative definitions” which is based generally only on one criterion and more often than not that criterion are intelligence and “liberal definitions” these are based on a wider range of criteria.

There are certain characteristics that are exhibited by children who are gifted, and these can be understood better by understanding the characteristics that generally children who are gifted are likely to exhibit. It is most commonly in the general behavior of an individual in an educational setting that characteristics in the affective and cognitive domain appear commonly. The below mentioned “Table-I” throws light on the gifted students’ general characteristics that are cognitive in nature. It is more often than not noticed that individuals who are gifted posses an immense desire of wanting to know of things that interest them. The ability of these students for thinking at levels that are abstract earlier than their peers who are of the same age and forming their own mannerism of thinking about various ideas and problems are an indication that students who are gifted intellectually need choice and content in activities related to learning that is much advanced than those given to their peers (Westberg & Daoust, 2003). The high energy levels of these gifted students and their ability to be able to extend the projects range signify that studying independently is the option that is available to these gifted students to ensure that instructions that are differentiated are being given to them. This is one of the reasons why there are various parents who opt for homeschooling there gifted children. However, one of the consequences of this method is that it could lead to the isolation of the child from its peers (Jolly, Matthews, & Nester, 2012). 

There are various Cognitive Characteristics in an educational environment of a gifted students(Clark, 2002). First of all they are able to retain and process information in larger amounts. They also have advance level comprehension of the materials, advance level comprehension of the materials and levels that are extremely high of the development of language and ability that is verbal. They also possess a thought processes that is flexible and accelerated. Further they have the ability that is early in delaying project closures, observations of relations among objects or disciplines that are unusual and skilled in the generation of ideas that are original and solving of problems. They are very goal-oriented, intense and persistent interest in topics that interest; their own way of thinking is formed by them when it comes to ideas and problems and as compared to their peers that learn things much earlier. They also have the need of individuality and freedom when it comes to learning, great desire of seeking and learning their own interests and at an age that is much earlier than their peers they are abstract thinkers. These gifted students prefer challenging and complex work and are able to apply and transfer of knowledge to situations that are new. They may prefer working alone rather than in a group. They also may start reading much early and have attention spans that are longer and energy levels that are high may be possessed.

Affective Characteristics of Gifted Children

Giftedness leads to there being preferences and behaviors that are varied. In an educational environment, the awareness of the emotional and social characteristics of individuals who are gifted can aid in understanding their behavior that is observed in them. There, for example, may be peer rejection as a child with giftedness has the urge at all times to share his knowledge and maybe considered by others due to this attempt as a show-off. There can be feelings of hopelessness, perfectionism, dissatisfaction at a personal level due to the high expectations that gifted students’ place upon others and upon themselves (Clark, 2002).

The gifted students have various affective characteristics in an educational environment (Clark, 2002) first of them being that there is a significant amount of information that they possess with respect to emotions. There may be an unusual sensitivity that is possessed by them towards the feelings of others. There is also subtle or keen sense of humor which is possessed by them and there is heightened self-awareness sense which is possessed by them. At an early age, there is a sense of justice and idealism that is possessed by them and also there is an early development of inner controls. There are also unusual intensity and depth which is possessed by them and have high expectations from others and self are exhibited by them. Further there is a strong requirement for consistency in others and themselves which is displayed by them and moral judgments at the advance level are possessed by them. 

Due to these characteristics that are possessed by individuals who are gifted in an educational environment, awareness needs to be kept of, the manners in which there is the manifestation of these attributes in an educational environment which is observable. These types behaviors can be troubling in an educational environment. However, awareness with respect to the cause which is at the root of such behavior will aid in meeting the needs of these students who are gifted and build a relationship in the educational environment which is positive. It is not realistic in an educational environment to expect that a heterogeneous group of students would be learning in the same manner and that they should be held accountable to same higher standards.

There are various classroom issues that may be faced with respect to students who are gifted such as: (Winebrenner & Espeland, 2001)

• Work may be unfinished due to the reason that the interests are varied, and the student is unable to narrow it down to a particular topic. The students feelings may also be revealed through work habits that are poor since they might already know about a particular topic and would not feel the need for practicing the same.
• A gifted students class work that is poor is often a symbol of disinterest in the subject that is of concern. The appropriateness of the activities in an educational environment may be questioned by students who are gifted, but there will be work that is done well and diligently in those subjects which are of interest to them.
• There may be a chance that gifted students fall into the trap of perfectionism or fear of failing due to their sensitivity towards the perceptions and attitude of what others.

Identification Process is the development of a method for the identification of students who are talented and gifted, for which there are various essential issues which would require to be considered (Johnsen, 2008). The first issue is that there will be an exhibition of talent by the gifted in not only in a domain but only within a given area of their interest. An example of this could be a fourth grader who performed in the same manner that his peers in the science classroom activities however when it came to the understanding of the black holes and the shapes in the universe it emerged as being much beyond the grade level of his peers and it was only during the opportunity of an individual study that took place. It is not a single score that will determine the manner in which the gift of a child might be developed who have opportunities that are limited to enrichment activities that are out of school (Johnsen, Robins, Witte, & Feurbacher, 2003).  

It has been noted that many of the gifted students having a problem of learning disability that the cause for the same should be identified. If there is no diagnoses with those who a unmotivated due to various reasons or those with normal cognitive development variant can be an issue. It is important to have differential diagnosis so that decisions regarding intervention can be made that is appropriate for such student. There is an exhibition of gifts and talents by students who are with disabilities or who come from different cultural, economic and ethnic background. There is estimation that these classes of people are underrepresented in education programs for gifted students. This underrepresentation of students is an issue that arises due to under-identification of these students (Dai, 2013). For improving the identification of the gifted students in the special population, there is the need for the professionals to examine definitions that are state and local so that consideration can be made towards a range of characteristics that is wider. Training also needs to be given to the teachers to ensure that they can observe the characteristics that are manifested in ways that are varied for cultures that are different for students with disability and various cultural groups (Dai, 2013).

Thus it can be concluded that the early identification of characteristics both cognitive and affective along with these features that are local and state oriented would lead to the identification of students from various strata who are gifted and aid in the development of the gifts of these gifted individuals into talents. It is important particularly in children who are from backgrounds that are disadvantaged economically that these students are recognized. When these students are identified and provided by learning activities that are challenging it would lead to the nurturing of these children, and they will be able to perform at a level that is much higher.  

References

Clark, B. (2002). Growing up gifted: Developing the potential of children at home and at school (6th ed.). NJ: Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River.

Dai, D. (2013). Excellence at the Cost of Social Justice? Negotiating and Balancing Priorities in Gifted Education. Roeper Review, 35(2),

Johnsen, S. (2008). Identifying the Gifted and Talented Learners. In F.A. Karnes and Sr. Stephen (Eds.), Achieving excellence: Educating the gifted and the talented (pp. 135-153). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Johnsen, S., Robins, J., Witte, M., & Feurbacher, S. (2003). Developing Social and academic characteristics among gifted students labeled at-risk. Presentation, International Conference for Exceptional Students, Seattle, WA.