According to standardized testing around the world, the Stanford Binet or Kogan Wallach intelligence tests are the means by which one can distinguish between gifted and regular children. (Dunn, 1963) A child must receive a total of 140 to be recognized as a “gifted child.” A child who receives 180 is considered exceptionally “gifted.” However, this definition ignores important characteristics that also identify as child as gifted regardless of his/her intelligence test score. A gifted child can also be one who possesses one or more of the following traits: a high intellectual understanding and knowledge, high general intellectual ability and reasoning in a specific academic area, high general creativity in a specific nonacademic area. (Milgram 1987) This definition also includes gifted children who are mentally and physically handicapped.
The definition of who is a gifted child also has several other connotations. First of all, the gifted child is a child, much like other children, but with peculiar qualities or characteristics which make him or her a special educational problem. (Freehill 7) A further connotation is: “The gifted child is that student whose potential intellectual powers are at such a high ideational level in both productive and evaluative thinking that it can be reasonably assumed he or she could be the future problem solvers, innovators, and evaluators of the culture if adequate education experiences are provided” (Dunn 184).
There are many gifted children who sit in a classroom bored and unrecognized. Not every gifted child can enter a gifted program due to high costs. in order to address the gifted child’s needs within the classroom, changes in teaching procedures must be made from routine methods to challenging and creative methods. For example, it is more effective to assign activities in which the “content demands understanding beyond their experience” (Whitty 263). Care must also be taken so that repetition does not deteriorate into routine assignments requiring little effort and prevent gifted children as well as regular children from developing.
The following question should be asked when assigning tasks to gifted pupils: Are the activities designed to develop the power of the gifted or are they wasteful of time and energy. (Whitty 263) One way of teaching gifted children in the classroom is through special “contracts” where pupils can fulfill tasks at their own rate for a certain periods. They meet for group participation when a certain amount has been ‘covered.” Such a plan is regarded as effective in developing good study habits. There are various types of contracts, confined chiefly to the skills and subjects such as Arithmetic, Spelling and Composition but often include History, Geography, and Social Studies.
Another type of teaching method is through topics which include a wide variety of activities such as trips to various places, research and study in the library, experiments in science, painting and drawing, dancing and singing which are all centered around a theme. These topics are not only effective for the learning development of gifted children but should be implemented for all children.
New and seasoned teachers should be sensitive to the potentials and capabilities of the pupils in the classroom. It is also important to nurture a child’s giftedness at a young age through interesting and creative projects in conjunction with special learning projects. If this is done properly and consistently, a young child’s energies will be stimulated both intellectually and creatively.
Works Cited
Dunn, L. Exceptional Children in the Schools. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
Freehill, M. Gifted Children: Their Psychology and Education. New York: Macmillan Company, 1961.
Milgram, R. “Counseling Gifted Children and Adolescents in Israel,” Psychology and Counseling in Education, 121-133: 1987.
Whitty, P. The Gifted Child. Boston: D.C. Heath and Co., 1951.
