Giftedness’ is generally associated with superior social and emotional characteristics. They are likely to be susceptible to social and emotional difficulties if they have extremely high IQs or if they are subjected to social pressures towards mediocrity. Recognition of giftedness is as important as identifying disabilities in learning and the sooner we get into this band wagon, the better it is for us.
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Author: Srijaya Char
Recognizing ‘giftedness’ in children is as important as identifying any learning disability. While the latter has gained some importance in modern times, the former seems elusive.
Children who are gifted, or at least have the potential for giftedness go through schooling almost totally unrecognized as nobody seems to single them out from the crowd. In the case of children, who belong to the socially and economically weaker section, giftedness’ most surely goes unrecognized.
Giftedness is something to be fostered and not eliminated. Unfortunately it does not get recognized very often because the trait seems to threaten others. A child that achieves far beyond the level of her/his intelligence may be subjected to peer-ridicule or social isolation in peer groups. Most of us feel some sort of moral obligation to help those who are at some disadvantage compared to the ‘gifted’ and though they also require attention to distinguish themselves they are left to fend for themselves as people surrounding them feel that they can cope with things by themselves.
WHO ARE THE GIFTED?
Gifted children are in some way superior to other children of the same age, in general intelligence, creativity, special talents and achievements in academics. They have higher IQ when measured by standardized test of IQ and Aptitude.
DEFINITIONS
Some definitions are more logical, more precise and more useful than others, but we are unable to pin point and say that they are more correct in some absolute sense. Even the terminologies used for giftedness are rather confusing. Words like precocious, genius, creative, talented etc refer to cognitive features.
Diversity of other definitions also comes into the picture like:
- Exceptional academic achievement
- Exceptional creativity
- Existence of special talents
- Superior achievement beyond peers in any valued line of activity
The problem with each of these speciation’s is that each may include some children who are not truly gifted but could be extremely hard working without much imagination or capacity to create anything new or of value.
IDENTIFYING THE GIFTED
According to Renzuli (1977) giftedness includes requirements that the child shows at least the potential for making remarkable and valued contributions to human kind. They need to have:
(1) High ability (including high intelligence).
(2) High creativity (the ability to formulate novel ideas and apply them to the solutions of the problem.
(3) High task commitment (a very high level of motivation and ability to see a project through its conclusion).
Looking at these definitions, at least 2% of school-going children can be considered gifted. Again this 2% belong to particular environment where they are privileged. It is a fact that brilliant parents are more likely to have gifted children than are parents of average intelligence.
ENVRONMENTAL FACTORS
There is also plenty of room for environmental factors. It is true that gifted children come from homes in which parents are above average in income and education than from less privileged homes. It is also true that some cultural and ethnic groups produce a higher than average number of gifted children.
Some years ago, in our country, cultural factors worked against the development of gifted girls. Girls belonging to certain communities were not provided with enough motivation to enter many academic streams that were traditionally dominated by men. Indian literature had tended to portray women as daughters, wives, mothers who were either dependent on men and were expected to sacrifice themselves to the interest of their families. It has now been forcefully brought into public attention and let us hope that such discrimination will not hinder girl children in pursuing their interests.
SUMMING UP
‘Giftedness’ is generally associated with superior social and emotional characteristics. They are likely to be susceptible to social and emotional difficulties if they have extremely high IQs or if they are subjected to social pressures towards mediocrity. Recognition of giftedness is as important as identifying disabilities in learning and the sooner we get into this band wagon, the better it is for us.
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