Post by Danielle on Feb 20, 2016 16:51:53 GMT
Article by Audrey D. Brashich on Yahoo - Feb. 16, 2016
At the age of four, Jennifer Chutter’s son, Ben, taught himself to read. “I thought he was just looking at books,” recalls Chutter, 41, of Burnaby, B.C. “But then I realized he had actually figured out the sounds and letters, and was reading them.”
To stimulate his intellect, Chutter enrolled him in a Montessori pre-school. Yet despite the self-driven pacing, Ben found it too slow. French immersion kindergarten also proved not challenging enough—so mid year, he was bumped up to Grade 1. By the middle of Grade 2, the school psychologist at Ben’s public school tested him and he was labeled ‘gifted.’
“The label helps explain his insatiable curiosity and how he can get very laser-focused on a topic,” Chutter tells Yahoo Canada. But there are drawbacks, too. Chutter’s local schools don’t offer any significant gifted programming, which means that despite being in Honours Classes, Ben often works ahead of his classmates and is bored in school. The result: some teachers assume he isn’t engaged in his work or doesn’t have a good work ethic. Worse still, Ben has had a hard time finding a close peer group. “He’s pretty socially isolated at times,” explains Chutter, who also notes that Ben, now age 12.5, has already struggled with anxiety and depression.
According to US-based National Association for Gifted Children, academically gifted and talented students make up approximately six to ten percent of the student population. But across North America, definitions of gifted vary greatly as do the opportunities available to these high potential learners, which raises important questions about what ‘gifted’ actually means—and whether or not the label is a curse or blessing.
For most of the 20th century, ‘gifted’ simply meant an IQ of 130 or higher, which usually translated into the ability to score well on standardized tests and to easily memorize or recall large amounts of information. In recent years, however, the definition has expanded to include above average aptitude in areas including problem solving and communication skills. According to BC’s Ministry of Education, giftedness “includes a wide range of attributes from the traditional intellectual measures to interpersonal abilities.”
“Skills that make up a student’s EQ (Emotional Quotient) and CQ (Consciousness Quotient)—including communication, adaptability and critical thinking—are central to definitions of gifted and talented today, which is great progress,” explains Shimi Kang, MD, the Vancouver-based author of The Dolphin Parent: A Guide to Raising Healthy, Happy, and Self-Motivated Kids. “They are predictors of higher future academic success—and they’re aptitudes that top employers are now seeking in employees.”
Without question, there can be advantages to being labeled gifted. In most school districts, it’s the key to accessing specialized tracks or programs (Multi-Age Cluster Classes [MACCs] or Individual Education Plans [IEPs]) that offer more challenging academic work in addition to social and emotional support.
For Sarah Rosensweet, a mother of three in Toronto, the best part of having her oldest son test as gifted was the options and choices that accompany the label. “We knew that if we didn’t get a spot at our school of our choice—an alternative educational environment that we really felt was best for our son—that he’d still have a place at a school that was a very good fit and that could accommodate him,” Rosensweet tells Yahoo Canada. Also, Rosensweet found the label helped teachers better understand and connect with her son. “It was an important piece of information about our son that helped them figure out how to interact with him.”
This label, like other labels, has both pros and cons. Make no mistake, children who are gifted need IEP's, just as other special needs students also need them. They are on the other end of the needs spectrum and require individual programming in order to stay engaged. Gifted children exhibit many behaviours that get them into trouble, get them labelled as lazy, or as trouble-makers. They are not, they are just bored and need increased stimulation - not just extra work. Extra work comes across as some sort of punishment and de-motivates them.
At the age of four, Jennifer Chutter’s son, Ben, taught himself to read. “I thought he was just looking at books,” recalls Chutter, 41, of Burnaby, B.C. “But then I realized he had actually figured out the sounds and letters, and was reading them.”
To stimulate his intellect, Chutter enrolled him in a Montessori pre-school. Yet despite the self-driven pacing, Ben found it too slow. French immersion kindergarten also proved not challenging enough—so mid year, he was bumped up to Grade 1. By the middle of Grade 2, the school psychologist at Ben’s public school tested him and he was labeled ‘gifted.’
“The label helps explain his insatiable curiosity and how he can get very laser-focused on a topic,” Chutter tells Yahoo Canada. But there are drawbacks, too. Chutter’s local schools don’t offer any significant gifted programming, which means that despite being in Honours Classes, Ben often works ahead of his classmates and is bored in school. The result: some teachers assume he isn’t engaged in his work or doesn’t have a good work ethic. Worse still, Ben has had a hard time finding a close peer group. “He’s pretty socially isolated at times,” explains Chutter, who also notes that Ben, now age 12.5, has already struggled with anxiety and depression.
According to US-based National Association for Gifted Children, academically gifted and talented students make up approximately six to ten percent of the student population. But across North America, definitions of gifted vary greatly as do the opportunities available to these high potential learners, which raises important questions about what ‘gifted’ actually means—and whether or not the label is a curse or blessing.
For most of the 20th century, ‘gifted’ simply meant an IQ of 130 or higher, which usually translated into the ability to score well on standardized tests and to easily memorize or recall large amounts of information. In recent years, however, the definition has expanded to include above average aptitude in areas including problem solving and communication skills. According to BC’s Ministry of Education, giftedness “includes a wide range of attributes from the traditional intellectual measures to interpersonal abilities.”
“Skills that make up a student’s EQ (Emotional Quotient) and CQ (Consciousness Quotient)—including communication, adaptability and critical thinking—are central to definitions of gifted and talented today, which is great progress,” explains Shimi Kang, MD, the Vancouver-based author of The Dolphin Parent: A Guide to Raising Healthy, Happy, and Self-Motivated Kids. “They are predictors of higher future academic success—and they’re aptitudes that top employers are now seeking in employees.”
Without question, there can be advantages to being labeled gifted. In most school districts, it’s the key to accessing specialized tracks or programs (Multi-Age Cluster Classes [MACCs] or Individual Education Plans [IEPs]) that offer more challenging academic work in addition to social and emotional support.
For Sarah Rosensweet, a mother of three in Toronto, the best part of having her oldest son test as gifted was the options and choices that accompany the label. “We knew that if we didn’t get a spot at our school of our choice—an alternative educational environment that we really felt was best for our son—that he’d still have a place at a school that was a very good fit and that could accommodate him,” Rosensweet tells Yahoo Canada. Also, Rosensweet found the label helped teachers better understand and connect with her son. “It was an important piece of information about our son that helped them figure out how to interact with him.”
This label, like other labels, has both pros and cons. Make no mistake, children who are gifted need IEP's, just as other special needs students also need them. They are on the other end of the needs spectrum and require individual programming in order to stay engaged. Gifted children exhibit many behaviours that get them into trouble, get them labelled as lazy, or as trouble-makers. They are not, they are just bored and need increased stimulation - not just extra work. Extra work comes across as some sort of punishment and de-motivates them.