Information For Parents
What it means to be gifted?
1. “Gifted and talented children” are those children who are identified as possessing outstanding abilities and who are capable of high performance. Gifted and talented children are children who require appropriate instruction and educational services commensurate with their abilities and needs beyond those provided by the regular school program.
2. Gifted and talented children include those children with demonstrated achievement or potential ability, or both, in any of the following areas or in combination:
A. General intellectual ability.
B. Creative thinking.
C. Leadership ability.
D. Visual and performing arts
(Iowa Code 257.44)
Gifted or Bright?
Bright
Knows the answers
Is interested
Is attentive
Has good ideas
Grasps the meaning
Completes assignments
Is receptive
Copies accurately
Enjoys school
Absorbs information
Good memorizer
Is alert
Is pleased with own learning
Works hard
Answers the questions
Top group
Listens with interest
Learns with ease
Understands ideas
Enjoys peers
Technician
Enjoys sequential presentation
Is alert
6-8 repetitions for mastery
(Belin-Blank Understand Me: Bright Children in Our Programs )
Gifted
Asks the questions
Is highly curious
Is mentally and physically involved
Has wild, silly ideas
Plays around, yet tests well
Discusses in detail, elaborates
Beyond the group
Shows strong feeling and opinions
Already knows
Inventor
Constructs abstractions
Prefers adults
Draws inferences
Initiates projects
Is intense
Creates a new design
Enjoys learning
Manipulates information
Good guesser
Thrives on complexity
Is keenly observant
Is highly self-critical
1-2 repetitions for mastery
What Can You Do To Help Your Child?
• Be attentive to your child’s comments and observations.
• Create an environment that promotes self-expression.
• Help him to develop skills and interests, for example, in plant science, animal care, electronics, carpentry, mechanics, law, design, and crafts.
• Encourage her to explore the beauty of diverse cultures—through language, poetry, story, song, dance, puppetry, cooking, and crafts.
• Promote exploration and discovery.
• Emphasize effort and progress rather than perfection.
• Show your child how errors can be opportunities to discover and learn.
• Model positive ways to address setbacks and solve problems.
• Instill ways to help your child understand and regulate emotional reactions.
• Promote a healthy lifestyle.
• Demonstrate how to serve your community.
Do's and dont's
Do…..
Provide a challenge for them at home
Allow your child to pursue their highest interest and abilities
'''Give compliments
Demonstrate how to prioritize
Remember they are just kids, have fun!
Let your child the information you have about IQ and relative ability level
Enjoy this wonderful time in your life
Don’t….
Forget your child is just a child
Choose their challenge for them
Over-schedule: Give them freedom to choose
Hold your child up as an example for their siblings, everyone is unique
Worry about your gifted child getting a “big head”.
(http://sengifted.org/dos-and-dont-for-raising-your-gifted-kids/)