Many people are of the opinion that special education programs for gifted children are an unnecessary burden on tightly-budgeted and under-funded school systems, but this is actually far from the truth. The gifted are perhaps the most neglected group of special needs children in almost every school district. Because many people assume that the gifted do not need extra attention, gifted programs are often the first program to be cut when budgets are reduced, but I suggest that they be the last to go. These children have profound talents and are just as deserving of extra attention as children who are physically or mentally handicapped.
Gifted children experience many difficulties, including loneliness and ridicule. They suffer from lack of friends of their own age for many reasons, but mainly because they communicate on a completely different level than other children. They find it impossible to relate to children their own age but they are not yet adults, able to function on their own in society (Tolan 1). Gifted programs give them exposure to other children similar to themselves, and regardless if any friendships develop from being involved in one of these programs, they are made aware that they are not alone.
Perhaps we can recall the "smart kid" in our own class - the brain, the egghead, or the geek who was often ridiculed for getting good grades. Children like these often will try to make mistakes or get poor grades in an attempt to fit it with the rest of the children. But "fit in" is exactly what they cannot do. Gifted children are actually considered to be a deviant intelligence and it is practically impossible to find a gifted child who does not experience socialization problems (Campbell).
...
... middle of paper ...
... specialized attention and education as any disabled individual and can also become more productive citizens.
Works Cited
Campbell, Elizabeth S., PhD. E-mail Interview. June 16, 2003.
Feldman, David Henry. Nature's Gambit: Child Prodigies and the Development of Human
Potential. New York: Basic, 1986.
Kearney, Kathy. "Life in the Asynchronous Family." Home Educator's Family Times
Vol. 8 No. 3 May/June 2000.
Oettinger, Katherine. "Your Gifted Child" US Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Welfare
Division, Children's Bureau, Washington D.C. Publication no. 371-1958, reprinted 1964.
Radford, John. Child Prodigies and Exceptional Early Achievers. New York: Free Press, 1990.
Tolan, Stefanie. "Helping Your Highly Gifted Child." ERIC Digests, Reston, VA, 1990.
Winner, Elizabeth. Gifted Children: Myths and Realities. New York: Basic, 1996.
Gifted and talented programs are intrinsically valuable to many children’s education as they provide a system in which all students involved are engaged, challenged, and intellectually stimulated. In "How People Learn", Donovan, Bransford, and Pellegrino (1999) stress the importance of each student being given reasonable and appropriate goals based on his or her level of understanding and competency (p. 20). Gifted and talented programs help institutionalize the attempt to meet all student’s needs by providing uniquely appropriate challenges which aim to keep every student engaged, thus receiving the best chance at success. Although there are many valuable and important aspects of gifted education, there are also significant issues rooted in the base of America’s gifted and talented programs, one of which I will address throughout this paper. In my opinion, the most notable problem which troubles gifted and talented programs is the system by which students are selected to join their school’s gifted and talented program.
...ersons with disabilities to function as a productive member of society. Or what is thought to be a productive member, in that this person can be completely independent both in the home and in the workplace.
Donovan, M. Suzanne and Christopher T. Cross (2002, August). Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/lib/drexel/-docDetail.action?docID=10032383.
Whitney, C. S. & Hirsch, G. (2011). Helping Gifted Children Soar. A Practical Guide for
The Gifted program exists to provide more academic opportunities for those who qualify as “gifted.” “’Gifted means performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields due to intellectual ability, when compared to others of similar age, experience, and environment’” (Quoted in “Gifted”). In order to make it into the program the student must show higher intellectual ability than the average student at his or her age, but what determines that factor? The student must take a multidimensional test and score in the 98th percentile. However, the most weighted part of the test remains an average IQ test. Intelligence test scores should not be the primary qualification for admittance into the gifted program. They should not remain the primary qualification because it allows the minorities and the economically disadvantaged to be underrepresented, it proves insufficient when compared to other means of testing, and it fails to accurately reflect a student’s intelligence.
The people with disabilities are portrayed as hardworking. They have people surrounding them that are accepting and encourage them to do their best. The support helps them build up courage to overcome their disability. It can take years, but the effort will not be
Rogers, K. B. (1991). The relationship of grouping practices to the education of the gifted and talented learner. Retrieved April 14, 2004, from http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/rogers.html
There are three curriculum models that are used to effectively teach gifted and talented students. These models include the Integrated Curriculum Model, the William and Mary Center for Gifted Education Research Model, and the Parallel Model.
Children who are profoundly academically gifted experience social and emotional difficulties at twice the rate of nongifted children (Winner, 2000). In fact, neurobiology seems to concur since highly gifted brains appear more at risk for medical and psychological disorders (Mrazik & Dombrowski, 2010). Gifted children have trouble finding like-minded peers and may feel like they have to hide their abilities in order to seem relatable to other children and avoid isolation. Girls are more likely to disguise abilities and in return, report more depression, lower self-esteem, and more psychosomatic symptoms (Winner,
Under federal law, there is presently no right to gifted education. Gifted education in Pennsylvania is individualized instruction provided, for free, to qualified students in school in accordance with an agreement between the Parents and the school district called a Gifted Individualized Education Plan (GIEP). The GIEP is an individualized plan of gifted services that students are legally entitled to. “Mentally gifted” is defined by Pennsylvania’s gifted education regulations and means, “outstanding intellectual and creative ability the development of which requires specially designed programs or support services, or both, not ordinarily provided in the regular education program.” The student to be not only smart, but also has to need special instruction in school beyond what is otherwise offered in order to develop special skills. Students may be considered “gifted” and have an IEP (dual exceptionalities). A district cannot categorically eliminate all gifted services in one of its schools. If a student has outstanding intellectual or creative abilities that cannot be developed through the courses of instruction offered generally by the school, (to include AP/honors/advanced classes), they are entitled to individualized gifted services.
Lovecky, D. V. (1995). Highly Gifted Children and Peer Relationships. Counseling and Guidance Newsletter. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://print.ditd.org/floater=74.html.
The Center for Gifted is a non-profit organization providing enriching education to students in the form of science, math, technology, the arts and humanities. Programs are designed specifically to meet the unique educational needs of advanced learners in an environment that is supportive and nurturing of their individual gifts and talents. Founder and Director of The Center for Gifted and Midwest Torrance Center for Creativity, Joan Franklin Smutny welcomes thousands of bright and talented children, preschool-12th grade, to her programs year-round. She teaches creative writing to students at her programs, as well as gifted education courses to graduate students at the university level. She is editor of the Illinois Association for Gifted
While these three authors have different reasons to write their essays, be it media unfairness, ignorance, or ethical disputes, they all share a basic principle: The disabled are not viewed by the public as “normal people,” and they are unfairly cast away from the public eye. The disabled have the same capacity to love, desire and hurt as any other human being, and deserve all of the rights and privileges that we can offer them. They should be able to enter the same buildings, have representation in the media, and certainly be allowed the right to live.
This small number most likely explains why the portrayal of gifted children in the media is so far from reality. The characteristics of gifted children include rapid learning, intense feelings about certain topics, abstract thinking and extreme curiosity, among other things (NAGC 1). These characteristics are commonly used by professionals to identify gifted individuals; however, these characteristics will often get construed into the more “annoying” traits seen in gifted stereotypes. Stereotypical views of gifted children center around the idea that gifted kids are smart and that is the only aspect of their personality. Stereotypes focus on reinforcing the idea that gifted kids are unathletic, unpopular, annoying, and frequently bullied by their peers. These stereotypes are frequently used in children’s media as a means of simplifying the complexities of being gifted and making it easier for kids to understand the concept of the TV show without having to go incredibly in depth. These labels can lead to a negative connotation by gifted children who do not want to be
Parke, B. (n.d.). Challenging gifted students in the regular classroom. Retrieved March 1, 2004, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/Challenging_gifted _kids.html