by Sapphire Magpie Ravenclaw

Created on: February 12, 2009

In recent years, schools and other educational establishments have ensured that there is plenty of help available for those children who need a boost, if they are, perhaps, falling behind or have a leaning difficulty. While this is surely a very good thing, it is also necessary to provide some extra help for gifted or otherwise advanced children. They are, after all, still children who need to learn. It is maybe a case of them learning more quickly or just being given a little extra to learn. This often does not happen in an establishment where a lot of emphasis is placed on less able children.

I speak from experience when I say that some gifted children do not get the help they need and often become distressed and then do not realise their own potential. Being gifted academically does not necessarily mean that the child has emotional abilities to match. It does not even suggest that a child has physical abilities to match.

A lot of "gifted" children have trouble with their emotions and this, in itself, is a good reason to provide special services for them. If, for example, a child is at an academic level of two years above their own age, it may not be considered that their emotional needs are not advanced, perhaps being less emotionally developed than some of their same age peers.

Some gifted children may be left behind in a class because they are not being challenged and, for the same reason, some gifted children may become bored and display inappropriate behaviour.

If a child is gifted and well-behaved, this may not seem to be a problem but special services for them could mean furthering their abilities more so than if they were simply left to get on with things. A bigger problem, of course, is when a child displays inappropriate behaviour. This is obviously a bad thing but sometimes that is exactly what it takes for a gifted child to be noticed.

Without the appropriate support, a gifted child can easily become frustrated either because they are not able to express themselves well, because they are not being challenged enough or just because they are not receiving the attention afforded to their less capable peers. In this case, it is important to provide stimuli and to ensure that the gifted child does not get bored and can be challenged in a positive way. This is only possible when special services are in place where the child can, perhaps, have a personal mentor to give them the extra attention they require in order for them not to show challenging behaviour in the first place. Of course, not all gifted children will show challenging behaviour and this will have an impact as it may take longer to realise that the child is gifted but still there should be special services for gifted children whatever their behaviour a lot of the time the special services would simply be someone to help them overcome emotional issues or to provide them with extra stimulation.

Just because a child is "above average" does not mean that they should be expected to wait for their peers to catch up with them.

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