Gifted children
The creative, intellectual potential of people is the engine of society's progress, so giftedness must be identified and developed in a timely manner. Researchers claim that many extremely gifted people did not realize their potential due to unfavorable upbringing in childhood. American psychologists, having studied the lives of 400 outstanding people, found that 60% of them had significant difficulties at school, had difficulty adapting to the conditions of learning, focused on the average level of knowledge. Often, an intellectually gifted child does not find understanding from either teachers or peers.
The study of manifestations of giftedness has long been aimed mainly at intellectual abilities. Research was conducted on the basis of intelligence tests, focusing on the intelligence quotient "IQ" (IQ) as a long-term indicator of the intellectual activity of an individual. However, the American researcher P. Torrens came to the conclusion that the most successful in solving complex problems are not those children who study well, nor even those who have a high IQ, that is, these indicators do not determine giftedness. Psychologists consider giftedness as a complex psychological phenomenon, inseparable from the personality, as the presence of abilities, their peculiar combination, on which the possibility of successful activity depends.
A gifted child is a child who is distinguished by bright, obvious, sometimes significant achievements or has internal predispositions for such achievements in a certain type of activity.
A child's giftedness is sometimes difficult to distinguish from learning, which is the result of increased attention of parents and teachers to the child's development. This is especially clearly evident when comparing the level of development of children from families with high social and educational status and children from families that do not pay due attention to the child's development.
It is also necessary to distinguish between giftedness and acceleration of the child's development, which may be temporary. Such “talent” quickly fades away, since there is no manifestation of the creative component or its development was untimely. Sometimes the child is a carrier of “hidden giftedness” (the absence of clearly expressed signs of giftedness), which may be caused by the negative attitude of adults to the child’s successes or their fear of being misunderstood. Therefore, it is difficult to predict giftedness in preschool childhood, since signs of giftedness may actually be signs of the child’s rapid pace of development.
Early manifestations of a child’s giftedness include: powerful energy, significant physical, mental and cognitive activity, relatively low fatigue and the need for rest; early learning to walk and other movements; intensive development of speech; curiosity, a desire to experiment; easy and quick assimilation and use of new information; early interest in reading, often - independent mastering of it.
According to Moscow psychologists, the components of early giftedness are the dominant role of cognitive motivation; research creative activity, which consists in discovering something new during the formulation and solution of problems; the ability to find original solutions; the ability to predict; the creation of ideal standards that provide high aesthetic, moral, intellectual assessments.
Gifted children are endowed with high creative potential and a high level of development of abilities. In most cases, the most important characteristics of gifted children are considered to be:
— extremely early manifestation of high cognitive activity and curiosity;
— speed and accuracy of performing mental operations, which is due to the stability of attention and working memory;
— the formation of logical thinking skills;
— richness of active vocabulary;
— speed and originality of verbal (verbal) associations;
— a pronounced attitude towards creative performance of tasks;
— development of logical thinking and imagination;
— possession of the basic components of the ability to learn.
An important characteristic of giftedness is creativity — the ability to create. According to psychological research, the basis of giftedness is the creative potential inherent from birth, which develops throughout a person’s life. It does not depend directly on the level of mental abilities, since children with a high level of intellectual development sometimes have little creative potential.
Gifted children are often original in their behavior and communication. They use special ways of communicating with adults and peers, are sensitive to the communication situation, demonstrate the ability to communicate not only verbally, but also through non-verbal means (facial expressions, gestures, intonation, etc.), easily come into contact with peers, strive for leadership in joint activities. Gifted children more often than their peers choose the role of an Adult in creative games, compete with other children. They do not avoid responsibility, make high demands on themselves, are self-critical; they do not like when they are treated with admiration, discuss their exclusivity, talent. These children are ahead of their peers in moral development, actively strive for goodness, justice, truth, show interest in all spiritual values. Giftedness is typified by various criteria. For example, Ukrainian psychologist Yuriy Gilbukh, based on the analysis of the cognitive characteristics of the child, distinguishes the following types of giftedness:
— natural theorists (focus of cognitive interest on understanding abstract ideas, inclination to natural knowledge);
— natural applied scientists (focus of cognitive interest on solving complex design and technical tasks, modeling);
— humanities (focus of cognitive interest on languages, social sciences, literature).
As a result of research by Russian psychologists led by Leonid Wenger (1925—1992), the following abilities of gifted children were recorded:
— the ability to independently analyze the situation (to identify visual aids that are essential for solving tasks);
— development of decentration (the ability to change one's own point of reference when solving tasks, the ability to put oneself in the place of another person during communication);
— development of ideas (the ability to create an idea for a future product and a plan for its implementation).
These ideas were implemented by researchers in the programs for the upbringing and education of preschool children “Development” (M., 1994) and “Gifted Child” (M., 1995).
American psychologists (University of Illinois) under the leadership of M. Carne consider the following indicators of giftedness to be the most important:
1. Intellectual giftedness. It manifests itself in curiosity, observation, accurate thinking, exceptional memory, a desire for new things, and a depth of immersion in the work.
2. Giftedness in the field of academic achievements. In reading: gives him an advantage among other types of activity; quickly and for a long time remembers what he has read; has a large vocabulary; uses complex syntactic constructions; is interested in writing letters and words. In mathematics: shows interest in counting, measuring, weighing, ordering objects; remembers mathematical signs, numbers, symbols; easily performs arithmetic operations; applies mathematical skills and terms to situations that are not directly related to mathematics. In natural sciences: shows interest in the environment; is interested in the origin and purpose of objects and phenomena, their classification; is attentive to natural phenomena, their causes and consequences, tries to experiment.
3. Creative giftedness. The child is inquisitive, independent, independent in reasoning; shows the ability to immerse himself deeply in the matter that interests him and achieve significant productivity of activity; in classes and games, is inclined to accuracy of actions, completeness; easily changes methods of behavior and activity in changing circumstances.
4. Giftedness in the field of communication. Shows leadership inclinations, the ability to flexible communication, self-confidence among familiar and unfamiliar people; is proactive, takes responsibility for others.
In preschool age, special giftedness is manifested, the signs of which are special abilities for a certain type of activity. As a rule, they are classified into the following groups:
— mathematical abilities (the ability to perceive, comprehend and store mathematical information, the mathematical orientation of the mind - interest in numbers and actions with them, the desire for mathematical search);
— constructive and technical abilities (technical thinking, vivid spatial imagination, interest in devices and structures, the desire to improve them and create new ones);
— general artistic abilities (the ability to various types of artistic and creative activity: artistic vision of the world, originality of perception, increased interest in artistic activity, aesthetic position);
— musical abilities (musical and rhythmic sense, musical memory, the ability to perceive music as a form of expression of content);
— literary abilities (imagery and expressiveness of speech, interest in artistic expression of thought, emotionality, creative imagination, the ability to verbally express a person’s state of mind);
— abilities for pictorial activity (the ability to correctly assess shapes, proportions, and the position of objects in space, chiaroscuro sensitivity, the ability to feel and convey the expressive function of color, developed figurative imagination and memory).
Giftedness can develop under favorable conditions (parental care, special programs and teaching aids, humane attitude towards the child, etc.). The development of a child’s creative potential is facilitated by the help of adults, a rich cultural environment, a consistent and purposeful individual program of upbringing and education. According to research by German scientists Gerlinda and Hans-Georg Melhorn, almost 50% of mental abilities are formed in children by the age of 4, 80% by the age of 8. According to American specialists Glen and Janet Doman, the development of movements and the general physical training of the child are decisive in this regard, which contributes to more intensive development of the brain and the formation of its cognitive abilities. Therefore, early childhood should be used to teach children reading, mathematics, and the formation of encyclopedic knowledge using “bits” — systematized semantic parts of information.
In Ukraine, the problems of gifted children, the development of individual programs for their upbringing and education are dealt with by the scientific and practical center “Psychodiagnostics and Differentiated Learning” of the Institute of Psychology named after G. S. Kostyuk of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Methods of diagnosing abilities involve identifying potential opportunities for intellectual development: the level of research activity, the ability to predict, the study of the features of personal development. Empathy (compassion) is more characteristic of gifted children, and a low level of mental development is combined with an aggressive type of behavior. Gifted children are more responsible, they experience both success and failure more deeply than their peers.
In the upbringing of gifted children, an extremely important role belongs to parents and teachers, who must create conditions for their harmonious development: an atmosphere of love, trust, attention to needs and interests. According to the American psychologist Natalie Rogers, a child’s creativity is stimulated by psychological security, invaluable acceptance of his personality, an atmosphere of openness, permissiveness, granting him the right to freedom and independence.
In preschool institutions, for the education of gifted children, it is necessary to use individual programs taking into account the characteristics of children, their inclinations and interests. These programs should reflect the interdisciplinary, developmental nature of learning, the main ideas of cognition, and not a set of specific facts; promote the development of different types of thinking, research skills, self-organization skills; improve the means of communication and interaction with people.
No less important is the special training of teachers to work with gifted children. They must be sensitive, friendly, attentive, emotionally stable, have a dynamic character and sense of humor, positive self-perception. Insecure, prone to transferring their own problems to children, emotionally unstable teachers can harm them, because gifted children are not just carriers of talent, but first of all people. In their general development, there is more in common with ordinary people than there is anything different. At the same time, the attitude towards gifted people is one of the essential characteristics of society.