Education Professor Dispels Myths About Gifted Children
Steven I. Pfeiffer is a professor from Florida State's Department of Education Psychology and Learning Systems and is a licensed who works with gifted children and their families in counseling. Pfeiffer says that there is a view sometimes expressed by people outside the gifted field who say that we don't need programs devoted to gifted students.
" We usually hear, 'Oh, they're smart they'll do fine on their own.'And because of this anti-elitist attitude, it's often difficult to get funding for programs and services that help us develop some of our brightest, most advanced kids -- America's most valuable resources."
Pfeiffer says "giftedness" still isn't well understood, and that children with advance academic and intellectual abilities can challenge and perplex both parents and educators.
One of the main problems working with children who are gifted is to get the right definition of this question. What does it mean to be "gifted"?
Finding ways to best identify gifted children is a key area of Pfeiffer's research. He has made a diagnostic test which complements the popularly used intelligence test that identifies children who may be gifted.This test has been used for at least 600 schools, if not more, across the nation, and has been translated for use in other countries.
For Pfeiffer, academics isn't the only way a person can be gifted. this diagnostic test has measures the students' aptitude in six areas.
- Intellectual Ability: measures the child's verbal and nonverbal mental skills and intellectual competence. Items on this scale rate the child's memory, reasoning ability, problem solving and mental speed.
- Academic Ability: measures the child's skill in dealing with factual and/or school-related material. Items rate readiness and advanced development/proficiency in reading, math and other aspects of the early childhood curriculum.
- Creativity: measures the child's ability to think, act and/or produce unique, novel or innovative thoughts or products. Items rate the child's imaginative play, original thinking and inventive approach to situations or problems.
- Artistic Talent: measures the child's potential for, or evidence of ability in, drama, music, dance, drawing, painting, sculpture, singing, playing a musical instrument and/or acting.
- Leadership: measures the child's ability to motivate people toward a common goal.
- Motivation: refers to the child's drive, tendency to enjoy challenging tasks, and ability to work well without encouragement or reinforcement. The motivation scale is not viewed as a type of giftedness, but rather as the energy that impels a young child to achieve.
My opinion is that everyone has something special about them. They just have to find it themselves. You can be gifted in many different ways. For an example, I believe that I am mostly gifted with artistic talent. I play the piano and the clarinet and love to compose songs. Also, I try to choreograph dance steps to my favorite songs (when no one is looking), and love to draw eyes.
Are you gifted? In what way? How? What is your definition of gifted?
