Developing a Full Potential of Gifted Children
How to Encourage Gifted and Talented Children to Learn and Work Hard
Mar 4, 2009
Though school plays in important role in developing the full potential of a gifted child, parents’ attention and care are not less important. Parents should be the ones to devote time and effort into recognizing and addressing the special needs of their talented and gifted children.
Defining the Interests and Passions of Talented and Gifted Children
The task of the parents is to recognize the interests of their talented children first of all. This is the major step towards discovering and understanding of how to further challenge and encourage the child’s development.
- As a parent, observe the behavior and activities of the gifted child. Be attentive, and notice what the child does in free time. These independent activities may lead to the ideas on what else to offer for developing the interest further.
- Learn what school subject the gifted child is best at. This knowledge may become a foundation for offering some related activities. However, be careful: if the child is good at some academic subject, it doesn’t always mean that subject really interests him or her. Talented and gifted children may just have a natural talent for the particular curriculum area. So, the best option is to simply ask.
- Talk to the child, and ask what he or she is interested in. Discover what the preferences are for the weekend or holiday activities, and what places or events the child would be happy to visit.
Such observations and answers can help the parents to understand what their gifted and talented children are interested in. This information should be used as a foundation for the ideas on how to further develop the child’s passion, how to support, encourage, and stimulate further learning.
Enrichment Opportunities for Developing a Full Potential of a Gifted Child
Talented and gifted children should be intellectually challenged for learning and working hard. The most important, however, is that all the activities offered by parents should be interesting for the child. Interest is the strongest motivator of gifted and talented children. So, they should be provided with opportunities for gaining new knowledge and experiences.
- Promoting the talent. All the beginnings should be encouraged and supported. If the child has an artistic talent, make sure there is an opportunity to publicly present it. If the child has a writing talent, suggest him or her to participate in a writing contest, for example. However, never push: if the child is not willing to do something, there is no need to force.
- Interest groups. Very often gifted and talented children are interested in studying complex or new topics that are too advanced for their classmates. Therefore, membership in a club, an interest group, or any other organization, which supports the activities the child is interested in, will extend learning.
- Related experiences. Whatever the child is interested in, make sure he or she is provided with a range of experiences related to the subject of interest. Videos, books, games, trips, competitions, subscription to magazines, visiting museums or communicating with people working in a particular field, will both broaden the child’s mind, and encourage to explore the topic further.
Since interests of talented and gifted children can be very changeable, parents should be very attentive to what the child is involved in at each particular period of time. Observe the behavior and communicate with the child to discover current interests and passions. Then, provide a range of opportunities for development and enrichment. Offer the child a variety of options to choose from, and make sure the proposed activities are welcomed and enjoyed.
Those who found this article useful may also be interested in learning about Identifying Gifted and Talented Children. To learn about the different types of giftedness, read 6 Personality Types of Gifted Children. See Organizational Skills of Gifted Children to read about helping the child to get organized.
Sources:
Fischer, Christian. “Gifted Children: How to Bring Out Their Potential”. Scientific American Inc., 2008.
“Keeping Your Child Challenged”. National Association for Gifted Children, 2008.
Schave Klein, Barbara. Raising Gifted Kids: Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Exceptional Child Thrive. New York: AMACOM, a Division of American Management Asociation, 2006.
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