Does Giftedness Mean Being Great at Everything?
To a parent, each and every child demonstrates some area of special talent or interest. Academically gifted children are noticeably advanced compared to their peers with respect to one or more, but not necessarily all, academic measures. A young child who is academically gifted often has areas of academic excellence which are so pronounced that other areas of development are, relatively speaking, challenging for them. And, gifted children are frequently asynchronous in their development, which means that they may be significantly advanced compared to chronological peers in some areas, and not so advanced in others.
It is often difficult for a child with exceptionally advanced cognitive abilities to mesh socially with chronological peers, because they can think and speak very differently. However, when placed with cognitive peers, such children typically thrive. The SENG Foundation—an acronym for “supporting the emotional needs of the gifted”—has many resources available to help parents understand the challenges that gifted children and their families face. (They provide extensive information at www.sengifted.org.) Our school is adept at recognizing asynchronous academic and social development.
There are also situations in which an academically gifted child may have learning disabilities, which makes conventional educational environments exceedingly inappropriate for them. These children are sometimes called "twice exceptional" in that they have learning or behavioral challenges which are not addressed by accelerated educational techniques and grouping with cognitive peers. Because we often cannot serve these children, we help refer such academically gifted children who are “twice exceptional” to appropriate professionals or alternative educational environments.The United States Council for Exceptional Children is an excellent resource on gifted education as speciality education in its own right, and also serves as a resource for families with twice-exceptional cognitively gifted children.
It is often difficult for a child with exceptionally advanced cognitive abilities to mesh socially with chronological peers, because they can think and speak very differently. However, when placed with cognitive peers, such children typically thrive. The SENG Foundation—an acronym for “supporting the emotional needs of the gifted”—has many resources available to help parents understand the challenges that gifted children and their families face. (They provide extensive information at www.sengifted.org.) Our school is adept at recognizing asynchronous academic and social development.
There are also situations in which an academically gifted child may have learning disabilities, which makes conventional educational environments exceedingly inappropriate for them. These children are sometimes called "twice exceptional" in that they have learning or behavioral challenges which are not addressed by accelerated educational techniques and grouping with cognitive peers. Because we often cannot serve these children, we help refer such academically gifted children who are “twice exceptional” to appropriate professionals or alternative educational environments.The United States Council for Exceptional Children is an excellent resource on gifted education as speciality education in its own right, and also serves as a resource for families with twice-exceptional cognitively gifted children.
