Gifted children

No matter what the job, there is always a fly in the ointment — teachers, for instance, would probably agree that the class troublemaker can be a daily irritant.

He or she could be the learner sitting at the back, making snide comments that set off nudges and giggling. Or the inattentive youngster absently clicking her ballpoint pen. Or the nail-biter who stutters when asked to recite a poem. Or the learner who is often off sick with a ‘tummy bug”. You could be dealing with what is termed a ‘gifted child”.

While most modern parents are too busy to pay much attention to the signs, the teacher is in the front line of observation. According to the experts, the earlier the problem is detected and dealt with, the better for the child, the parents and, naturally, the teacher.

Says Professor Gertie Pretorius, director of the Institute for Child and Adult Guidance in Johannesburg: ‘Gifted children may present an entire continuum of behaviours. A gifted child may come across as uninterested because she is not stimulated and does not find the work challenging enough. On the other hand, a child like this may come across as fidgety, hyperactive or ‘naughty’, because she does not fit in on an academic level with the rest of her peers. Socially, gifted children are often seen as strange or different, with interests that do not align with those of their peers.”

Adds Pretorius: ‘As a counselling psychologist, and working at the Institute for Child and Adult Guidance, I have assessed many learners who present as ‘problem children’ in the classroom but who are, in fact, intellectually gifted.

‘Firstly, a child has to be assessed. Thereafter, the optimisation of the child’s talent and abilities needs to follow. Lastly, the child and family may need counselling in order to channel the giftedness construct­ively into appropriate ways.

‘Once the child, parents and teachers are aware of the special needs of the child, it becomes easy to manage and to do counselling and give guidance to child, school or family.” She notes that such guidance takes in social behaviour as well as encouraging academic or intellectual stimulation.

What exactly is a gifted child? Professor Shirley Kokot, now a research fellow at Unisa who still lectures at the Centre for Community Training and Development, explains: ‘Gifted means exceptional — above, above average. The academically gifted child generally has a high IQ, but there are other categories such as creative ability. Also, you could find people particularly talented in one academic area, for instance mathematics, or in physical prowess. There is also the leadership category.”

Kokot has written several successful books on the gifted child and is president of the National Association for Gifted and Talented Children in South Africa. She points out that, ‘in the school context, teachers are more aware of the academically gifted. They tend to look at those unique children who learn very quickly and have excellent memories, whose vocabulary is far in advance of their peers. They have an amazing capacity to understand immediately and they get very bored when you repeat things.”

‘However, there are also the creatively gifted, the lateral thinkers, who have a hard time at school,” she says. ‘Here, teachers usually see the negative side of the coin — the ‘smart alec’ type who is often lazy, who acts the clown in class. In fact, the gifted child could be the biggest troublemaker in class. Their sense of humour can be cutting, making them unpopular. However, on the other hand, they can be highly popular because they have good people skills.”

As the mother of gifted children, Kokot recounts: ‘Our own children, particularly our son, were found to have problems at school. For instance, in grade four, he constantly had tummy aches. We found that he was frustrated and bored.”

Kokot emphasises that early development is very important. ‘Look out for signs of advanced development such as speech, curiosity and interest in the world around them when a child is very young. Become aware of notes on reports such as ‘very bright but can’t pay attention’ or ‘can do better’.”

She agrees that an assessment for problem children is a priority, but stresses that it should be on more than IQ. ‘These children are also emotionally different. They tend to be sensitive, empathetic. What is going on in the world upsets them and, along with the sensitivity, shows an emotional intensity.”

She warns: ‘[Gifted children] may have learning problems. Being gifted does not exclude you from neurodevelopmental problems. Normally, you can see the signs of high ability in spite of a learning problem.”

Kokot did her master’s in gifted child education, now her focus at Unisa. ‘As a practising education psychologist, I started working with more and more gifted children,” she says. Constant pleas from parents led to her founding Radford House in 1996, the only school of its kind in Africa, and one of few in the world dealing exclusively with gifted children. Her son, Philip, is now the school’s head and their focus is on teaching children to think for themselves.

‘Our mission is the optimum realisation of intellectual potential as well as healthy emotional, social and physical development for the benefit of self and society,” says Kokot.

Says Professor Pretorius: ‘In the department of education, an inclusion policy is followed. This means that there are no government-funded institutions [exclusively for the gifted child].”

Explains Kokot: ‘After 1994, a post-graduate course has been offered at Unisa. This is a one-year certificate course in gifted child education. We are now concentrating on those with neurodevelopmental problems. I also train teachers and occupational therapists at a centre dealing with children and adults in Centurion.” Her short courses, also open to parents, are allied with the Seta and incorporate Integrated Learning Therapy.

Radford House differs from mainstream schooling in that there is more learner involvement, says Kokot. ‘We instil thinking skills and research skills, using content or knowledge for a purpose. It’s simply good education. Every teacher who comes to Radford has to be retrained, and classes are, of necessity, small. Everything is taught thematically. For example, grade 2s might learn about nutrition one term, then concentrate on Stone Age humankind. A theme sometimes runs into more than one term.”

Although schooling at Radford is largely centred on the primary grades, the school now caters for grades 5 and onwards, due to the reluctance of learners to leave the school. Children in the higher grades work towards the Cambridge examinations, choosing their subjects for O levels.

Gwen Gill, popular social columnist for the Sunday Times, is the mother of two gifted children. She says: ‘They are good company though quite hard to handle, as gifted children are often brighter than their parents. Mine both have better memories and brains than me, so they can win most arguments!

What to look for

The academically gifted child is easy to spot. However, those gifted in other spheres may present with a whole set of different behaviours.

Watch out for children who:

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