Gifted children need equivalent care as normal peers to thrive in school

Washington, Jan 14 (ANI): They might be topping their class, but gifted children need much attention and educational resources to thrive in school as do other students whose physical, behavioural, emotional or learning needs require special accommodations, according to an expert.

'Gifted' children are those who are in the upper 3 percent to 5 percent compared to their peers in one or more of the following domains: general intellectual ability, specific academic competence, the visual or performing arts, leadership and creativity.

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According to a new study led by Steven I. Pfeifferk, gifted children also face a lot of emotional and social challenges.

"There is a view occasionally expressed by those outside of the gifted field that we don't need programs devoted specifically to gifted students. 'Oh, they're smart, they'll do fine on their own' is what we often hear," said Pfeiffer.

"And because of this anti-elitist attitude, it's often difficult to get funding for programs and services that help us to develop some of our brightest, most advanced kids -- America's most valuable resource," he added.

Pfeiffer as been finding ways to best identify children who are gifted. To that end, he led a group that developed a diagnostic test, which complements the widely used intelligence test in identifying children who might be gifted.

"For almost a hundred years, schools used one measure, the IQ test," Pfeiffer said.

"Our own research indicates that the IQ test, although it works fairly well, is not without limitations in identifying giftedness.

"We launched a project to develop a test that would be a companion to the IQ test in helping educators better identify those children who have potential but perhaps are missed on IQ tests," he added. (ANI)