Kids living with learning exceptionalities

The talented or gifted child

To a loving parent, every child is special. We marvel at our baby's first words, applaud a first step, and beam with pride when she learns to print her name. School accomplishments, athletic prowess, or artistic talent fill us with joy. Some children are more talented than others in a particular skill or in one of the multiple intelligences. Unfortunately, standing apart from their peers can sometimes make them miserable.

Many intellectually gifted children become bored in traditional classrooms or in playing with kids their own age. Story time in grade one may not appeal to a six-year-old who can pick up her father's university textbook, read it, and understand it. As her classmates learn to add 2 plus 2, this child may be ready to work out square roots.

Given the number of students a classroom teacher deals with, it may take some time for her to detect a child's extraordinary ability, to involve the child's parents, and to suggest assessment using the school board's resources. There is tremendous debate about how to measure intelligence and what measures to use. One way intellectually endowed students are identified is through intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or the Stanford-Binet test, on which the children score 130 or higher. A child's performance in the regular school program and on the classroom teacher's tests may or may not reaveal individual gifts.

An estimated 2 to 4 per cent of Canadian children are exceptional in their intellectual gifts. If you think your child is really bright, talk with his classroom teacher and, if she agrees, request an individual assessment by an educational psychologist, if the school has not yet undertaken broad-based IQ testing of all students. Some school boards do such testing only toward the end of the primary grades. Most students in grade three are eight to nine years old, an age at which they have gained enough knowledge and skill to participate in standardized tests.

If you want to arrange for individual testing of your child at an earlier age, explore the possibilities with developmental psychologists at the nearest children's hospital. You might also look for a parent support group, such as the Association for Bright Children (ABC). However, not every province has an ABC chapter. Each province has its own guidelines and legislation for assessing students, recognizing exceptionalities, devising programs, and providing resources to respond to their needs.

The Ministry of Education and Training in Ontario, for example, recognizes intellectual giftedness as one of the exceptionalities, and special education legislation ensures that resources are available. The support ranges from that provided by classroom teachers in a regular classroom to one hour per week of special studies to having the children attend fulltime separate enriched classes, sometimes at another school.

Educators are divided on the benefits of separate classes. Research indicates, however, that intellectual giftedness is the only exceptionality from which kids benefit by being grouped together to study apart from the regular classroom. Some parent organizations like ABC support this solution, among other school-based programs that satisfy the child's needs. Teachers who work with intellectually gifted children grouped in a separate classroom say that the students establish the pace of learning for the class and probe the material on the curriculum much more deeply.