Wasted talents!

Parents’ ignorance ruining lives of  ‘smart kids’
Despite being considered a weirdo by many people, Faith’s parents always knew their 10-year-old daughter was special. Preferring to keep to herself and only talking to people she knew, she read novel after novel, newspaper after another, wore her mum’s make-up and clothes or made speeches in front of the mirror – rather than play kati with her age mates.

Loise Okello, a psychologist and a PhD student at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, says that in Africa, gifted children are looked at as abnormal because they do not do ‘normal’ things. ‘They might be excellent performers or kids who just do things differently,’ she says. ‘However, because it is not a prevalent thing, there is scanty information about gifted children.’

‘Many gifted go unnoticed and unappreciated in Kenya. There is lack of enough assessment centers and schools offering special attention to gifted children. The few schools available are very expensive,’ says Ms Okello. ‘Consequently, gifted children feel isolated and misunderstood. They tend to have adult tastes in music, clothing, reading material and even food. They have the ability to understand concepts, but are unable to deal with them emotionally. So, they may talk about adults’ issues like global warming one minute and whine about a missing toy the next minute. This can make them be shunned verbally or physically by their peers.’

Knowing if your child is gifted can be difficult because there are differences in abilities – just like in non-gifted children. However, a trained eye can notice a gifted child right on the spot. Carol Bainbridge, a psychologist specialising in gifted children, helps the untrained eye with the following traits that are apparently common.

• A gifted child seems to be a perfectionist.
• Tends to be argumentative and manipulative (little lawyers) and often tries to outsmart parents and teachers.
• Uses sophisticated vocabulary.
• Have an advanced sense of humour, therefore often rejected and feel inferior to their age mates.
• Have keen observation skills – have the ability to see beyond the obvious and have wild imaginations.
• Appear to be shy and hold back in new situations, because they are not comfortable answering a question before they have all details.
• Are intensely sensitive and short tempered. World news e.g. hunger, pollution, cancer and wars can affect them very personally. If overloaded, they become introverted, withdrawn and even suffer from depression.
• Have a well-developed sense of right and wrong.
• Are extremely curious and show intense interest.
• Have excellent memory, reasoning skills combined with long attention spans. They tend to learn quickly with less practice.
• Have well-developed comprehension of concepts and synthesis.
• Quickly and easily sees relationships in ideas, objects and facts.
• Fluent and flexible.
• Elaborate and original in thinking.
• Excellent problem-solving skills.

For much earlier identification:

• A gifted child can track movement as early as two months.
• Can roll over alone as early as three months.
• Ability to make sentences at three to four months.
• Are very active and light-sleepers.Can sit upright without help before they are six months old.
• Show interest in being read to before they are six months old.
• Can stand steadily and walk uprightly before they are nine months old.

It should be noted that they are not necessarily straight A students. So, do not be crestfallen when your gifted child tends to be an under-achiever in school — they may not be gifted in all areas. For example, they may exhibit good physical ability but poor language skills.

The ability tends to run in families. So, many of the traits that indicate giftedness are usually found in extended family members.

My child is gifted. What next?
Ms Okello points out how to identify giftedness and the institutions to handle it.

• Sound identification process. Through assessment, especially when they begin school. Instead of the one test routine, a couple of tests in different areas should be administered to identify the area of gifting. Assessment can take as little as one day to a couple of years.
• Survey family history to note if the giftedness runs in the family.
• Observe. When a child is born, the doctor can do various tests to identify giftedness. As the child grows, take note of the milestones, for example, a one-year-old being able to fix a jig-saw puzzle. A gifted child tends to achieve milestones faster than an ordinary one.
• Intelligence tests are done at various educational centers in Kenya; for example, at the DALC Foundation. Such institutions have structures specifically designed to deal with each gifted child at a personal level.
• Psychometric tests. These can be done in psychological units in private and government institutions such the Kenyatta National Hospital and Kenyatta University. ‘These tests should be done at all provincial hospitals but because of lack of trained personnel, they are not,’ says Ms Okello.

‘After a child has been identified as gifted, he or she should be guided because such children are sensitive and often feel like outsiders.’

According to Ms Okello, the following factors should be considered when looking for a school for the young and gifted:

• The goals and philosophy of the school should be based on age appropriateness and instruction. This is because many gifted children live without exploiting their gifts.
• It should have specially trained teachers who understand these kids and are able to nurture their growth in respective fields. This is especially important because if a gifted child is in an environment where he or she feels his or her needs are not being met, he or she becomes irritable, unsettled, finishes his or her work fast and starts teasing other children. This brings the child punishment time and again, but it is something he or she cannot change about himself or herself.
• The school should have a challenging curriculum that requires child to stretch his or her mind. It should also be enriching and accelerating because gifted children are fast learners. An in-depth analysis of the subject should be done to keep them interested.

There should be flexibility. For example, a primary school pupil with exceptional talent playing the piano could be allowed time off school to study with exceptional pianists or take part in special musical programmes.

The 8-4-4 system of education does not provide the perfect platform for gifted children.

When they grow up
Gifted children, just like all others, end up differently. However, research has shown that a good number drop out of school because of their uniqueness and lack of proper environment for their growth. Others choose very hard courses at universities only to be disillusioned and quit. Eventually, most gifted people end up in normal offices and few whose gifts were identified and nurtured properly become influential
people in the society.

A good example of people ranked as gifted in the world include Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Alva Edison and Marie Curie, among others.

Einstein’s story is rather interesting. As a child, it was frustrating for his parents and teachers. According to stories about him, Einstein never learnt to speak until he was four. Then, he had the bizarre habit of mumbling things first before saying anything aloud. His giftedness was obvious at a young age because he was always at the top of his class. But he hated school because he believed the strict rules and guided learning held back his creativity. He went on to become one of the greatest thinkers. One of his inventions ─ the Theory of Relativity changed the world of physics.

A gifted child will only fulfill his or her true potential by being a self-motivated learner. Therefore, avoid putting pressure on him or her and instead try and point him or her in the right direction.

It is said that what makes us different makes us special. So, stop complaining about your child, overly reprimanding or even cursing, insulting and beating him or her because of poor performance,  disagreements with teachers, putting on your adult wigs and make-up and being shy and withdrawn. Instead, take time to observe your child and talk to him or her. You can make the giftedness work for them, you and the rest of the world.

END: BL 44 / 44-45