I wonder how this will work with our 2e kids?
Guidelines seek to ensure talented students get their chance to excel
CHILDREN as young as three will be assessed for being gifted in a statewide initiative to begin within weeks.
New guidelines will help educators identify the signs of advanced development including complex language skills, unusual ideas, an extraordinary memory and mature social skills.
The move aims to ensure very bright youngsters don’t slip through the cracks.
Some have been held back a year because they were mistaken as “socially incompetent’’.
Every early childhood educator and maternal and child health nurses will gain access to the guidelines.
Deakin University’s Dr Anne Grant, who helped develop the online resource, said identifying gifted children before they started school was crucial.
Many suppressed their talents or became disengaged, becoming the class clown or dropping out.
“They will mask what they can do,’’ Dr Grant said.
“But it’s like trying to press a blown-up balloon into a small box - things start to burst out.
“The child gets frustrated and maybe their behaviour is not very good as a result because nothing is very interesting at school.’’
The guidelines - to be launched at a conference in Melbourne next month - also provide advice on planning programs for gifted kids, dealing with their families and managing the transition to school.
It comes after a State Government inquiry found the system was failing many gifted students.
About one in 10 people have a gift or talent. They can come from any background.
“We’ve got these big problems facing us as a society and we need these bright children to be coming through the ranks,’’ Dr Grant said.
“If we are losing those children because they are just giving up and turning into angry teenagers - as some of them do - we’re a bit stupid.
“All children have the right to develop to be the best they can.’’
Early Childhood Minister Wendy Lovell said the Government recognised the potential of gifted and talented children wasn’t being fully realised.
“This program guides early childhood professionals on how to recognise when a child is gifted and talented, and to shape learning programs around the child’s abilities,’’ she said.
“Bright children do not excel simply by being bright. They need special support to help them flourish.”
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