Nurturing talent within the family

What do we mean by being ‘talented’ or ‘gifted’? The most obvious way is to look at the work
someone does and if they are capable of significant success, label them as talented. The purely
quantitative route - ‘percentage definition’ - looks not at individuals, but at simple percentages,
such as the top five per cent of the population, and labels them - by definition - as gifted. This
definition has fallen from favor, eclipsed by the advent of IQ tests, favored by luminaries such as
Professor Hans Eysenck, where a series of written or verbal tests of general intelligence leads to
a score of intelligence.

The IQ test has been eclipsed in turn. Most people studying intelligence and creativity in the new
millennium now prefer a broader definition, using a multifaceted approach where talents in many
areas are recognised rather than purely concentrating on academic achievement. If we are
therefore assuming that talented, creative or gifted individuals may need to be assessed across a
range of abilities, does this mean intelligence can run in families as a genetic or inherited
tendency? Mental dysfunction - such as schizophrenia - can, so is an efficient mental capacity
passed on from parent to child?

Animal experiments throw some light on this question, and on the whole area of whether it is
genetics, the environment or a combination of the two that allows for intelligence and creative
ability. Different strains of rats show great differences in intelligence or ‘rat reasoning’. If these
are brought up in normal conditions and then run through a maze to reach a food goal, the
‘bright’ strain makes far fewer wrong turns than the ‘dull’ ones. But if the environment is made
dull and boring the number of errors becomes equal. Return the rats to an exciting maze and the
discrepancy returns as before - but is much smaller. In other words, a dull rat in a stimulating
environment will almost do as well as a bright rat who is bored in a normal one. This principle
applies to humans too - someone may be born with innate intelligence, but their environment
probably has the final say over whether they become creative or even a genius.

Evidence now exists that most young children, if given enough opportunities and encouragement,
are able to achieve significant and sustainable levels of academic or sporting prowess. Bright or
creative children are often physically very active at the same time, and so may receive more
parental attention as a result - almost by default - in order to ensure their safety. They may also
talk earlier, and this, in turn, breeds parental interest. This can sometimes cause problems with
other siblings who may feel jealous even though they themselves may be bright. Their creative
talents may be undervalued and so never come to fruition. Two themes seem to run through
famously creative families as a result. The first is that the parents were able to identify the talents
of each child, and nurture and encourage these accordingly but in an even-handed manner.
Individual differences were encouraged, and friendly sibling rivalry was not seen as a particular
problem. If the father is, say, a famous actor, there is no undue pressure for his children to follow
him onto the boards, but instead their chosen interests are encouraged. There needs not even be
any obvious talent in such a family since there always needs to be someone who sets the family
career in motion, as in the case of the Sheen acting dynasty.
Martin Sheen was the seventh of ten children born to a Spanish immigrant father and an Irish
mother. Despite intense parental disapproval he turned his back on entrance exams to university
and borrowed cash from a local priest to start a fledgling acting career. His acting successes in
films such as Badlands and Apocalypse Now made him one of the most highly-regarded actors
of the 1970s. Three sons - Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez and Charlie Sheen - have followed
him into the profession as a consequence of being inspired by his motivation and enthusiasm.

A stream seems to run through creative families. Such children are not necessarily smothered
with love by their parents. They feel loved and wanted, and are secure in their home, but are
often more surrounded by an atmosphere of work and where following a calling appears to be
important. They may see from their parents that it takes time and dedication to be master of a
craft, and so are in less of a hurry to achieve for themselves once they start to work.

The generation of creativity is complex: it is a mixture of genetics, the environment, parental

teaching and luck that determines how successful or talented family members are. This last point
- luck - is often not mentioned where talent is concerned but plays an undoubted part. Mozart,
considered by many to be the finest composer of all time, was lucky to be living in an age that
encouraged the writing of music. He was brought up surrounded by it, his father was a musician
who encouraged him to the point of giving up his job to promote his child genius, and he learnt
musical composition with frightening speed - the speed of a genius. Mozart himself simply
wanted to create the finest music ever written but did not necessarily view himself as a genius -
he could write sublime music at will, and so often preferred to lead a hedonistic lifestyle that he
found more exciting than writing music to order.

Albert Einstein and Bill Gates are two more examples of people whose talents have blossomed
by virtue of the times they were living in. Einstein was a solitary, somewhat slow child who had
affection at home but whose phenomenal intelligence emerged without any obvious parental
input. This may have been partly due to the fact that at the start of the 20th Century a lot of the
Newtonian laws of physics were being questioned, leaving a fertile ground for ideas such as his
to be developed. Bill Gates may have had the creative vision to develop Microsoft, but without
the new computer age dawning at the same time he may never have achieved the position on
the world stage he now occupies.
 Gifted children and learning
A  Internationally, ‘giftedness’ is most frequently determined by a score on a general intelligence
test, known as an IQ test, which is above a chosen cutoff point, usually at around the top 2-5%.
Children’s educational environment contributes to the IQ score and the way intelligence is used.
For example, a very close positive relationship was found when children’s IQ scores were
compared with their home educational provision (Freema`n, 2010). The higher the children’s IQ
scores, especially over IQ 130, the better the quality of their educational backup, measured in
terms of reported verbal interactions with parents, number of books and activities in their home
etc. Because IQ tests are decidedly influenced by what the child has learned, they are to some
extent measures of current achievement based on age-norms; that is, how well the children have
learned to manipulate their knowledge and know-how within the terms of the test. The vocabulary
aspect, for example, is dependent on having heard those words. But IQ tests can neither identify
the processes of learning and thinking nor predict creativity.
B  Excellence does not emerge without appropriate help. To reach an exceptionally high
standard in any area, very able children need the means to learn, which includes material to work
with and focused challenging tuition -and the encouragement to follow their dream. There
appears to be a qualitative difference in the way the intellectually highly able think, compared
with more average-ability or older pupils, for whom external regulation by the teacher often
compensates for lack of internal regulation. To be at their most effective in their self-regulation,
all children can be helped to identify their own ways of learning – metacognition – which will
include strategies of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and choice of what to learn. Emotional
awareness is also part of metacognition, so children should be helped to be aware of their
feelings around the area to be learned, feelings of curiosity or confidence, for example.
C High achievers have been found to use self-regulatory learning strategies more often and more
effectively than lower achievers, and are better able to transfer these strategies to deal with
unfamiliar tasks. This happens to such a high degree in some children that they appear to be
demonstrating talent in particular areas. Overviewing research on the thinking process of highly
able children, (Shore and Kanevsky, 1993) put the instructor’s problem succinctly: ‘If they [the
gifted] merely think more quickly, then we need only teach more quickly. If they merely make
fewer errors, then we can shorten the practice’. But of course, this is not entirely the case;
adjustments have to be made in methods of learning and teaching, to take account of the many
ways individuals think.
D Yet in order to learn by themselves, the gifted do need some support from their teachers.
Conversely, teachers who have a tendency to ‘overdirect’ can diminish their gifted pupils’
learning autonomy. Although ‘spoon-feeding’ can produce extremely high examination results,
these are not always followed by equally impressive life successes. Too much dependence on
the teachers risks loss of autonomy and motivation to discover. However, when teachers or
pupils reflect on their own learning and thinking activities, they increase their pupils’ self-
regulation. For a young child, it may be just the simple question ‘What have you learned today?’
which helps them to recognise what they are doing. Given that a fundamental goal of education
is to transfer the control of learning from teachers to pupils, improving pupils’ learning to learn
techniques should be a major outcome of the school experience, especially for the highly
competent. There are quite a number of new methods which can help, such as child- initiated
learning, ability-peer tutoring, etc. Such practices have been found to be particularly useful for
bright children from deprived areas.
E  But scientific progress is not all theoretical, knowledge is a so vital to outstanding
performance: individuals who know a great deal about a specific domain will achieve at a higher
level than those who do not (Elshout, 1995). Research with creative scientists by Simonton
(1988) brought him to the conclusion that above a certain high level, characteristics such as
independence seemed to contribute more to reaching the highest levels of expertise than
intellectual skills, due to the great demands of effort and time needed for learning and practice.
Creativity in all forms can be seen as expertise mixed with a high level of motivation (Weisberg,
1993).
F To sum up, learning is affected by emotions of both the individual and significant others.
Positive emotions facilitate the creative aspects of earning and negative emotions inhibit it. Fear,
for example, can limit the development of curiosity, which is a strong force in scientific advance,
because it motivates problem-solving behavior. In Boekaerts’ (1991) review of emotion, the
learning of very high IQ and highly achieving children, she found emotional forces in harness.
They were not only curious, but often had a strong desire to control their environment, improve
their learning efficiency and increase their own learning resources.
 Nurturing talent within the family
Complete notes of how the approaches to defining 'talent*have changed. Choose ONE or TWO WORDS.
‘percentage definition’ → 1. __________________ → 2 . __________________

3 – 5 Which THREE of the following does the writer regard as a feature of creative families?
A a higher than average level of parental affection
B competition between brothers and sisters
C parents who demonstrate vocational commitment
D strong motivation to take exams and attend university
E a patient approach to achieving success
F the identification of the most talented child in the family

Choose the appropriate letters A—D.

6. The rat experiment was conducted to show that
A certain species of rat are more intelligent than others.
B intelligent rats are more motivated than ‘dull’ rats.
C a rat’s surroundings can influence its behavior.
D a boring environment has little impact on a ‘bright’ rat.
7. The writer cites the story of Martin Sheen to show that
A he was the first in a creative line.
B his parents did not have his creative flair.
C he became an actor without proper training.
D his sons were able to benefit from his talents.

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer? YES NO NOT GIVEN
8 Intelligence tests have now been proved to be unreliable.
9 The brother or sister of a gifted older child may fail to fulfill their own potential.
10 The importance of luck in the genius equation tends to be ignored.
11 Mozart was acutely aware of his own remarkable talent.
12 Einstein and Gates would have achieved success in any era.
Choose the most suitable title for the whole of Reading Passage.
A Geniuses in their time C Revising the definition of intelligence
B Education for the gifted D Nurturing talent within the family

Gifted children and learning

13 – 16 Which paragraph contains the following information?
13 a reference to the influence of the domestic background on the gifted child.
14 reference to what can be lost if learners are given too much guidance.
15 a reference to the damaging effects of anxiety.
16 examples of classroom techniques which favor socially-disadvantaged children.

Match each statement with the correct person or people, A-E.

17. Less time can be spent on exercises with gifted pupils who produce accurate work.
18. Self-reliance is a valuable tool that helps gifted students reach their goals.
19. Gifted children know how to channel their feelings to assist their learning.
20. The very gifted child benefits from appropriate support from close relatives.
21. Really successful students have learnt a considerable amount about their subject.

List of People
A Freeman
B Shore and Kanevsky
C Elshout
D Simonton
E Boekaerts

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
22. One study found a strong connection between children’s IQ and the availability of
______________________ at home.
23. Children of average ability seem to need more direction from teachers because they do not
have _______________________
24. Meta-cognition involves children understanding their own learning strategies, as well as
developing _______________________
25. Teachers who rely on what is known as _______________________ often produce sets
of impressive grades in class tests.