TALENTED AND LESS

TALENTED CHILDREN
,PROFICIENT AND NON
PROFICIENT LEARNERS,WAYS
OF IDENTIFYING THEM,
NURTURING THEM.

INTRODUCTION
Exceptional children are those children who deviate
significantly from the normal ones.
In other words children who show a considerable deviation
from what is supposed to be normal or average to their group
are labeled as exceptional children.
The exceptional may be significantly below average or
significantly above average in the various aspects of human
knowledge and development.
Such children are so exceptionally inferior or superior to the
normal children in terms of physical development, mental
ability, social behaviour and emotional reactions that they
experience a sort of maladjustment in life.
They need special care and education for their proper
adjustment and maximum utilization of their abilities.

'Gifted' refers to children with high potential (basically

due to their inheritance) while 'talented' means that
they display skills which are advanced when compared
to other children of their age.
Many different terms are used to describe gifted
children, for example, gifted, talented, special
abilities, exceptionable, and highly creative.
Popular opinion often associates giftedness with high
intelligence and talent with a high level of
performance in such areas as music, art, craft, dance, or
sport.

Being gifted means being exceptional in one or

more are as compared to other people of a
similar age.
Giftedness is inherited (nature) but is also
developed by external influences (nurture).
Giftedness can be found among people from all
cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic groups and
among people who have physical, sensory, and
learning disabilities.

WHAT IS GIFTEDNESS?
Giftedness means being exceptional in one or
more areas compared with ones peers.
It can be found among people from all cultural,
ethnic, and socio-economic groups.
People who have physical, sensory, and learning
disabilities can be gifted as well.
Gifted children commonly show high levels of
ability, creativity, and task commitment.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GIFTED CHILDREN

Reasons well (good thinker)
Learns rapidly
Has an extensive vocabulary
Has an excellent memory
Has a long attention span (if interested)
Is sensitive (feels hurt easily)
Shows compassion
Is a perfectionist
Is intense
Is morally sensitive
Is strongly curious
Perseveres (when interested)
Has a high degree of energy

Prefers older companions

Has a wide range of interests
Has a great sense of humor
Is an early or avid reader (if too young to read, loves
being read to)
Is concerned with justice/fairness
Has keen powers of observation
At times, demonstrates a judgment that is mature for
age
Is highly creative
Tends to question authority

WHAT MAKES A CHILD GIFTED

AND TALENTED?
Giftedness is due to a combination of factors
including what the child inherits genetically, the
development of the child before birth, and the
nurturing of the child.
Giftedness is hard to define, and not surprisingly,
a number of definitions of giftedness exist.

It is generally accepted that a gifted child would

have the potential to perform at a level that is
significantly beyond that of the majority of other
children of the same age, in one or more skill
areas such as language, problem solving, physical
or interpersonal skills.
A gifted child may have the potential to become,
for example, a great artist, thinker or athlete.
A gifted and talented child not only has this
potential, but is developing the skills to perform
at this advanced level.

Through their interactions with others and with their

environment, they are becoming much more able than
other children to do some things.
For example, they may be able to engage in very 'adult'
conversation at a very young age, or hit a tennis ball
much harder and more accurately than expected.
A child may be gifted with the potential to develop
advanced skills in many areas, but will become talented
in those areas that are available to him or her.
Early identification of a child's giftedness may mean that
the child has access to more support to develop skills in
many areas, so that the child can find interests that will
bring him or her great pleasure

HOW TO SUPPORT A GIFTED CHILD

Many gifted children are more sensitive than their peers.
Gifted children may face a range of challenges, including
being distanced from their peers by their advanced
abilities and having to deal with unrealistic expectations.
They need to be nurtured; their giftedness and learning
need to be valued; and they need to be given time,
attention, and patience and to be supported to expand
their skills.
A gifted childs learning opportunities are enhanced when
parents and teachers work in partnership, sharing
information and ideas.

Learning opportunities for encouraging giftedness include:

community programmes and events, extra-curricular
activities, clubs, mentors, resources, such as books,
games, puzzles, art materials, musical instruments, and
technologies, such as the Internet and computer
programs.
Parents can help their gifted children to overcome
difficulties by keeping the communication lines open,
providing opportunities for their children to make
friends, and helping their children develop strategies to
deal with problems such as teasing and perfectionism.

WHAT HAS BEEN GIVEN FOR THE

EDUCATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN
Selection
No separate classes
Curriculum
Faster promotions to higher classes
Individual education
Extracurricular activities
Facilities and apparatus

SOME BASIC REQUIREMENTS

Gifted children often need certain basic conditions to grow and
bloom. These conditions include:

A Nurturing Environment
Time, Attention, and Patience
Learning Opportunities, Experiences, and Resources

HOW TO IDENTIFY GIFTEDNESS

Gifted children's behavior differs from that of their agemates in the following ways:
Many gifted children learn to read early, with better
comprehension of the nuances of language.
As much as half the gifted and talented population has
learned to read before entering school.
Gifted children often read widely, quickly, and intensely
and have large vocabularies.
Gifted children commonly learn basic skills better, more
quickly, and with less practice.
They are better able to construct and handle
abstractions

They often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can

draw inferences that other children need to have spelled
out for them.
They take less for granted, seeking the "how's" and
"whys."
They can work independently at an earlier age and can
concentrate for longer periods.
Their interests are both wildly eclectic and intensely
focused.
They often have seemingly boundless energy, which
sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity.
They usually respond and relate well to parents,
teachers, and other adults. They may prefer the company
of older children and adults to that of their peers.

They like to learn new things, are willing to examine the

unusual, and are highly inquisitive.
They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organized,
goal-directed, and efficient manner.
They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or
explore and are often very persistent. "I'd rather do it
myself" is a common attitude.

LEARNING CHARACTERISTICS

Gifted children are natural learners who often show many

of these characteristics:
They may show keen powers of observation and a sense
of the significant; they have an eye for important details.
They may read a great deal on their own, preferring
books and magazines written for children older than they
are.
They often take great pleasure in intellectual activity.

They are often skeptical, critical, and evaluative. They

are quick to spot inconsistencies.
They often have a large storehouse of information about
a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly.
They readily grasp underlying principles and can often
make valid generalizations about events, people, or
objects.
They quickly perceive similarities, differences, and
anomalies.
They often attack complicated material by separating it
into components and analyzing it systematically.

CREATIVE CHARACTERISTICS
Gifted children's creative abilities often set them apart from their agemates. These characteristics may take the following forms:
Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities,
consequences, or related ideas.
They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and
approaches to problem solving.
They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusual, or unconventional
associations and combinations among items of information.
They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects,
ideas, or facts.
They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or
other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems.
They are willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem
solving.
They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or "what if"
questions.

They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and

irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity.
They are extremely curious about objects, ideas,
situations, or events.
They often display intellectual playfulness and like to
fantasize and imagine.
They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers
are in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often
disagree spiritedly with others' statements.
They are sensitive to beauty and are attracted to
aesthetic values.

IDENTIFICATION OF GIFTEDNESS
IN YOUNG CHILDREN
There are a number of characteristics that can signal to a
professional that a young child might be gifted. There are
behaviors that can be observed that indicate when a childs
thinking or learning is advanced. Examples include:
early development of language
abstract thinking
strong memory
a capacity to focus and concentrate on tasks of interest
intellectual curiosity
a strong motivation to learn.

PROFICIENT AND NON PROFICIENT

LEARNER

In education, the term proficiency is used in a variety of

ways. Most commonly in reference to,
Proficiency levels, scales and cut off scores on
standardized tests and other forms of assessment.
Students achieving or failing to achieve proficiency
levels determined by tests and assessments.
Students demonstrating or failing to demonstrate
proficiency in relation to learning standards.
Teachers being seemed proficient or non- proficient on
job-performance evaluations.

To understand how proficiency works in educational

contacts, it is important to recognize that all
proficiency determinations are based on some forms of
standards or measurement system, and that
proficiency levels change in direct relation to the
scales, standards, tests and calculations methods being
used to evaluate and determine proficiency.

The major issues related to proficiency

determinations in education.
High standards vs. low standards.
One source of debate is related to the standards upon
which a proficiency determination is based and whether
the standards are being applied consistently or fairly to
produce accurate results. Some may argue, for example
that the standards or cut off scores for proficiency on a
given test are too low , and therefore the test results will
only produce False positives i.e. they will indicate that
students are proficient when they are not.

Common systems vs. disparate systems;Since proficiency must be determined by some form of
measurement system- whether it is a certain percentage
of correct answers on a test or a highly sophisticated
mathematical algorithm , as with Value-added measures
and in teacher evaluation proficiency determinations can
be more or less accurate based on the quality of the
system being used or they can be comparable or
incomparable

Learning vs. reporting:-

As described above, it may be possible for students to learn

a lot in schools but still appear to have learned very little
due to the systems and standards being applied, or due to
the misalignment of teaching and testing. Students may
learn important skills in school such as problem solving
and researching that are not specifically evaluated by
tests or they may have learned a large body of knowledge,
just not the knowledge evaluated by a given test or
assessment

Appropriate vs. inappropriate proficiency levels:Proficiency determinations are the object of debates
related to the appropriateness or in appropriateness of a
given proficiency scale, standard or system. Is it
appropriate to hold on a non-English speaking student
to the same proficiency standards as measured by the
same English language tests as a native Englishstudent? Teacher evaluations are another object of
debate and controversy on this issue, particularly when
it comes to factoring student achievement in to
performance evaluation.

REFORM
Proficiency based learning is generally seen as an alternative to
more traditional approaches in which students may or may not
acquire proficiency in a given course credit, get promoted to the next
grade level, or graduate .
The goal of proficiency based learning is to ensure that more
students learn what they are expected to learn, the approach can also
provide information about student learning progress , which can help
them more precisely identify academic strengths and weakness as
well as the specific concepts and skills students have not yet mastered.
When schools transition to a proficiency based system, it can entail
significant changes in how a school operates and teaches students,
affecting everything from the schools educational philosophy and
culture to its methods of instruction testing, grading, reporting,
promotion and graduation.
Schools may use different methods of instruction and assessment to
determine whether students have achieved proficiency learning
pathways, personal learning, plans, portfolios, rubrics and capstone
projects

ELL PROFICIENCY LEVELS:

Level 1 Basic
Students at this level have very limited or no
understanding of English. They rarely use English for
communication. They can respond nonverbally to
commands, statements and questions in simple form. As
their oral comprehension measures they begin to use
simple words and phrases, and may use English
spontaneously.

Level 2- Low intermediate:These students can understand short conversation on

simple topics .They rely on familiarity, they use
repetition, gestures and non verbal cues to sustain
conversation. When reading students at this level can
understand basic narrative text and authentic materials,
although they will be below grade level. They rely on
contextual and visual cuse to aid in comprehension. They
can begin to identify the main idea and supporting
details of passages. They can write simple notes and
make brief journal entries using basic vocabulary and
common language structures. Frequent errors are
characteristics at this level.

Level-3: High intermediate:

At this level students can understand standard speech
delivered in most settings with some repetition and rewording. They can understand the main idea and some
details of extended discourse. They can communicate
orally in most setting. Students at this level can
comprehend the contents of many texts independently,
although they still may not be on grade level, they still
require support in understanding accadamic text. They
can read many literature selections for pleasure. They
can write multi paragraph compositions, journal entries,
letters and relative passages. They can present their
thoughts in an organized manner but errors may still be
present.

Level 4: Proficient:
Students at this level have adequate language skills for day
to-day communication. Occasional, structural and lexical
errors still occur. They may still have difficulty with
idiomatic expressions and words with multiple meanings.
They may still have difficulty with complex structures and
abstract academic concepts, but are able to communicate
in English in new or unfamiliar settings. Students at this
level write for personal and academic purposes.
Structures Vocabulary and overall organizations should
approximate the writing of native speakers at their level.
However it is still possible for errors to occur

Level-5: Advanced proficient:

Students at this advanced level have demonstrated English
proficiency as determined by state assessment
instruments (ELPA-English- Language-ProficientAssessment). They are expected to be able to participate
fully with their peers in graduate level content area
classes

CONCLUSION

All children have special talents that need to be noticed and

nurtured so they will do well in school and in their later
lives.
In the past, poor students, students with limited English
language skills, and students from diverse cultures have
been overlooked by schools when they selected children for
programs for the gifted.
Schools used a very narrow definition of intelligence that
did not account for the different ways that children show
their abilities, or for the fact that some children have
difficulty in showing their talents at all.
Now, though, schools are using broader- and fairer--methods
to identify children with special talents, and the students in
gifted programs represent much more varied backgrounds

Parents can be very important in helping their children

develop their talents by working with them at home.
Parents can also make schools aware of their children's
talents, and work with them to make sure that their
children are in a program that challenges them
intellectually and responds to their educational and
emotional needs.

THANK YOU