CHALLENGES OF RAISING A GIFTED CHILDwww.drlakshmisharma.com

Dr Lakshmi Sharma Workshop on Giftedness Part 4

NO LIMITS TO LEARNING! BELIEVE & YOU CAN ACHIEVE!

Challenges

• Family & Friends• Schooling & Education• Bullying & Socialisation• Stereotype• Gender & Giftedness• Relating to Your Gifted Child• The Gifted Mind

I have just discovered my child is gifted !Great news ……………………..!!!!

4 months later !!! Sweetpea,Please don’t ask me WHY again! I need sleep!

Why do the other mums shun me at

schoolThe teacher says she

wont accelerate m

y

child –”he’s fine

where he is!”

My

child

is

bore

d at

sc

hool

MMM Not such a gift after all …………………………………..

Problem !

•Most adults think this is what a gifted child is;

Family & friends• Compare children especially within family – other parents feel inadequate

• Common response…Well you push her/him that’s why she/he knows so much

• Or ….I don’t believe in giftedness all children are the same

• Most gifted parents hide their children’s giftedness due to bad experiences

• Stressful dealing with school/parents/teachers

Misconception !

Gifted does not mean EINSTEIN

Schooling & EducationThis is covered in workshop 5

Briefly though;

Special programmes for giftedGrade SkippingHome SchoolingHigh schoolPrimary school

Bullying

There are 2 causes of bullying:

• Socialisation Difficulty:Highly gifted low social skills

• Jealousy:Too clever & stand out

Constant monitoring is essential

If not dealt with child withdraws & acts dumb to hide the intelligence

Socialisation

• Many gifted children have low social skills

• Tend to make one close friend find it hard in groups

• However gifted children in groups of gifted children socialise well

• Need to find local groups for gifted kids

• Gifted children need support and understanding

• Monitor their friendship circle ensure they are not isolated

• If at school report to teacher immediately any issues

Stereotypes

Must be aware of this !

• Teachers & parents stereotype as little Einsteins • High expectations • Child highly pressurised• Child fears failure due to labelling• Gender stereotypes….

Gender & Giftedness

• Girls hide giftedness (STEM) more than boys

• Girls tend to dumb down to fit in with classmates

• Boys better at STEM – society –complete rubbish!

• Boys & girls equal

• Boys owing to society – masculinity - hide giftedness in music & art

• Be aware & deal head on

The Gifted Mind

• Education – often Gifted children not challenged enough at school• Home is for study, school is for play • Encourage Strategic Games – high order thinking• Chess, Scrabble, crosswords• Encourage Geometric partial reasoning & creativity Origami, lego etc• Encourage creativity – pottery/ art classes• Encourage musical instrument & sport• Encourage Language

Just in case you were wondering ….?

• No listening to Mozart does not raise your child’s IQ!

• IQ game claims …… complete rubbish!

• Give a kid a cardboard box & pens and their creativity flourishes

Relating to your gifted child

Believe me we have all been there !

Do not feel guilty that you are not doing enough – you are !

Common Parental Woes

• Short sleep time & high energy

• Emotionally draining – gifted children highly sensitive

• Constant explanation of the child’s questions –non stop

• Child has constant need to expand knowledge thinking

• Constant battle with school to get child’s needs met

Parents

• Gifted Parents constantly feel lost and inadequate

• Common Theme - How do we as parents keep this child fulfilled & happy.

• We are doing everything and nothing’s working.

• Conflicting advice from people

• All gifted kids are different there isn’t one solution

• Have faith & keep going – remember you are the expert on your child !

A gifted child must be challenged

Solutions !!!

• Just have to employ tactics

• Knowledge - questions – self learn – effective

Answer their questions - what do you think? Enable that high order thinking

Get them to write an essay on it

Make them responsible for their educational issues – in the long run will

save you so much time

Solutions cont’d

• Sensitivity – talk it through – try & relate

• Hyperactive gifted kids very common

• Have calming games or creative activities at hand– origami for me is sensational, cards & even pen &

paper

• Many parents look to the tablet/ipad however this is a mistake & will pay for it later

• Ipads & tablets – difficult to withdraw child from & have to deal with temper tantrums & bargaining

• Also makes some kids more hyperactive & the added screen time difficult to calm child down.

Keys ideas that allow you time & kid expanding knowledge!

• Learning Journal/Diary –Ask the child to write what they have learned that day then or draw a picture

• Give them an article to read & get them to think about the issue.

• Give your child a newspaper/article to read (whatever their interest is in ) – ask them to create a poster

on it.

• Most kids love cooking ….get the cooking books out and ask them to create their own recipe with specific

ingredients- kids love this! Then get the child to write up the recipe – then collect all recipes and produce

a book (online books quite cheap). Then cook together with the child.

• Wordsearches and crosswords are fantastic kids love them !

• Books – what I found most appealing is getting a book that has a series – oh my goodness the kid cannot

stop reading. My child sat for hours reading all of Roald Dahl’s and Harry Potter series.

• Link book to activity ! My child loved Harry Potter & after reading the books then went and made spell

books kept her occupied for ages !!!!! Thanks J.K. Rowling !!!!

Warning

From my experience:

• Gifted children’s literature doesn’t really exist• Reading age of 15 but child 9 – very difficult !• Check literature – at 15 book subject focusses on teenage angst• Inappropriate reading for that young age

Difficult to find high level vocab with innocent storyline!

HOPE YOU LIKED THE WORKSHOP !

www.drlakshmisharma.com

NO LIMITS TO LEARNING! BELIEVE & YOU CAN ACHIEVE!