Gifted Children Equals More:
When we think about the reading characteristics of gifted children, we should think about the word "MORE". They read early, with many reading during preschool years. Nearly all are independently reading by the time they start school. They read better, and seldom require drills to master reading skills. They read longer, with many reading more hours each week than their classmates. Many read voraciously, many reading throughout their school years and into adulthood. Gifted readers read a great variety of literature, and are more likely to branch out from realistic fiction to fantasy, historical fiction and biography (Hawkins, 1983). (1)
Reading Abilities Develop in Spurts:
With gifted readers, reading abilities develop in spurts with strong reading skills developing practically overnight. Children can know their letters and sounds when they are 2 or 3 years old, and stay at that level until they are 4 or 5. At the age of 4 or 5, they can develop reading fluency to a third or fourth grade level in a matter of months.
Physical Development:
Vision:
Because young children normally do not fix their eyes on short distances, such as reading, they are normally far-sighted until their school years. Unless there are obvious vision issues, eye screenings do not normally take place until a child is school-aged (at kindergarten or first grade). When children read at an early age, their eyes can become near-sighted at a younger age.
The AOA (American Optometric Association) recommends eye exams at ages 1, 3 and 5, with many state AOA organizations having programs such as InfantSEE® and Kids Welcome Here Children's Vision 1-3-5®. Note that these are eye examinations, and not just eye screenings. According to the AOA, eye screenings can miss up to 60% of vision problems. The purpose of an eye examination is to make sure a child's vision is developing properly and there is no evidence of eye disease.
Back Posture:
Children who read for long periods of time can develop back problems. These problems can be caused by improper posture when reading for long periods of time. Hunching over can be caused by poor lighting. The optimal lighting is for the light to come down from above the reader so the reader can sit up straight. Reading with a short bedside lamp can be a less-than-optimal lighting situation. If your child is experiencing back issues, look at their reading posture. Reading on their stomachs and elbows on the floor, reading while sitting on their floor with their backs against the bed and a bedside lamp coming from above them, or a lamp that is above their heads with light coming down on their reading materials can encourage better reading posture. Teach them to take breaks and stretch. Consider a children’s yoga or pilates DVD to stretch and strengthen torso and core muscles.
Intellectual Development:
Intellectual Needs of Gifted Children
Barbara Clark (1983) described characteristics that differentiate gifted children from others, and then went on to list needs related to each characteristic. She went on to explain that books, reading programs, and group book discussions can easily address these needs. Her list includes the following needs:
- To be exposed to new and challenging information about the environment and the culture.
- To be exposed to varied subjects and concerns.
- To be allowed to pursue ideas as far as their interests take them.
- To encounter and use increasingly difficult vocabulary and concepts.
- To be exposed to ideas at rates appropriate to the individual’s pace of learning.
- To pursue inquiries beyond allotted time spans.
- To have access to intellectual peers.
- To share ideas verbally in depth.
- To have a longer incubation time for ideas.
- To build skills in productive thinking.
- To draw generalizations and test them. (1)
How to Promote Intellectual Development Through Reading
Teachers can promote intellectual development of gifted students through books by
- Using literature as a supplement to the readings in texts.
- Forming discussion groups based on books.
- Following programs such as Junior Great Books.
Metacognition and Reading
The concept of metacognition (thinking about thinking) represents a deeper and more complex way that reading intellectually affects advanced readers and gifted children. The more complexity within a book, the greater the likelihood that children will subconsciously reflect upon the issues. It is helpful to use reflective questions that help advanced readers to bring their subconscious thinking and analysis to the surface, and to provide adults and others around them a better understanding of their thinking. This is excellent practice for the child, and provides better information for adults to guide their reading choices and their thinking processes.
Re-reading favorite books
It is not uncommon for children to want to repeatedly re-read books that are more complex. For example, many parents have observed their children re-read the “Harry Potter” series, which allows them to increase the enjoyment of the characters and the clever creativity, and to better understand the many, many threads that run through the series of books. Re-reading favorite books can be very beneficial. Adults can help their children further their enjoyment and help them move on when re-reading becomes too repetitive by having their children discuss the books with reflective questions so that children can practice putting into words why they enjoy the books so much, by having their children research and expand their knowledge of specific topics from the books that they enjoyed, and by introducing other books from the same genre. Finding ways for children who enjoy a particular series of books, or book topics, to expand their creative thinking is providing positive leadership.
Emotional Development:
Asynchronous Development:
Asynchronous development, where different skills develop at different rates, is common in bright and gifted children. This means that bright children can intellectually be aware of information that emotionally they are not yet ready to handle.
Emotional Challenges of Gifted Children:
“In recent years educators and parents have become more aware of the need to nurture the social and emotional development of gifted children in addition to meeting their intellectual needs. Gifted children and youth must face the same challenges as they grow that everyone else faces, but the phenomenon of giftedness can make growing up more difficult for them. They may experience isolation, feelings of difference and even inferiority, and the sense of being misunderstood or not understood by their classmates and by adults. Because of their extreme sensitivity and intensity, they may be more seriously affected by teasing and criticism than most. They must continually choose between the alternatives of using their ability or fitting in with their group (Gross, 1989)." (1)
How Reading Can Help:
“These affective concerns can also be addressed through the use of books In many novels for children and young people, the issues just listed are major themes, whether or not the characters are identified as gifted. Adults who read and discuss such books with gifted young people can guide them in preparing for or coping with the extra dimensions that being gifted adds to the process of growing up." (1)
Bibliotherapy Helps Meet Emotional Needs:
“Those who use book discussions to meet emotional needs are using a form of Developmental Bibliotherapy. Developmental bibliotherapy offers a way of assisting individuals who are facing a particular life stage or a specific situation (such as giftedness) for which they can be better prepared through reading and discussion. Rather than merely recommending a book to a child, it includes three components: a reader, a book, and a leader who will read the same book and prepare for productive discussion of the issues the book raises.
“To be effective, the leader must be aware of the process of bibliotherapy:
- Identification: in which the reader identifies with a character in the book.
- Catharsis: the reader’s experiencing of the emotions attributed to the character.
- Insight: the application of the character’s experience to the reader’s own life.
“The leader then frames questions that will confirm and expand on these elements. Like reading guidance, developmental bibliotherapy can be used with individuals or with groups. However, using it well requires more background than reading guidance, and the leader must be alert for indications that the child should be referred to a mental health professional. More information on developmental bibliotherapy can be found in 'Guiding Gifted Readers' (Halsted, 1988), and background information on clinical bibliotherapy, the forerunner of developmental bibliotherapy, can be found in 'Bibliotherapy: The Interactive Process'” (Hynes & Hynes-Berry, 1986). (1)
(1) "Guiding the Gifted Reader" by Judith Wynn Halsted. ERIC EC Digest #E481 (1990). Read the full article by
clicking here.
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