Is a gifted child a cause for concern?

Psychologies: They say all children are born capable. If so, what are they (or rather, all of us) capable of?

Alexander Wenger: Any child who is born healthy, without medical pathology, has what Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev called “the abilities of the human race.” He is able to master speech, learn to perceive music and reproduce it with his voice (that is, sing), play musical instruments, and draw. Every child has the potential to master any mass profession. Everyone is able to successfully participate in public life.

I’m afraid parents mean something else when they say, “My child is bright.”

Each of us has developed the “faculties of the human race” to varying degrees. As Orwell said, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” So here too. Anyone can be taught to sing (skating, skiing), but this skill is easier for one and more difficult for another.

These are individual differences. With hard work and training, everyone is able to achieve medium-high results in mastering some business. And not everyone will achieve outstanding results.

Does this require especially high abilities, talent?

Yes, and they are of two types – general and special. General abilities are important for almost any activity.

Is it the ability to concentrate, to think analytically?

Quite right. Still – a good memory, intelligence, critical thinking … And special abilities are important for some specific activity. For an artist, this is the ability to create a complete image. For an actor – the ability to subtle and precise expression of feelings.

Giftedness – a particularly high level of development of these abilities?

Some scientists think so. But perhaps this is a different way of seeing, thinking. Let’s say my youngest son was math proficient, but my eldest son is simply capable. The difference between them is 5 years. I let them both solve the problem. Soon the younger gives the answer. I ask: how do you understand this? But he can’t explain: well, it’s true. A little later, the older one also solves the problem, but he, unlike the younger one, can explain the path.

Gifted people – no matter how old they are – have great difficulty telling how they got to something. Einstein describes in his diaries that he imagined a physical task as tensing and relaxing various muscles. To solve the problem is to bring it into a certain harmonious state. When equilibrium is found, the problem is solved. But it is almost impossible to describe the path in words.

Parents are sometimes so subjective and partial to their children that in their every action, drawing, movement of thought they are ready to discern the beginnings of giftedness. How to understand whether it is giftedness, and how this giftedness should be developed?

I don’t think it needs to be developed. It is necessary to promote the development of the child himself, and not his giftedness.

Why?

Giftedness is more a matter of concern and concern for parents than a reason for joy. As Kozma Prutkov said, “a narrow specialist is like a flux, his fullness is one-sided.” Such children are doomed to one-sided development; their socialization is often disturbed; the ability to communicate easily with others.

If a child who, for example, draws well, is taken by his parents to a tourist circle, he will make friends there and learn how to communicate. But will he lose time there, instead of mastering the skill of the artist?

Any creative person needs impressions. Hiking will give a gifted child a new bright experience, which he will then reflect in the drawings. Focusing on one direction probably makes sense, but we still don’t know how. Teaching technique is more likely to ruin giftedness and turn the child into a craftsman. After all, its most important component is originality.

Remember Gogol’s “Portrait”? When the gifted artist Chartkov began to paint portraits in a certain manner for the sake of earning money, he filled his hand very well. But when he wanted to paint a real picture, he could no longer do it: the hand itself went along the usual path. This happens especially quickly with children: having mastered the standard technique, they do something original, with great difficulty.

When to start mastering the skill?

It depends on the type of activity. For example, ballet requires an early start, and in the fine arts it is worth teaching the craft no earlier than 11-12 years old, when the child has already accumulated what he would like to express. Musicians also have to master the technique of setting hands very early.

But I am convinced that a child’s emotional acquaintance with music (painting, dance) should begin earlier than mastering a craft. From the first months of life it is useful to listen to music, later – to improvise in dance, draw, sing. But the technique should appear later.

When exactly? I would be guided by the upper age limits indicated by professionals. Now, if a teacher says that it’s too late to start learning to play the piano after 7 years, then I would rather take a child to him at 6,5 years old, and not at 4.

And how do parents understand what a child is prone to? It is impossible to try all kinds of activities while the child is small?

Why is it possible. The set of activities for a preschooler is limited. He draws, plays with toys, sings, moves actively, climbs hills and stairs, dances, plays musical instruments – some kind of pipes, piano. All this is quite affordable.

But if, say, there is no piano, and parents are far from music?

In this case, the child is unlikely to develop musical abilities. Even if they are by nature laid down. The atmosphere that surrounds the child is extremely important. It happens that the family is far from music, but there is a wonderful music director in the kindergarten. He will note the child’s good hearing and sense of rhythm.

However, parents should also show interest. Do not look with indifference at the drawings of your son or daughter, but rejoice at them and praise especially successful ones. It’s definitely not necessary to praise the bad, but there’s no need to scold either. Even an adult has the right to fail.

And now, for example, a child tries to do all this, and something he does especially well. His drawings make a clearly strong emotional impression. He is very flexible and mobile, expressively sings or plays music. In this case, it is advisable to enroll him in a good school or circle where he can develop these abilities.

This is where the “flux” begins to grow, because all the efforts of teachers are aimed at raising a genius.

The parents of any gifted child are faced with a dilemma: to direct him along the path of high achievements or to aim at “simple human happiness.” While the child is small, this choice remains with the parents.

And if it is made in favor of high achievements, I can advise fathers and mothers only one thing: to take a minimal part in the professional development of the child. And make the most of everything else. To captivate with sports games, art, cooking, if the child is loaded intellectually. And vice versa. And let the coaches and teachers do the profession.

Is it necessary to send a gifted child to a special school?

A child with high general abilities in a regular school, everything comes too easily. He does not develop perseverance in achieving the goal. Therefore, when he leaves the university and begins to pursue a profession, he gives up. Indeed, in any work there is a lot of routine that requires perseverance. Faced with failure, a person thinks: “Apparently, I chose the wrong field of activity.”

He gets a second education, sometimes a third one, but again he fails at work. The person loses faith in himself. According to international data, only 3-5% of gifted people realize their high abilities in adulthood.

What happens to the other 95%? Among them there is a very high percentage of outcasts who suffer from alcoholism and use drugs. They perceive their life as completely uncomplicated. After all, a high level of expectations was formed in childhood.

What can parents do to prevent their child from falling into the 95%?

To find the same circle, section, school, where it will be quite difficult for him. If this is not possible, set tasks of increased difficulty for him himself. And besides – to focus it not on a formal assessment, but on the process of activity and on the result. After all, a gifted person is different in that he comes up with something new, unusual, seemingly “wrong”. That is why external evaluations are often negative.

And what is the percentage of generally gifted people in society?

It depends on the criteria we apply. Usually referred to as 1% of the total population.

Does it make sense for parents to test their child to see how gifted they are?

This is not required. It is enough to be attentive to the child. If he does something better than most other children, find a way to realize these abilities in a special school. And at home, continue to engage in harmonious development, focusing on social skills, the ability to build relationships with people.

Children do not always wake up love for what they do well. For example, a child draws wonderfully, but he is primarily interested in football. In this case, give it to the football section, but still try to instill interest in drawing too – find an enthusiastic teacher, write it down in a good art circle.

However, a gifted child, most likely, will not have to instill interest. Because children, just like adults, love to do what they are good at. The more obvious the ability, the more willingly the child does it. Parents can only support him and celebrate his successes.