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Junior Bees Early Childhood Learning Articles & News Australia 14.01.2005 NURTURING THE GIFTEDNESS IN ALL CHILDREN By Brian G. Schaefer All children have the potential to perform beyond what is normally expected, so how do we nurture the giftedness within all children? Some say that identifying ‘giftedness’ in the early years of children is difficult due to their apparent short attention span and tendency to become distracted during assessment. A growing number of authorities have emphasised the benefits of early identification. Through personal experience I have concluded that waiting for, or delaying identification of giftedness, or any special need, will cause a loss or burying of the child’s abilities due to disassociation setting in. setting in. I often have found that, when identifying giftedness, an essentially important area is overlooked. This being that - a child’s ability or inability to focus and fix attention is markedly different to a child’s ability or inability to maintain attention during assessment. If a child is gifted in the area being tested, they will naturally be able to easily fix and focus attention on the task being assessed. If they are not gifted in this area, or have a physiological condition such as ADD/ ADHD/ Dyslexia, they may go into avoidance due to the stress of not having sufficient neural access or development to approach the task. Another possibility could be that they are in freeze/fight/flight mode to be calm enough for the task to be of immediate importance to focus attention on. This may be due to any number of stressors in the child’s life. A further possibility for a child not performing, or performing inconsistently, is out of sheer boredom. A child having already completed a task successfully and not caring to recreate the experience, may prefer instead to search for a new exciting and/or challenging task. This often comes across as the child’s inability, where it is really an issue of contempt due to a lack of stimulation and excitement in the new. Imagine for example, how you would feel if you have done a crossword and were forced to repeat the very same puzzle again not long after having completed it. Now add to this the fact that you may really not be in the mood, and feel like practicing a musical instrument instead! This is what so many of our children feel all day everyday in the education system. Children must be able to spontaneously learn and be provided with many opportunities that allow for active exploration through art, dramatic play, conversations, book readings etc. A child that is unable to spontaneously learn what is “on line” will be disinterested in the structured material being presented, therefore will not give a true indication of ability. If a child’s natural rhythms are in an expressive cycle and they are being forced to take in information or learn, it will be stressful, and vice versa. Due to the circadian biorhythmic nature of all things, the task of assessing performance will never be consistent unless these factors are taken into account! Our desensitisation leading to the ignorance of these natural ebbs and flows is the seat of a perpetuating cycle of stress that further keeps us removed from the true nature of our Being and Mind. Maintaining attention is another matter. Many children are unable to maintain attention for the same reasons as above, where as a practitioner and having lived with ADHD and Dyslexia myself, I find it is usually seated in and determined by dietary and nutritional factors. When a child’s diet is lacking nutrition, contains denatured food or inappropriate ingredients for the child’s constitution, it may create many imbalances such as blood glucose problems, allergies, ADD/ADHD. These conditions make consistent daily learning and assessment very difficult. THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE THEORY Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory presents the opportunity to define individual or unique gifts in intelligence and its expression, as well as the areas in which a weakness may lie. The 8 areas of intelligence are as follows: Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence. Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyse problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner's words, it entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking. Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related. Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence. Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives. Naturalist intelligence The naturalist intelligence refers to the ability to recognize and classify plants, minerals, and animals, including rocks and grass and all variety of flora and fauna. The ability to recognize cultural artefacts like cars or sneakers may also depend on the naturalist intelligence. There are other areas of intelligence yet to be clearly defined, that once agreed on may be included. They are: Spiritual, Existential and Moral. Every individual child is different at all stages of their development. Nurturing a child is only possible when we can define and be aware of these areas in which they are developing. This applies when addressing ‘giftedness’ and also a possible ‘weakness’ in a task or area of intelligence. Lacking or having weakness in one of the areas of intelligence due to physiological/psychological factors may cause ‘giftedness’ – which is in actual fact an over compensation in an area of strength! When this is allowed to develop it creates an imbalance in the formation and development of the whole person – in character or personality and skill! I feel it is possible to develop all areas of intelligence EQUALLY, to create a whole character and an empowered personality within each child. It is, therefore, essential to pay careful attention to both subtle strengths and weaknesses displayed. To then find and allow the exact way in which both can be addressed, and keep a curriculum balanced and in proportion to each stage of development, remains the challenge. The inability to address a weakness in a way in which is stress free will result in the child having a fear of being confronted by the circumstances in which they are lacking competence. Having creative, fun ways to address specific ‘weaknesses’ is as critically important as when addressing creative, fun ways to develop ‘giftedness’. After all, we are looking at our ability to instil information into a child’s mind by means of education! If we are lacking atonement with the nature of their mind we will only further remove the child from the integrated state. This prevents the sense of empowerment that can only come from knowing one’s ability to attune one’s mind in each moment to whatever is required of us in day-to-day life. We all have specific individual ways in which we need to learn and address certain tasks or situations. Unless this is consciously brought out and instilled within the person in the early stages of development, they will not feel equanimity and empowerment when dealing with all of life’s circumstances later in life. When we nurture all aspects of development appropriate to the individual child’s specific needs and ways of learning, they will grow to be confident and competent in all facets of life. Giftedness will only truly blossom once the residual fears that are associated with the areas of incompetence are dissolved in the light of this confidence and competency. This will be the case regardless of other factors such as locality, culture, religion, gender, age etc. The sense of being able to approach any task or cope with any problem, with confidence, gives us the opportunity to feel true lasting peace and joy for the real gift - Life, and not just the temporary pleasure or happiness that comes from completing a task or an assessment successfully. Brian Schaefer is a Wholistic Natural Therapist/ Health Researcher based on the Gold Coast, Australia. He is the founder of Universal Kinesiology and specialises in myopractic, diet, lifestyle and spiritual counselling. He has spent 21 years researching an extensive range of health and spiritual related subjects. Having personally grown up with severe learning difficulties (including ADHD and Dyslexia and all their related issues) as well as other major health problems and physical injuries, He has spent his whole adult life in the study of the underlying causes to learning problems and spiritual matters, and in search of wholistic treatments relating to all health issues. He now shares his experience and knowledge in his practice and is available for consultations and appointments. Contact: Ph: – 61- (0) 7- 55 312 982 E-mail: brainresearchf@yahoo.com Click here for articles archive Order Our Teaching Aids Online If you are a parent, long day carer or teacher you will find yourself responsible for the education of the children in your care throughout differing stages of their development, and it is therefore important that these needs be fully met. For information on how you can order these online, please click here
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