A gifted child can be considered one who... Children's giftedness. There are three types of creativity

Probably every parent believes that their child is especially talented and smart. But for some reason, the egalitarian point of view is more welcome in society: pediatricians, educators and teachers will most likely tell you that all children are talented in their own way, and your child is no different from ordinary children. But we know that this is not so. That our child is special. That he already knew the alphabet at two years old, and at three he could read the “Exit” sign. But how can you prove this?

Still, professionals in the field of pediatrics are disingenuous: there are no children with exactly the same characteristics. And comparative tables of giftedness exist. Giftedness levels can tell us how ahead a child is in development of his peers, they range from just a smart child to.

Why do you need to know your child's intellectual level? Then, to help him develop his potential and create additional opportunities for talent development.

Level 1

By the age of 2, such children are familiar with many concepts: they can distinguish and name colors, list numbers up to ten in the correct order, and can assemble a simple jigsaw puzzle or picture using cubes themselves.

Most of them have developed speech by the age of 3, and by the age of 4 they know most letters and can write in block letters some letters, numbers, your name.

By the age of 6, these children can type on a computer, and by the age of 7, read books divided into chapters.

In normal average school class out of 25 people you can find 6-8 children of this level. Children who are one step ahead of the rest of their peers, who grasp everything on the fly and seem to already know in advance what the teacher is explaining to the rest of the class.

Level 2

These smart children, by the age of 15 months, love to leaf through books with bright pictures without lifting the pages, and listen carefully when adults read to them. Some even have favorite fairy tales.

By 18 months, such children already know some letters of the alphabet, and by 20 months, colors.

By age 6, they are fluent readers and enjoy listening to books read to them for older children.

In a school class you can find 1-2 children of this level. They are usually so ahead of other children that it is difficult for them to make friends.

Level 3

From birth, such children are active and show interest in the world around them: they begin to look around the room early, respond to faces, sounds and speech.

By 6 months, such children understand speech addressed to them well: when you name a toy or a person they know, the child begins to look for them with his eyes.

Everything that level 2 children do by 15 months, level 3 children begin to do by 10-12 months.

By the age of 2, such children know the entire alphabet, remember simple favorite books by heart and can put together jigsaw puzzles of 35-50 elements.

By the age of 3, they speak well, like to write letters, and can count in reverse order and perform simple mathematical operations involving addition and subtraction.

By age 5, these children are usually proficient readers, and by age 6, many can multiply and divide prime numbers.

Most of these children are 2-4 years ahead of their peers by age 6, find schooling too slow and boring, and usually have few friends among their peers.

Out of 100 children of the same age, usually only 1 or 2 children belong to this level.

Level 4

Children at this level begin to show an interest in books as early as a few months of age and love to be read aloud.

Until the age of two, they are 2-5 months ahead of children at level 3.

By the age of 2, they have a fairly large vocabulary.

Most people begin to read simple books independently at 3.5-4.5 years old and can perform basic mathematical calculations with simple numbers, and by the age of 6 they enjoy reading books for teenagers and adults, understanding most of what is written.

By the age of 7-8 they are 5-8 years ahead of their peers.

Out of 500 children of the same age, usually only 1 child meets this level. It is difficult for them to find friends among their peers, so they like to be alone or make friends with older children.

Level 5

Children at this level show talent in almost any area. They do everything earlier and more actively than other children.

At the age of 6-8 months they have their favorite TV shows. By 10-14 months, they know letters and numbers (cannot pronounce them, but can point to them) and can sort objects according to their geometric shapes.

At 16-24 months they can write letters, numbers, their name and individual simple words or put them together from other objects (sticks, pebbles, etc.).

By 18 months they begin to show musical, dramatic and artistic abilities.

By the age of 2, most of these children speak almost at an adult level.

By age 3, children are interested in science, how things work, biology, and aspects of life and death. They begin to become interested in encyclopedias and dictionaries.

By age 4, they can perform basic math calculations with complex numbers. Can play board games intended for children 12 years of age and enjoy solving problems and puzzles.

By the age of 8-10 they can complete a ten-year school course.

The frequency of compliance with this level is approximately 1 in a million, and such a child has nothing to do in a regular school.

Is it necessary to “deprive a child of his childhood”?

Parents with several children most likely noticed that each child has his own unique interests and talents, even if all children are raised and developed in the same way. This happens because the child's abilities for the most part are innate - we can only recognize them and help them develop. Once you identify, your job is to help him develop his abilities by involving him in a variety of activities: art, science, mathematics, etc.

To ignore a child’s abilities and to artificially “extend his childhood” means to deprive him of what he knows how to do and loves to do, that is, to learn and experience everything new. A child's brain develops faster when it receives some kind of new information. Without training, even the most outstanding talents can wither away. Psychologists believe that there are many more geniuses and talented people among us than is believed. Maybe your child is one of them?

On November 20, World Children's Day is celebrated all over the world. Almost half a century ago, the UN General Assembly recommended that all countries introduce the celebration of World Children's Day as a day of world brotherhood and mutual understanding among children.

Today, much attention is paid to the issues of early development and upbringing of children. Psychologists believe that anyone can be potentially gifted. healthy child. Under favorable conditions that are created for him at school and at home, potential talents develop into real ones.

There are many techniques that develop a child’s intelligence, memory and creativity. All of them are aimed at maximizing the child’s capabilities.

Early development is supported by the fact that in the first years of life, brain cells develop rapidly, and the basis is laid for the further growth of a person’s abilities and qualities. That’s why it’s so important to work with a child on speech and help him with mental development.

Mental and spiritual qualities must not be overlooked. If a child is constantly scolded, he will learn to condemn; if he is praised, he will learn to evaluate; if he is insulted, he will learn to be guilty. But a friendly atmosphere and approval will give the child a feeling of self-importance and need, and will help him understand how to find and give love.

Games

Raising a little genius must begin with play. Studies on rats have shown that an active play environment increases brain volume by 25%. The same thing happens with a person. Beautiful toys that develop imagination have the same effect on a child. It is extremely important to provide him with free access to them and the opportunity to choose.

The optimal set of toys for a future genius includes paints, plasticine, colored paper, construction sets, balls, a sports corner (wall bars, swings, trampoline), role-playing sets (doll houses for girls, workshops for boys), simple musical instruments, soft toys . There shouldn’t be too many of the latter; it’s worth knowing when to stop in everything.

Children also need to be taught games. It is important that parents themselves play with their children for a few minutes a day. To do this, it is worth dividing the children's room into zones: play, sports and sensory. It should contain things of different textures, sizes and smells.

Music instead of foreign languages

It is believed that a child should be taught foreign languages ​​as early as possible. This is not entirely true. Psychologists claim that optimal age for learning a foreign language begins only after the child confidently speaks his native language, that is, at 5-7 years old. It has been proven that a child whose parents speak two languages ​​begins to speak later. This happens because the baby's brain is overloaded.

Since a child cannot always understand words and sentences, some psychologists say that it is best to start learning a foreign language at the age of 14. However, there is one little trick: at a young age you can lay the foundation for further learning. To do this, it is enough to learn one nursery rhyme with your baby. Then, at the age of 14, the rest of the language system will form its basis.

Another myth of the theory of early development is showing cards to the child so that he remembers more. In fact, it would be much more correct to just play hide and seek with the baby. As an option, you can study simple cards with already familiar words with your child. It is worth writing a description of the item on it. As a result, the baby will replenish lexicon, and he will master writing faster. Playing lotto will help you learn numbers.

Classical music, such as the works of Mozart, activates brain activity. However, there are also some nuances here. Firstly, you should not constantly use the same melody and musical instruments. Secondly, if the parents are deaf, it is better for the child not to sing. This will not help the development of his musical talents.

The main thing is health

It is important to play sports with your child at home and outside. In general, he should move a lot. This is much more important than learning foreign languages. This is why child psychologists talk about the need to have a wall bars in the house. Climbing the stairs, the child becomes more confident. This is how leadership qualities are formed in him.

You should not severely restrict your child from watching TV and spending time at the computer. It would be much more correct to manage time wisely and give the child time to rest. It is also necessary to take care of normal lighting of the workplace and correct posture.

In general, when raising a little genius, it is better to overdo it with early education methods than not to deal with the child at all. Meanwhile, if there is a choice between an activity, for example, music and a walk, you need to choose the second. Still, health is more important.

Early development methods

Waldorf technique

The Waldorf method is part of anthroposophical teaching, which was created by the Austrian scientist Rudolf Steiner at the beginning of the 20th century. This technique has more opponents than followers. For example, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke quite harshly about this education system.

The Waldorf method does not accept early intellectual development. For example, teaching a child to read and write begins no earlier than ten to twelve years of age, when the child has already developed a spiritual and emotional world. TV and computer are considered contraindicated, as they can cause stress or convey unnecessary information.

IN Waldorf pedagogy The emphasis is on the development of the child’s emotional state and his creative abilities. The main activities of the Waldorf method are ceramics, embroidery, music, theatrical performances, dramatic and puppet shows. Preference is given to homemade toys made from natural natural materials(wood, wool, clay).

Froebel's technique

Friedrich Fröbel - German humanist, teacher, author of an original system of education and training of preschoolers in a team, creator of the first kindergartens. Froebel believed that children express themselves and learn through play. For his kindergarten, he developed a set of games and toys that children received as gifts, such as blocks or balls. also in kindergarten Froebel's children sang songs, played various games or listened to stories from their teachers.

Friedrich Froebel proposed using paper folding as a method for explaining to children simple rules geometry. He advised children to practice origami to first understand geometry with their fingers and then with their minds. In addition, the teacher is known as the author of puzzles - the so-called “Froebel blocks”. The blocks are cube-shaped and stacked in a cubic wooden box.

Montessori method

Maria Montessori is a famous Italian teacher. At first, her method was used for the upbringing and education of children who were developmentally delayed for various reasons. But after the results of working with such children were successful, she decided to transfer her method to healthy children.

Maria Montessori believed that every child is smart and talented by nature. Adults should help him unlock his potential, teach him to independently explore the world. To do this, it is necessary to create an environment in which the child can and wants to express his individual abilities, will develop and learn at its own rhythm.

The Montessori educational system consists of three parts: the child, environment, teacher. The focus is on the child. In an immersive environment he improves his physical state, learns to move, feel the world around him, gains knowledge from his own experience. The teacher's task is to observe the child and create an environment in which the child can develop comprehensively. The principle of Montessori pedagogy: “Help me do it myself.”

According to the Montessori method, development occurs in 5 areas: the sensory area (development of the senses), practical life skills, mathematics, native language, space education. Space education is a Montessori term that includes the basics of geography, biology, physics, and chemistry. There are Montessori manuals, for example, the well-known “frames and inserts”. This is a set of plate frames, each of which has holes cut out that are closed with an insert lid of the same shape and size.

Glen Doman Method

Glen Doman is an American pediatrician, founder of the Philadelphia-based Better Baby Institute (BBI), author of a unique development method mental abilities very young children. By the beginning of the 1960s. Through his famous work with mentally retarded children, he organized research into improving the mental growth of normal children. The basis of his methodology is the development of visual and physical abilities from birth.

Doman believes that learning is only effective during the period of brain growth. And the human brain grows up to seven to seven and a half years, but this happens most intensively in the first three years of life. Based on this, he developed his system for children from 2 to 4 years old. During this period, a child can be taught a lot - from a foreign language to higher mathematics.

The purpose of the Doman technique, according to him in my own words, - “to give children unlimited opportunities in life. And the implementation of this goal will be determined by what the child chooses for himself, who he decides to become, what he likes from a long list of possibilities.”

Glen Doman gives preference to visual experience as a way of understanding the world. He recommends that from the first days of life, children be shown a series of cards from different areas of life, ranging from written words, cards with dots (mathematics) and ending with pictures of plants, animals, etc.

This technique has many opponents. Their arguments are as follows: the technique is very labor-intensive and practically impossible. The child does not participate in the learning process itself. He only perceives information, and his creative and research capabilities do not develop.

Methodology Cecile Lupan

Cecile Lupan is a Belgian actress. Since 1981, she moved to the USA, where she taught acting. During this same period, when she was a young mother, she became acquainted with the Doman technique. Cecile Lupan used it when raising her two daughters. However, she slightly altered this technique, making certain adjustments.

The modified method of Cecile Lupan differs from the method of Glen Doman in that the latter observes very many children at once, and therefore cannot penetrate their spiritual world. Cecile Lupan, on the contrary, observes only her children and tries to understand what exactly they need, and gives it to them at the moment when they want it.

Cecile Lupan selects teaching methods more individually and adheres to the following four principles:

1) The best teachers for a child are his parents;

2) Learning is a game that should be stopped before the child gets tired;

3) Never test your child;

4) Curiosity is supported by speed and novelty.

Shinichi Suzuki Method

Shinichi Suzuki - Japanese violinist, teacher, philosopher. Here is the basis of his approach: “musicality is not an innate talent, but an ability that, like any ability, can be developed. Any child, properly trained, can become musical - it is no more difficult than learning to speak his native language. Potential every little person is unlimited."

Suzuki's method was born from his observations of how easily children learned their native language. He decided to use the language teaching method in teaching the violin. The method was called “The Birth of Talent”. However, Dr. Suzuki always noted that he uses music training only as a additional opportunity develop the child, help him understand the world.

Nikitin's technique

Boris Pavlovich and Lena Andreevna Nikitin are innovative teachers, parents of seven children from the town of Bolsheva near Moscow. They created their own system for raising and improving the health of children in the family. The Nikitin system consists of natural development and educational games.

The first principle of the technique is light clothing and a sports environment in the home: in children with early childhood There is access to sports equipment. Children are not forced to participate in special training, exercises, or lessons. The children practice as much as they want, combining sports activities with all other activities.

Another principle of the methodology is the constant attention of parents to the activities of their children, participation in their games, competitions, and life itself.

Boris and Elena Nikitin developed their principles of development in the practice of life. “We used them intuitively, unconsciously, pursuing only one goal: not to interfere with development, but to help it, and not to put pressure on the child in accordance with some of our plans, but... to create conditions for his further development.” Nikitins are the authors of such educational games as “Fold a Square”, “Fold a Pattern”, “Fractions”, “Bricks”, “Cubes for Everyone”, “Unicube”.

Zaitsev's technique

Nikolay Zaitsev is an innovative teacher from St. Petersburg, the author of new directions in methods of teaching mathematics and grammar. The main principle of Zaitsev’s technique is the warehouse principle, i.e. the smallest particle of speech in this technique is not a letter, not a syllable, but a warehouse or effort that we make when we pronounce a sound. Warehouses in tables and cubes differ in color, size, volume, sound (the cubes are filled with different materials).

Zaitsev's famous textbook is "Cubes". But there are also “240 pictures for teaching writing, reading, drawing”, “Read and Sing” with an audio cassette, and a guide “I Write Beautifully”. The author created methods for teaching primary mathematics and English. Zaitsev himself believes that this technique can be used for children from 2 years old and is more suitable for working in a group.

Tyulenev's technique

Pavel Tyulenev is a sociologist, teacher, president of the Association of Innovative Teachers. He is the author of "Method intellectual development child", or "Accelerated learning systems WORLD". Among Tyulenev's books there are such as "Read before you walk", "Count - before you walk" "Know notes before you walk", "Do - before you walk" ".

Tyulenev believes that in order to teach a child various skills before he learns to walk, it is necessary to create an appropriate environment for him, starting from birth.

The method differs in that all the recommendations used gradually become more complicated, from the first weeks of life until adulthood. However, Tyulenev also has opponents. They question the effectiveness of such rapid development. It should also be taken into account that this system has not existed for so long, and talk about concrete results it's too early.

The material was prepared by the editors of rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Current page: 1 (book has 12 pages total) [available reading passage: 8 pages]

Elena Nikolaeva
Raise a gifted child. How?

Instead of a preface

If you want to have something you've never had, you'll have to do something you've never done.

K. Chanel

How should parents react when they are told: “Your child is unusually talented”, “Your child has outstanding abilities”, “Your child is a genius”?

What should they do if, on the contrary, they are not told anything like this? Or do they hear: “Your child is not capable of anything,” “Nothing will come of your child,” or even worse? What should parents do in this case? How much can you trust such statements from teachers, specialists and even relatives?

If they are disappointed in the child, should we follow their example?

When they say that a child is a genius, should you give up everything and devote your life exclusively to him? However, in this case, the child will very quickly outgrow both the capabilities of the parent and the capabilities of the teacher. What should a parent do with the fact that he gave everything to the child, and at some point the child leaves him and wants to live on his own? “I gave you everything, and you...”

Of course, under pressure, he can stay with his mother or teacher, especially in cases where adults paid attention only to talent and inhibited personal development in order to tie him to themselves. Then the parent can become a manager, organizer of exhibitions or concerts. And yet, someday a person will reach the level of talent, and then a person will want to independently control his own destiny and inner world. In this lies the obligatory conflict between a genius and his loved ones who decide to devote their lives to him.

Talent is talent because it outgrows everything around it. The play "Uncle Vanya" was written a long time ago, but people still make the same mistakes. Of course, you can act like Agrippina, the mother of Nero.

When the soothsayer told her that her son would reign, but would kill his own mother, she replied: “Let him kill, as long as he reigns.” She actively paved the way for her son to the throne and directed all his actions. However, at some point he wanted to manage affairs himself, which ultimately led (and the son tried to kill his mother more than once) to the death of Agrippina.

There are many examples and opposite situations when parents simply exploit the child’s talent, believing that, having given birth, they have all the rights not only to the talent, but also to his fate. It should be said that this also leads to a break in the relationship at some point. Once upon a time, my colleague and I received grants to help gifted children. This was at the dawn of perestroika, when people with, and experts could even take positions that contradict each other if they were justified. We really had diametrically opposed ideas about how to support gifted children. It seemed to me that the children should be given all possible help, while my colleague specially arranged obstacles for his charges that they needed to overcome.

We argued a lot and heatedly, and I was an open opponent of my colleague’s methods, although his personality aroused great respect. As time passes and experience accumulates, I realize that we were both right. We worked with children of different ages: I had preschoolers, my colleague had teenagers. If some needed constant support, then others had to become independent and self-sufficient in order to gain strength to overcome life's difficulties, which always hinder something new, no matter what the times were.

Tired parents of young children often wonder: “When will he grow up?”

Experienced mothers and fathers know for sure that the child is growing rapidly. That is why constant change and improvement of parenting strategies is required. What is so useful for a one-year-old baby may be useless for a preschooler and simply harmful for a teenager.

In this book I will try to answer the question: “What and when can a parent offer a child so that help is “in time” to reveal his talent?”

It is not the child’s creativity that needs to be developed, but his personality. After all, only a unique personality can create something new and exceptional. However, not a single parent can predict in any of his dreams what his child is capable of creating. We all know that identities are not produced on an assembly line, and therefore there are no clear instructions on when and what to add or what to remove to achieve a uniqueness standard. And there cannot be such a standard.

The purpose of this book is not to increase the level of anxiety and responsibility of parents for the future result - the realization or non-realization of the child’s talent. A person does not inherit a trait, but the reaction norm of the trait. A child does not receive talent from his parents, but only the opportunity to manifest it. Whether it appears or not depends on many factors, which will be discussed here.

The book has a different task: to transform the process of developing children’s creative abilities into creative activity their parents. Such cooperation will be effective only if it becomes joyful and interesting for both parties. This means that the parent SHOULD NOT shape the child’s talent, and the child SHOULD NOT demonstrate it to the parent. However, both parents and children may WANT to be interested in this life and be happy that they are learning it together and making each other happy in the process of this knowledge.

Chapter 1
Giftedness and creativity

There is a time to work, and there is a time to love.

There is no other time.

K. Chanel

When we talk about creativity, we usually mean adults who have achieved great results in some activity. However, when discussing a child who still has everything ahead, it is more appropriate to use the term “creativity” - the possibility of demonstrating creative abilities in the future. This concept does not contain promises of a specific bonus and there is no information about the exact amount of the future fee; this is just an expectation.

What can you expect from your child in the future? The ability to sense a problem, to see it where for others there is gray evidence. So Newton thought about why apples fall, and Archimedes posed the question of why objects behave differently in water than in air (it is clear that I am talking about brilliant discoveries in a simplified way, but here I just want to illustrate the idea of ​​anticipation). Millions of people have seen falling apples, and countless people on Earth have bathed in the bathtub or the sea, and they all accepted as a given the facts that apples fall to the ground, and bodies placed in water try to float to the surface. The problem did not exist until those who clearly understood the unknown were found. This feature of seeing a problem, feeling inconsistency, the absence of some elements in simple truths can be expected in a child. You can also expect a different look at familiar things, the ability to look at the same thing from different angles, to call the familiar differently and to recognize the novelty and originality of thought in this.

Giftedness is a certain gift that is given to a child by his parents, if we are in the position of genetics, or by a higher being, if we evaluate events from a religious point of view. The concept itself was first formulated in the mid-19th century by Sir Francis Galton, cousin Charles Darwin. Russian word "O gift ness" – tracing paper"giftedness", which also means "gift". One of the elements of the meaning of this word, like the term “creativity,” is opportunity: a person is given a gift, but it is not known how he will use it. Who knows what is in a person who has achieved higher levels mastery, comes from birth, “from God,” and what comes from long-term hard work?

An eight-year-old Pakistani boy, Shofan Thobani, spent 13 months studying Microsoft software. In 2012, he passed the final test and, having scored 91 points, received a specialist certificate. The boy has been attending classes at the Pakistan College of Technology since the age of five. Perhaps he has a gift for easily grasping complex mathematical structures. However, do you know any other five-year-old children who, instead of playing happily with their peers, would listen intently to a teacher's explanation of abstract machine programming concepts? Will and character are felt here.

Unfortunately, in this story, I do not know the behavior of his parents. Although it is obvious that the visit is serious educational institution such a small listener is possible only with the permission of the parents and with their direct help.

I will give another example. Aelita Andre is a five-year-old girl from Melbourne (Australia), whose paintings are sold at prestigious adult exhibitions, where the age of the author does not play any role. She is an abstractionist, but the combination of colors on her canvases leaves no one indifferent. They have a subtle sense of color and composition.

Her mother is a photographer from St. Petersburg, her father is an Australian director, musician and artist. He paints pictures by placing canvases on the floor. Watching her dad, the girl showed great interest in his creativity and this method of drawing. In order not to harm their daughter’s health, the parents purchased non-poisonous acrylic paints. Having discovered their daughter’s talent, they gave her a 30-meter living room at her disposal, in which she could draw anywhere - on the walls, furniture, her clothes. Recently, Aelita Andre received the main prize – “Lion” – at the prestigious Chianchiano Biennale in Italy.

To avoid accusations of child labor, the parents created a fund in the girl’s name, which receives all proceeds from the sale of her paintings. Aelita will be able to dispose of them when she reaches adulthood. Many teachers offered to teach the girl. However, her parents believe that this will only be possible when she grows up and wants to do it herself. They are afraid to influence her natural instincts ahead of time.

In both cases described, the gift is inseparable from the work. At the same time, this is not forced labor, but the free choice of the creator. Parents only follow the child and support him. However, what if the child does not show clear preferences?

B. M. Teplov wrote that in practice it is better to talk not about talent, but about abilities. Simply because there is no instrument for measuring giftedness. There is admiration for individuals who demonstrate miracles of skill in one area or another at an early age. Abilities can be measured. It is believed that the concept of “ability” consists of three significant aspects:

✓abilities are individual characteristics that distinguish one child from another;

✓abilities are called only those characteristics that are related to the success of performing any activity or many types of activities (and therefore hot temper, cruelty, slowness, which are undoubtedly individual characteristics, are not called abilities, since they are not considered as conditions for success performing any activity);

✓ability is not limited to knowledge, skills or abilities already developed by this person, but suggests some potential that he has to discover.

Thus, by giftedness we can understand the level of development of any abilities. A person can be unusually gifted, for example, with musical abilities or have no ear for music at all.

According to B. M. Teplov’s definition, giftedness is a qualitatively unique combination of abilities, on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in performing one or another activity depends. It should be emphasized that giftedness does not ensure success in any activity, but only the opportunity to achieve it. To be successful, you need a lot more, which we will talk about later.

Abilities are not limited to the knowledge, skills and abilities a child has. They are revealed in the speed, depth and strength of mastering the methods and techniques of some activity. At a deep level, abilities are properties of the brain, features of perception and processing of information. On its basis, according to the laws of brain organization, a unique picture of the child’s world is built, the ability to cognize, reflect, draw conclusions and predict.

Abilities, like talent, can be general and special. General abilities allow you to quickly and easily master what is age appropriate. The presence of abilities determines this speed of cognition. Any healthy newborn has general abilities in varying degrees of expression: from high to low.

Special abilities are associated with learning something unique quickly and easily. These are musical, artistic, sports, research, wood or stone carving abilities and many others. Obviously, having musical abilities, one child will be a good singer, another will be a performer on musical instruments, while the third will be a composer. In the same way, someone will design spaceships, someone will make them masterfully, and someone will courageously test them, not knowing how the first one designed them, and the second one made them.

However, someone will be able to combine all this.

The concept of “general abilities” can be replaced by the term “creativity”, meaning a certain general ability to create.

Scientists have different points of view on the problems of creativity and creativity, but we will leave these theoretical studies outside the scope of this book, although it will be based exclusively on scientific data.

To understand the main problem of giftedness, let us turn to the metaphor proposed by one of the creativity researchers M. A. Runko. He compared the creativity of adults to a butterfly, and then the caterpillar becomes a metaphor for children's creativity. The problem is that we cannot imagine a butterfly if we only see a caterpillar. From the cocoon that the caterpillar creates, a moth can fly out, eating everything in its path, and a luxurious swallowtail, from which it will be impossible to take your eyes off. However, the point is not only in what area the caterpillar will show its capabilities, but also whether it can overcome all the obstacles that stand in front of it on the way to becoming a butterfly. This is exactly described in the parable.

One day a small gap appeared in the cocoon. A random person passing by stopped and watched for many hours as a butterfly tried to exit through it.

A lot of time passed, the butterfly seemed to give up its efforts, and the gap remained just as small. It seemed that the butterfly did everything she could, and she had no more strength for anything else. Then the man decided to help the butterfly: he took a penknife and cut the cocoon.

The butterfly immediately came out. However, her body was weak and feeble, her wings were undeveloped and barely moved.

The man continued to watch, thinking that the butterfly’s wings were about to spread out and get stronger and it would be able to fly. Nothing happened! For the rest of its life, the butterfly dragged its weak body and unstretched wings along the ground. She was never able to fly. And all because the person, wanting to help her, did not understand: the butterfly needs the effort to exit through the narrow gap of the cocoon so that the fluid from the body passes into the wings and it can fly.

Life made it difficult for the butterfly to leave this shell so that it could grow and develop.

Parents take different positions in relation to their children’s giftedness, their education and choice of profession. Some people believe that nature itself will put everything in its place, while others feel responsible for the result. The indifferent calm of some and the excessive anxiety of others can cause irreparable harm child development.

Obviously, until a certain time, a child cannot set goals for himself simply because he does not have a broad enough horizon for this. However, on what basis do his parents do this and why? What can they focus on in setting exactly those tasks that will help realize the child’s talent to a greater extent?

To answer these questions, you need to know what factors contribute to the transformation of giftedness into mastery and which of them depend on the actions of the parents and the child.

It seems that Masaru Ibuka, the founder of the Sony company and the inventor of most of the devices it produces, most clearly outlined the problem of developing talent. This is, of course, a realized person who created himself, unusually creative person. The results of his creative activity are obvious.

He believes that parents need to develop their children's abilities from early childhood. However, parental actions must be carried out “on time”. It's a question of when to

For a particular child, this “on time” will come, and represents the greatest difficulty in raising. It all depends on who is next to the child and how capable he is of being an attentive observer.

Being a careful observer means comparing a child's actions today with what he did yesterday and anticipating his development tomorrow. However, then this someone must be a keen researcher of their child's development, no less inquisitive and creative than the child himself. True, the question arises: does a child of such an adult become creative because this adult was creative, or because he was enthusiastic, observant and loving? This is a complex scientific problem that has not yet been solved. For parents reading this book, I note: the answer to this question does not affect the actions that need to be taken to help the child realize his talent. Just as a parent offers a child an egg for breakfast without thinking about whether the egg comes first or the chicken, he should be a careful researcher, without thinking about whether his genes make the child creative or is it due to his actions?

In the discussion about what creativity is, researchers agree on two of its characteristics: it must contain novelty and usefulness. It has already been emphasized that creativity characterizes the established personality. The child is described based on the concept of “creativity,” that is, the possibility of creativity in the future.

Although the definition of creativity is still highly debated, there is some agreement among researchers regarding several of its characteristics. So, creativity:

✓represents a continuum, that is, a continuous property from minimal to excessive value;

✓Differs from intelligence, and therefore correlates with it in different ways (for example, a highly intelligent person may have low creativity and, conversely, a very creative person may have low intelligence;

✓associated with unusual solutions to problems.

Thus, creativity in its most general sense is an atypical way of looking at the world. Then it may not at all correlate with the extensive knowledge of a scientist who is not capable of having his own point of view. Therefore, famous musicians or artists sometimes have a very narrow view of social problems. The combination of creativity, intelligence and morality, which was so clearly manifested in the personalities of Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov and Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, is a rare phenomenon. Each of them created something new and useful for humanity. All of them had a family, which they treated with reverence, and were not indifferent observers of what was happening around them.

In any person, these qualities are contained in different proportions, and therefore there are fantastically creative, stupid and immoral upstarts, highly intelligent and extremely boring people, as well as narrow-minded moralists, if only one quality is presented in maximum concentration in the absence of the other two necessary properties. Moreover, quite often people who have created something new in one area turn out to be extremely conservative in another. For example, Sigmund Freud, who made the greatest breakthrough in the study of the human psyche and created a method for describing the unconscious, remained in the patriarchal position of his time regarding the psychology of women and her sexuality.

There are three key characteristics of creativity:

✓divergent thinking;

✓readiness for transformation;

✓ability to evaluate.

In addition, the need to connect emotions with the process of cognition and openness of emotional experience is noted.

The first of these processes is divergent thinking. This is the ability to come up with different solutions to the same problem. In children, it is often assessed as the number of ideas that a child can offer during a conversation with an adult.

Readiness for transformation is the ability to look at a problem from a different perspective, to abandon previous personal strategies for solving it, and not to persist in an idea that has once arisen. It can be defined as flexibility, the ability to accept unusual solution, do not resist the new.

Obviously, this is the least favorite quality in a person for the average person, who stubbornly stands his ground and strives to eradicate it wherever possible. It is this property of the child that is most often destroyed even in primary school ignorant teachers.

Judgment has only recently been recognized as an important component of creativity. Although the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of a decision both at the end of the decision and at any stage is described by researchers less often than other characteristics, it is most important property creativity. It represents the ability to predict how effective a solution to a problem will be.

As already mentioned, creativity means the creation of not just something new, but something that is useful and does not cause harm. From this point of view qualitative analysis solutions when creating a new one are extremely necessary. It is in this feature that we see the difference in the activities of J. Neumann and R. Oppenheimer - two participants in the creation atomic bomb in USA. If after the first use nuclear weapons In the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer, the project manager, began to fight for a ban on its use, horrified by the result of what he had done, while Neumann insisted on increasing the US nuclear potential. Of course, we can say that Neumann was a patriot, but Oppenheimer was not. However, it is also appropriate to say that Oppenheimer was a moral man.

All researchers emphasize that creativity includes curiosity, the desire for knowledge, colored by emotionality, which permeates the entire creative process. It is impossible to create if you are bored. Therefore, forcing a child to do something that causes negative emotions, you can get hate, not love. It is known that his father forced little Lev Landau to play the piano for his own benefit. This ended not only with the boy flatly refusing this activity, but also with a cooling in the relationship between father and son for the rest of his life.

Sometimes, along with the obligatory positive emotional attitude to the process of creation, they note the need for motivation, that is, the desire to know and create.

It may seem strange that unusual thinking should be accompanied by emotional experience. However, it should be remembered: for a child, there is only that which is colored by emotions. And to study the world and improve mastery, a person must have a constant source of activity inside, which is motivation.

Requirement of a powerful emotional outburst for activation creative process can be illustrated by an event in the Wright family. The father of the Wright brothers, creators of the first flying machines, was a Protestant minister and a rather stern man. Children were never bought toys. They made them themselves, and their mother helped them with this. One day, returning home from another trip, my father went into the store and saw a toy with an unusual name, which amazed him. He had never heard such a word - “helicopter”. The toy, about 30 centimeters in size, when the rubber band was twisted in it and released, soared upward. It cost 50 cents, which was a significant amount at that time for a family of seven (there were five children). Still unsure, the 50-year-old pastor bought the toy. At home he started a toy. She flew up and the boys took their breath away. The eldest, who was 11 years old, immediately realized that it was a mechanism. At first the younger one even thought that it was a living creature, for example bat. The boys played with the toy until it broke. They tried to fix it, but they were too small for such delicate work. The brothers were able to make a helicopter later. However, the delight they experienced from the sight of the aircraft remained with them forever. It was he who supported them in moments of despair, when the mechanisms they had already created with their hands did not want to fly. They knew for sure that it was possible, and therefore they continued to look...

When researchers talk about the connection between creativity and emotionality, they mean a similar positive shock experienced in childhood, the experience of participation in a miracle. Famous theater or ballet actors talk about the exciting feeling that gripped them when they first met theatrical production, biologists - about the childish delight caused by a swallowtail gracefully landing on a flower, defiantly spreading its wings in front of the little researcher. Chemists recall with admiration their first chemical experiment, when a reaction proceeds exactly this way and not otherwise, etc. Rejoicing at a miracle that has suddenly arisen and the desire to solve it is a reliable companion and support for the creator in moments of despair.

Creativity is a difficult activity. Describing something that no one knows involves searching for relevant words and concepts. The Wright brothers, who had not even finished school, groped for conditions under which the apparatus, being heavier than air, would be able to soar upward and not only soar, but also land softly.

There are three types of creativity:

✓creativity associated with the creation of something global;

✓creativity in Everyday life when a person decorates everyday life with things new to the family, makes everyday life joyful and bright;

✓creativity in building the personality of the person himself, the way he creates a picture of the world and structures personal knowledge and understanding of what is happening.

It is obvious that the first type of creativity is very rare, while the second is quite widespread, which is largely facilitated by means mass media. IN Lately They develop similar abilities in various ways in those who are ready to respond to the call to create in everyday life: cook in a variety of ways, wear bright things, organize holidays in a series of everyday life.

The last type of creativity is one of the most complex, occurring almost as rarely as the first. This is a characteristic of a mature personality. When the first and last types of creativity are combined, we can talk about genius.

A mature personality is capable of creativity on a global scale. However, not every creator who creates something new is a mature person. The paths of development of a particular person are determined by the circumstances in which he is formed. If the family allows the child to reveal himself as a person, then a person is formed, personal growth which is accompanied by creative results in science, art or society. However, the family, allowing it to manifest itself creativity, can exploit it, preventing the development of the individual, since the individual will always resist pressure from loved ones. Then a person is formed who is very talented in a certain area, but the realization of his talent will occur to the extent that his manipulating loved ones can comprehend it.

In our country, the number of mothers who are ready to devote themselves entirely to their children has clearly increased. However, there is not a huge number of brilliant discoveries. This happens because raising a gifted child is not only his “training” in a certain area, but also the internal decision of first the child, and then the grown adult, to work hard for a goal that only he can see. (Let me remind you that this goal arises as a result of emotional shock upon contact with what the child perceives as a miracle.) If such a decision is made for the child by the parents, and he is not ready for this, then very often the realization of the goal occurs at the expense of something else , for example, due to ordinary human happiness, the desire to have children, to love, to experience life in all its colors.

This suggests that creativity of the first type is easily manifested and only needs to create conditions for daily training. Creativity of the latter type requires a certain behavior of parents: they must support the process of formation of a unique personality, without limiting it with their ideas and without placing it in the framework that is obvious to them. Since the difficulty is precisely last condition, we see many young people showing amazing abilities in early childhood, who turned into good performers in their youth, but did not live up to the expectations placed on them. This is the problem with child prodigies: not all of them are capable of changes similar to those that a caterpillar makes when turning into a butterfly. Often this happens precisely because parents do not want to wait and rush the child’s development too much.

It is important to note that sometimes such haste by parents is explained by a huge sense of responsibility for the child and his fate. Therefore, there is no condemnation of parents here, there is only a description of the mechanism. Moreover, all parents should know that their feelings of guilt will not benefit the child. In this case, they will only face manipulation. Children manipulate not because they are bad, this is explained by a long evolution, during which our species has learned to adapt to different conditions and transform conditions to suit us so as to minimize effort. Only those parents who feel competent can become successful educators. This means that they are aware of the possibility of error. When they make a mistake, they try to correct the mistake or look for a specialist who can help do it.

At different stages of the development of human society, giftedness was treated differently. Since the Renaissance, many rulers have supported talent, and patronage of the arts was considered a noble cause. The problem was that favor could easily give way to disgrace. Talent needs reliable support.

The idea of ​​giftedness presupposes the possibility of development, support and creation of conditions for the maximum development of a certain quality in a child. Such ideas were formed not so long ago, and they are associated with the development of genetics.

A person inherits not a trait, but the reaction norm of this trait. To illustrate this idea, we can recall a huge pine tree growing on the seashore. By taking a seed from this pine tree, planting it in a small pot, rarely watering the growing tree and regularly pruning its roots, we will get a small copy of the pine tree. Despite the fact that the genetic characteristics of growth in two trees are the same, the severity of the trait - growth - will be different in them. This applies to any sign. One can imagine a musically gifted child growing up in a children's institution in a maximum security colony where his mother is serving a sentence. It is unlikely that the baby will have the opportunity to reveal his abilities. A musically gifted child may also appear in a responsible family, where from early childhood he will be forced to study various sciences and participate in a sports section, thereby causing an aversion to studying and training in general. The result will be the same as in the first case - giftedness will disappear. In order for talent to develop fully, conditions are necessary that correspond to this talent and the growing personality. Frameworks that limit the development of the individual will lead to trauma and lead to a specific direction of talent.

In the modern education system, a special place is occupied by the child. Today it is not enough to simply pass on a standard amount of knowledge to the younger generation. It is important to promote the development harmonious personality child. To implement such a task, it is necessary to carefully examine the desires, possibilities, and abilities of each child. In connection with the development of such trends in world society, increased attention of psychologists and teachers to the issue of giftedness of children has appeared. If just a few years ago this concept meant that a person has some kind of superpower, today it is formulated differently.

In our article we will find out how the abilities of gifted children manifest themselves, what diagnostic methods can be used to identify them, and what are the features of pedagogical work with such children.

The history of the concept of “giftedness”

Despite the fact that today a gifted child is a sought-after and promising person, until recently neither psychologists nor scientists were involved in identifying and developing children’s abilities.

The history of the emergence of the concept of “giftedness” (characterizing an adult) goes back several centuries. Thus, even in ancient times, people who were distinguished by any abilities, non-standard skills, or possessing a high level of intellectual capabilities stood out from the crowd: they were chosen as tribal leaders, they became shamans or healers.

Terms such as “genius” and “talent” originated in the ancient world. It is known that this era was famous for a large number of outstanding creative people and thinkers. Examining the works of various authors of this period, one can highlight the main idea that genius and talent are nothing more than a gift from the gods. This is where the term “genius” came from, which is translated from Latin as “spirit”. Ancient thinkers believed that people with non-standard abilities in any field were sent by the gods in order to improve existing world. This idea is described in the treatises of G. Hegel, I. Kant and others.

Who is a “genius” in the understanding of ancient thinkers? It's more likely mythological figure, which seemed to the people of that time to be an immortal demigod in human form. First of all, poets and artists were considered geniuses, and only later outstanding researchers and public figures began to be considered talented people.

Only in the middle of the 19th century did a scientist (a cousin of Charles Darwin) put forward a theory about the “earthly” origin of human talent. In his book “The Heredity of Talent: Its Laws and Consequences,” the researcher argues that talent is inherited. The scientist obtained such conclusions experimentally by analyzing the pedigree history of 300 families.

But at the same time, other views on the origin of talent appear. Namely, the researchers suggested that a gifted child is not a gift of nature or divine powers. Authors of the idea " clean slate"("tabulas of race") claim that children are born without hereditary abilities, any predisposition to extraordinary mental activity. And the formation of genius is influenced social environment and education. Such views also exist in modern society. And there is a certain amount of truth in them - indeed, the environment has a great influence on the development of children’s abilities, but it is impossible to exclude the natural inclinations of a person, genetic predisposition.

Intellectual talent

With the development of medical and psychological science The possibilities for analyzing and researching the factors that define the concept of giftedness have expanded significantly. During this period, the so-called intelligence level (IQ) became the most important criterion for assessing abilities. Scientists such as A. Binet, W. Stern, G. Muller, G. Weisenck, D. Hebb developed special tests to determine this characteristic. But this approach has been subject to criticism.

Opponents of this theory argued that even people with a low level of mental development can be gifted. There are examples where children with congenital genetic diseases had extraordinary abilities in such areas as, for example, art, music, arts and crafts and others.

in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century

This period is characterized by increased interest in the problem of giftedness in children. Many scientists, psychologists and teachers are trying to give the most accurate formulation of this phenomenon. Also being developed various techniques diagnosing children's abilities. Thus, the G.I. system was compiled. Rossolimo, which involved measuring such personality traits as:

• will;
• attention;
• associativity;
• memorization.

Thus, as experimentally proven, a gifted child is not only one who has a high level of intelligence. Capable children are distinguished by strong-willed qualities, persistence of attention and memory,

During this period, the idea was first formulated and scientifically proven that a child’s giftedness develops on the basis of innate genetic inclinations in the process of social, educational and educational activities.

N.S. made a great contribution to the psychology of giftedness. Leites, B.M. Teplov, A.G. Petrovsky and others.

We also note that at the beginning of the 19th century, in addition to exclusively scientific interest, the problem of giftedness was also joined by social need in development, research this phenomenon. Modern society needs talented people: innovative ideas, scientific discoveries, high achievements in any field of knowledge contribute to the development of each individual and the country as a whole.

Concept of giftedness

Today there is no single specific formulation of such a concept as “giftedness.” Each researcher finds his own approach to this problem. However, if we analyze the psychological and pedagogical literature, we can define “giftedness” as a quality of the human psyche that develops throughout life and affects the individual’s ability to achieve results that differ from the standard. Psychologists also note that such a phenomenon is the result of the interaction of a person’s innate data, the surrounding society and psychological mechanisms of self-development.

Why did psychologists come to the conclusion that it is in childhood that one should Special attention devote to diagnostics and development of abilities? The fact is that it is during the period of growing up that the formation of various individual psychological qualities. Raising gifted children is an important component of the subsequent development of abilities. Therefore, teachers should pay special attention to such students. Childhood characterized increased activity various mental processes, the formation of personality. Such soil is fertile for the development of the baby’s innate abilities.

Who is a gifted child? This is a question to which there is no clear answer. So, today there are such directly opposite opinions as:

• gifted children are a rarity; non-standard abilities develop in the process of education;
• All children are born gifted; the further manifestation of their abilities depends on the conditions of society.

One way or another, a gifted child is an individual who exhibits some abilities above the established average level. How these same abilities should manifest themselves - in one particular area of ​​knowledge or in several, how to diagnose them at an early age, what is “standard” and what is “extraordinary” - psychologists all over the world continue to seek answers to all these questions.

However, a certain structuring and systematization of the data obtained from various observations, studies, and experiments are noted in the specialized literature. We will share this information below.

Characteristic signs of giftedness

What personality traits can indicate that a child has extraordinary abilities?

It is customary to distinguish between two aspects of a child’s behavior:

1. Instrumental - the way the baby performs an action.
2. Motivational - determines the child’s attitude towards the activity.

In turn, these aspects of behavior can be analyzed according to the following criteria. Thus, instrumental is characterized by:

• rapid (what is called “beyond age”) mastery of any activity and its successful implementation;
• inventing new ways to solve the current problem situation;
• formation creative ideas, discoveries (innovation).

Also talented child often creates his own style of performing any activity, has the skills of structuring, generalization, analysis, and is also distinguished by a special type of learning ability. Therefore, working with gifted children in the classroom requires an individual and personal approach.

The motivational aspect is manifested in the following:

• the child has an increased interest in any type of activity;
• the baby is distinguished by cognitive activity, a penchant for research, and analysis of phenomena;
• desire for self-improvement, rejection of ready-made standard answers to a given task;
• increased selectivity (for example, to objects of art, music, etc.).

Often gifted children preschool age are identified by the teacher precisely based on motivational characteristics - such children are distinguished by a high desire to understand the world around them, are ready to experiment, and search for non-standard ways to solve a problem situation.

But having noticed the described signs in the child’s behavior, one can only assume the presence of certain abilities and inclinations.

Types of giftedness

Based on observational data of children with certain abilities, researchers came to the conclusion that it is possible to classify giftedness according to the following criteria:

• the type of activity in which the child excels;
• form of external manifestation of abilities;
• degree of formation;
• breadth of manifestation in different types child's activities;
• according to age characteristics.

According to the criterion “type of activity,” the classification of giftedness is carried out on the basis of the well-known five types of activity: theoretical, practical, communicative, spiritual-value and artistic-aesthetic; and three mental spheres: emotional, volitional, intellectual. Often gifted children in the kindergarten have abilities in a certain area of ​​activity: singing, drawing, designing, etc.

According to the form of external manifestation, talented and gifted children can have obvious and hidden extraordinary abilities. If in the first case the results of the child’s activities clearly indicate his genius, then diagnosing a student with a hidden form of talent is the task of psychologists, teachers and the child’s parents. Often these go unnoticed, which leads to the fact that a person who is talented from birth simply does not use his potential throughout his life.

Giftedness is classified according to the degree of development:

1. Relevant, which is characterized by the visual results of the activities of a talented child. The work of a teacher with gifted children who demonstrate their talent is to further develop abilities, help overcome obstacles on the path to results, and motivate them to perform.
2. They talk about potential when the baby has natural inclinations and abilities that are this moment remain unmanifested. Not only teachers, but also parents of gifted children should take part in diagnosing this type of ability in a child, because it is close relatives who have the opportunity to observe the child’s behavior for a long time and identify patterns.

According to the breadth of manifestation there are:

1. General giftedness, which is characterized by the fact that the child demonstrates non-standard abilities in different types of activities and areas of knowledge. It is about such people that they say: “A talented person is talented in everything.”
2. Special talent manifests itself only in a narrow area, for example, in music or drawing.

According to age characteristics, giftedness is classified into the following types:

• early;
• late.

Thus, teachers often identify gifted children in kindergarten. Such kids are called prodigies (“wonderful children”). Just a few years ago, the term “intellectual prodigy” appeared in psychology. This designation is given to children who are precociously developed in the mental sphere, for example, in two - three years of age master the operation of electronic gadgets, computers, and household appliances. With the development of technology and the introduction of information and computer technologies into the educational process, there are more and more such children; it is possible that soon the described knowledge and skills will be considered the norm of development.

Methods for diagnosing giftedness

Despite the fact that psychologists have developed various questionnaires and tests, the main methods for diagnosing giftedness are observation and natural experiment. A.F. made a great contribution to science on this problem. Lazursky. He suggested monitoring the child for a long time (several years). Such a study of the personality of a child who has demonstrated certain abilities can be carried out continuously (every day), or maybe occasionally.

Another way to track a child’s predisposition to certain abilities is the biographical method. Most often in practice it is carried out in the form of a questionnaire.

Thus, in order to detect a gifted personality in a group of children, a whole range of diagnostic measures will be required, including:

• observation of the child's behavior in conditions educational institution, at home, in additional classes and leisure;
• professional assessment of the child’s performance;
• carrying out various psychodiagnostic activities (surveys, tests, experimental work and others);
• organization of intellectual, physical and creative competitions.

Problems of gifted children

Unfortunately, psychologists have noted that a gifted child often faces a number of specific problems. Let's describe the most common of them.

• Lack of interest in studying at a comprehensive school.
• Often such children are condemned for their boldness of judgment, resourcefulness, activity, and originality, since teachers and educators usually value such qualities of children as obedience and strict adherence to rules.
• Adult parents and teachers sometimes place too high hopes on a gifted child. The child, trying not to upset the adults, often completes the assigned tasks, although in reality he would like to prove himself differently.
• Often such children become outcasts among their peers.
• Usually, capable children choose friends older than themselves, but in such a situation, children cannot fully realize their potential due to significant differences in physical development.

Thus, working with gifted children in preschools and schools requires knowledge of psychology, an individual approach, attention and responsiveness.

Features of pedagogical work with gifted children

Of course, there are features of working with society. There is an opinion that such children do not need the guidance and control of an adult. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Children with talent need constant help from senior mentors. Thus, gifted children in kindergarten do not yet understand at all their “status” that adults have assigned to them. Only under the direct guidance of a teacher can one develop and reveal new horizons of a preschooler’s talent. Besides individual work With such children within the preschool educational institution, activities to develop the abilities of gifted preschool children are carried out in various early development centers.

Working with gifted children in the classroom is about finding the right approach to the student, becoming a senior friend, an assistant in the implementation of planned projects.

Features of working with gifted children also include continuing to develop their abilities within additional education. Thus, today this system has become not an auxiliary method of educating schoolchildren, but a full-fledged independent direction dealing with the identification and development of children’s abilities.

In the psychological and pedagogical literature, the following strategies for teaching gifted children are identified:

1. Deepening knowledge.
2. Studying educational material at an accelerated pace.
3. Creating problematic situations for independent decision their children.
4. Enrichment of material.

State support for gifted children

The state is interested in raising gifted and talented children. Therefore, taking into account the psychological and pedagogical features of working with gifted children, a target program of the Russian Federation “Children of Russia” was developed. Its content includes the “Gifted Children” subprogram, the purpose of which is to create conditions for the identification and development of talented children state level. The following activities are carried out within the framework of this subprogram:

1. All-Russian Olympiads in individual academic subjects.
2. Olympiads, competitions, competitions within the framework of additional education.
3. Creative sessions in health camps, summer schools for talented children.

Gifted children of the country

We can proudly note that Russia is rich in talent. Children defend the honor of the country at musical and artistic events international competitions, participate in sports competitions on a global scale, speak at symposiums and scientific conferences.

As part of the state program, a project to create an encyclopedia “Gifted Children of Russia” was implemented. This book contains the names of guys who distinguished themselves in a certain field of activity. In addition, noted educational institutions, which created the most favorable conditions for the development of students’ abilities. The names of honored teachers and even philanthropists are also included in the book “Gifted Children of Russia”.

Thus, identifying and developing gifted children is an important task for the world community. After all, in the hands of talented, creative, flexible out-of-the-box thinking people is the future development of a civilized modern society.

The education system provides special programs for gifted children, and the child’s abilities are assessed on a special scale based on test results. However, you should not rely entirely on the school's assessment. Special factors will help to recognize a gifted child, and some of them are not taken into account by the education system. If your child is not developed for his age, he will need special attention. You can recognize a gifted child by their outstanding learning abilities, developed skills communication, certain tendencies in thinking and the ability to sympathize.

Steps

Assessment of learning abilities

Pay attention to your child's ability to remember material. Gifted children remember faster and more than ordinary children. Sometimes memory manifests itself in subtle nuances. Pay attention to signs of developed memory.

• Such children can remember facts better than others. They often remember things at a very young age and at will. The child can learn a poem he likes or parts of a book. He can also remember the names of capital cities and many birds.
• Analyze your child's memory in everyday activities. Perhaps the child easily recalls information from books or TV series. Perhaps he remembers something in great detail. For example, after a family dinner, your daughter tells you the names of all relatives, including those she has not seen before, as well as all their physical characteristics: hair color, eye color, describes clothes.

1. Pay attention to reading ability. If a child begins to read early, this often indicates giftedness, especially if the child has learned to read and write on his own. If a child began to read before school, this may indicate that he is gifted. Perhaps the child is also reading books that are too difficult for his age. During classes, a child can receive high marks for reading and understanding texts and read during breaks. Gifted children often prefer reading to any other activity.

   • Remember that a penchant for reading is just one sign. Some gifted children start reading late because they develop at their own personal speed. For example, Albert Einstein learned to read only at the age of 7. If your child did not start reading early but has other signs of giftedness, it is possible that he may still be gifted.

2. Analyze your math abilities. Gifted children usually demonstrate individual skills brightly. Many gifted children find math very easy. As with reading, high scores in math should be expected. At home, your child may enjoy puzzles and games that develop logical thinking.

   Pay attention to early development. Gifted children often develop faster than their peers. Your child may have started speaking in coherent sentences earlier than other children his age. Perhaps he quickly developed a large vocabulary and was able to start conversations and ask questions earlier than others. Early development may indicate giftedness.

   Analyze your child's knowledge of the world. Gifted children are keenly interested in the world around them. Your child may know a lot about politics and world events, may ask many questions, may ask you about historical events, family history, country culture and so on. Gifted children often have inquisitive minds and love to learn new things. Such a child may have a large store of knowledge about the world.

Communication skills assessment

Assess your child's vocabulary. Because gifted children have a good memory, they can know a large number of words. At an early age (3-4 years), a child can use such Difficult words, both "obviously" and "actually" in everyday speech. In addition, a gifted child will quickly learn new words. He may see a new word in test work at school and start using it correctly in speech.

Pay attention to the child's questions. Many children ask questions, but gifted children do it differently than others. Questions allow them to better understand the world and people, as these children strive to learn as much as possible.

• Gifted children constantly ask questions about their surroundings. They question everything they hear, see, touch, smell, and taste. Let's say you're driving in a car and a song comes on the radio. The child will ask you what the song means, who sings it, when it was recorded, and so on.
• Children also ask questions to understand something. A child may ask why someone is sad, angry or happy.

1. Analyze how your child participates in adult conversations. Gifted children engage in conversations with ease. Ordinary children often talk about themselves, and gifted children carry on the conversation. They ask questions, express their opinions, and quickly understand small nuances and double meanings.

   • Gifted children can also switch between conversations. When talking with peers, they use different words and intonations compared to conversations with adults.

2. Assess your speaking speed. Gifted children speak quite quickly. They talk about what interests them faster than usual and may jump from topic to topic. This is often perceived as inattention, but it is a sign that the child has many hobbies and is interested in many things.

   Analyze how your child follows directions. At an early age, gifted children can follow complex directions without any problems. They don't ask for clarification or clarification. For example, a child can easily follow the following instruction: “Go into the living room, take the doll with red hair from the table and put it in the toy box. At the same time, bring dirty clothes from your room so I can wash them.”

Thinking Analysis

Consider your child's special interests. Gifted children often become interested in something early and can concentrate on their passion for a long time. All children have hobbies, but gifted children know their hobbies very deeply.

• Gifted children tend to read books on certain topics. If your child is interested in dolphins, he can often bring books on the topic from the library. You will notice that the child is well versed in the types of dolphins, knows the life expectancy of these animals, their behavioral characteristics and other facts.
• The child enjoys learning what interests him. Many children like certain animals, but gifted children will watch with fascination. documentaries about your favorite animal and prepare a report about it at school.

1. Pay attention to the ability to think. Gifted children have special problem-solving skills. They think quickly and can find alternative solutions. A gifted child will spot a loophole in a board game or be able to add new rules to a street game to make it more interesting. Such a child will also be able to think hypothetically and abstractly. You may notice that he often asks questions that begin with “what if...”, trying to understand some problem.

   Pay attention to your imagination. Gifted children are naturally imaginative. A child may love to pretend and fantasize. He can invent special worlds and daydream, and these dreams can be very vivid.

   Observe how your child responds to art, theater and music. Many gifted children are inclined towards the arts. They find a means of self-expression in music or painting and are very receptive to beauty.

   • A gifted child may draw or write for pleasure. He may imitate others, often for a laugh, or sing songs he has heard somewhere.
   • Gifted children often tell unusual stories, both fictional and real. They may enjoy drama classes, playing a musical instrument, and other forms of art because they naturally strive to express themselves through them.

Emotional Skills Assessment

1. Observe how your child interacts with others. Certain conclusions can be drawn based on the child’s communication with people around him. Gifted children have an unusual ability to understand others and always strive for empathy.

   • A gifted child is sensitive to the emotions of those around him. A child can understand whether a person is angry or sad, and can also recognize the cause of these emotions. A gifted child rarely remains indifferent to a problematic situation and wishes the well-being of others.
   • A gifted child can communicate with people of any age. Thanks to his deep knowledge, he can talk with adults, teenagers and older children as easily as with his peers.
   • However, some gifted children have difficulty communicating. Due to their intense preoccupation with something, these children may find it difficult to communicate with others, which is why they are often misdiagnosed as having autism. The ability to communicate may be a sign of giftedness, but it is not a determining factor. If it is difficult for a child to find mutual language with others, this does not mean that he is not gifted. Some gifted children suffer from autism.

2. Look for leadership traits in your child. Gifted children are natural leaders. They know how to motivate and inspire others, and they find it easy to take leadership positions. Perhaps your child is usually a leader among friends or quickly becomes one in clubs and other extracurricular activities.

   Consider whether your child likes to be alone. Gifted children often need time alone. They enjoy the company of others, but do not get bored when alone. They enjoy activities that do not require company (reading, writing), and sometimes they prefer to be alone than to socialize with others. A gifted child does not complain of boredom if no one entertains him, because he has a natural curiosity that does not allow him to get bored.