Social and Emotional issues Isolation; In order to gain popularity, gifted children will often try to hide their abilities to win social approval. To counteract this problem, gifted education professionals recommend creating a peer group based on common interests and abilities.
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Learning Center
Perfectionism; It becomes a problem as it frustrates and inhibits achievements. Perfectionism becomes desirable when it stimulates the healthy pursuit of excellence. Underachievement; Many gifted students will continually do well on achievement or reasoning tests, but will fail
Christiana Perakis Evloyia Program Director
Gifted & Talented (HPS)
E-mail: perakisc@acs.gr
to turn in assignments or attend or participate in class. This can result from under-challenging schools, peer pressure for conformity, social isolation and family dysfunction. One apparently effective way to attempt to reverse underachievement includes enrichment projects based on student’s
Address; 129 Aghia Paraskevi & Kazantzaki St. 15234 Halandri Tel; 210-6393 200 ext 237, 265 Fax: 210 6390051
strengths and interests. Depression; Since no correlation has been proven between giftedness and depression, gifted individuals’ cogni-
The Optimal Match Program
The Optimal Match Program
tive abilities, social isolation, sensitivity, and uneven development may cause them to face some challenging social and emotional issues. However their problem-solving abilities, advanced social skills, moral reasoning, out-of-school interests, and satisfaction in achievement may help them to be more resilient.
Pocket Guide
Definition
Most commonly found characteristics
An extraordinary speed in processing information
Argumentativeness
respect to students, children or youth means
A rapid and thorough comprehension of the whole
Advanced visual and motor skills
students, children, or youth who give evidence
idea or concept
“The term “gifted and talented “ when used in
of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and owho require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop
An unusual ability to perceive essential elements
phors and symbols and a preference for do-
and underlying structures and patterns in relation-
ing so
ships A need for precision in thinking and expression
such capabilities” (identifying gifted Children: A Practical guide, Susan K. Johnsen)
An ability from early age to think in meta-
An ability to relate to a broad range of ideas and synthesize commonalities among them A high degree of ability to think abstractly that de-
Ability to visualize models and systems Ability to learn in great intuitive leaps Highly idiosyncratic interpretations of events Awareness of detail
velops early
Unusual intensity and depth of feeling
develop asynchronously;
Appreciation of complexity; finding myriad alterna-
A high degree of emotional sensitivity
their minds are often
tive meanings in even the most simple issues or
ahead their physical
problem
Highly developed morals and ethics
One frequently cited exam-
An ability to learn in an integrative, intuitive, nonlin-
Unusual and early insight into social and
ple of asynchronicity in
ear manner
moral issues
An extraordinary degree of intellectual curiosity
An ability to empathetically understand and
Gifted Children often
growth, and specific cognitive and emotional functions are often at
early cognitive develop-
different stages of devel-
ment is Albert Einstein,
opment.
who did not speak until the age of three, but
relate ideas and other people An unusual capacity for memory
whose later fluency and accomplishments belied this initial delay.
An extraordinary high energy level A long concentration span A need for the world to be logical and fair A fascination with ideas and words Conviction of correctness of personal ideas An extensive vocabulary Ability to perceive many sides of an issue
and beliefs