The Parent Challenge

New Zealand celebrates Gifted Awareness Week from 17th to 23rd June this year and we are delighted to join in their blog tour in anticipation.Ours is a very small contribution, but during the week there will be many more posts looking at giftedness from all sorts of angles. We hope our readers will have a look at the blog tour page or follow #NZGAW on Twitter, and be inspired. 

Parenting a gifted child can be a very lonely and frightening role to play. Our kids most certainly do not come with an instruction booklet and, at times, it can seem that no one knows how to help us figure things out.

Courtesy of Kidspot.com.au

All too often, we defer to the wisdom of professional experts. Yes, there are many wonderful experts out there, advancing the fields of gifted education and psychology, and we must be grateful and supportive of them. (Does it ever strike you how many of these people are either gifted or parents of gifted children themselves?) However, the vast majority professionals with whom we come into contact, do not have training or expertise in giftedness and are liable to misinterpret and misdiagnose. Don't ever forget, there is no one more expert in your child than you! We live with these kids 24/7. We see them in all sorts of situations and moods. We know what makes them tick....well, sometimes!

Parents of gifted children come from diverse backgrounds, educationally, financially, and culturally, but we all have one thing in common: No matter what life throws at us, we will always love and support our children unconditionally. Regardless of career opportunities and politics, we will always look for what is best for our children and we will be relentless in our quest.

As a group, we include educators, psychologists, paediatricians and psychiatrists. Others are great leaders and motivators; some make great coffee; some are wonderful listeners; some provide the much-needed light relief when the going gets tough! Each and every one of us has something to bring to the party.

As a group, we have so much to offer and our challenge must be to find each other, to use each others strengths to support each other, to learn from each other and to develop a loud and powerful voice on behalf of our children.

As individuals, we may often feel swamped, unsure and inadequate. As a group, we have the passion, the skills and the expertise to really make a difference. We should not wait about for others to do this for us. Join your local support group and get stuck in. If there isn’t one, start one. We urge you to rise to the challenge.

Many thanks to Kidspot.com.au for permission to use the above cartoon.

Together We Can Change the World

We are delighted to join with our friends in Germany as they celebrate their first Gifted Awareness Week. We invite our readers to visit their website and read the many articles contributed by some very eminent people in the field of giftedness. However, we make no apology for writing as parents. We send our very best wishes from Ireland!

Parenting gifted children can be a rollercoaster. Just as you think you have it all figured out, the unexpected can happen and leave you feeling isolated, scared and frustrated. There is little awareness within the education system, of their needs, quirks and characteristics. Teachers and psychologists, most of whom have little or no training in the field of giftedness, may misinterpret assessments and misdiagnose behaviours. Parents may be left dealing with a bored, frustrated, difficult child with nowhere to turn for help and advice.

This is where parents' support groups are invaluable. Each child and each situation is different, but the one thing which we parents all have in common is the burning desire to do what is best for our children. New members often arrive to their first meeting full of anxiety but, having spoken to other parents of gifted children for the first time, they go away relieved to know that they are not alone and that they are not failing as parents.

Over time, we will all encounter difficulties and a good vent over a cup of coffee is extremely therapeutic! When you are in a support group, this is only ever a phone call or an email away. Between us, we have children spanning the entire age range, so we have a huge pool of knowledge and experience to share.

The only people with an unwavering vested interest in gifted children are their parents. No matter what career opportunities or barriers cross our paths, we will always have our children's happiness and welfare at the head of our agenda. So, it is vital that we not only support each other, but that we also work together to raise awareness of our children's needs and to bring about change within the education system. We cannot sit back and rely on others to do this for us.

Natalie, Deirdre, Catherine and Karen on a sunny day in Bray!

Natalie Butler, Deirdre O'Donovan, Catherine Riordan, Karen McCarthy,  and Michele Pippet (missing above) represent Gifted Advocacy and Support (GAS), a parents’ support group in Dublin and Wicklow, on Ireland's east coast. The group has run meetings and outings for parents of gifted learners and has been involved in advocacy at national level since 2009. Recognising the benefit to parents of getting together to share ideas and support, they are now working towards helping to build other support groups around Ireland and providing a means of communication between them. Through their website, parents can come together to give each other valuable support and friendship as they negotiate their way through the challenging years of parenting their gifted children.

New Centre for Gifted Research Gives Hope to Irish Parents

DCU and the CTYI programme is a refuge for my son every Saturday and, last Friday night, I met my knight in shining armour there at the launch of the new DCU Centre for Gifted Research. 

Professor Tracy Cross, from the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary in the US, was there to speak at the launch and, more importantly, to us parents who were invited to attend. He is one of the world's leading experts in gifted kids and, as a parent of gifted kids himself, an absolute lifeline to someone like me, who was called into school twice last week because of my seven-year-old son's behaviour!

I know the benefit of talking to other parents in the same position as myself and, to talk to a parent with so much knowledge and experience in this field, was absolutely invaluable. He is such a warm and approachable man and clearly his kids are his best work because he is so obviously proud of them. For someone like myself starting out on this journey of trying to navigate my child through a hostile education system, he is absolutely inspirational. After our chat, I felt hope for the first time - that maybe it's not me failing my child, but instead it is our educational system.

The Centre for Gifted Research is an exciting and long-overdue development and a step forward for our kids. Speaking at the launch, Dr Colm O'Reilly, Director of CTYI, said: 

"We are increasingly expanding the work of CTYI and we believe research plays an important role in providing evidence for the need for gifted programmes and in helping people to understand the academic and social needs of high ability students. We are currently involved in a couple of research projects, including social coping and self concept of gifted students, a study of principals and school policy around academically talented students and an international study around what it is like to be a gifted student."

Two CTYI staff members, Dr Eleanor Healion and Dr Catriona Ledwith, have recently completed PhDs in this field and Eleanor talked about how a number of local schools in disadvantaged areas, selected their brightest students to attend special CTYI programmes. The effect it had on these kids, their families and school friends, was incredible.

CTYI will collaborate with the DCU School of Education Studies in setting up the Centre for Gifted Research to address the needs for research in this area. There are important topics to examine, including online learning, gifted disadvantaged students and STEM related topics. CTYI will need our help in the future, with possible participants in this research and, if you work in an institution that would be interested in collaborating with them in this regard, please get in touch with Colm. 

In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch with Professor Tracy Cross, his email is TLCross@wm.edu. Professor Cross, an endowed chair at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a leading expert in gifted education, was recently appointed an adjunct professor at DCU to help CTYI in the area of research.

Support Group Meeting

Tuesday 21st May

7.45pm

 

Glenview Hotel, Kilmacanogue 

Topics for discussion:

• Assessment: Why, when, by whom. How to interpret and what to do with the report. 
• Not fitting in 

Everyone is welcome, but it would be helpful if you could let us know if you are coming so that we have an idea of numbers. You can do this by leaving a comment below or dropping us a line through the "Contact Us" button. 

Directions

If any other support groups are having meetings, we are very happy to post a notice here too. Just send us the details!

Support Groups for Parents of Gifted Children in Ireland

Support groups are a great way for parents to get together and let off steam. They provide an opportunity to speak to others who may be experiencing similar difficulties to their own and who may have found solutions. It is a huge relief to discover that your children are actually “normal” after all!

Since the early days of our own group, Gifted Advocacy and Support (GAS), we have encouraged other parents around the country to form similar groups. We have done this through this blog, facebook and twitter and through speaking on several occasions at CTYI events. You may have come across Dazzled and Frazzled & Co handing out flyers at DCU on occasions!

Each marker on the map below represents an individual parent who either is or wants to be involved in a support group. Over time, we hope to add to the map so that everyone can find at least one parent within easy reach.


View GAS in a larger map 
Our hope is, firstly, to help other parents to find each other for support, but also to provide a means of communication between groups so that we can support and encourage each other. We also hope that we can all come together to work on any future advocacy efforts so that we have a louder, unified voice.

In order to help parents to find each other, we have added a new page to our blog: Find Support. There, we have a list of support groups. If you would like to be put in touch with one of these, or have a group which you would like added to the list, please let us know. If any of the details need updating, be sure and let us know too.

Although our primary focus is on parents, teachers who wish to join support groups are warmly welcomed. Parents and teachers have much to learn from each other when it comes to supporting gifted learners. When they work together and listen to each other, the children benefit enormously.

Important Announcement

We would like to inform our readers that as of May 2013 The Irish Gifted Education Blog, Gifted Advocacy and Support (GAS) Wicklow/Dublin, and Dazzled and Frazzled no longer have any association with the following organisations:

• Gifted and Talented Ireland
• Gifted and Talented Network Ireland

Through Gifted Advocacy and Support, we have been supporting parents and advocating for gifted children in Ireland since 2009. We are continuing to work with a strong group to advocate on behalf of gifted learners in Ireland. Our core committee is comprised of five members most of whom have been involved with GAS from its earliest meetings, and our total membership now extends to more than fifty families. We have been active in encouraging other groups to set up similar support networks throughout Ireland and continue to work for grassroots, community-based group structures. The progress we have made speaks for itself but we need to keep moving forward to achieve our long-term goal of a better understanding of the needs of gifted children within Ireland’s education system in the future.

We appreciate the support we have received from friends far and wide and hope that we can continue to rely on your encouragement and involvement as we move on.

The Gifted Phoenix Manifesto For Gifted Education

The topic for discussion at our last #gtie chat was "The Gifted Phoenix Manifesto For Gifted Education".

Gifted Phoenix is the social media pseudonym of Tim Dracup, a former head of the English Gifted and Talented Unit. In that role, he clocked up ten years of experience in the drafting and implementation of national gifted education policy in the UK. 

For the past three years, he has been researching and writing about gifted education policy around the world on the Gifted Phoenix Blog. Tim has a very distinct writing style. His research is meticulous and his posts detailed and factual. He has an unusual ability to remain objective and unemotional. His blog has developed into an invaluable archive of research material, the likes of which you will not find anywhere else.

I always enjoy chats with @GiftedPhoenix because he is not afraid to say what he thinks, even if it jars with the general consensus . It's always far more interesting and exciting when people are prepared to call a spade a spade, don't you think? With @Peter_Lydon and @GiftedPhoenix, this one had great potential!

• The Gifted Phoenix Manifesto for Gifted Education full text
• The Economics of Gifted Education Revisited
• Storify summary of the #gtie chat
• Full transcript of the gtie chat

Tim explained that the Gifted Phoenix manifesto for Gifted Education was written to “encapsulate what I’d learned over 3 years of writing the blog...as a potential programme for change. A text that might attract broad consensus which advocates could use to convince skeptical policy makers (like  used to be) of the case for investment in gifted education”.

The Economic Argument: The economic argument highlights the economic benefits of investment in gifted education. Tim feels that this is part of the answer to the lack of growth that pertains at the moment. There are those who are uncomfortable, to varying degrees, with the use of the economic argument, on the basis that we should not politicise gifted children; that gifted children have special educational needs which deserve support regardless of any economic argument. I agree entirely with this sentiment but, I also feel that we need to be pragmatic. We have been arguing the case for gifted education for years and where has it got us? We have no consensus on what “gifted” is, never mind an effective, equitable programme of gifted education anywhere in the world, as far as I can see. We are all dancing about either trying to appear tolerant of each other’s views or taking umbrage with each other. The broad church model is all very well within the ranks but, let’s face it, if you were an unconverted policymaker, would you fork out some of your precious budget for some airy fairy cause whose advocates couldn’t even agree on a definition or a focus? Let’s be honest; the only thing which cuts any ice with policymakers is the economic argument. If emphasising this argument results in the needs of gifted students being met, then maybe this is what we need to do.

The social/emotional needs: Many, if not most, advocates are concerned about the social and emotional needs of gifted students. They would feel more comfortable if gifted students were promoted in a holistic way as individuals rather than purely as an economic resource. However, the Manifesto clearly states:

• There should be integrated support for learners, educators and parents/carers, to maximise the benefits from synergy between these streams.
• Five areas of engagement should also be synergised: learning, professional development, advocacy, research and policy-making.

I believe that, if we can use the economic argument to get the policymakers to adopt our suggested model, recognition of the social and emotional needs of these students will follow naturally. Consider all the current research on gifted students. Does the vast bulk of it not cover these issues? We have enormous amounts of research to show that gifted students have different needs and to show the possible consequences of not meeting them. But policymakers, and indeed most educators, have not shown much interest. It doesn't do much to convince the general public either. We need a different argument to get the door open!

The Elitist Argument: This is an entirely personal point of view but one which I believe the Manifesto addresses nicely. The current situation means that, for the most part, the gifted kids with the best chance of doing well in every sense, are the ones whose parents have the money to gain access to gifted education programmes, where they are available, or to enrichment programmes and extracurricular activities. We need a system which recognises and meets the needs of all gifted students no matter what their background or the wherewithal of their parents. That would blow the elitist argument out of the water. Not to mention that when excellence and equity is promoted within the education system as a whole, all students, not just the gifted ones benefit.

Evidence: In order to have any credibility, all arguments must be evidence-based. There is no room for wishy washy stuff and hunches here. We need good research to back everything up. As Tim points out, that means it must be available, not stashed behind paywalls where it is of no use to anyone outside the chosen few.

The stumbling Block: One huge stumbling block to progress will be the gifted community itself. Tim says,

“we must move away determinedly from the disagreements, factions, cliques, petty rivalries, self-promotion and empire-building that characterise the community and work co-operatively together for the benefit of all gifted learners.”

That this is true can be seen very clearly in our tiny country where one individual on a mission to carve a personal profile managed to bring down our national organisation after thirty years of advocacy. Four years later, the politics of this still rumbles on subtly and, instead of all advocates working together, those of us striving to build a network of advocates and to bring about real change for gifted children in Ireland are constantly looking over our shoulders and watching what we say to whom. It is hard to bring people together while at the same time preventing vested interests and egos from undermining or hijacking our efforts in an attempt to self-promote. If a country as small as Ireland can’t get everyone pulling together, what hope do we have globally?  To succeed, this will require a lot of effort, determination and many spades!

Gifted Children and the Growth Mindset

On Monday, economist David McWilliams, wrote a piece called Tearing Down The Talent Idol which really disappointed me. Partly because of what he wrote and partly because he was someone whose writing I have generally admired. This time he chose to make throw away and damaging remarks about a subject with which he is clearly not familiar, but which is very dear to my heart. Although he doesn’t cite her in the piece, he says it is based on the research of Carol Dweck and her theory of Mindset. Dweck’s theory is that, rather than being something with which one is born, talent is something which can be developed by anyone if they have they believe they can improve and if they work at it. This is what she calls having a “growth mindset”. The opposite is a “fixed mindset”, whereby one believes talent is entirely innate. You either have it or you don’t. In The Secret to Raising Smart Kids, Dweck says that children

“who coast through the early grades under the dangerous notion that no-effort academic achievement defines them as smart or gifted. “Such children hold an implicit belief that intelligence is innate and fixed, making striving to learn seem far less important than being (or looking) smart. “This belief also makes them see challenges, mistakes and even the need to exert effort as threats to their ego rather than as opportunities to improve. “And it causes them to lose confidence and motivation when the work is no longer easy for them.”

My only problem is with how this theory is often quoted with the assumption that genetics play no role in intelligence. Dweck, to the best of my knowledge, makes no such claim. There has been a great deal of research over the years, much of which has been condensed and analysed by Robert Plomin in Genetics and Intelligence, which shows that some people are born with higher ability than others. It’s a nice idea, but does anyone really believe that everyone is born with the exactly the same level of intelligence? Are some people mentally disabled simply because they didn’t work hard enough? Talent most definitely requires work to develop, and the child with less inborn ability who puts in the work, may indeed surpass, in terms of achievement, the child born with higher ability but who does not work to develop it. Other than that, I entirely agree that each of us can develop our innate talent, probably more than we think.

So, what is my problem with McWilliam’s article then?

1. He refers to gifted children and their parents in very disparaging terms. Much as he may deny his intent, to put the term gifted in inverted commas and refer to the parents as Tiger mums and dads, can only be described as disparaging. What he doesn’t seem to understand is that in educational terms, gifted is the term used to refer to those children whose ability lies within the upper 5% of the population. Most people would accept that cognitive ability covers a spectrum. That’s how we come to have IQ scales and we don’t all score the same. Those at the lower end, we refer to as having mental disability. Those at the upper end are gifted. That means there are are 5 gifted children in every 100; one or two in every class of thirty in the country. They aren’t all prodigies and, for various reasons, they don’t all do well in school. They aren’t necessarily the well-behaved, studious, high-achievers which teachers would pick out as gifted. Neither do they all have pushy, competitive parents. Gifted children often have issues which can make school life difficult for them and most parents of genuinely gifted children are just happy to have them survive through the system in one piece with their love of learning and mental health intact. I question whether the Tiger parents to which McWilliams refers, actually have gifted children at all, or are they the competitive parents of high achievers?

2. Given that our education system is designed for the average student, unless we recognise and accept the existence of students with above average ability, how do they avoid being the child who “coasts through the early grades”? How does the child who taught himself to read at the age of 3, develop a growth mindset in a junior infant class where everyone is learning the letters of the alphabet? Parents of gifted children are not pushing for awareness because they think their children are better or more special than anyone else’s child. They simply want them to have the same chance to struggle, to fail and to learn to pick themselves up and try again, to persist...and to develop that growth mindset.

Let’s not forget that giftedness crosses all socioeconomic barriers. Unlike the lazy stereotype David would have us believe, it’s not a middle-class South County Dublin phenomenon. At least middle class children have a chance of being spotted and supported. What of the equally gifted child in, for example, inner city Dublin, whose parents didn’t complete second level education and of whom no one has any great expectations? What chance do they have of ever fulfilling their true potential?

That is why parents like those in our support group put so much effort into raising awareness of the needs of gifted children in Ireland. I would love to see a day when our education system was such that a gifted student in any classroom, regardless of background, would be spotted by their teacher and provided with the challenge necessary to develop their ability fully. Funnily enough, the methods which have been used in gifted and talented education for years are the very techniques which are recognised as the best for every student.

What I think we must guard against is a situation such as that in some other countries, where access to gifted education is open only to those with money or pushy parents. It should be available to every child who has the ability to learn at a faster pace and a deeper level than average. By making it part and parcel of our education system, it would allow these students develop growth mindsets and develop to their fullest without stigmatising them...or their parents.

When high profile individuals like David McWilliams trot out populist remarks which undermine our efforts and which perpetuate the damaging myths which surround the issue of giftedness, we can hardly be expected to sit back and let it ride. However, in trying to discuss the issue with David via Twitter, he tweeted that our “self-absorption” was “breathtaking". I guess we are just being treated as David was during the Celtic Tiger, when he was one of a very few economists who saw things differently to everyone else and wasn’t afraid to say it. I admired him for that and I expected  better of him.

Did you miss the last few #gtie chats of 2012?

In case you missed them, here is a collection of the last few #gtie chats of 2012. Contributors came from all round the globe and there are some great references included in these write-ups. If you aren't comfortable with Twitter, you can follow the chats live without anyone knowing. Better still, you can join in! Tweetchat makes both options easy.

• Gifted and Talented Policy Choices for Schools
• Dear Teacher, My Child is Gifted and I Wanted You to Know....
• Intensity as the Defining Characteristic of Giftedness
• Mythillogical: Belief Versus the Reality of Giftedness
• Twice Exceptional Students

These links no longer work, as one individual has assumed control of GT Network and has revoked access for previous editors and authors. The posts themselves can still be found by searching the site, but authorship is now attributed to the site owner rather than the original author, Catherine Riordan. 

Look What You're Missing!

I know many of you are a bit dismissive of Twitter or think you wouldn't be able to manage it, but we have had some very interesting chats about gifted issues at #gtie this term and we have more to come. You may like to read what you missed so far:

• Gifted Children and Tests
• Gifted Girls
• Giftedness as a Special Educational Need
• Gifted School Leavers: Deciding What To Do
• Gifted Education Research: Who to Read and Why
• Essential Websites On Giftedness

These links no longer work, as one individual has assumed control of GT Network and has  revoked access for previous editors and authors. The posts themselves can still be found by searching the site, but authorship is now attributed to the site owner rather than the original author, Catherine Riordan.