Parents must know that gifted kids need special attention

JAKARTA (JP): "How am I supposed to know if my child is gifted? And how should I treat him?" asked a woman.

Her questions were two of many raised during a seminar on gifted children held by the Indonesian Gifted Children's Foundation at the Jakarta Hilton International last Saturday.

Education expert Conny Semiawan of the Jakarta Teachers Training Institute said that children naturally develop in different ways and a child's development could be seen through its intellect, talent, interests, personality, physical and social condition.

A child's development, she said, can clearly be seen during the learning process at school. Experienced teachers can distinguish between students who grasp the school's subjects fast, slow or very fast.

"In terms of intellect, children who can understand the subjects very fast are considered gifted children," Conny told the seminar's participants.

Intellectually gifted children, she said, can be recognized by their quick ability and flexibility to think logically, their curiosity, originality, consistency and their fast ability to relate to various cases.

Citing Clark, author of the Growing Up Gifted, she said the highest expression of gifted children could be seen through their creativity.

According to Consultancy Clinic on Giftedness' chairwoman, Neneng R. Uozumi, gifted children comprise about 2 percent of the country's population.

Conny, who lead the clinic's team experts, said there could be gifted children in every school. "Teachers and parents should be able to understand their characteristics... so educational programs can be adjusted to meet their interests," Conny said.

It is assumed that gifted children are genetically awarded with extraordinary talent and they are expected to apply their ideas and potential ability more than others.

Gifted children, she said, needed special educational programs along with superior teaching methods to develop their talents and abilities.

"If gifted children are not being taught properly, it is feared their ability will waste away...," Conny said.

To stimulate children's giftedness, a superior teaching concept could balance the development of two parts of the brain, namely the left and right sides, she said.

For right-handed children, the left side is responsible for, among others, a linear, logical and organized way of thinking, while the right side is important for imagination, divergence and creative thinking, she said.

But at school, particularly primary school, most of the subjects, such as writing, mathematics and reading, only activate the left side of the brain, leaving out imagination and creative roles of the right side, Conny said.

In order to balance the right and the left sides, children should also be persuaded to participate in an experimental learning process, she said.

Parents who want to know whether their children are gifted or not can consult experts specializing in gifted children.

Consultation Clinic on Giftedness was established in January by the Indonesian Gifted Children's Foundation to help gifted children receive proper care to develop their abilities, and to educate parents about their children's giftedness.

"It would be a pity if gifted children were simply ignored, treated just like normal children. Most of them, which are only about 2 percent of the country's population, are not being handled well yet," Neneng said. (ste)