Parents must know that gifted kids need special attention

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)