Melbourne University PhD researcher Anne Grant has released preliminary findings of her research into how gifted children behave in their formative educational years.

 

During the study, Dr Grant spent an academic year observing the behavioural patterns of seven ‘gifted’ children in Melbourne’s north-east and northern suburbs.

 

During the study, Dr Grant found that gifted children were prone to ‘acting out’ by displaying odd behaviour and frequently crying due to their frustrations.

 

Dr Grant also found that a number of primary school teachers were ill-equipped with resources or knowledge to properly identify or manage gifted children in the classroom.

 

Dr Grant concluded that it is vital for such gifted children to be accommodated to optimise learning potential from the educational system.

 

The term gifted refers to approximately five per cent of the population and applies to those with an IQ above 130. On average about 1 in 20 people in the Australian population fit in to the group classified as gifted.

 

“On average, there is usually one gifted child in every classroom,” Dr Grant said.

 

“The problem is that some teachers don’t recognize they have any gifted children among their cohort and while others do realize, they don’t have the resources to provide any special attention to these children.”

 

Dr Grant said that her study shows that a lack of adequate stimulation for gifted children often resulted in seemingly immature behaviour, which in turn confuses early childhood teachers.

 

One of Dr Grant’s student subjects ‘Peter’ started school well, but found all the teacher offered at the beginning was play, he got bored, didn’t want to interact in this way and then was very unhappy about going to school.

 

“Michael, another young boy announced – I don’t play with these sorts of toys. I’m not a child – to his teacher on the first day of kindergarten.”

 

Dr Grant, who has worked as a pre-school teacher for more than 20 years prior to beginning her PhD, says she would now like to use the knowledge gained from her research to work with teachers to help them understand the importance of early identification and how to support the development of young gifted children.