The article states:

And further:

Unfortunately, it is not mentioned in the interview, that a reliable test does exist, which has proven to measure an extraordinarily high IQ even with pre-school children: K-ABC (Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children).

Even if this test is not explicitly designed to measure intelligence far above average, it still provides valuable initial clues about the current intelligence level of a child.

Many years of experience have shown that – if applied professionally on the background of profound knowledge about giftedness AND substantial experience with gifted children –
in a follow-up testing at an older age with HAWIK, the trend of the earlier testing with the K-ABC is confirmed to a high degree. (See also the study done by the Max Planck Institute mentioned later.)

The HAWIK (Hamburg-Wechsler-Intelligenztest für Kinder; the respectively most current issue, the fourth being from May 2011) is an established and approved test procedure for children of 6 years and older, and it is perfectly applicable with regard to top performances. The HAWIVA (The HAWIK version for pre-school children) already having been released and used has been called back for revision by the authors to improve standardization (as of May 2011).

The application of a test is – as far as I am concerned – only one basis, and not sufficient at that, on which to determine giftedness at an early age. It takes more: a thorough interview with the parents as well as professional (evocative) observations over a longer period of time.

See: Modes of Observations
See: Standards for Conducting Diagnostic Test Procedures
See: Determining Giftedness
See: Recognizing by Observation

And what does research tell us?

In the magazine “Max Planck Forschung” [Max Planck Research] (3/2006 issue) Anne Goebel reported about the LOGIK-Study, which was initiated by the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in 1984 and completed by the involved scientists in 2005. In this longitudinal study the development of 210 subjects from their 4th to their 23rd year was examined. The research objective of the study was, roughly, to get a better understanding of the genesis (i.e. the emergence and evolution) of individual competencies.
(This is how the name of the study comes about: Lo ngitudinalstudie zur G enese i ndividueller K ompetenzen.)

Among other things, this study examined the development of intelligence as an individual feature and produced the following results, as introduced by Jan Stefanek of the Institute for Psychology of the University of Würzburg at a convention (quote from Max-Planck-Forschung, ibidem, p. 70):

>”Intelligence is relatively fixed rather early.” Verbal as well as the non-verbal intelligence, as shown in the study, underlie 2-year-cycles of stability, which even grew stronger as the children grew older. “The differences in intelligence detected at the age of 4 years remained largely unaltered two years later”, said Stefanek.
In the following years this tendency even crystalized further. “… The results of the testing at the age of 4 render a predictability of the intelligence measured at the age of 6, which is significantly above average. And the values determined at the age of 6 then even allow for an accurate prediction of later intelligence.”<

The attachment and the scientific results can be found in: Schneider (publisher) Entwicklung von der Kindheit bis … [Development from childhood to …], see:  Bibliography.

Are checklists fatal?

Upon having boldly denied the detectability of giftedness Stumpf warns us not to use checklists:

This reveals a rather simplistic view on giftedness, which could easily unsettle parents. If the child does not speak particularly early and extensively, parents might think the child is not gifted. However, experience shows that quite a few gifted people did not stand out early on with regard to language. Yet, in spite of their little urge to talk and their limited command of the language, their mental performance was remarkable – their vocabulary sometimes being impressive – so long as anybody bothered to actively take interest in their thoughts and their mental development.

Then again, language skills that draw attention should be observed and adequately furthered, yet these skills alone do not make for giftedness.

Then, under false assumptions, Stumpf goes on to give a pedagogically inauspicious piece of advice (quoted as in the mentioned ELTERN-article):

Wait and see! That’s what parents are frequently told by paediatricians, psychologists and pedagogues – sometimes with the addendum: “That’ll grow out.”. From my point of view it is wrong to stay passive and wait, it is even harmful to the children. And what’s more, the necessary input should not only be given by the parents but by the entire educational system, from kindergarten to university.

It is better to get into the matter, face the upcoming questions, get the relevant information about advancement of gifted children, and talk to the kindergarten teachers. It is no good to wait and see until the child finds itself in permanent frustration.
(See: Permanent Frustration.)

Why should a family that suspects one of its children to be gifted become ‘fixated on giftedness’? A child is not defined by its degree of giftedness and even less by its performance. Parents know this, and they should be reassured in this knowledge at every single counselling session. The relationship between parents and children is usually much more complex and differentiated.

Many gifted children do at one point or another have trouble at and with (German) school. To ascribe this to an early detection of giftedness appears helpless and unfair to parents and children.

The “enormous” frustration Stumpf is speaking of can only occur, if parents measure the value of their child by its intelligence and talent. That is fatal.

With regard to small children, this being different materialises as different playing and learning needs, which should be observed, so that the child may develop happily.

See: Special Playing and Learning Needs

There may be problems later, if the diagnostics of giftedness in earlier years were not conducted with the necessary care – or if the limited accuracy of the instrument ‘testing’ was not conveyed to the parents sufficiently – or if it was not explained to the parents that the threshold value for giftedness at an IQ-value of 130 was an entirely arbitrary matter of definition. All this is therefore vital to be observed in testing.

An entire part of chapter 2.1 in this manual is dedicated to recognising and observing. Pedagogues, knowledgeable and experienced with regard to the phenomenon giftedness, are very well capable of recognising giftedness and of responding adequately and creatively.

This is demonstrated clearly by the many examples from practical work, which always show both: support and better understanding. That is how, as in an upward spiral, the efficiency and quality of both processes can be raised.

When it comes to checklists, it is the same as with everything else: there are good and bad, useful and useless respectively. Furthermore the quality of the outcome is highly dependent on the person using the checklist.

The development as well as the use of checklists can be done in very unprofessional manner.

An Example:

A paediatrician handed out the following sheet which they were to fill out and evaluate by themselves.

***
Caption:

(above the table:) Score Points for small children
(keywords from top to bottom:)
Little need for sleep
Premature development
Early learning
Good memory
Logical thinking
Good language skills
Extreme questions
Good concentration
Older friends
Socio-emotional/intellectual development asynchronous
(below table:)
Evaluation: 15 – 20 points giftedness likely
10 – 15 points giftedness suspected
0 – 10 points giftedness not to be assumed, further observation
***

But this checklist is a useless instrument …

• because it contains too few items to describe giftedness,
• because the keywords are not being explained as to what they really mean,
• because it leaves it up to the parents to decide what an “extreme question” is for a 3- or 5-year-old.

Let us imagine a 3 years old child …

- that likes to sleep (and gets 0 points)
- that is interested in numbers but still wets its diapers and mostly needs help getting dressed (which is why the parents give it 0 or 1 point for “premature development”
- that does not read yet (0 points)
- that does have a very good memory, which the parents happen to consider normal (giving it 1 point here)
- whose outstanding logical thinking is recognised (2 points)
- that does not speak correct grammar and whose articulation maybe even a little unclear (0 points)
- that does occasionally come up with some rather extreme questions, but nobody takes the time to get to the bottom of them in a conversation with the child, nor does anybody dispose of the skill to do so. What, for example, is to be said of the question of a 3-year-old: “Do people die when they get 18 feet tall?” If this question is dismissed as childish nonsense, the intellectual implications of such a question are not recognised (and there may be only 1 point given here)
- that does not have any older friends, simply because there are not enough older children around (0 points)
- whose intellectual and socio-emotional development are quite in accordance with each other, which incidentally is very hard to assess and is frequently subject to misjudgement. But simply because their child’s socio-emotional development does not arouse any attention, the parents give 0 points here.

This child would score an entire 4 to 5 points, and the parents would presumably dismiss the idea their child might be gifted altogether – to the disadvantage of the child.

There are also checklists to be found on the internet, which have been drafted by parents themselves. These are meant to be helpful, but often they basically describe those parents’ child as opposed to detailing general features of high ability. Such lists may be misleading for other parents.

A good checklist can be helpful

With our Indicators of Possible Intellectual Giftedness (in connection with the provided examples) we have aimed to compile indicators that are based on experience. In our courses these are being exemplified and in our manual we try to illustrate them with a variety of case studies taken directly from practical work experience in kindergartens.

In contrast to Dr Stumpf we are of the opinion that it is possible and important to generalize the individual and rather diversified indicators of giftedness, as shown by children, and extract thereof a useful set of characteristics which strongly point towards giftedness even in pre-school children.
Published in German: 2011, July
Translated by Arno Zucknick
Copyright © Hanna Vock, see Imprint

Often as early as at the age of 3, 4 or 5 years gifted children notice that they are quite different from the other children of the same age: their interests, their cognitive abilities and often enough their command of the language. No later than when they enter kindergarten they will experience their being different quite distinctly.

Evidence for this is in the statements of some adolescents, who graduated from the gifted class at the Christopherusschule in Brunswick and told me in a conversation about their kindergarten days:

Young woman, 18 yrs.:

Young man, 18 yrs.:

Young man, 17 yrs.:

Young woman, 16 yrs.:

All four of them reported that their kindergarten teachers as well as their parents urged them to adapt themselves, to join in on specific games, to spend more time playing anyway, be more like the other children, do what they do.

All four of them, as early as in their kindergarten days, had a strong, sometimes distressing sense of being different.

Was that young man happy, who said: „I just couldn’t deal with the other children and neither could they deal with me. So I just did my own thing and they did theirs.“?

There is reasonable doubt. Maybe he would have been happier if he had been in an environment where there was true exchange of ideas and participation in the other person’s thoughts, where there was playing and working together on a high level …

In kindergarten gifted children basically do have the same basic needs as all other children:

They want to …

• play with other children
• have fun with other children and with adults
• exchange ideas and make friends
• create something in a collaborative effort, make decisions and achieve something
• gain recognition
• become ever more self-sufficient
• understand what is going on around them
• understand what is going on with themselves
• they are on a quest for more knowledge, interesting people and media, from whom they might learn something fascinating about the world.

The individual shape these basic needs take on may differ greatly, though.

A 4 years old child that is gifted in the field of motor skills might have great interest in and enjoy learning complicated sequences of dance moves or improvising, while many other 4-year-olds are happy if they manage to clap their hands or walk in time with an easy tune. The gifted child will inevitably be bored and largely under-challenged if for years nothing more challenging happens in its environment. It cannot seem to nurture its talents.

And to take it even further: The child does not want to keep performing the same old and hardly elaborate dance moves together with children who, in its point of view, only poorly manage to move along with the music.

Maybe it would be desirable for this child:

1. to recognise its giftedness in kindergarten
2. not to have to dance with the group if it does not want to
3. to be encouraged to show its artistry and be acclaimed for it
4. that the kindergarten teachers recommend to the parents letting the child participate in dance course outside of kindergarten (if the child seems interested)

A five years old child that is gifted in the field of science may feel extremely frustrated when an “exciting experiment” is being announced and that experiment consists in watching a candle burn, feeling the heat of the flame and finally blowing it out; things it knew all along.

The same thing is experienced by first graders who enter school with great expectations and shortly after are deeply disappointed by the tediously slow learning pace at school.

Even though the principle needs of gifted and not gifted children may be largely the same, their concurrent playing and learning needs may be quite different.

I coined the phrase “special playing and learning needs” in 2000 when I was teaching my first class of kindergarten teachers. It has proven to be wise and fruitful in subsequent courses to delve into the question of special playing and learning needs of individual gifted children and to derive concepts from this inquiry.

The individual shape of playing and learning needs is closely related to the individual talents and potentials of the child. And it is dependent upon the degree to which the child has been able to unfold its talents so far. In the case of an intellectal giftedness the decisive factor is to what degree the child has been able to develop its independent thinking.

A 3½ years old child, that plays chinese checkers at home, will not be very thrilled by the game “Tempo, kleine Schnecke” [Speed up, little Snail!”], which is a very popular yet simple and easy game among 3 – 4-year-olds.

In general we can say that gifted children do not only prefer more difficult games,

See also the example of Marja and the Punch-handpuppets in the article:
Adequate Playing Partners

In their regular job training kindergarten teachers usually do not learn much about the potentials and needs of gifted children. The consequence are frequent pedagogic troubles, which keep surfacing in our courses:

• the current abilities of the gifted children are underestimated
• the potential for development and the speed at which it takes place are underestimated
• the children’s intrinsic motivation and endurance are underestimated
• the social (yes, this too!) and mental maturity, the ability of metacognition (reflecting about the thinking process itself) and the ability to reflect (mental assessment and evaluation of experiences made) are underestimated
• the scope of the children’s fields of interest is underestimated

If that is how things are, adequate advancement cannot be provided. Instead there is a permanent danger of under-challenging the children.

See also: Permanent Frustration because of Being Underchallenged and Facing Incomprehension

If however, a kindergarten offers demanding and interesting activities, that correspond well to the interests of the children, kindergarten teachers are apt to make encouraging observations. This is how Ute Bleiheuft came to write in one of her assignments during her IHVO-Certificate-Course:

My comment on this on the side of Ms Bleienheuft’s paper was:

“She was experiencing the “flow”, that is a mental state of great concentration (one might even say: her brain was finally allowed to come up to speed); and she was in a state of bliss, being able to do and learn something that was suitable for her own potential and talent. The “flow” results in a feeling of deep satisfaction. Gifted children get way too few chances to experience this. It should be experienced regularly, though, and the longing for it is always present.

****

Finally, with a grain of salt (even the gifted are prone to alcoholism), a quote from a novel. A scientist, an expert of rocket engineering, who has lost his memory is told by a colleague:

“Sounds like you went to a great party last night!”

“Let me ask you seriously – is that the kind of thing I do? Get so drunk I pass out?”

“I don’t know you well enough to answer that.” Will frowned. “I’d be surprised, though.
You do know us scientists. Our idea of a party is to sit around drinking coffee and talking about our work.”

That sounded right to Luke. “Getting drunk just doesn’t seem interesting enough”.

From: Ken Follet (2000), Code to Zero

Published in German: October 2012

Translated by Arno Zucknick
Copyright © Hanna Vock, see Imprint

The IHVO (Institut zur Förderung hoch begabter Vorschulkinder – Institute for the Advancement of Gifted Pre-School Children) was founded, because the situation for gifted and bright children in kindergarten needs to be improved.
This applies to some 15 per cent of an age group, which means about one out of seven children. In order to contribute to this improvement the IHVO offers further trainings for pedagogues and kindergarten staff.

All methodological considerations are centred around the Playing and Learning Needs of bright and gifted children – especially their emotional, social and cognitive needs.
A prime concern of the institute is to contribute to it that gifted children are identified early on and supported in kindergarten independently of the income and educational background of their parents.

In the further trainings of our institute pedagogues learn to support and advance adequately those children who dispose of the following characteristics to an extraordinary degree:

• Joy in intellectual pursuits and in the recognition of correlations
• Quick absorption and processing of information
• Logical, complex, original and abstract thinking
• Independent and creative problem solving
• Great endurance when dealing with topics of interest
• Craving for knowledge
• Being interested in topics that go far beyond the interests of peers in age
• Early ability to criticise

By focussing on the 3% of gifted children in our trainings, important insights in and expertise of the advancement of another 12% of bright children are conveyed along the way.

The institute offers introductory courses, in which the kindergarten teachers and teams can familiarise themselves with the topic. Principal pieces of information and a presentation of the basics of advancement of the gifted enable the participants to reconsider their own concepts and meet the needs of gifted children with greater sensitivity.

In comprehensive and in-depth trainings (IHVO-Certificate Course and Project Integrative Focus Kindergarten) participants compile a detailed and substantiated understanding of the playing and learning needs of gifted children. They develop new methodological competence for communication, integration and collaboration with parents in the field of advancement of the gifted. They come up with concepts for individualised and cognitively sophisticated support of gifted children.

By means of such advancement negative developments, which gifted children might otherwise experience at an early age, can be avoided. It is not at all inevitable that gifted children become aggressive or depressed from Permanent Frustration which results from frequent boredom and a feeling of not being understood. Neither is it inevitable that children resign early on and hide their talents, that they can ensure their well being only by adapting. It can be prevented that gifted children become loners and outsiders as the only means of staying true to themselves. This is where kindergarten has great potential of prevention.

The head of the institute, Hanna Vock, has initiated and conceptualised the very first certificate course throughout the whole of Germany. She conducted it from March of 2003 through March of 2005 – courtesy of the Imhoff Foundation Cologne. A Final Report was drafted. Until now (2012) 15 courses have been completed successfully.

In addition to its efforts in further trainings the institute also wants to contribute to the advancement of gifted children becoming a natural part of elementary pedagogics.

This also involves the transition from kindergarten to school. Some gifted children wish to enrol at school early, sometimes even very early. With new educational legislation there are growing possibilities for justifying individual cases of early enrolment. This process again calls for the expertise of the gifted child’s kindergarten teacher. A profound knowledge of the complex of problems around giftedness is needed to give a substantiated recommendation and to plead the case in front of parents and school officials.

Yet, early enrolment should only be one way of improving the learning situation for gifted children. An important starting point for improvement lies within kindergarten itself.

The institute aims to support a development, where inquisitive learning in kindergarten increasingly becomes an integral part of kindergarten pedagogics and will finally be on an equal footing with all other concepts in a realm of holistic advancement. This is about discovering, exploring, comprehending and figuring things out together; it’s about creative thinking and acting and about developing skills of communication and cooperation.

A greater emphasis on cognitive advancement also means that kindergarten teachers in our courses develop new expertise in actively supporting pre-school children in their endeavours to learn how to read, write and do arithmetic. The interest in these important and useful (learning-) tools is to be aroused and cultivated already in kindergarten.

The object is to enrich and permeate the curriculum at kindergarten with regard to cognitive aspects and to increasingly seize and appreciate the most creative ideas of children throughout their day in kindergarten.

It is important to individualise learning processes, even more so are positive group experiences for gifted children. For this they need companions of equal developmental state, that is children that are significantly older as well as gifted children of the same age. This is the only way they can repeatedly have the valuable experience that their oftentimes complex playing ideas can be realised successfully with other children and that the questions they are occupying themselves with can be discussed. This is where kindergartens are to come up with concepts for successful integration. Targeted further trainings can be helpful.

Last, not least, it is the aim of our work at the institute to gather the scattered valuable ideas and experiences of kindergarten teachers in their work with gifted children and to facilitate networks of commitment.

Bonn, June 2003, Hanna Vock.

Work Tasks of the Institute:

• Further trainings for individual kindergarten teachers, kindergarten teams and elementary school teachers
• IHVO Certificate Course “Advancement of Gifted Children in Pre-School”
• IHVO-Project “Integrative Focus Kindergartens for the Advancement of Gifted Children”
• Facilitation of exchange of experience among kindergartens and kindergarten teachers who (want to) support gifted children
• Publication and continuous extension of the the Online Manual “Advancement of Gifted Children in Kindergarten”

Date of Publication in the German manual: 2012
Published on www.ihvo.de: 2003
Copyright © Hanna Vock, see imprint.

by Barbara Teeke

When parents consider having their child tested they have all kinds of thoughts, often even worries.
Among these are worries concerning the family’s situation and its social environment. There are also worries as to the question whether the topic should be discussed with kindergarten or school teachers or with the child’s doctor. All these considerations often burden the parents heavily.

Even though the following considerations primarily apply to kindergarten, some of them can also be relevant for school.

These are the questions, worries and fears that occupy parents with regard to a possible giftedness of their child:

• What are we in for if the test shows that our child is gifted?

• What are all the things we will then have to do?

• Will we be able to live up to it all?

• Do we dispose of the means to meet our child’s needs?

• How do we do justice to our other children?

• Will the siblings feel disadvantaged?

• What impact will a case of giftedness have on our family?

• What other persons can we and do we want to talk to about this?

• Who do we have to talk to about it in order to involve them in the support of our child

• How will our friends and relatives react to this?

The following questions, worries and fears occupy parents when they consider talking to kindergarten teachers about testing or an assumed or already verified giftedness:

• Should we address the issue in kindergarten at all?

• How should we address the issue so that our counterpart is not appalled immediately and reacts with denial?

• Which terminology should we make use of?
  See also:
  Making Careful Use of the Term Giftedness
  Parent Consultations on Giftedness
  Useful Arguments

• How will they react if we address this issue?

• Will they believe us?
  See also:
  Concealing Abilities

• Do they see the verified giftedness in line with actual behaviours and their own assessment of the child?

• What is going to change if we address this issue?
  Will our child possibly find itself in situation where it has to prove itself?
  What will then be expected of our child?

• Is this facility the right one for our child?

Pedagogues, too, are worried and sometimes even have fears if confronted with the verified giftedness of one of “their” children:

• Why do the parents tell us about this – what do they expect?
  See: Parent Consultations on Giftedness

• How should we react?

• Where do we get the relevant information to react accordingly?

• What does this mean for me as a pedagogue?

• What does this mean for our facility?

• Am I able to meet the child’s needs?

• Is the child in the right place here?

• Should the child enrol at school early?
  See: How We Develop a Recommendation for Early School Enrolment

• What kind of specific activities should we offer without putting the child into a special position?

• How can we integrate the child in the group better?
  See: Integrative Advancement – What Does it Mean?

• Which materials are adequate for the child, which do we have, which should we acquire?

• Are there possibly more children of the kind in our group?

• Which children have we seen in the past but failed to recognise them?

• As open as I am towards the topic, how do I tell the team about it?

See also:
Diagnostics for Advancement
Standards for Conducting Diagnostic Test Procedures
Possible Reasons for the Implementation of Diagnostics for Advancement
Published in German: May 5th, 2007
Translated by Arno Zucknick

Copyright © Barbara Teeke, see Imprint.

Diagnostics for Advancement are often applied to detect selective performance deficits, disabilities and the like.
This article focuses on the detection of strengths, weaknesses and talents.

In my work in diagnostics for advancement and parent counselling I have come to see the following:

Before parents decide in favour of testing …

• - there has been a good deal of deliberation,
  - they have considered the pros and cons,
  - they are uncertain as to the contents, aims and usefulness of testing,
  - they wonder whether testing might harm or otherwise stress the child,
  - they seek the advice of friends, acquaintances and possibly even pedagogues at kindergarten or school,

in short – they do not easily make the decision whether or not to have the child tested.

The following reasons are frequently named when parents are considering to have their child tested:

• The parents are at odds with regard to the question whether their child disposes of talents that are extraordinary or untypical for the child’s age. In such cases there may be exhausting discussions and controversies between the parents which lead to a growing uncertainty and disagreement in the family.

• Both parents are uncertain about their assessment of the child. This is where parents repeatedly state the concern that they might under- or over-challenge their child. They are worried about failing to recognise, misinterpret or not living up to their child’s needs.
  See: Playing and Learning Needs
  

• The parents seek more detailed insight into their child’s strengths and strengths-to-be, taken by another person whose look upon the child is not so strongly affected by love of the child as is their own perception.

• There are currently no problems and the parents want to keep it that way, so that the child will keep developing well and without any disturbances. To ensure this they consider a sound diagnosis to be helpful for their continuous support with regard to strengths and weaknesses.

• The child shows behaviour which is alienating to the parents and everybody else in the family. Some statements in the way are for instance:

“Our child is so exhausting.”
“It keeps demanding new challenges all the time.”
“It asks questions, even we don’t know the answer to.”
“It wants to know all kinds of things that are really not right for its age.”
“It has no real friends.”
“It is so picky when it comes to choosing a friend.”

With regard to these problems parents need hints as to what might cause a particular behaviour. Occasionally the possibility of a test has been pointed out to these parents by other parents or by kindergarten staff.

• The child shows behaviours at home, in kindergarten or at school which are out of the ordinary – because they are untypical for the child’s age or because they are outstanding. A child may draw attention by being very quick in learning new songs, memorising stories or poems and being able to reproduce them. Or it astonishes everybody with its extensive vocabulary and its advanced use of it.
  At school it may catch the teachers’ attention by learning how to read very quickly, disposing of outstanding skills in the fields of mathematics, reading and writing and/or disposing of wide spread knowledge.

• The child shows irritating behaviours at home, in kindergarten or at school. Such behaviours may be:

• - Frequently disturbing the morning round (kindergarten), open learning sessions or discussions in class (school),
• - Being unfocussed,
• - Not paying attention,
• - Frequent disputes with other children,
• - maladjustment,
• - overreacting,
• - never ending arguments,
• - being unbalanced / continuous discontent,
• - insufficient integration in the group / class

See also: Permanent Frustration

• Kindergarten teachers or teachers at school point out to the parents that their child performs way above average. In consultations with the parents pedagogues recommend testing the child, …

• - because they are under the impression that the parents are uncertain about their child’s skills and talents,- because pedagogues are uncertain about their assessment of the child as to its strengths and weaknesses, and how to provide support that is tailored to their individual needs,- because pedagogues expect new ideas for further support following from the results of the test,- because kindergarten staff have come to the conclusion that they cannot provide adequate support for the child any more and that an early enrolment at school might be advisable,
  (See also: How We Develop a Recommendation for Early School Enrolment)- because pedagogues come to the conclusion that the child disposes of significantly more skills than it is presently able to show.

• The parents consider school enrolment prior to the regular date. They consider testing, when they are not sure if an early enrolment2 makes sense, if it is the right thing to do for the child and if , in the end, it might even be too much of a challenge for it.Sometimes headmasters at school will recommend a test in order to attain certainty for themselves as to the developmental state of the child and subsequently to be able to meet the child’s specific needs later on.

• The parents are thinking about enlisting their child at a school with special educational activities for gifted children, which is way outside their district3. In this case a sound performance profile or an expertise, recommending enrolment at a school offering specific curricula for gifted children, may prove rather helpful in establishing the case. By the same token such an expertise or performance profile may be useful for parents and teachers in their decision process.

• The child’s parents and teachers are considering to have the child skip to the next form/class but are unsure if this is the right thing to do.

• The child is uncertain as to its own assessment of its performance and potential, and as to where it stands in life. It wants an evaluation that is independent of that of his parents (whom the child hardly considers to be objective), upon which it can reposition itself if need be.This aspect is – however – rather the exception and occurs mostly with older children or adolescents. I have met one 15 years old girl, one 13 years old boy, one 8 years old boy and one 7 years old girl who expressed this wish.

In all these cases it is envisioned that by conducting sound diagnostics a deeper insight into the child’s skills and general performance potentials can be taken – with the intention to accompany the child in a way that is tailored to its specific needs, to support and foster it.

See also:

Standards for Conducting Diagnostic Test Procedures
Thoughts, Worries and Fears by Parents and Pedagogues with Regard to Testing
Published in German: May 5th, 2007
Translated by Arno Zucknick

Copyright © Barbara Teeke, see Imprint.

Dieser Beitrag ist passwortgeschützt. Um ihn anzusehen, trage das Passwort bitte hier ein:

Passwort:

The standards itemised in the following text are a result of my demands on the realisation of a multi-dimensional and thoroughly conducted diagnosis on the one hand, and are based on my experience in working with children and adolescents on the other hand.

These standards are not universally valid, which means that not every test practitioner abides by the herein listed criteria, nor can this be expected or demanded.
It is rather up to parents to consult with a prospective practitioner, who may be intended to test their child, and inquire about his practice with regard to procedure and administration of the test as well as the general theoretical bias of the institute and the particular practitioner.

Then it is for the parents to decide whether what they have learned is in accordance with their questions, their ideas and their family background.

Choosing the test institute

For choosing the right institute and practitioner parents should find out:

• is the practitioner familiar with the phenomenon of giftedness?
• does the practitioner dispose of experience with gifted children?
• what is the practitioner’s attitude towards the topic giftedness?
• will the test procedure, the evaluation and the final consultation be performed by the same person?

It is important that the practitioner be familiar with the phenomenon giftedness as well as with the gifted children themselves. Gifted children need to be addressed in a special way, that is, in a way that takes into account their advanced state of development, and they like to get straight to the point.

A positive attitude towards the phenomenon giftedness is vital for the interaction with these children and furthermore of decisive relevance for the final consultation and the choice of appropriate means of support.

The preliminary consultation, the administration of the test procedure, the evaluation and the final consultation should by all means be performed by the same person. This way relevant observations as to the child’s attitude, attention, openness, command of language, and body language can complement the reflections in the final consultation.

The initial talk with the parents

An initial talk prior to the diagnostic test procedure itself is essential. This is where parents and practitioner get to know each other and important facts about the child can be exchanged. These include the reason why a diagnosis is desired, the course of the pregnancy, the child’s development from birth until now, observations by the parents and the staff of the kindergarten/school as well as by people in the child’s vicinity, the course of kindergarten or school attendance, including the present situation, the child’s activities after kindergarten/school, the bio-rhythm of the child and other aspects.

Younger children should not attend this preliminary consultation. I think, it can be very awkward for the child to be present while being talked about. Furthermore, there may be issues being raised by the parents that might be burdensome for the child (for instance, worries and fears concerning the child or conflicts between the parents).

If the subject to be tested is an adolescent, it should be decided in the initial talk whether he/she is to attend the preliminary consultation. If so, the preliminary consultation should be conducted with the subject while the parents only contribute those aspects which the subject does not know about (pregnancy, delivery, early years). Parents should not bring up problems the adolescent might have but doesn’t address him-/herself. If these issues seem relevant for the success of the diagnostic procedure, they should be addressed in another separate meeting without the subject.

Check reasons for wanting a diagnosis

The reasons and motivation behind seeking a diagnosis should always be elicited in advance. In the preliminary consultation with the parents and practitioner possible reasons should be discussed:

• Whose ideas was this?
• What is to be tested and why?
• What are the clients’ expectations with regard to the diagnosis?
• What is the result needed for?
• What impact might the result – regardless of outcome – have on the child, the family, the further social environment of the child?

What information should the subject be given prior to testing?

How to prepare the child/adolescent for the test:
It is highly recommended to bring up this point in the preliminary consultation. Oftentimes the parents themselves will address the question as to what to tell the child and how to prepare it.

What to tell the child, and in which way to do this, depends on the age of the child and on what the child has already been told by its parents.

Adolescents who come to my practice to be diagnosed are usually aware of why they are going to be tested, and do have a – sometimes rather diffuse – idea about it. It is important to discuss open questions with the adolescent.

With younger children I never use the word ’testing’. I just tell them that we are going to work on some tasks together and then I talk about the tasks themselves. I tell the parents the same thing in the preliminary meeting to make sure the child gets that same information from its parents.

With younger children it is advisable to give them only the information they need or directly inquire about. Normally it is enough to tell the child that its parents had noticed how it knew a lot of things already. And now they are taking their kid to Mr/Ms XY’s house to find out just how much the kid really knows.

If the test is scheduled some time around school enrolment, the testing can be related to that, given that the child has positive feelings about the issue of school enrolment.

The choice of test procedures

The information gathered in the preliminary consultation are also instrumental to the choice of an applicable test procedure.

The selection of test materials depends on the age of the child, the reason and motivation behind the test as well as the general disposition of the child at the time.

There are cases where not only the the possible giftedness of the child is in focus. It may be that parents, kindergarten or the school have observed the child having problems with fine motor skills or concentration or being uncertain about its handedness.
Prior to the test a selection of possible test materials/procedures is made, the final decision being made while getting to know the child better.

For better understanding:
If a child on the day of the test appears at the test site with an open minded attitude and works on the assignments with motivation and good concentration, while keeping a straight posture sitting at the table, it is quite pointless to perform an extra test on concentration. It would make much more sense to raise the question why, in certain situations, the child seems unable to show the same performance.

Good health and well rested – it’s a must!

A prerequisite for the diagnostic procedure is that the child is of good health and well rested.

The appointments with the child are usually scheduled for the mornings. This is to make sure that the child is rested and there are no current negative experiences in kindergarten or at school troubling its mind. Of course, that morning should also have been stress-free at home.

What needs to be taken into account, though, is the biorhythm of the child. Some children concentrate much better in the afternoon, after they have spent the day with physical activity. At the same time it must be observed that said negative experiences are best avoided.

It naturally follows from the necessity for the child to be of good health during testing, that fixed appointments may be cancelled upon short notice. In order to preclude the parents’ inhibitions and ensure an optimal test situation the parents are advised of this in the preliminary meeting.

The testing is conducted in two separate sessions on two days

The execution of differing and complementary test procedures on two different days allows for a differentiated picture of the child / adolescent.

It is indispensible for a sound diagnostic process that all possible information and observational results are gathered. Oftentimes children will be considerably more relaxed and open, because they are familiar with the situation, the premises and the practitioner.
All this important information from observation and conversation with the child would not be available with only one session.

Occasionally, and especially for younger children, even two sessions may not suffice. Reasons for this may be that the child needs more time to settle in the situation and establish a trusting and positive contact with the practitioner.
Maybe the child cannot concentrate and the set duration of the session, even in spite of breaks inserted in the course of the testing, is too long. Possibly further issues arise in the course of the testing procedure that need attention and may call for additional tests, consultations and observations.

Maybe the child is just simply having a “bad day”. In order to give the child a sustained positive experience it can make sense to spend some time playing something with the child (this may well render multiple observations), and postpone the testing to the next (or to an additional) appointment.

The testing procedure as a positive experience

The procedure should be fun for the child and have a positively reinforcing effect.
Two aspects are important here:

For one thing, the one-on-one scenario should not be underestimated. The child, for a good 2 hours time, is disposing of a person who is focusing on the child, who is being responsive and listens and who is there only for that child.

The other thing is, that the child finds itself in a situation – sometimes rare and much wanted for – where it can finally let go and show what it has going on. It experiences what it feels like to be solving a whole lot of delightfully difficult problems. It also experiences that there are some things it does not know yet, but through positive guidance even this is turned into a positive experience and even an incentive.

At the end of each test unit the child is given a positive feedback which focuses on the tasks in which the child was successful and which the child had fun solving.

This positive experience is not to be underestimated and will occasionally be of therapeutic effect in itself. This is how, not rarely, parents give a feedback after a test unit or upon completion of the entire diagnostic procedure, that throughout the testing they had been experiencing their child as being much more cheerful, balanced and “grounded”.

Two examples to illustrate this:

1-
A five and a half years old boy is taken to testing.
Reason: He often seemed dissatisfied, unbalanced, grumpy, overly agile, bothersome and couldn’t play by himself.
During testing this boy was experienced as being a child who was very observant and very quick to comprehend, swiftly solved problems and worked efficiently as well as assiduously.

Two days after the first session, his mother called me and said, it was the first time she had seen her son so happy and exhausted in a satisfying way. On the way home he had fallen asleep in the back of the car (which he had otherwise never done), he then had lunch at home and afterwards went to his room where he played by himself cheerfully, and she could hear him singing. Even the next day he was still well balanced and said he was looking forward to the next meeting.

2-
A fourteen years old girl comes to me for testing.
One reason among others was: being extremely unmotivated in school matters, especially with regard to homework, bad marks, lack of confidence and domestic conflicts.
The test result showed a performance profile predominantly above average ranging up to top levels.
In the final consultation, which – in agreement with the parents – was conducted in the presence of the girl, the profile was exemplified and her fortes were discussed. The girl was quite surprised to learn that she actually disposed of abilities and skills, and that this was now “official”.

Nine months later the girl’s mother called me to report that, upon that final consultation, her daughter’s attitude had clearly and increasingly changed. Meanwhile she had become a good student and even scored 1’s and 2’s1 in exams.

These examples are not to suggest that the execution of a diagnostic procedure is a panacea for all emotional or social peculiarities nor for academic problems.
The girl’s domestic conflicts persist to the day and will certainly need further attention.
Nonetheless these examples represent the feedbacks of a number of other parents.

The final consultation / evaluation

After the testing and evaluation the results are discussed with the parents.

As mentioned before, it is crucial that it is the same person, who conducts the preliminary talk, does the testing and discusses the results in the final consultation.

In the in-depth discussion of the results the parents learn how their child has managed particular tasks. This is complemented with observations regarding concentration, attitude, comprehension, motivation and posture and – in accord with the child – statements by the child.

In the next step possible measures of support/advancement or other kinds of assistance are to be discussed.

It must be emphasized here, that this is not a matter of presenting a set of measures that in the end may not suit the family, nor their budget or schedules.
The parents will much more likely accept and support ideas for possible measures of assistance and advancement if they are developed together with them, which in the end the child will benefit from.

It is all about the child, and therefore things which the child wants to be handled confidentially should be passed on to anybody else only with child’s explicit approval.

The final report

The final report – if the parents wish to get one – should also cover moods, sensitivities, responses, behaviours of the child and any other observation.

The report should comprise the following areas:

• Reason for testing
• Developmental and current situation of the child
• Testing environment/situation
• Account of the applied test procedures
• Account and interpretation of the test results as well as further observations
• Recommendations

See also: Diagnostics for Advancement – What Is That?
See also: Possible Reasons the Implementation of Diagnostics for Advancement
See also: Thoughts, Worries, Fears Experienced by Parents and Pedagogues with Regard to Testing

Barbara Teeke is a kindergarten teacher and social pedagogue with a special qualification for pedagogic-psychological test procedures.
She conducts diagnostics for advancement test procedures (in a practice in Witten, Germany) und works as a freelancer, course instructor and speaker for the IHVO Bonn.
E-Mail: barbara.teeke@gmx.de

Published in German: 5th May 2007

Translated by Arno Zucknick.
Copyright © Barbara Teeke, see Imprint.

Diagnostics for advancement focus on the child.
Special attention is given to the social environment of the child. This includes the most important persons who are and have been accompanying the child throughout its development.

Diagnostics for advancement start with the strengths of the child to develop these further and supply the child with a sense of achievement, confidence and additional strengths. All the while attention is being given to those experiences of success and failure which have so far strengthened or weakened the child.
Based on these considerations those areas which need attention can be determined together with the child and the parents.

The test procedures applied to this end allow to establish a performance profile and are apt to determine the state of development, the working attitude and motivation of the child.

In our practice we primarily apply diagnostics for advancement in order to determine whether a child is gifted. If you would like to find out more about our practice in Witten, please click here: www.ppos.de

The actual test procedures are complemented with accompanying observations which contribute to a multifaceted image of the child. Such diagnostics for advancement enable us to determine possible approaches to pedagogic or therapeutic intervention.

The object of diagnostics for advancement is always to initiate a positive development of the child. To me it is essential to not only present the results of the test to the parents but furthermore to discuss and consider subsequent measures of support and advancement of the child.

See also:
Standards for Conducting Diagnostic Test Procedures
Possible Reasons for the Implementation of diagnostics for advancement
Thoughts, Worries and Fears Experienced by Parents and Pedagogues with Regard to Testing

Barbara Teeke is a kindergarten teacher and social pedagogue with a special qualification for pedagogic-psychological test procedures.
She conducts diagnostics for advancement test procedures (in a practice in Witten, Germany) und works as a freelancer, course instructor and speaker for the IHVO Bonn.
E-Mail: teeke@ppos.de

Published in German: May 5th 2007
Copyright © Barbara Teeke 2006, see Imprint.

Asked at the end of the course once more, “What are gifted children like?”, Monika Milinski answered:

The second quote is a statement by Kirsten Holzmeier, who finished the course when her kindergarten was already certified as “Integrative Focus Kindergarten for the Advancement of Gifted Children (IHVO)”:

Gifted children are fascinating, yet they are highly susceptible to negative experiences.

Undoubtedly some kindergartens hold in stock more negative experiences for a gifted child that do others. This may be evaluated by any kindergarten team itself, for example by the use of our list of Quality Criteria …

Certainly, it is important how the parents and the social environment deal with the child and its talents. Yet, kindergarten has a substantial impact and this is what this article focuses on.

In the following, problems are described that a gifted child may have in kindergarten.
Some of these descriptions can be transferred to other areas of the child’s life.

1st Problem:
Being permanently underchallenged intellectually and being frequently bored

Boredom may quite possibly lead to creative games and things. Resting, relaxing, dreaming, pondering, even making plans – all that needs to be given room for in a child’s life and may look like boredom from outside.
Yet, “I am often bored!” can also mean: The games, the conversations, the activities, the riddles, the tales, the picture books, the group activities, the excursions, the toys – all that doesn’t challenge me intellectually, I’ve long known all this. Or it is just simply too easy and therefore boring.

The reason:
Gifted children learn many things early on and quickly, often they want/need no repetitions. They want to encounter new things and dispose of great potential to process new data. In many respects they are intellectually ahead of their peers and therefore more demanding than those peers in age are.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* Talk to the parents immediately upon admission to the kindergarten: what does the child play at home? What are its current interests?

* Seek the exchange with the child about its current intellectual pursuits.

* Respond to these interests and tie in with them when conceptualising group activities, so that a continuous intellectual exchange between the child and the kindergarten teacher gets under way.

See: Parent’s Questionnaire on Children Who Have Recently Entered Kindergarten and Questionnaire on Children of Ages 4 – 6 Years

See: Examples of Evocative Observations
See also: miscellaneous examples of activities and projects in the chapters 4.2 to 4.8.

2nd Problem:
Insufficient stimulation in the child’s domain of giftedness

Too little stimulation in everyday life at kindergarten is one thing. Another thing is: the child may be mathematically talented or even gifted. In this case there are probably no adequate materials at all in kindergarten. If then the parents do not provide any adequate materials either (which stimulate activities, learning processes and reasoning), the child goes hungry. The same goes for all other domains of giftedness.
See: Domains of High Ability.

The reason:
Gifted children are highly motivated in their domain of giftedness (see: Giftedness – A Definition) and dispose of a great craving for knowledge. Intrinsically motivated, they want to engage intensely and for extended periods of time in their domain, otherwise their general contentedness suffers. Whatever kindergarten cannot provide in this respect, the parents should try to facilitate. The kindergarten team can support the parents in recognising and appreciating the child’s longing.

Approaches to solving the problem:
See: miscellaneous examples of activities and projects in the chapters 4.2 to 4.8.

3rd Problem:
The child finds the games other children play “stupid” or “childish”

Often this does not display arrogance, but the difficult attempt to grow aware of one’s own needs, which is initially achieved by internally establishing interpersonal boundaries.
A child of under 3 years who has put together 60-piece jigsaw puzzles at home will be confounded by the popular peg puzzles .
A child who plays UNO at home cannot find QUIPS thrilling.
A child who disposes of differentiated role models and wants to play accordingly will not find the stereotypical and ever repeating role playing games of the other children interesting.

The reason:
Children learn through playing. If the games are too simple, they cannot learn anything. For a while and in specific situations the gifted child can adapt, because it wants to be part of the group and share the fun everybody is having. Yet, feelings of resignation often occur along the way. As a permanent strategy this assimilation is not appropriate, but rather detrimental.

Approaches to solving the problem:

* Have an adequate activity ready and make it accessible to the children. Especially strategy games will last them longer. Their concept doesn’t run out so quickly, the possibilities rise with playing experience. Checkers and Chess are such games. This will, of course, only work if adequate playing partners can be found and instructed.
The same goes for sophisticated construction toys.
See: Chess
See: Playing in Clubs
See: Example by Heike Brandt in: Examples of: Perceptual Speed

* When it comes to role playing games the decisive aspect is not in the materials/toys themselves, but in exact observation: which ideas do the games allow the children to realise? Stereotypical ideas will not tickle the gifted child’s mind, yet, if the game provides for more differentiation, the child can contribute ever new ideas. Also to be observed: how well is the given game accepted by the other children?
See: Children’s Questionnaire Communication

4th Problem:
Insufficient affiliation with older children. No playing mates who share the interests of the gifted child.

It is a difficult situation, if there are no older children around or if the gifted child is – for whatever reasons – not allowed to join in.
The child takes interest in topics and issues which initially seem to be beyond the child. But even if the child manages to affiliate with older children, their interests often do not match those of the gifted child, their ways of thinking and speaking may differ substantially, which in return will be frustrating for the gifted child. It just can’t find adequate playing mates.

The reason:
Every gifted child – more or less consciously – longs to meet other gifted children. Since giftedness occurs quite rarely (2 – 3 persons in every 100 people) disappointment is the rule. However, bright children can be found in every kindergarten. (We call any child whose IQ is in the range of 115 – 129 “bright” – statistically about one out of seven children is “bright”.

See also: Gaussian Distribution of Intelligence.)

Approaches to solving the problem:
* The child should be supported in finding these children and in building a network of playing mates. This can be facilitated in kindergarten through activities offered across several groups.

* Creating integrative focus kindergartens tackles the problem at its roots.

See: Adequate Playing Mates
See: Integrative Focus Kindergartens
See: A Vision

5th Problem:
Want of friends

Gifted children often distinguish – emotionally or even explicitly – between playing mates and “true” friends.
Sven, just turned 5 years, put it this way:

„A true friend is one with whom I can speak about the things that really move me.”
(For more about this see: Example of: Complex Thinking.)

Once such a friend has been found this friendship will most probably be carefully cultivated and often lasts a long time.

The reason:
The desire to have “true” friends occurs early on, since the exchange of complex thoughts can be considered a basic need of gifted people. They frequently experience themselves as isolated with their ideas, as unable to share their interests with others.

This longing often remains diffuse and they are hardly aware of it until the positive experience of “true friendship” actually is made. Then the child experiences that it is possible and the desire rises to awareness: I want to keep this friend / I want to find a friend like this one again / I would like to have more friends like this one.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* See Problem Nr. 4

* Parents should be encouraged to take up the search for gifted friends for their child. The children usually “discover” each other rather soon, take interest in each other – naturally though, they do not necessarily like each other just and only because they are both gifted.
Oftentimes important friendships are brought about by adults facilitating such contacts.

6th Problem:
Restraint is required.

Time and again the gifted child has to restrain itself strongly in kindergarten. It can’t give accounts as much and as deeply as it wants to. Neither can it inquire in depth when it wants to understand better and more deeply.
The child may even realise that in kindergarten there often is not enough time for extensive conversations (or, as the mother of a 4-year-old put it: for its cascades of questions).
Sometimes the gifted child understands surprisingly well the system at kindergarten and the many demands on the staff and therefore realises that it must stand back. In such cases the needs of the child will cease to show altogether and become invisible.
Other gifted children may be “a nuisance” because they have not yet learned to control their urge to inquire or to talk about their thoughts. Their social environment reacts in a way that shows them that they are “getting on everybody’s nerves”. That doesn’t exactly make them happy.

The reason:
The child needs an addressee for its ideas and questions. It has a desire for exchange about its issues. The want of such a person is painful. Almost equally painful is having identified and tried out the kindergarten teacher as a possible addressee but realising that this person hardly ever has enough time.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* It is – regardless of workload – important to show the gifted child that its questions and ideas are being acknowledged and that its inquisitiveness is appreciated.

* The kindergarten teacher should explain calmly and thoroughly that because of his/her workload he/she is unable to deal with all those exciting questions, that he/she regrets this and will not cease to try and find the time.
See: I Have a Question
See: Communication in Kindergarten

7th Problem:
High Demands on Their Activities and Results

With regard to gifted children there is frequent talk of perfectionism, which invokes rather negative feelings.
A closer look reveals that the gifted child sets higher goals for itself than do its peers in age. This may be true in many situations, be it when playing in a theatre play, drawing pictures or creating a book.

Sometimes the child wants to achieve these ambitious goals all by itself, sometimes it will need a playing mate with similarly high aspirations, and quite often the support by an adult is needed. This is the case if the child has clearly defined ideas and wants to realise them, yet is unable to do so without help. The subsequent request for help is no attempt for an easy way out (you do it for me, because I can’t), but an appeal for guidance in the endeavour to learn and perform on its own.

See a striking example for this in: Drawing Class with Linda.

Later in school, the oftentimes early realisation that others are content with less will reoccur when, for instance, a presentation is to be prepared in a collective effort with classmates. Everybody in the group thinks the presentation is complete and elaborate enough, while the gifted student is just about to get started, to do some serious research and develop the topic …, once more standing there with egg on his face (possibly regarded a “nerd”).

Little surprise that many a gifted pre-school child comes to the conclusion that it best pursue its goals on its own and that it makes no sense to team up with anybody.

The reason:
It is tough to try again and again to convey one’s aims and ideas just to encounter everybody else’s complete lack of comprehension or even their disapproval. Some children will soon come to consider this a waste of time and effort.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* Show interest in the goal the child has set for itself. Is it simply an unrealistically high objective or does it represent a wish to learn?

* Practise recognising a wish to learn, and offer guidance and support.

* Bring the child together with children who pursue comparably high goals or at least are willing and able to keep up.

See: Questionnaire on the child’s Interests for Kindergarten
See: High Demand on Results
See: Drawing Class with Linda

8th Problem:
Insecurity for Awareness of Obstacles

Some gifted children seem to have rather little confidence in their own ability. They enter new situations reluctantly and resort to observing, they find it hard to get started on a task or just simply join in. They sense that they are at a disadvantage compared to confident, uninhibited children, yet, they cannot seem to overcome themselves and be daredevils like the other children. This is easily misinterpreted as a deficit.

The reason:
A child who has high demands on the results of its actions, who reflects on how its own abilities relate to its self-imposed expectations and abilities, will no longer go about a task with childlike inhibition. It habitually evaluates a situation before acting.

The same goes for a child who, for instance, at the age of three already thinks forward into the future more critically than do its peers in age. It conceptualises processes and results ahead of time and tries to assess possible risks.
If this assessment comes out uncertain or negative, it may appear to be ducking out of certain tasks.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* Allow the child to take the time it needs to get used to a new situation and to get involved.

* Talk to the child and find out – if the relationship is trusting enough – which problems it sees and which questions a given situation arouses.
For this see the article: Timidity and Apprehension in Gifted Children.

9th Problem:
Refusal to settle conflicts physically

At pre-school age conflicts between children are frequently carried out more or less violently. There is pushing and shoving, things are torn away from one another, there is punching, kicking, pinching, and pulling the other one by the hair. Threatening gestures are exchanged.

One 3 years old boy, who had changed to our kindergarten only two days earlier, answered my question, “Has anybody here punched you so far?”, with great insistence: “Here, in my new kindergarten, I haven’t been hurt by anybody at all yet.”

One major aim of our educational efforts is to break the children’s habit of using force and provide them with non-violent strategies of conflict resolution. That is somewhat of an effort with some of the children – and not all children complete this learning process before school enrolment. Surely, the success in this endeavour also depends on what the child experiences in the family.

We also engage to see to it, that none of the children are “mean” to each other, that they do not exclude or laugh at anybody nor that they cheat or take anybody in.
To achieve this, too, takes a long and differentiated learning process – even for gifted children.

But, what if the gifted child is at a developmental point where it has already achieved all this? Then, entering kindergarten, the child will experience a bewildering world, which it has to adapt to, and without assistance it is in a pitiful position.

The reason:
Oftentimes, gifted pre-school children object to the use of violence as a means of enforcing their will at an early age, they have already internalised nonviolence as a moral category.
They have already developed good command of language, they reflect conflicts, evaluate them and want to negotiate. If they realise that in many situations they do not achieve anything with this, but rather find themselves defeated with their approach most of the time, they are likely to either avoid conflicts or adapt and learn to make use of force (possibly even more efficiently than the other children). Neither is satisfactory.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* Read more here: Problematic Social Conduct.

10th Problem:
Rejected by mates and adults

The gifted child often does not feel understood and hardly ever experiences wholehearted acceptance. It keeps experiencing rejection, even segregation. Example: In a role playing game the gifted child permanently wants to contribute new ideas; the other children in the game find that tiring and feel disturbed. Sometimes the gifted child has to listen to things like: “She always wants to have the say, we don’t want that.” Even the kindergarten teacher thinks the many “suggestions” and the comprehensive elucidations, for instance during the morning circle, are a bit too much – with regard to every other child’s right to speak. Even if the gifted child understands this, it still learns that a wide awake mind does not necessarily make a person popular.

The reason:
The child learns: the mediocre are popular. Do not talk too much, not too little either. Don’t know too much, not too little either. Yet, the child does not dispose of a dial by which to dim its mind. It keeps having ideas and questions coming up. That this is not appreciated must be experienced as rejection.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* Be aware, that extraordinary intellectual excitability is an integral part of the gifted child’s nature.

* Remember, that children, if perceived as being different, are prone to rejection. Realise, that this may apply to gifted children, too.

* Protect the child from rejection. Do occasionally bring the issue up in a group discussion and point out that all children have their own pace and capacity and that this is normal.

11th Problem:
Realising that one is different – and having no clue

Gifted children soon notice their being different in some respects. They notice that they like different games, that they understand many things immediately, which other children do not necessarily do; they realise that they know more, spend more time thinking and have certain talents; they behave differently in some situations.
This becomes difficult if they do not have an overall explanation for these notions.

The reason:
At the age of 2 – 4 years, earlier than others, gifted children begin to compare themselves to others and to reflect their own abilities. Their self-concept and self-esteem begin to develop. They want to understand why they are so competent on the one hand, yet do not get on within the kindergarten group so well on the other.
At this age they are not able to find a satisfactory explanation by themselves.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* Just like disabled children, the gifted need definitive information about their being different. Simple statements can be very helpful: “You’re pretty sharp/ you’ve got a curious mind, you want to learn a lot, not everybody does. It’s quite OK that people are so very different. They all just have to be very patient with each other.”

* The children who are not gifted need to be encouraged, too, so that they learn to accept the peculiarities of the gifted children. They, too, need explanations.

12th Problem:
Extraordinary sensitive reactions to human interactions

We keep receiving reports, that is from parents as well as from kindergarten teachers, about gifted children who closely observe the interactions in the kindergarten group and seem to reflect them thoroughly.
Whenever seeing conflicts that, according to their assessment, have not been resolved satisfactorily, they suffer from the observed injustice or meanness, and the burdening emotions may linger for quite a while. And it does not make any difference whether they were personally involved or had just witnessed the respective incident.

The reason:
Many gifted children are also highly sensitive. They perceive tensions and conflicts more clearly than children who are not so sensitive, and their emotional reactions are stronger. Tensions and conflicts burden them extremely.

Approaches to solving the problem:
* It helps the gifted child if it isn’t left alone and stuck with the unsettling experience. The child should be encouraged to witness the further course of the affair just as closely as it did at the onset of the crisis. It will feel relieved when realising that soon after the involved children are playing together again. Conclusion: they are not taking it as seriously as you thought.

* Show interest in the perceptions and the assessments of the child; it may notice a lot of things that should be taken seriously and would otherwise go unnoticed in the hustle and bustle.

See: Permanent Frustration.

Date of publication in German: September 2011
Copyright © Hanna Vock 2011, see Imprint
Translation: Arno Zucknick

Im Rahmen meines IHVO-Zertifikatskurses verwirklichte ich eine Idee, die ich schon länger mit mir herumgetragen hatte: Ich gründete mit den acht ältesten Mädchen der Kita den Club der starken Mädchen. Wenn Sie dem Link folgen, lesen Sie etwas zum Rahmen, zur Zielsetzung und zur Auswertung des Projekts. Sie finden dort auch Informationen zu weiteren Clubstunden und zu meinem Beobachtungskind Lina. (Während des Zertifikatskurses hatten wir die Aufgabe, ein vermutlich besonders begabtes Kind besonders intensiv zu beobachten.)

Im Club sollten die Mädchen Erfahrungen sammeln, wie es ist, wenn sie nur mit Mädchen zusammen auf Entdeckungstour gehen können.
Unser erstes Thema, das sich über fünf Clubstunden erstreckte, war:
Was ist ein starkes Mädchen?

Dieser Beitrag beschreibt nun die 6. Clubstunde, in der wir ein naturwissenschaftliches Experiment machten. Wir hatten dafür eineinhalb Stunden Zeit.

6. Clubstunde

Vorüberlegungen:

Nachdem ich in den vorherigen Angeboten mit den Mädchen herausgearbeitet habe, welche Eigenschaften und Fähigkeiten ein „starkes Mädchen“ auf körperlicher Ebene braucht und hat, möchte ich im nächsten Schritt ihr Wissen noch weiter vertiefen.

Da ich noch nicht die Interessengebiete (außer Bewegung in jeder Form) der Mädchen im Einzelnen erkannt habe, orientiere ich mich bei meinen nächsten Angeboten am aktuellen Kindergartenthema.

Es lautet: “Fühlen wie´s schmeckt“, und es geht um gesunde Ernährung.

Die Kinder haben sich in verschiedenen Angeboten mit Obst und Gemüse beschäftigt, so dass ich ein Experiment dazu mit meinem Club machen werde, um das Wissen der Mädchen zu vertiefen.

Wiederholung:

Ich werde kurz wiederholen, warum es so wichtig war, uns mit dem Gehirn, den Knochen und Gelenken und den deutlich sichtbaren Muskeln zu beschäftigen.

Dann werde ich als Einstieg zum Thema Ernährung die Frage stellen:

Die Frage bezieht sich auf äußere Bedingungen, wie zum Beispiel gesunde Ernährung, gute Wohnverhältnisse, intakte Umwelt.

Beim Punkt “gesunde Ernährung” werde ich Bezug zum Thema in der Gruppe herstellen. Meine Vorstellung ist es, dass die Gruppe ihr schon vorhandenes Wissen zum Thema abrufen und in den Club einbringen wird. Da sie über Gemüse gesprochen haben, werden sie sicher auch die Möhre erwähnen, besonders weil Möhren-Rohkost bei unseren Kindern sehr beliebt ist.

Dies ist der Einstieg zu meinem Experiment mit der Möhre.

Experiment: “Woher hat die Möhre ihre Farbe?“

(Nach: Gisela Lück, Leichte Experimente für Eltern und Kinder. Herder spektrum, Seiten 35-37. Dort können Sie auch die genaue Erklärung nachlesen.)

Ich stelle alle Materialien auf den Tisch und bespreche sie mit den Kindern.

Anschließend erkläre ich ihnen, was wir heute damit machen wollen, und beginne auch sofort mit der Ausführung des Experimentes.

Während des Experimentes erkläre ich, was wir tun und warum wir es so tun und beziehe die Mädchen mit gezielten Fragen dabei mit ein. Sie sollen aktive Teilnehmerinnen sein und nicht nur nach meinen Anweisungen etwas ausführen. Mir ist es wichtig, dass sie alle Schritte gut nachvollziehen können, und dass sie darüber nachdenken, warum wir dies wohl tun. Ich bin für die Vermittlung des Hintergrundwissens zuständig.

Nach dem Experiment sollen die Mädchen den Ablauf des Experimentes malen und dadurch vertiefen, was sie erkannt haben.

Durchführung:

Es sind nur vier der acht Mädchen anwesend. Das ist eigentlich recht günstig, um unser Experiment durchzuführen.

Sie sind neugierig, was wir wohl heute machen. Wir sind nicht – wie sonst üblich – in der Turnhalle, und es sind Materialien bereitgestellt, die nicht wirklich erkennen lassen, was wir machen wollen:

Die Mädchen versuchen schon beim Betreten des Raumes zu raten. Melisa meint: “Wir backen einen Kuchen.” Ich fordere sie auf, sich einen Platz am Tisch zu suchen, weil wir erst miteinander reden wollen.

Lina und Greta hören sich meine Fragen ruhig an, während Melisa und Laura immer neue Vorschläge machen, was wir machen könnten. Es kommen von ihnen Ideen wie zum Beispiel backen, Suppe kochen oder nur essen. Nachdem sie sich beruhigt haben, tauschen wir miteinander aus, was für unsere Gesundheit wichtig ist. Dabei teilen sie ihr Wissen über Obst und Gemüse mit. Wir kommen sehr schnell zu den Mineralstoffen und Vitaminen.

So habe ich schnell meinen Einstieg, und wir legen mit unserem Experiment los.

Die Möhre wird zerrieben und in die Gläser gefüllt, so dass jeweils der Boden bedeckt ist. Dann gießt jedes Mädchen Wasser in sein Glas, bis das Wasser etwa 2 cm über dem Glasboden steht. Nun muss tüchtig mindestens 1 Minute lang umgerührt werden. Da man sich beim angestrengten Rühren leicht vertut, wie lang eine Minute ist, starten alle zusammen mit dem Küchenwecker.

Wir schauen uns die Möhren-Wasser-Mischung genau an und stellen fest, das dass Wasser ganz leicht Farbe angenommen hat.

Anschließend gibt jedes Mädchen 5 EL von dem Speiseöl in ihr Glas, der Küchenwecker wird wieder auf 1 Minute gestellt und alle rühren kräftig.

Bei diesem Tun arbeiten sie gut zusammen und haben keine Probleme, die Reibe oder das Öl weiterzugeben, damit Jede dran kommt.

Beim Beobachten der Mischung sind sie ruhig und konzentriert und warten meine Fragen ab. Es ist anscheinend für alle spannend, was noch weiter passiert. In anderen Situationen reden sie – außer Lina – alle gerne und haben meist nicht viel Geduld und wollen ihre Überlegungen sofort mitteilen.

Ich spreche Lina als erste an, und sie beschreibt unsere Mischung genau:

“Als wir das Öl dazu gegeben haben, ist alles ganz orange geworden.”

Melisa meint, es wäre eher rot, aber Lina besteht darauf, dass außer Rot auch noch Gelb in der Farbe ist.

Alle wollen diese Möhrenmischung probieren. Sie schmeckt ihnen nicht besonders, aber alle probieren mehrmals und schütteln sich. Sie haben erwartet, dass diese Mischung wie unsere Möhrenrohkost zum Mittagessen schmeckt. So erkläre ich ihnen noch die weiteren Zutaten in unserem Salat. Dies finden sie interessant und wollen ihn nun noch lieber essen, da das Vitamin Beta-Karotin so wichtig für ihre Haut ist und sie vor zu viel Licht schützt.

Anschließend stelle ich die Aufgabe, das Experiment zu malen. Lina sagt darauf: “Ich male, was wir gemacht haben!“ Sie äußert sich eher selten so spontan. Nun legt sie sofort los und malt als einzige den Verlauf, ohne den Bezug herzustellen, dass die Möhre in der Erde wächst. Lina trennt ihr Allgemeinwissen über die Möhre und erledigt genau die neu gestellte Aufgabe.

Melisa, Laura und Greta malen die Möhre in der Erde, da sie diese Zuordnung mit der Gesamtgruppe gelernt haben und ihnen dieses Wissen wichtig erscheint. Sie malen die weiteren Materialien dazu, nachdem sie auf Linas Bild geschaut haben. (Wie sie ohne Linas Bild gemalt hätten, kann ich nicht sagen.)

Lina malt eine große Möhre, die Reibe, die Ölflasche, das Sieb zum Absieben der Wasser-Öl-Möhren-Mischung am Ende des Experimentes und das Glas mit der Restflüssigkeit.

(Bitte klicken Sie auf das Bild, um es zu vergrößern, und auf den Zurückpfeil links oben im Fenster, um zur ursprünglichen Größe zurück zu kehren.)

Das Öl hat sich wieder vom Wasser getrennt und ist von der Möhre rötlich eingefärbt. Lina stellt das Wasser als gleichmäßige Fläche dar und malt darüber die Fettkügelchen. Sie orientiert sich nicht an den anderen Mädchen, sie schaut zwar ab und zu auf die Bilder der anderen und scheint etwas nachdenklich zu sein, ob ihr Bild wohl richtig ist. Sie schaut auch zu mir, und ich nicke ihr zu und lobe sie.

Ich bestätige auch die Anderen und stelle zur Unterstützung auch allgemein die Frage, was wir noch bei unserem Versuch benötigt und was wir beobachtet haben.

Sie sieht, wenn sie kurz ihre Arbeit unterbricht, nachdenklich aus und scheint die Gruppe zu beobachten und zu überlegen, ob alles richtig ist, was sie tut.

Sie braucht deshalb manchmal etwas mehr Zeit als die anderen Mädchen, die oft auch kommentieren, was sie tun werden oder tun.

Während aller bisherigen Angebote zum Club der starken Mädchen konnte ich beobachten, dass Lina alle Aufgaben sehr zügig, konzentriert, selbstständig und kreativ bearbeitet hat.

Die anderen Mädchen haben auch die meditative Musik, die ich aufgelegt habe, nicht bemerkt. Lina hat großes Interesse an Musik, sie bemerkt Musik immer sofort und äußert sich auch, ob sie ihr gefällt. Meistens gefällt sie ihr, und so meint sie: “Das ist aber schöne Musik“ und ich antworte ihr: “Ja, ich mag sie auch sehr gerne, es ist Musik von Kitaro.“ Lina nickt und arbeitet weiter, Greta hat dies mitgehört und nickt zustimmend.

Als Greta und Lina fertig sind, können sie auswählen, ob sie schon in die Gruppe zurückgehen oder ob sie noch bei uns bleiben wollen. Beide wollen warten und noch malen, dies ist für Laura und Melisa ein Grund sich zu beeilen, da sie unbedingt auch noch ein zusätzliches Bild malen wollen. Nach eineinhalb Stunden räumen wir gemeinsam auf.

Datum der Veröffentlichung: März 2013
Copyright © Gabriele Drescher-Krumrey, siehe Impressum.