Treating and Educating Talented Children

Often in our society, and in our educational systems, approximately 3 million gifted children in the United States of America-accounting for “approximately 6% of the student population” -get overlooked and do not receive the guidance that they need to flourish in the world today. These unusually gifted children can be categorized as children with “special needs…not covered by federal laws for the disabled.” To accommodate these special needs, parents, and teachers must understand how these children, and how to deal with their ups, and downs.

To begin, a vital part of gifted children can be found in between their ears. At age 7, kids with higher IQ’s (121-145) have a thinner cortex layer in their brains, and reached peak thickness much later (age 12 compared to 8 or 9 for the average and above average children), then matures more rapidly than the brains of others. A possible explanation of why this pattern of brain development ensues is to provide a larger window of opportunity for brain to grow, and develop other parts of the brain more fully by delaying development of the prefrontal cortex. Gifted minds work a little bit differently from the brains of others. Brock and Fernette Eide described the gifted brains that they studied using functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as “brains on fire”. They were described this way because the brain scans showed “bright red blazes of high metabolic activity [that] burst out all over the scan.” fMRI measures brain activity “by detecting the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity.” In addition to these brains activity in brains, a study from the UC Irvine College of Medicine found that “intelligence levels are correlated with the amoun...

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...er, and be facilitated in applying their skills, and learning higher levels of thinking. Learning alongside others who are around their level, along with regular classes can help children grow; although alternative options exist. Testing, and qualifications for these programs, along with the funding of them can prove difficult, but can be a great asset in the future of these children.

In conclusion, gifted, and talented children do have special needs, as every child has specific needs. However, the nature of this need requires action to help the millions of children who are above average flourish in their learning. The way that the brains of these children work can reveal ways in which they are growing, and the ways in which they could receive guidance. Gifted children are in no way superior to others; they could just use an extra challenge for their eager minds.