What is a Gifted Child?

This is a child with unique potentials. As soon as you feel that your child is specially gifted, try to look up a child psychologist. He will confirm if the child has extraordinary potentials. He will also guide you as to how to supply the child the much-needed additional stimulus. In the absence of such a stimulus, he is likely to get frustrated and emotionally disturbed. Rather than making use of his special ability, he may indulge in delinquency.

In order to exploit the extraordinary potentials of and to provide adequate additional stimulus to such children, the United Kingdom has an organisation (National Association for Gifted Children) which is striving to set up special opportunity classes for them within the normal comprehensive schools’ setting. In India, the Child Health Study Group, a voluntary organisation, is striving on similar lines.

Just because the child is of high intellect does not mean his emotional needs can be easily ignored. Mrs. Golda Meyer said: “I was supposed to be a super-intelligent child. Yet, what no one apparently realised, was that I needed to play with dolls. The hurt it caused continues to be fresh in my mind.”

Parents need to remember well to satisfy all aspects of their gifted child’s personality. Else, his unique ability may fail to be fully exploited. And,  that, you would appreciate, is likewly to br good enough to frustrate the child.