There is a certain sadness attached to learners who face difficulties in the mainstream school environment. What happens when the learner is facing difficulties not due to a deficit but rather due to a surplus of skills? Those children have difficulties too but of a different kind. Read on…
What we must understand is that the mainstream educational system caters to learners who fall within the middle 50% of ability levels. So, learners who fall in the 25% that norm and 25% above that norm level will face difficulties. Is that fair? Of course not. But as with most things in life, we can only cater to the greatest majority. It is like women who wear size 9 or 10 shoes! Is it fair that they cannot get shoes just anywhere like the rest of us do? C’est la vie..and we deal with it.
In education, we are now in a position to identify these minority groups of learners and provide learning solutions for them. Some common early signs include speaking in sentences by age 8 to 9 months, asking so many questions to the point that you as parents get annoyed that a 3-year-old should be asking such “grown-up” questions. One mother told me her toddler asked her why should rain only come down and not go up? After all, we go downstairs and then up again. I had never thought of it before!! Another mum reported that her toddler was teaching the school teacher about gravity which he (at age 3.5 years) had learnt about from too much interaction with Youtube!!
If you suspect that your child is being extremely cheeky, or acts way older than their age and consistently finds their toys or friends too boring, you might want to consider checking their intelligence.
Alternatively, I say, let them be… And get them involved in more hands-on activities – how plants grow, competitive swimming, art classes, music, cooking, baking. Let them explore all areas of development. There is so much more to life than just acquiring super levels of literacy and numeracy or being hooked to a gadget! It is always better to encourage children to experience the fullness and joy of being alive and living – nature walks, hiking is all examples of how to keep their tiny Einstein minds occupied and not bored.
So, how you manage your highly intelligent or inquisitive child? We’d love to hear from you. Send us your stories at editor@acepremier.com
By Rosh Vettiveloo (MCollT),
Educational Assessor (BPS 444103) &
SEND Specialist
