• Encourage children to be independent; support them when they use their initiative.
• Try and encourage them to respect the opinions and ideas of others.
• Although very intelligent, these children still need to be socialising with their peers; encourage them to take part in pair, group and other learning groups.
• Encourage them to reflect on their own learning and think about how they make progress.
• Listen to their views on how they like to learn and provide opportunities for this, but encourage them to develop other learning strategies also.
• Use wrong answers as a learning opportunity.
• Give them opportunities to consider questions/problems to which there is no definitive answer.
• Provide higher level tasks than usual in lessons; provide a bank of higher level extension activities to encourage all pupils to aspire to a high standard.

Further Information

A Whole School Policy for Gifted and Talented Pupils with a Learning Difficulty
Gifted and Talented

Gifted children are quite rare.  It is important to distinguish between children of high ability and those who are exceptional.

What to look for:

Gifted children often have emotional or behavioural difficulties also.  They can have excessive energy, short attention spans and get bored easily.  They can resent authority, flout the rules regularly and be particular about the ways they wish to learn.  They like to have secure and stable adults around them and can get frustrated if their ideas cannot be carried out.  They may have difficulties with fine motor skills and handwriting.  They are often highly sensitive and compassionate and can have strong fears over death and loss of family.

Testing:  IQ tests are sometimes used and a result of over 135 is a definite indicator but lower scores do not mean that the child is not gifted; other factors need to be taken into account.  It would be best to have the child assessed by the educational psychologist who can use a range of tests and consider other aspects of the child’s development also.

Case Studies
Teaching Strategies

People who can help: SENCO / Resource Teacher

Books