The Ultimate Plan to Help Gifted Education, Part 4

(and Improve Education for All Kids in the Process) 

by Kathleen Casper

This article is from SENG.  Gilbert Supporters of the Gifted is making this article into a five part series.  Part four is below...

Educate others outside of the education systems about giftedness

It isn’t sufficient to talk only with those inside the system in order to make permanent changes. Unless our communities also understand the realities of giftedness rather than believing the stereotypes (such as “every child is gifted,” or “gifted children are top performers,” or “gifted children don’t need as much support as lower level students”) then we are never going to gain any real ground. And it isn’t really just the politicians who need to hear the messaging because politicians come and go based on the voting public. If we have community members who believe all children should learn every day, rather than just focus on those with lower intellect or abilities, then they will support gifted children in all their walks of life. Gifted children in sports teams will be better understood and supported; gifted children at their doctors’ appointments will be better served and families will be treated better (and misdiagnoses based on gifted traits will be limited); and gifted children at the local parks and libraries will have better interactions with other children and adults.

Imagine back before people understood Downs Syndrome as well, or understood Asperger’s even as much as we do now (which is still a developing area of understanding even now,) people did not know how to interact with children who had these characteristics and often those children were excluded and treated poorly by the public. With increased education of our national population we can see an increase in understanding these children and that has created a more welcome environment for children with issues such as these. Imagine how much education could help others to understand our gifted children in society.

But even more importantly, it is our communities who elect and place our leaders who make decisions about education. And those leaders often come from within our neighborhoods and our local businesses and nonprofit organizations. If we start by educating others in general, then we grow our army of soldiers who are willing to argue for stronger supports for gifted children in our schools.

If we inform them about the underserved ethnic and cultural populations then we can impact the support for multicultural gifted programs and create advocates who are willing to refer kids in local sports clubs and afterschool care programs for gifted support in their schools. We can change the way whole communities think about children by helping them understand that underperforming kids could be much smarter than they ever imagined but their abilities are untapped. We can help bring communities together by showing advocates for groups of kids what we have in common with them rather than the differences that stereotypical views of giftedness usually emphasize. We can help special education advocates understand twice exceptional (2e) kids, and help promote culturally aware education policies.

There are so many ways we can impact the way the wind blows in education by merely educating the masses and then asking them to help with this journey too. It will likely surprise you how many people will use the information that you gave them when they are discussing education with other people in the future. This information is like wild fire- spread it everywhere you go.

Part 5:  Encourage gifted children to be advocates.