Early Academic Intervention

1
Early Academic Intervention
Do Young Gifted Children Benefit ?
2
High Public Interest

• Discussed even in daily newspapers
• Especially for at-risk and minority children
• High enrollment in enrichment programs (Language
  Stars, Kumon etc.)

3
Early identification

• Educators generally in favor (McBride, 1992)
• Nurture at home independent of ID (Colangelo,
  1986 Tannenbaum, 1992)
• Danger of being labeled (Freeman, 1995)
• Early Identification not reliable (Ziegler, 2004)

Identified children on the gifted track can be
under pressure to perform
4
Early is the ideal time...

• Stimuli work best with children under 5
  (Tannenbaum, 1992)
• Earlier entry better performance (Field, 1991)
• Children discouraged from learning may hide their
  talents (Whitmore, 1986 Barbour, 1992)
• Early school entry gives confidence children
  know the drill (Sylva, 1994)

5
Later is better ...

• Loss of childhood (Elkind, 1981)
• Children need free time to incorporate learned
  content (Elkind, 1988a)
• Formal schooling quenches creativity (Meador,
  1992)
• If early then child-centered (Stipek, 1995)

6
Conclusion - or what is best?

• Early academics for gifted children must be
  child-centered / flexible
• Gifted children learn early to value and use
  their talents
• Nurturing and supporting environment more
  important than being or not being in a preschool

7
References

• Barbour, N. B. (1992). Early Childhood Gifted
  Education A Collaborative Perspective. Journal
  for the Education of the Gifted, 15(2), 145-162.
• Colangelo, N., Fleuridas, C. (1986). The
  Abdication of Childhood. Journal of Counseling
  and Development, 64, 561-563.
• Elkind, D. (1981) The Hurried Child Growing up
  too Fast too Soon. Cambridge, MAPerseus
  Publishing
• Elkind, D. (1988a). Our President Acceleration.
  Young Children, 43(4)
• Field, T. (1991). Quality Infant Day Care and
  Grade School Behavior and Performance. Child
  Development, 62, 863-870.
• Freeman, J. (1995).Annotation Recent Studies of
  Giftedness in Children. Journal of Child
  Psychology Psychiatry, 36(4), 531-547.

8
References II

• McBride, N. (1992). Early Identification of the
  Gifted and Talented Students Where Do Teachers
  Stand? Gifted Education International, 8, 19-22.
• Meador, K.S. (1992). Emerging Rainbows. Journal
  for the Education of the Gifted 15(2)
• Stipek, D. et al. (1995). Effects of different
  approaches on Young Children's Achievement and
  Motivation. Child Development 66(1)
• Sylva, K. (1994). School influences on Childrens
  Development. Journal of Child Psychology and
  Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 36, 135-170.
• Tannenbaum, A. (1992). Early Signs of Giftedness.
  Norwood, NJ Ablex Publishing Corporation.
• Whitmore. (1986). Intellectual Giftedness in
  Young Children. New York Waworth.
• Ziegler, A. (2004). Stabilität von Intelligenz
  und Hochbegabung im Vorschulalter. LVH aktuell,
  13.