Gifted children

[Fil]

Hi,

is there anyone out there with gifted children?  If so, what if any, special help and advice, or problems, have you encountered in educating your child here in France? 

I have a son of 16 just going into Lycée this autumn who has been classified as Highly Gifted but also with Asperger's Syndrome.  He is going to a private Lycée where he has been offered extra help but only from a psychologist, although this I think will be beneficial.

However, his little brother of 4, at present in Maternelle only, is probably gifted too.  It is the little one I am most concerned about as he has all his school years ahead of him.  The older one had a Government Assisted Place in the UK and despite the AS is well settled, well adjusted, and doing fine at school.  The AS, incidentally, was only diagnosed over here, and we have had to cope with all the tests etc totally in French, and he has improved enormously since the diagnosis, his self confidence going through the roof when presented with a reason for his 'differences'.  He is hoping to do a Bac S at Lycée.

The little one was originally thought to be Hyperactive, so off we trooped to the Centre for Psychotherapie for infants and adolescents locally.  He had a week there last summer then they offered him a half day a week, which he loves, but seems to be with children who have totally different problems to him.  We have decided to stop this now, as he goes into Grand Section in September.  His teacher (a wonderful woman who is alas retiring) has said she thinks he is a gifted child and that we should get him assessed.  But if we do, is there any help?

I have read as much as I can on AS, gifted children, enfants surdoué etc on the net and found a wonderful (but Aussie) site that suggested networking and finding other kids of the same intelligence level to meet up with. 

Is there anyone out there, preferably in the Morbihan area in Brittany, with a gifted child, preferably also about the same age?  Or is there anyone who can offer advice?  Experience etc?

I would really appreciate replies to this, as I am concerned that the french system in primary might repress him and as he has already been suspected of hyperactivity, probably due to boredom, he might get worse.

Thanks

Fil

[Dick Smith]

The French system is not as ready to accept gifted children as the UK. However, there are some groups you could consider:

http://www.surdoue.net/ - links to resources and groups in French and English - is that the site you have found?

You may also find the National Association for Gifted Children (UK) helpful - http://www.nagcbritain.org.uk

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/giftedandtalented/

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/giftedandtalented/informationandnews/usefulorganisations/

A far as experience, I have been working in this area for some time and I am part of the DfES Gifted and Talented Education Unit, so feel free to PM.

[Hoddy]

I'd be very interested to know how to distinguish between very bright and gifted. Is there an easy way to check, Dick ?

Hoddy

[Dick Smith]

The terms 'gifted and talented' are simply used to identify groups of pupils who will require special provision because they are significantly in advance of their age-peers in one or more areas of study or performance.

The DfES use a simple rule of thumb - the G&T register consists of the most able 10% of the school's population. Gifted refers to academic subjects, talented to subjects such as art, sport etc. There is usually an overlap, of course. The guidance on how to do this identification runs to a few pages - you can see them at

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/giftedandtalented/guidanceandtraining/roleofcoordinators/identificationofgt/

There is also a group (the top 5%) who are entitled to membership of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth at Warwick University, and their criteria are set out on their website

http://www.nagty.ac.uk/student_academy/joining_nagty/documents/eligibility_criteria.pdf

NAGTY also seek out the top 2% for special support.

We also seek out those with potential rather than current performance, especially those from backgrounds where further education is not traditional, and in areas where greater numbers of pupils may be disadvantaged (through the Excellence in Cities programme).

[chicfille]

I'm not sure how useful this will be given your location, but there is a special section for enfants précoces at the Ecole/Collège/ Lycée St Vincent La Providence in Rennes.

http://www.institution-st-vincent-rennes.org/specif-2.htm

 

 

[Hoddy]

Thanks for the links, Dick. I shall be interested to have a good read.

Hoddy

[JohnM]

Phew, I was worried when I saw that title, I thought it was going to be about children that had been gifted to people who didn't want them.... 

Sorry to bring the tone down, I'll go and hide in a corner now.

 

[SaligoBay]

is there anyone out there with gifted children?  If so, what if any, special help and advice, or problems, have you encountered in educating your child here in France? 

My son muddles along, gets EXTREMELY bored in many classes, and has the disadvantage of being a year (or 2) younger than his classmates.  He can't believe that teachers say dopey things like "The prefix hypo is from Greek, and it means horse".   

His prof principale said that the boys in his class don't know how to react to him.  He's young, he's foreign, he's not sportif, and he's seen as a bit of an "intello" - all the secondary-school-age no-nos!!!     I think if he was new to the school he might be okay as novelty value, but as he's "integrated", he does get a certain amount of cr*p from the anti-clever brigade, because although French children can be as polite as anything to adults, they are absolute beasts among themselves.  He was shouted at on the bus the other night "ça fait quoi, sucer la bite, juste pour être un premier de la classe?"    I have to tell him they're only jealous (omg, another motherhood lie!).

It will depend very much on the vagaries of French local politics whether there's support in your area for surdoués.  In our area there just aren't the resources in the education system to deal with surdoués, because there are relatively few of them.  The teachers have their work cut out getting the lower-performing students up to speed, and there are lots more of them.  

Bonne chance