Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators by Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster.© 2005, Scottsdale, Arizona Great Potential Press. 424 pp. ISBN 0-910707-66-9 (Paperback)
Reviewed by Clifford Morris on February 08, 2005.
Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators provides the reader with a first-rate review of the current state of gifted education from multiple contexts and theoretical perspectives. Authors Drs. Matthew and Foster, both experienced gifted educators, do a remarkable job creating the "best possible learning fit" (p. 189) for gifted children. Throughout this well-written (2005) book, they introduce the reader to numerous lists of practical teaching strategies and proven recommendation that will indeed aid all types of educators -- be they parents, psychologists, school counsellors or school administrators, current and future teachers -- as they try to identify and program exceptional abilities for all gifted children. Or to cite the authors directly, "[they] concern [themselves] primarily with those whose learning needs are not well met without some kind of adaptation to the regular curriculum. those whose time [would] be wasted in school if no accommodations [were] made for their exceptionality" (p. 145).
The Guidebook is divided into five main sections: Being Smart About Giftedness, Being Smart About Testing, Identification, and Labeling, Being Smart About Meeting Gifted Learning Needs, Being Smart About Gifted Kids and Being Smart About Families, Advocates and Educations. While all five parts create a coherent whole to the varied aspects about gifted child learning, the individual sixteen (16) chapters therein focus on particular issues and dilemmas so often encountered while working directly with any type of gifted youngster. Perhaps the following beginning to a much longer poem, written by the second author and lifted from the book’s Preface (p. xvi), best sums up the key elements of this book:
They tell me I'm gifted ... What does this mean? Is this something new, or have I always been?
They tell me I'm gifted ... Congratulations! But I am uncertain about expectations.
They tell me I'm gifted ... I'm lucky, I'm blessed. But how do they know from one written test?
They tell me I'm gifted ... I'm not quite sure why. But everyone thinks my "potential" is high.
They tell me I'm gifted ... With increased understanding. I wonder, will this make my life more demanding?
They tell me I'm gifted ... Although I'm not sure. If it's something I'm meant to enjoy or endure?
I especially agree with Rena F. Subotnik, the Director of the Centre for Gifted Educational Policy of The American Psychological Association and an internationally-renowned expert in the field of gifted education who states, in the Foreword, that “Every reader, from those with little exposure to the field other than experiences with their own children and their children's teacher to those who have been immersed for decades in serving the needs of gifted children, will find this book a welcome reference” (p. xi).
Perhaps the ultimate way to conclude my opening comments to this book review is to say that the two authors are to be commended for successfully created an exciting collection of chapters that clearly respond to the following ten (10) enquiries so often posed by those associated with the overall nature of child giftedness:
information should parents ought to know about giftedness?
What is giftedness, how does it develop and how is it measured?
How can classroom teachers develop and support appropriate programs for their gifted pupils?
What
is the necessary learning tools that must be provided to all gifted youngsters? What
the unique learning characteristics of a formally identified gifted girl or boy? What are
most meaningful learning environment for gifted students? What is the
intelligence quotient (IQ) as applied to gifted children? What are the strengths and limitations of
What can parents do to support their gifted child? do to help their children become gifted?
How can concerned parents help their children to become gifted classroom learners?
Do gifted children have more social and emotional problems than do non-gifted children?
In the rest of this book review,
I shall comment on the individual chapters to answer those ten (10) important questions. Then, I shall mention why I believe that this is an important book. Next, I shall comment on limitations of the book. Finally, I conclude with suggestions as to how this sourcebook might be best used.About the Book
Authors Matthews and Foster use the opening five (5) chapters of Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators to provide the reader with a practical context for understanding many of the core issues in the field of gifted education. In Perspectives and Paradigm Shifts, the title to the opening chapter, they introduce a
novel framework for understanding gifted education, in that they liken their model to a "mastery" over "mystery" model of giftedness. This model stems, in the main, from their 25 years of experience in the field of gifted education. They believe that all children should be provided learning opportunities based on current needs which tend to change over time. They discard the conventional gifted model of education as an innate and mysterious essence of a child, a special kind of brain, implicitly or explicitly endowed by favourable genetic circumstances. Instead, they prefer a mastery model of giftedness whereby specific content areas might generate age-exceptional domain-specific mastery. This movement toward a mastery model of giftedness becomes more as an exceptionality within specific learning domains, usually requiring special adaptation. In Chapter 2, Creativity and Giftedness, the authors comment that their "work in this area suggests that ... these concepts are symbiotically intertwined" (p. 32), thus making it irrelevant to either nurture or assess creative endeavours alone. Throughout the chapter, they comment that Innovative parents can foster creativity in their gifted child by "welcoming problems as opportunities to broaden horizons -- in fact, welcoming problems as possibilities or as ways of identifying what we can do better" (p. 39).This second section, Being Smart About Testing, Identification and Labeling, consists of three chapters. In Chapter 3, Questions about Testing, authors Matthews and Foster question one of the key concepts of testing: when and where is the optimal time to test a student for potential giftedness classification, the reasoning for testing gifted children and finally, what overall purpose does mainstream standardized testing accomplish. In Chapter 4, Assessment and Tests, the authors "pull together into chart form a synopsis of the benefits and drawbacks of the various kinds of test" (p. 7) currently in use by contemporary state-funded public school educators. Throughout the same chapter, they draw out and compare the inter-relationships between intelligence tests, aptitude tests and creativity tests. Chapter 5 is titled Identification and Labeling Issues. Here, the authors raise fitting and significant questions about the processes, policies and problems associated with the overall gifted identification process, including the relevant role that concerned parents can play in the important assessment process. What is of special interest here is the oft-asked question: When is the best time to identify gifted students? The authors feel that around the third or fourth grade is a meaningful time to commence formal identification procedures ... that "prior to age eight or nine, much of the learning going on in children's lives concern their physical, social and emotional development" (p. 92).
Section III of Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators is titled Being Smart About Meeting Gifted Learning Needs. The strength of the book lies here, within the next four chapter, as the authors describe and justify the types of "educational options [that] can help meet gifted students' needs" (p. 107). Their lines of reasoning are quite persuasive, not because of the extensiveness of the information that they include throughout chapters six to nine, and that their student vignettes and learning scenarios are "consistent with leading research" (see back cover) but because their scrip is vibrant and lucid enough to hold this reviewer's interest more than a monotonous statistical analyses of a psychometric theory of giftedness would, yet firm and advanced enough that they can be taken as a serious thinkers of gifted child education. The sixth chapter, Adaptations: The Gifted Learner in the Regular Classroom continues this line of reasoning by exploring this important question: "What educational options can help meet gifted students' learning needs?" (p. 107). Here, I felt that the authors did an excellent job of matching daily classroom learning to the individual needs of the gifted student. The seventh chapter, Adaptations: The Gifted Learner in the Regular Classroom, is another well-articulated commentary of "a range of alternative option, some of which take the [gifted] child out of the regular classroom full time or part-time" (p. 107). Some such possible alternatives include whole-grade acceleration, gifted classes, second language immersion and dual track, specialty subjects, specialized schools, independent schools and home schooling. In Chapter 8, Stretching the Boundaries, the authors review a range of extracurricular options, including mentorships, career exploration, books, travel and do-nothing times. The final chapter in this section is titled Adapting to Change. Here, Matthews and Foster consider some of the more relevant factors (flexibility, support, selecting a school, school choice experiences and decisions) involved in selecting the optimal option or combination of options for a child at a particular point in time.
The authors use Section IV: Being Smart About Gifted Kids, to comment on the implications of social, emotional and learning issues associated with gifted education. Chapter 10, Motivation and Other Issues, begins with ways to address failure and concludes with lists of practical learning strategies necessary for optimal interpersonal and intrapersonal development. Chapter 11, Emotional, Social and Behavioral Concerns, contains excellent advice often requested by parents, including relevant emotional and social pointers. Of special interest was the 2-pages poem on pages 250 and 251 titled Ways to Love a Child. The authors begin Chapter 12, Gifted Development, by asking the age-old question: Where does intelligence come from? Their response is that "Individual intelligence is a result of a person's early nurturing experiences, the various environments that she inhabits, the surrounding cultural milieu (s), her educational circumstances, her life events, and other factors, as interwoven with her inherited genetic patters and as organized by the individual herself as an active agent in creating her own intelligence" (p. 254). The final chapter in this section is called Different Ways of Being Gifted. Here, Matthews and Foster discuss the relevance of gender differences among gifted students, the importance of recognizing any cultural differences and how "gifted children can vary tremendously in the maturational timing of their development, their degrees and domains of advancement, their learning styles and interests, their test-taking skills and their social/emotional development: (p. 295).
Section V: Being Smart About Families, Advocates and Educators contains the final three chapters of the book and just an excellent Appendix. Throughout, the authors approach the topic of gifted educations from the lenses of the family, the educational arena and the wider global community. In Chapter 14, Parents, the authors comment on how family issues can affect a child's level of gifted development. In Chapter 15, Teacher Development, the authors discuss the importance of professional development and teacher education. And finally, the authors begin Chapter 16, Optimal Learning for All Children, by discussion how gifted education is conducted worldwide. They conclude the chapter by commenting on ways to stay up to date with the current research in child development. The Appendix contains meaningful information for those who seek additional understanding on interpreting test and standard scores, percentiles and score conversion.
Why This Book is Important
Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators is an important book for many reasons. Due to space limitations, I shall only comment on six of them here. First, I believe that this book is important because the authors offer first-rate suggestions for educators and parents who want to implement and advocate for more enlightened and effective policies of identifying gifted learners. Second, the book is important because throughout its 424 pages, the authors concern themselves mainly with those students whose scholastic objectives are not well met without some kind of adaptation to the normal school curriculum, those exceptional girls and boys whose valuable time would be otherwise wasted if the schooling system made no special accommodation for their gifted exceptionality. Third, I feel that this book is important because the authors stress that "when selecting or constructing a program from such a large variety of possibilities, the main task is not to find the right or the best option, but to find the one that is most appropriate for a given child at a particular time in her [or his] development, given the constraints of a particular situation and context" (pp. 154-155). Fourth, this book is important for the ways in which the authors emphasize the oft-ignored realization that giftedness is a highly diverse phenomenon often so difficult to recognize and to assess. Fifth, I consider this to be an important book because the authors base their commentary from research evidence firmly grounded from their own personal and professional experiences over the past quarter century. That is, they consider various voices and viewpoints, and look at different ways of supporting optimal development in those who have been labelled "gifted," and those who have not. Finally, and perhaps as important as any of the above reasons, this book is important because the authors utilize their own Being Smart website, at http://www.beingsmart.ca/, to reference many of the website addresses that they scattered meaningfully throughout their sixteen chapters. Unfortunately, those website addresses were not organized into a single list and conveniently located near the end of the book. Hopefully, the second edition / printing of this book will contain such a website reference list.
Limitations of the Book
If the book has a minor weakness, it is obviously a proofreading oversight and lies within a few of the References. First, the authors referenced the Heller & Monks & Sternberg & Subotnik excellent International Handbook of Gifted and Talent text some twenty-two times. Two of these references, namely the Coleman & Cross reference and the Csiksentmihalyi & Wolfe reference do not contain a chapter title. Also, of interest, is why the authors referenced Stephen Jay Gould's 1981 Mismeasure of Man book instead of his 1996 revised version. Another irritating but limitation is the generality features of the Index. The general index does not include surnames and first name initials of prominent authors names. Name Index and a Subject Index. Hopefully, the next edition / printing of this book will somehow contain such names. Hopefully, the next publication will have such oversights rectified.
In spite of the above limitations, overall, I conclude that Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators to be a noteworthy sourcebook for anyone directly associated with gifted children. Is Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators worth reading? Absolutely yes! The authors note that there is no one gifted experience. In order to support gifted-level development for the children in anyone's live -- that is, to provide the best possible guidance, challenge, and encouragement -- all who are associated, in any way with gifted children must commence by reflecting upon individual differences, including emotional, social, academic, developmental, and many others. The authors repeat over and over that there is no formula for living or working with gifted children, but there are some perspectives and understandings that can help make good and informed decisions and find ways to make a difference, so children see their world as an engaging place in which to live, laugh, and learn. To sum up this answer and writing as a former elementary school principal, regular classroom instructor and special education researcher, I felt that both authors put forward an excellent presentation of practical hands-on strategies to aid parents and educators identify and nurture exceptionally high ability in children, outlining personal and professional perspectives. This is a serious guidebook that will prove to be of immense practical value to all associated with giftedness and a book that I consider should become essential reading for anyone new to the field of classroom teaching.
Is Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators worth having in your home library or on one of your professional library shelves? Again, I would automatically respond in the affirmative. The authors have written this reference text for parents and educators who are interested in better understanding and supporting high-level development in all types of children, not only gifted children. Based on research evidence and grounded in their own personal and professional experiences, authors Drs. Matthews and Foster weave a strong case for giftedness as a developing field of special education. Throughout, they describe the paradigm shift within the field, from a “mystery” model approach, with uncertain connections across definition, identification, and programming practices, to a “mastery” model approach that is more defensibly connected with solid educational practice.
Summary and Suggestions
I enjoyed reading and commenting on this book. To read what two experiences gifted educators have accomplished over the past quarter century was truly a treat. This is a book that all educators ought to read, especially anyone considering entering the teaching profession. Anyone who works in education will always encounter that special student who acts and behaves differently, who thinks in other ways and who is often the first person to solve that detailed problem.
Revised: Thursday, 25 May, 2006
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