Abstract:
As more pressure and demands are being put on teachers to be accountable for children’s learning, it becomes even more critical to support children as individuals and identify unique learning styles from a young age. Longitudinal studies show that young children who often display advanced problem solving skills, can apply abstract concepts, advanced language and numeracy and often create and play games with more complex rules than that same age peers play may have emerging gifted characteristics (Gross, 2003; Harrison, 2003; Margrain, Murphy & Dean, 2015). These gifted children will often display and apply different thinking processes. Young gifted children can find it difficult and overwhelming with the depth and amount of information as their intellect and maturity do not always develop at the same pace. Therefore unusual behaviour can often deter or mask underlying gifted characteristics; consequently early childhood teachers are not always recognising the child as gifted. Teachers need to understand these processes and characteristics in order to extend children’s thinking and meet their unique needs. Individualising the curriculum for gifted learners can change the child’s attitude to learning and the level of motivation and enthusiasm. As educators we must advocate for our gifted children, after all, promoting and supporting gifted learners is part of inclusive practice. Often there are misconceptions around gifted children’s confidence to handle new situations. Because young gifted children are often seen as capable and confident learners in the early childhood setting it is assumed they will cope easily through the transition phase. In most cases this is not true (Grant, 2013). For young gifted children moving from a secure setting into a new unknown setting can be very daunting. All children experience the transition from early childhood education to school differently. It has long been recognised that transitions are a significant part of children’s lives, particularly these early transition changes (Dockett & Perry, 2007). Transition to school should be a time of excited nervousness and an eagerness to move into a new learning environment. However, this change can create high anxiety levels and be very stressful if supportive strategies are not put in place. Positive strategies to support gifted children through transition will be identified.