Chapter one - Theoretical aspects of giftedness.

1.1 Introduction.

All over the world, the issue of giftedness is gaining more and more interest after being either hushed up or heavily attacked for many years. Attitude in domestic psychology was ambiguous. On the one hand, there were schools for gifted children, numerous competitions (intellectual, musical, sports, etc.) were held, which made it possible to identify children with outstanding abilities. On the other hand, the ideas of equality unjustifiably extended to the sphere of abilities. Elitism in education, tests for the identification of giftedness have often been sharply criticized. In recent years, interest in this problem has increased markedly. New schools were opened for children with a high level of development of abilities.

The concept of “giftedness” has gained wide significance in our country and in the West. There are many meanings for this term. But we are in this term paper we will adhere to the following interpretation of this concept: children, and, as appropriate, young people who, in preschool institutions, primary or secondary school, have been recognized as having actual or potential abilities that indicate a high potential in such areas as intellectual, creative, specific teaching or organizing/leadership, as well as the visual arts and acting, and who therefore require services and activities not normally provided by the school. In this case, what is important for us is the fact that some children and, accordingly, adults have a level of ability that differs significantly from the average. We call them gifted.

A person endowed with developed abilities is different both in character and in perception of the world. He builds relationships with others differently, works differently. Another important point. Most often, we talk about gifted children as peers ahead of their development. But there is another side of giftedness that is much more difficult for both teachers and parents. This is a giftedness with an unconventional vision, unconventional thinking. At the same time, the ability to assimilate may not be so outstanding, which prevents others from guessing this gift in time.

In this work, we will adhere to age restrictions: children of primary school age.

The manual discusses the views on the concept of "giftedness" of such famous scientists as B. M. Teplov, L. S. Vygotsky, J. Gilford and others. Crises of child giftedness are considered and useful tips are given on how to avoid these crises. Also discussed is a topic that is relevant today schooling(what obstacles may arise when a gifted child enters school and how to deal with it). And in the final chapter, data from an experimental study of giftedness are presented.

^ 1.2. Analysis of the state of the problem of giftedness

in psychology - pedagogical theory and practices.

Observations indicating that people's opportunities are unequal are as old as time. This was not a secret either for science or for everyday consciousness, which accumulated, in the apt expression of Hegel, not only scientific theories, but also all the prejudices of its time. Both the outstanding people of antiquity and their contemporaries, who were less knowledgeable in the sciences, well understood how significant the difference is between an outstanding creator (genius) and a mere mortal person. It has also long been noticed that their differences often appear already in childhood.

Naturally, both the researchers themselves and society as a whole have long been concerned about the origin and nature of these differences. But the human psyche of all the phenomena of reality is the most difficult object to know. Probably, therefore, genetically the first explanation of the nature of individual differences and the existence of outstanding abilities in individual people was the conclusion about their "unearthly", divine origin. An outstanding person (genius), according to the ancients, is a happy chosen one of the gods. He was sent to earth in order to overcome ordinary ideas and by the power of the spirit to illuminate the path to perfection and greatness for humanity.

Bypassing the concept of "divine gift" to explain the achievements of outstanding artists, poets (and later scientists and public figures) at that time was not possible. So, a very characteristic statement on this occasion belongs to Plato: the poet creates "not from art and knowledge, but from divine predestination and obsession." It is noteworthy that his ideological opponent Democritus held a similar opinion.

Treatises about genius contain many interesting facts, observations, and regularities revealed on their basis. However, everything that is autonomous from educational activities was developed. Social production at that time did not require narrow specialization, and, consequently, socially teaching practice was not interested in the problems of differentiation and early diagnosis of abilities. To a large extent, therefore, to the study of the nature of genius, researchers up to early XIX in. addressed only insofar as it was necessary to clarify the general problems of creativity.

These ideas have also given rise to the corresponding terminology. From ancient times, up to the 19th century. (A. Baumgarten, G. Hegel, I. Kant and others) the term “genius” (from Latin genius – spirit) has firmly established itself in scientific treatises. They denoted phenomena that in later times began to be called much more modestly - “subject creative activity».

Initially, in ancient culture, a "genius" is a mythological figure that combines an immortal deity and a mortal person. It was these ideas about the combination of the divine spirit with man that were the basis of ideas about genius in ordinary consciousness, until the end of the 19th century.

As interpreted in BES, the term "talent" began to be used almost simultaneously with the term "genius". But, unlike the "genius" "talent" is not so noble origin. Initially, the word talent (from the Greek talaton) referred to a large measure of gold.

We can assume that the appearance of the term "talent" in scientific use was associated with ideas about the possibility of measuring the degree of genius, and, on this basis, ranking geniuses. Gradually, an idea was formed of talent as simply a high degree of development of abilities for a certain type of activity, while “genius” began to be understood as the highest, maximum level of their manifestation, located, figuratively speaking, above talent.

An important feature of the concept of genius, from ancient times until the 19th century, is that both science and ordinary consciousness firmly adhered to the belief that genius can only manifest itself in art. One such example is the understanding of genius set forth in the writings of Aristotle. Emphasizing the connection of artistic creativity with intellectual, cognitive activity, he introduces the term "contemplative activity of the mind", which encompasses the concepts of scientific and artistic creativity. Of particular interest are Aristotle's differentiation and ranking of human activities that require genius. The "contemplative activity of the mind" (scientific and artistic) stands, in his opinion, above any other, for it is akin to the divine.

One of the first attempts at a deep psychological understanding of the problem of giftedness was the study of a Spanish physician who lived in the Renaissance, Juan Huarte. He connected the prospect of the revival of the power of the Spanish Empire with the maximum use of especially gifted people in the public service. His work was one of the first works in the history of psychology, where it was considered as the main task - the study of individual differences in abilities with the aim of further professional selection.

H. Huarte poses in his work four questions, the main ones, in his opinion, in this problem: what qualities does the nature have that makes a person capable of one science and incapable of another; what kinds of gifts are there in the human race; what arts and sciences correspond to each talent in particular; by what signs can one recognize the corresponding talent.

The Renaissance was replaced by a period of classicism. At this time, the question of the origin of genius was increasingly discussed. Disagreements arose over whether any artistic talent (pictorial, poetic, etc.) was a divine gift or whether it had an earthly origin. The Russian philosopher, poet V. Trediakovsky noted that wise people "reduce the beginning of poetry from heaven", arguing that it is poured into the human mind from God, "and this is certainly righteous."

It is hardly possible to find such an idea in science that would not raise doubts in anyone and would last for a long time. The idea of ​​divine predestination of outstanding abilities (genius) was no exception. True, if its history spans millennia, then the opposite point of view theoretically took shape and spread in the minds of Europeans only a few years ago - in the Age of Enlightenment.

One of the prominent representatives of this era was the English philosopher and educator John Locke. He put forward a number of theoretical provisions that formed the foundation of the ideology of the Enlightenment. The main ones are: there are no innate ideas, the process of cognition arises in experience and on the basis of experience; the human mind is from the very beginning a "blank slate" (tabula rasa); there is nothing in the mind that was not previously in the senses.

The term “blank slate” used by Locke was proposed by Aristotle, but at that time it acquired a modern meaning. J. Locke, and after him many of his contemporaries and followers, believed that before contact with the material world, the human soul is “white paper, without any signs or ideas.”

More interesting in this regard is the position of D. Diderot. The concept of talent is developed in the work of D. Diderot "The Paradox of the Actor". The paradox, in his opinion, lies in the fact that the best impression is made by an actor with a "cold head", and not one who plays with a "gut". Playing "gut" plays unevenly, aimlessly. The real actor plays with reason, with the study of human nature. Such an actor is always perfect.

The Enlightenment idea that there is no gift, either divine or innate, does not exist at all. The only subject of reason (understanding) are ideas that are “inside us”, and not external objects, G. Leibniz and R. Descartes argued. The “blank slate” theory developed by the Enlightenment, on the other hand, emphasized the idea that there are no “innate ideas” or even assumptions in the soul, thanks to which non-experiential truths can be extracted from it in the future.

The enlightenment doctrine of the social nature of man was also developed by the Russian rationalists of the late 18th century. (A.F. Bestuzhev, I.A. Krylov, A.I. Klushin, etc.). So, A.F. Bestuzhev wrote that the inequality that exists between one person and another arises not so much from the initial inequality between the abilities to feel, think, want, but "from the difference in reasons that connect to discover them." Russian "rationalists" also assign a special role to aesthetic education and art education in the development of not only artistic talent, but also the mind as a whole.

The next step in the development of ideas about genius was the period of development of the idea of ​​intellectual giftedness. With all the ambiguity of scientific and everyday interpretations of the concept of "intelligence", the term "intellectual giftedness" in psychology acquired a very definite meaning as a result of the development at the beginning of the 20th century. psychodiagnostics and psychometry, and, above all, "testology", associated with the name of the famous French psychologist A. Binet. The developed methods were supposed to be used not to identify giftedness, but, on the contrary, to screen out incapacity. But unexpectedly for the authors, these methods have become widespread in Europe and America precisely as a means of determining giftedness and identifying gifted children. A. Binet proposed a concept that assumed a biologically determined development of intelligence in ontogeny. But he emphasized at the same time the high importance of environmental factors. Development seemed to him as a maturation occurring according to the general principles of the biological change of the organism in various phases of its existence.

However, at the same time, almost all the tasks included in his test "batteries" were, as it was later determined, of the "convergent" type. In other words, they were focused on identifying one and, moreover, not the most important characteristic - mental abilities. Despite this, the indicator identified by these methods was called the “intelligence quotient” (IQ) and claimed to be a universal characteristic of mental development.

Followers of A. Binet, who developed theoretical models of intelligence and methods of its diagnostics (L. Termen, 1916; R. Meili, 1928; J. Raven and L. Perlouz, 1936; R. Amthauer, 1953, etc.) , but almost all test tasks aimed at determining the "intelligence quotient" remained convergent.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the problem of understanding the sources, the structure of the development of enhanced abilities became more active in Russia. The solution to this problem was of its own specific nature, had a certain national flavor. Russian teachers defended their positions, entering into polemics with Western colleagues about the specifics of the individual development of children. For example, some Russian teachers were adherents of the "German ideal of all-round harmonious development."

Gradually in the Russian pedagogy of the early twentieth century. the following main issues for acute scientific discussions were identified: the social need to identify and develop giftedness; definitions of the concept of giftedness; origin and structure of giftedness.

The Russian teacher V. Ekzemplyarsky wrote: “The path that pedagogy takes in matters of school organization, considered from the point of view of the interests of childhood and the tasks of culture, can be outlined as follows. For many centuries - only the interests of the so-called middle child, the majority of the undifferentiated mass of children, the maximum achievements only in schools of higher levels, access to which was for the most part one of the social class privileges - such is the first stage of the path. The last few decades - the attention to the retarded child and the strong movement towards the organization of the so-called auxiliary schools for the mentally retarded and special schools or hospital schools for the so-called morally defective - the second part of the path. Finally, in the last few years, the idea of ​​schools for the gifted and the promotion of a culture of talent have been put forward more as a task for the time being.”

This path, which was briefly characterized by V. Ekzemplyarsky, was a phased one. Each stage corresponded to the social needs of society and the level of development of psychological and pedagogical science. Scientific research has covered the entire system of problems and tasks that are being developed today: theoretical problems psychology of giftedness, problems of diagnostics, development of principles and methods for the development and education of gifted and talented children.

Special instructions were drawn up for experimenters to carry out diagnostics, quantification and interpretation of psychological profiles.

Using the methodology of psychological profiles, the first graphical comparisons of giftedness levels were proposed.

Thus, based on the diagnosis of cognitive processes and the assessment of their level, attempts were made to assess the levels of giftedness already at the beginning of our century. More fundamental research giftedness in the theoretical aspect came out of the branch of psychological science under the name of differential psychology. This term was introduced by the German psychologist W. Stern in his work “On the Psychology of Individual Differences” (1990).

K. Sotonin in the article "Exercise and giftedness" indicates that the actual state of determining the abilities of a given person does not yet characterize his giftedness in this area; the weak development of the ability may be the result of especially unfavorable conditions for its natural exercise in a given person in the previous period of time.

So, according to K. Sotonin, “the giftedness of a person is precisely his exercise capacity, the plasticity of the body. Theoretically, the degree of giftedness is characterized by the limit of exercise available to each person.

Thus, in our domestic pedagogy at a relatively early stage of research, personal orientation is visible in the study and diagnosis of giftedness. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, productive steps were taken in our country on the problems of giftedness. To a greater extent, diagnostic methods were developed and implemented, comparative work was carried out on the types of diagnostic tests, and a deep analysis of the principles of step-by-step improvements in tests was made. All this took place in the spirit of cooperation with American and European researchers. During this period, the system for diagnosing the intellectual potential of children, already mentioned by us above, developed by Alfred Binet in collaboration with T. Simon, gained especially great popularity. Two important principles determined the practical significance and novelty of this diagnostic school. The first was to find an integral equivalent to all cognitive processes that were measured using diagnostic tasks. The second principle was based on the question - how do the individual potential abilities of the child correlate with his intellectual development, including the success of education

A. Binet essentially embodied the principle of development in a compact characteristic - the magnitude of the intellectual potential. This is how the now well-known IQ or intelligence quotient appeared. It reflected advance or delay (deceleration) in the intellectual development of children and involved measuring intelligence and intellectual differences in terms of intensity and pace. intellectual development children. The main feature of the appearance of the IQ is that the diagnosis was filled with age meaning and began to measure not only the individual level of the child's mental abilities, but also their implementation in relation to his chronological age (biological).

As a result of such diagnostic procedures, it became easier and clearer to trace age-related giftedness, since the magnitude of intellectual potential began to be measured by the ratio of intellectual capabilities determined by both natural and social factors (here, education) with the age of the child; not only did the differential differences between children become more visible, but, above all, the differences in the rates of their intellectual development.

The school of A. Binet-Simon was not perfect, but at that time it was a significant step in the transition from diagnosing individual differences to measuring the processes of age development.

By the beginning of the 1930s, the measuring school modified by Stanford University (under the editorship of L. Termen) was translated and initialized to measure the IQ of Russian children. The Binet-Theremin school was approved after diagnostic examinations of children of various ages were carried out (Moscow, Kursk, Voronezh provinces).

Russian scientists have presented evidence that the Binet-Theremin school can be used in our practice with some changes made to it. However, the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On Pedagogical Perversions in the System of the People’s Commissar of Millet” dated July 4, 1936 stopped further research in the field of giftedness and abilities, and froze the development of specific methods for diagnosing the intellectual potential of gifted and talented children.

This decision also had a methodological significance, which determined a special direction for domestic research on giftedness and abilities for the next fifty years. Moreover, these studies already differed from the system of studies conducted in world science.

The problem of giftedness in our country after the decision was developed as a psychology of needs. This was most vividly reflected in the works of a talented researcher of abilities Teplov B.M. He noted: “When establishing the basic concepts of the doctrine of giftedness, it is most convenient to proceed from the concept of ability ... Three signs ... are always contained in the concept of ability. Firstly. Abilities are understood as individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another ... Secondly, not all individual characteristics are called abilities, but only those that are related to the success of performing any activity or many activities ... Thirdly, the concept of ability does not come down to the knowledge, skills and abilities that a given person has already developed.

The central task of the psychology of giftedness is to establish methods for scientific analysis of the qualitative abilities of giftedness and abilities. The main question should be what is the giftedness and what are the abilities of this person.

BM Teplov pointed out two misconceptions associated with a quantitative approach to the problem of giftedness. First, it is widely believed that the frequency of distribution of various degrees of giftedness is inversely proportional to these degrees themselves. In other words, the higher the given degree of giftedness, the less often there are people who possess it.

Another misconception associated with a quantitative approach to giftedness is the idea that giftedness and abilities indicate the possible limits of the development of a particular function ...

This idea is fundamentally wrong. Firstly, no one can predict to what extent this or that ability can develop, fundamentally speaking, it can develop indefinitely ...

Secondly, the "limits" in question are usually characterized by the degree of success in the implementation of a particular activity. But the degree of this success is never determined by any one ability: it should always be about these or other combinations of abilities. Teplov B.M. understood giftedness as “a qualitatively peculiar combination of abilities on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in the performance of a particular activity depends.

He believed that "one cannot talk about giftedness in general, but one can talk about giftedness for some kind of activity."

After 1936, in our country it was customary to consider as the most significant environmental and, above all, social factors; and as less significant - genetic. The subsequent development of the problem of giftedness was realized for the most part in the psychological and pedagogical studies of creativity, creative thinking, the mechanisms of the creative act, as well as in the development of various systems of problem-based learning.

In our psychological and pedagogical literature, the study of the problems of giftedness is associated with the name of N.S. Leites, who noted that favorable conditions for the formation of certain aspects of mental abilities are closely intertwined with age characteristics. He defines abilities as "separate mental properties that determine a person's capabilities in certain types of activity." He is a believer that abilities cannot "ripen" on their own regardless of external influences. The development of abilities requires the assimilation, and then the application of knowledge and skills developed in the course of socio-historical practice. An important point in the study of giftedness Leites N.S. considered the question of the correlation of abilities and inclinations, highlighting the following inclinations for mental stress in gifted children: constant readiness to concentrate attention and emotional capture by the process of cognition; increased susceptibility: the spontaneous nature of acquired knowledge, etc.

The pace of development of each child is individual, there may be jumps and slowdowns in this process, however, each age period has its own advantages and originality. It follows from this that there is an "age giftedness". Vivid manifestations of age-related giftedness are the basis on which outstanding abilities can grow. A.G. Petrovsky considers the structure of giftedness, consisting of "essential important abilities." He notes: “The first personality trait that can be distinguished is attentiveness, composure, constant readiness for hard work. The second feature of the personality of a highly gifted child is inextricably linked with the first, is that his readiness to work develops into a propensity for work, into industriousness, into an indefatigable need to work. The third group of features is directly related to intellectual activity: these are the features of thinking, the speed of thought processes, the systematic nature of the mind, increased possibilities for analysis and generalization, and high productivity of mental activity.

L.S. Vygotsky, when considering an increased level of abilities, proceeded from the position that learning is ahead of development and is carried out only insofar as the child is being taught. Developing is only such training, which is based on the zone of proximal development. Development should also be carried out taking into account subsequent prerequisites. Therefore, L.S. Vygotsky considers giftedness as a genetically determined component of abilities that develops in the corresponding activity or degrades in its absence.

In the above description, the activity orientation of giftedness is visible. In activities, students differ markedly from each other in the pace of progress, in the significance and originality of the results achieved. These differences are primarily related to their individual characteristics. In the course of life, in activity, both his activity itself and the possibilities of its self-regulation develop, which plays a very important role in the development of creative principles. In the late 1980s, the problem of giftedness became actual in our country. From the point of view of the creative potential of the individual, A.M. Matyushkin approaches the problem of giftedness. The formulation of the concept of creative giftedness is based, first of all, on his own work on the development of children's creative thinking using problem-based learning methods; works devoted to group forms of creative thinking, diagnostic teaching methods that contribute to the personal creative growth of gifted students. Creativity is understood by him as a mechanism, a condition for development, as a fundamental property of the psyche. Structural components of giftedness, he considers the dominant role of cognitive motivation and consistent, creative activity, expressed in the discovery of the new, in the formulation and solution of problems. A.M. Matyushkin considers the main signs of creative need to be its stability, the measure of research activity, selflessness. Research activity is stimulated by the novelty that a gifted child himself sees and finds in the world around him. He emphasizes that the basis of giftedness is not intellect, but creativity, believing that the mental is a superstructure.

Matyushkin's concept clearly expresses an integrative approach to the study of giftedness, designated and declared in our country in the longitudinal studies of N.S. Leites. The importance of this direction was noted by V.D. Madrikov. This direction of the integral sense is to understand the nature of giftedness as a common prerequisite for the development creative person.

Among the most interesting and mysterious phenomena of nature, children's talent traditionally occupies one of the leading places. The problems of its diagnosis and development have been of concern to educators for many centuries. Interest in it is currently very high, which can easily be explained by social needs.

Traditionally, the goals of social progress have been given a very significant place. For example, in our country, the confrontation between the capitalist and socialist systems required a significant effort and the maximum use of intellectual resources, especially in the field of physics and mathematics.

In this regard, a fairly effective system for identifying and teaching highly gifted children functioned. The modern personality-oriented trend is associated with the coming to the fore of the value of personal development and self-realization. Thus, high individual achievements usually contribute to the self-realization of the individual and move society forward.

In a dynamic, rapidly changing world, society is much more likely to rethink the social order of the school, correct or radically change the goals and objectives of school education.

The main goal, which was previously defined as the formation of the foundations of a comprehensively and harmoniously developed personality, the education of people who know the basics of science, is now seen in focusing on the education of an active, creative personality, aware of the global problems of mankind, ready to participate in their solution to the extent possible.

Now we need people who think outside the box, who are able to look for new ways to solve the proposed problems, to find a way out of a problem situation.

Not so long ago it was believed that all children are equal both intellectually and emotionally. You just need to teach them to think, empathize, solve complex logical problems.

However, experience modern education shows that there are differences between children. Children stand out with a more developed intellect than their peers, with the ability to be creative, with the ability to classify, generalize, and find relationships. They are constantly in search of an answer to their questions, they are inquisitive, show independence, and are active.

The expression "gifted children" is used very broadly. If a child shows unusual success in learning or creative pursuits, significantly outperforms peers, he may be called gifted. Numerous works (L.A. Venger, Yu.Z. Gilbukh, N.S. Leites, G.V. Burmenskaya) are devoted to the consideration of the concept of a gifted child, the identification of such children, the peculiarities of working with them, and their psychological problems. In recent years, the problem of differences between children in giftedness has "come out of the shadows" and is now of great interest. The reality and significance of this problem are undeniable.

^ What kind of children are called gifted? How are they further developed? What can be done to support them?

Considerable experience has been accumulated on such issues. Since 1975, there has been the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, which coordinates the study, education and upbringing of such children, organizes international conferences.

Early identification, training and education of gifted and talented children is one of the main problems of improving the education system. There is an opinion that gifted children do not need the help of adults, special attention and guidance. However, due to personality characteristics, such children are most sensitive to the assessment of their activities, behavior and thinking, they are more receptive to sensory stimuli and better understand relationships and connections.

Working with gifted children is one of the options for the concrete implementation of the individual's right to individuality.

All this causes relevance the problem we are investigating.

^ Purpose of the study : to study the manifestations of giftedness in children of preschool and school age and consider the features of educational interaction with them.

Tasks:

To study the literature of foreign and domestic authors on the problems of the development of giftedness from ancient times to the present;

Expand the concept of giftedness

Show the developmental features of gifted children

Consider methods for diagnosing giftedness

Reveal pedagogical foundations and effective methods of development of gifted children

Drafting a program for working with gifted children.

Subject of our research are the pedagogical foundations and methods of working with gifted children.

^ Object research – giftedness as a phenomenon..

Hypothesis: Research:

The development of the giftedness of children, especially of preschool age, will be effective if the psychological and pedagogical features of the development of gifted children are taken into account.

If in work with preschoolers, and then with schoolchildren, to implement effective methods and techniques for the development of giftedness.

Develop and implement a program of work with gifted children that promotes the development of intelligence and creativity

^ Research methods : in the process of research, methods such as conversation, observation, testing can be used.

Theoretical and practical significance : the results of this study can be used by the educator of the children's educational institution and the teachers of the educational institution to work with gifted children.

Chapter two - General ideas about giftedness and forms of its manifestation.

^ 2.1. Definition of the concepts of "gifted" and "gifted child".

giftedness- this is a systemic quality of the psyche that develops throughout life, which determines the possibility of a person achieving higher (unusual, outstanding) results in one or more types of activity compared to other people 1 .

giftedness- this is a qualitative peculiar combination of abilities that ensure the successful implementation of activities. The joint action of abilities representing a certain structure makes it possible to compensate for the insufficiency of individual abilities due to the predominant development of others.

- general abilities or general moments of abilities, which determine the breadth of a person’s capabilities, the level and originality of his activity;

The totality of inclinations, natural data, characteristics of the degree of severity and originality natural background abilities;

Talent, availability of internal conditions for outstanding achievements in activities 2 .

^ gifted child - this is a child who stands out for bright, obvious, sometimes outstanding achievements (or has internal prerequisites for such achievements) in one or another type of activity.

Today, most psychologists recognize that the level, qualitative originality and nature of the development of giftedness is always the result of a complex interaction. heredity(natural inclinations) and social environment, mediated by the activity of the child (playing, educational, labor). At the same time, the role of psychological mechanisms self-development of the individual, underlying the formation and implementation of individual talent.

Most psychologists consider creativity (creativity) of a person as one of the most important and, to a certain extent, independent factor of giftedness. The American psychologist P. Torrens defined creativity as a process that is generated by a person's strong need to relieve tension that arises in a situation of uncertainty and lack of information. This process includes the search for and definition of the problem, the promotion and testing of hypotheses about ways to solve it, the search for and justification of solutions. The main role is played by divergent (going in different directions) thinking, which can lead to unexpected conclusions, in contrast to convergent, consistent thinking, and creativity necessarily implies an above-average intellectual development of a person, since only such a level can provide the basis for creative productivity. In addition, numerous studies have demonstrated the important role of motivational and personal characteristics and conditions of the social environment of gifted children in realizing their potential. According to the concept of J. Renzulli, the development of giftedness is based on the relationship of three constructs: intelligence above the average level, creativity and commitment to the task.

One of the most controversial issues regarding the problem of gifted children is the question of the frequency of manifestation of children's giftedness. There are two extreme points of view: "all children are gifted" - "gifted children are extremely rare." This alternative is removed within the framework of the following position: potential giftedness in relation to different types activity is inherent in many children, while actual giftedness is demonstrated by an insignificant part of children.

This or that child can show particular success in a fairly wide range of activities. Moreover, even in the same type of activity, different children can discover the originality of their talent in relation to its different aspects. There are many types and forms of giftedness, since the mental capabilities of a child are extremely plastic at different stages of his age development.

The giftedness of a child is often manifested in the success of activities that have a spontaneous, amateur character. For example, a child who is passionate about technology builds his models at home, but his occupation has nothing to do with school or socially organized extracurricular activities (in a circle, section, studio). Another child enthusiastically composes poems or stories, but does not want to show them to the teacher. The giftedness of a child should be judged not only by his school activities, but also by his extracurricular activities, as well as by the forms of activity initiated by him.

As one of the reasons for the lack of manifestations of one or another type of giftedness, there may be a lack (due to living conditions) of relevant knowledge, skills and abilities. As soon as such a child learns them, his giftedness becomes clear and obvious to the teacher.

In some cases, the reason for the disguise of manifestations of giftedness are certain difficulties in the development of the child. For example, stuttering, increased anxiety, the conflict nature of communication, etc. can lead to a decrease in the child's success rates (despite the potentially high level of his ability).

Thus, giftedness in different children can be expressed in a more or less obvious way. Analyzing the characteristics of the child's behavior, the teacher, psychologist and parents should make a kind of "tolerance" for insufficient knowledge about the real capabilities of the child, while understanding that there are gifted children whose giftedness they have not yet been able to see.

On the other hand, giftedness cannot always be distinguished from learning (or, more broadly, the degree of socialization), which is the result of more favorable living conditions for a given child. It is quite clear that, with equal abilities, a child from a family with a high socioeconomic status will show higher achievements in certain types of activities compared to a child for whom such conditions were not created.

Since giftedness in childhood can be considered as a potential for mental development in relation to the subsequent stages of a person's life path, one should take into account the complexity of the “gifted child” problem itself. To a large extent, it is connected with the specifics of children's giftedness. The giftedness of a particular child is largely a conditional characteristic. The most remarkable abilities of a child are not a direct and sufficient indicator of his achievements in the future. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that the signs of giftedness manifested in childhood, even under the most seemingly favorable conditions, can either gradually or very quickly disappear. Accounting for this circumstance is especially important when organizing practical work with gifted children. You should not use the phrase “gifted child” in terms of stating (hard fixing) the status of this child. For the psychological drama of the situation is obvious when a child, accustomed to the fact that he is “gifted”, at the next stages of development suddenly objectively loses the signs of his giftedness. A painful question may arise as to what to do next with a child who has begun training in a specialized educational institution, but then ceased to be considered gifted.

The characteristics inherent in the gifted enrich our life in all its manifestations and make their contribution to it extremely significant 3 . Firstly, the gifted are distinguished by high sensitivity in everything, many have a highly developed sense of justice; they are capable of sensitively capturing changes in social relations, new trends of the times in science, culture, technology, quickly and adequately assess the nature of these trends in society.

The second feature - the ongoing cognitive activity and highly developed intellect make it possible to gain new knowledge about the world around. Creativity attracts them to the creation of new concepts, theories, approaches. The optimal combination of intuitive and discursive thinking in gifted children (in the vast majority of cases with the dominance of the first over the second) makes the process of obtaining new knowledge very productive and significant.

Thirdly, the majority of the gifted are characterized by great energy, purposefulness and perseverance, which, combined with vast knowledge and creative abilities, make it possible to implement a lot of interesting and significant projects.

Based on this, in practical work with gifted children, instead of the concept of “gifted child”, the concept of “signs of a gifted child” (or the concept of “a child with signs of giftedness”) should be used.
^

2.2. Signs of giftedness.

Signs of giftedness are those features of a gifted child that are manifested in his real activities and can be assessed at the level of observation of the nature of his actions. Signs of explicit (manifested) giftedness are fixed in its definition and are associated with a high level of performance. At the same time, the giftedness of a child should be judged in the unity of the categories “I want” and “I can”. Therefore, the signs of giftedness cover two aspects of the behavior of a gifted child: instrumental and motivational. Instrumental - characterizes the ways of his activity. Motivational - characterizes the child's attitude to one or another side of reality, as well as to his activities.

Instrumental

1. Presence of specific activity strategies. The methods of activity of a gifted child ensure its special, qualitatively unique productivity. At the same time, three main levels of success of activities are distinguished, each of which is associated with its own specific strategy for its implementation:

Rapid development of activities and high success of its implementation;

The use and invention of new ways of activity in the conditions of finding a solution in a given situation;

Putting forward new goals of activity due to a deeper mastery of the subject, leading to a new vision of the situation and explaining the appearance of, at first glance, unexpected ideas and solutions.

The behavior of a gifted child is mainly characterized by the third level of success: innovation, as going beyond the requirements of the activity being performed.

2. The formation of a qualitatively original individual style of activity, expressed in the tendency to “do everything in one's own way” and associated with the self-sufficient system of self-regulation inherent in a gifted child. The individualization of methods of activity is expressed in the elements of the uniqueness of its product.

3. Highly structured knowledge, the ability to see the subject being studied in the system, the curtailment of methods of action in the relevant subject area, which is manifested in the ability of a gifted child, on the one hand, to almost instantly grasp the most significant detail (fact) among many other subject information (impressions, images) , concepts, etc.) and, on the other hand, it is surprisingly easy to move from a single detail (fact) to its generalization and the expanded context of its interpretation. In other words, the originality of the ways of a gifted child's activity is manifested in his ability to see the simple in the complex, and the complex in the simple.

4. A special type of learning. It can manifest itself both in high speed and ease of learning, and in a slow pace of learning, but with a subsequent sharp change in the structure of knowledge, ideas and skills.

Motivational An aspect of the behavior of a gifted child can be described by the following features:

1. Increased, selective sensitivity to certain aspects of objective reality (signs, sounds, flowers, plants, etc.) or certain forms of one's own activity (physical, artistic, etc.), accompanied, as a rule, by the experience of a sense of pleasure.

2. A pronounced interest in certain occupations or areas of activity, an extremely high enthusiasm for any subject, immersion in a particular business.

3. Increased cognitive need, curiosity.

4. Preference for paradoxical, contradictory and uncertain information, rejection of standard, typical tasks and ready answers.

5. High criticality to the results of one's own work, a tendency to set super-difficult goals, striving for perfection.

The psychological characteristics of children who demonstrate giftedness can only be considered as signs that accompany giftedness, but not necessarily as generating it. Therefore, the presence of these psychological characteristics can only serve as a basis for the assumption of giftedness, and not for the conclusion about its unconditional presence.

It should be emphasized that the behavior of a gifted child does not necessarily have to correspond simultaneously to all of the above characteristics. Behavioral signs of giftedness are variable and often contradictory in their manifestations, since they are highly dependent on the social context. Nevertheless, even the presence of one of these signs should attract the attention of a specialist and motivate him to a thorough and time-consuming analysis of each specific individual case.
^

2.3. Types of giftedness.

Differentiation of types of giftedness is determined by the criterion underlying the classification.

Modern concepts of giftedness distinguish different aspects and even types of intelligence, respectively distinguishing between types of giftedness. For example, G. Gardner described the features of manifestations and examples of kinesthetic, spatial, logical-mathematical, musical, linguistic and social giftedness, and the Munich study demonstrated the independence of cognitive factors of giftedness: intelligence, creativity, social competence, musical and sensorimotor abilities 4 .

In giftedness, one can single out both a qualitative and a quantitative aspect.

Analysis of the qualitative characteristics of giftedness involves the allocation of various qualitatively unique types of giftedness in connection with the specifics of a person's mental capabilities and the peculiarities of their manifestation in certain types of activity. An analysis of the quantitative characteristics of giftedness makes it possible to describe the degree of manifestation of a person's mental capabilities.

Among the criteria for distinguishing types of giftedness the following can be distinguished:

1. The type of activity and the spheres of the psyche that provide it.

2. The degree of formation.

3. The form of manifestations.

4. The breadth of manifestations in various activities.

5. Features of age development.

By criterion type of activity and the spheres of the psyche that provide it the allocation of types of giftedness is carried out within the framework of five types of activity, taking into account the inclusion of three mental spheres and, accordingly, the degree of participation of different levels of mental organization. The main activities include practical, theoretical (cognitive), artistic and aesthetic, communicative and spiritual value. The spheres of the psyche are represented by intellectual, emotional and motivational-volitional.

Accordingly, the following types of giftedness can be distinguished.

In practical activities, in particular, talent in crafts, sports and organizational talent can be distinguished. AT cognitive activity finds the realization of intellectual endowments of various kinds. In artistic and aesthetic activity, for example, choreographic, stage, literary and poetic, visual and musical talents stand out. In communicative activity, first of all, one should single out leadership and attractive giftedness. And, finally, in spiritual value activity, we note talent in creating new spiritual values ​​and meanings, serving people.

Each type of giftedness implies the simultaneous inclusion of all levels of mental organization with the predominance of the level that is most significant for this particular type of activity.

Identification of the types of giftedness by the criterion of types of activity allows us to move away from the everyday idea of ​​giftedness as a quantitative degree of manifestation of abilities and move on to understanding giftedness as system quality. At the same time, activity, its psychological structure acts as an objective basis for the integration of individual abilities, serves as a matrix that forms the composition of the abilities that are necessary for its successful implementation. Consequently, giftedness acts as an integral manifestation of various abilities for the purposes of a specific activity. One and the same type of giftedness can have a unique, unique character, since different components of giftedness in different individuals can be expressed to different degrees. Giftedness can take place only if the reserves of the most diverse abilities of a person make it possible to compensate for the missing or insufficiently expressed components necessary for the successful implementation of activities. Particularly bright giftedness or talent indicates the presence of high abilities for the entire set of components required by the structure of activity, as well as the intensity of integration processes “within” the subject, involving his personal sphere.

Activity is always carried out by a person. Its goals and motives influence the level of performance. If the goals of the individual lie outside the activity itself, then the activity is carried out in good faith at best and its result, even with brilliant performance, does not exceed the normatively required product. If a child does something with love, he constantly improves, realizing all the new ideas born in the process of the work itself. As a result, the new product of his activity significantly exceeds the original plan. In this case, we can say that there was a “development of activity”.

According to the criterion degree of giftedness” can be differentiated: actual and potential giftedness.

^ Actual giftedness - this is a psychological characteristic of a child with such cash (already achieved) indicators of mental development, which are manifested in a higher level of performance in a specific subject area compared to the age and social norm. In this case, of course, we are talking not only about educational, but about a wide range of different activities.

Talented children constitute a special category of actually gifted children. A talented child is a child with such performance results that meet the requirement of objective novelty and social significance. As a rule, a specific product of a talented child's activity is assessed by an expert (a highly qualified specialist in the relevant field of activity) as meeting, to one degree or another, the criteria of professional skill and creativity.

^ Potential Giftedness - this is a psychological characteristic of a child who has only certain mental capabilities (potential) for high achievements in a particular type of activity, but cannot realize his capabilities at a given time due to their functional insufficiency. The development of this potential can be hindered by a number of unfavorable reasons (difficult family circumstances, lack of motivation, low level of self-regulation, lack of the necessary educational environment, etc.).

The identification of potential giftedness requires high predictiveness of the diagnostic methods used, since we are talking about an unformed system of abilities, the further development of which can only be judged on the basis of individual signs and prerequisites. The integration of abilities necessary for high achievement is still lacking. Potential giftedness manifests itself under favorable conditions that provide a certain developmental influence on the initial mental capabilities of the child.

By criterion "form of manifestation" we can talk about: explicit and hidden giftedness.

^ Explicit giftedness manifests itself in the child's activity quite clearly and distinctly (as if "by itself"), including under unfavorable conditions. The achievements of the child are so obvious that his giftedness is not in doubt. Therefore, a specialist in the field of child giftedness with a high degree of probability manages to make a conclusion about the presence of giftedness or about the high potential of the child. He can adequately assess the “zone of proximal development” and correctly outline a program for further work with such a “promising child”. However, talent does not always reveal itself so clearly.

^ Hidden talent manifests itself in the activity of the child in a less pronounced, in a disguised form. As a result, there is a danger of erroneous conclusions about the lack of giftedness of such a child. He can be classified as “unpromising” and deprived of the help and support necessary for the development of his abilities. Often, in the "ugly duckling" no one sees the future beautiful swan. At the same time, numerous examples are known when it is precisely such “unpromising children” who achieve the highest results.

The reasons for hidden giftedness are largely related to the presence of special psychological barriers. They arise on the path of development and integration of abilities and significantly distort the forms of manifestation of giftedness. Hidden forms of giftedness are mental phenomena that are complex in nature and often unpredictable in nature. The scale of the talents of a child with hidden gifts is very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to assess using traditional methods (psychometric tests, the results of various intellectual competitions, etc.). The identification of children with hidden gifts can by no means be reduced to a single-stage psychodiagnostic examination of large groups of preschoolers and schoolchildren. Identification of children with this type of giftedness is a long process based on the use of a multi-level set of methods for analyzing the child's behavior, including him in various types of real activities, organizing his communication with gifted adults, enriching his individual living environment, involving him in innovative forms of education, etc. .d.

By criterion “breadth of manifestations in various activities” can be distinguished: general (or mental) and special giftedness.

^ General giftedness manifests itself in relation to various types of activities and acts as the basis of their productivity. The psychological core of general giftedness is mental abilities (or general cognitive abilities), around which the emotional, motivational and volitional qualities of the individual are built. General giftedness determines, accordingly, the level of understanding of what is happening, the depth of emotional and motivational involvement in activities, the effectiveness of goal setting and self-regulation.

^ Special talent reveals itself in specific activities and can only be determined in relation to certain areas of activity (music, painting, sports, etc.).

General giftedness is associated with special types of giftedness. In particular, under the influence of general giftedness (indicators of the effectiveness of cognitive processes, self-regulation, etc.), manifestations of special giftedness reach a qualitatively higher level of mastering a specific activity (in the field of music, poetry, sports, etc.). In turn, special giftedness has an impact on the selective specialization of the general psychological resources of the individual, thereby enhancing the individual originality and originality of a gifted person.

By criterion “peculiarities of age development” can be differentiated: early and late giftedness. The decisive indicators here are the rate of the child's mental development, as well as those age stages at which giftedness manifests itself explicitly. It must be borne in mind that accelerated mental development, early detection of talents (the phenomenon of “age giftedness”) is by no means always associated with high achievements at an older age. In turn, the absence of bright manifestations of giftedness in childhood does not mean a negative conclusion regarding the prospects for further mental development of the individual. An example of early giftedness are children who are called "wunderkinds". A child prodigy (literally, a “wonderful child”) is a child, usually of preschool or primary school age, with extraordinary, brilliant success in any particular type of activity - in music, drawing, singing, etc. A special place among such children is occupied by intellectual geeks. These are precocious children, whose abilities are manifested in an extremely high outstripping rate of mental development. They are characterized by an extremely early, from 2-3 years old, mastering of reading, writing and counting; mastery of the three-year study program by the end of the first grade; choosing a difficult activity of your own free will. They are distinguished by an unusually high development of individual cognitive processes (brilliant memory, rare observation, unusual intelligence, etc.).

There is a certain relationship between the age at which giftedness is manifested and the field of activity. The earliest talents are manifested in art, especially in music. Somewhat later, talent manifests itself in the sphere visual arts. In science, the achievement of significant results in the form of outstanding discoveries, the creation of new areas and methods of research, etc. occurs usually later than in art. This is due, in particular, to the need to acquire deep and extensive knowledge, without which scientific discoveries are impossible. At the same time, mathematical talents appear earlier than others (Leibniz, Galois, Gauss). This pattern is confirmed by the facts of the biographies of great people.

So, any individual case of child giftedness can be evaluated from the point of view of all the above criteria for classifying types of giftedness. Giftedness is thus multidimensional phenomenon in nature. For a practitioner, this is an opportunity and, at the same time, a need for a broader view of the uniqueness of the giftedness of a particular child.

^ 2.4. Once again about giftedness.

For the first time, Guilford began to engage in giftedness. After the 2nd World War, he worked at the Pentagon, developing commissioned programs for identifying gifted children (mental giftedness). Since then, in the United States, the fact of the need to work with gifted children has meant recognition of the national importance of this problem. Purpose: to identify children who could become engines of progress and give them development. in the USSR in 1975. the All-Union Council for Gifted and Talented Children was organized, which began to coordinate work on the study, education and upbringing of gifted children.

In Soviet psychology - B. M. Teplov, A. N. Leontiev and S. L. Rubinshtein - there was an understanding that giftedness is something more than the sum of abilities, namely, it includes not only a quantitative, but also a qualitative component. But this approach was neither developed conceptually nor provided methodically.

So B. M. Teplov offers the following definition: "... Giftedness is understood as that qualitatively peculiar combination of abilities, on which the possibility of achieving greater or lesser success in the performance of a particular activity depends." At the same time, the author believes: “... one cannot talk about giftedness in general. You can talk about giftedness for something, for some kind of activity.

Psychologists and educators who deal with issues of child giftedness generally adhere to the definition of giftedness, which was proposed by the US Committee on Education. . Its essence is that a child's giftedness can be ascertained by professionally trained people who consider the following parameters: outstanding ability, potential for high achievement, and already demonstrated achievement in one or more areas (intellectual ability, specific learning ability, creative or productive thinking, visual and performing arts).

The analysis of the problem of the development of abilities and giftedness will be largely determined by the content that we will invest in these concepts.

Significant difficulties in defining the concepts of ability and giftedness are associated with the generally accepted, everyday understanding of these terms. If we turn to explanatory dictionaries, we will see that very often the terms "capable", "gifted", "talented" are used as synonyms and reflect the degree of manifestation of abilities. But it is even more important to emphasize that the concept of "talented" emphasizes the natural data of a person. So, in the explanatory dictionary of V. Dahl, "capable" is defined as "fit for something or inclined, dexterous, suitable, convenient." Along with "capable" the concepts "capable" and "capable" are used. A capable person is characterized as resourceful, quirky, able to manage, and ability, in turn, is understood as the ability to manage, manage, arrange things. Capable here is actually understood as skillful, and the concept of "skill" is not in the dictionary. Thus, the concept of "capable" is defined through the ratio of success in activity.

When defining the concept of "talent", its innate nature is emphasized. Talent is defined as a gift for something, and gift as an ability given by God. In other words, talent is an innate ability given by God, which ensures high success in activity. The dictionary of foreign words also emphasizes that talent (gr. talanton) is an outstanding innate quality, special natural abilities. Giftedness is considered as a state of talent, as a degree of manifestation of talent. Not without reason, as an independent concept, giftedness is absent in Dahl's dictionary and in S.I. Ozhegov's dictionary and in the Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary, and in the explanatory dictionary of foreign words.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that abilities, on the one hand, giftedness and talent, on the other, stand out, as it were, for different reasons. Speaking of ability, they emphasize the ability of a person to do something, and speaking of talent (giftedness), the innate nature of this quality (ability) of a person is emphasized. At the same time, both abilities and giftedness are manifested in the success of the activity.

In Soviet psychology, primarily through the works of S. L. Rubinshtein and B. M. Teplov, an attempt was made to classify the concepts of "ability", "giftedness" and "talent" on a single basis - the success of activity. Abilities are considered as individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another, on which the possibility of success in activity depends, and giftedness is considered as a qualitatively unique combination of abilities (individual psychological characteristics), on which the possibility of success in activity also depends.

Sometimes abilities are considered innate, "given by nature." However, scientific analysis shows that only inclinations can be innate, and abilities are the result of the development of inclinations.

Makings - congenital anatomical and physiological features of the body. These include, first of all, the features of the structure of the brain, the sense organs and movement, the properties of the nervous system, which the body is endowed with from birth. The inclinations are only opportunities and prerequisites for the development of abilities, but do not yet guarantee, do not predetermine the emergence and development of certain abilities. Arising on the basis of inclinations, abilities develop in the process and under the influence of activities that require certain abilities from a person. Outside of activity, no abilities can develop. Not a single person, no matter what inclinations he possesses, can become a talented mathematician, musician or artist without doing a lot and persistently in the corresponding activity. To this it must be added that the inclinations are ambiguous. On the basis of the same inclinations, unequal abilities can develop, again depending on the nature and requirements of the activity in which a person is engaged, as well as on living conditions and especially education.

The inclinations themselves develop, acquire new qualities. Therefore, strictly speaking, the anatomical and physiological basis of a person’s abilities is not just inclinations, but the development of inclinations, that is, not just the natural features of his body (unconditioned reflexes), but also what he acquired in the process of life - systems conditioned reflexes.

The development of abilities is influenced by the features of higher nervous activity. So, the speed and strength of mastering knowledge and skills depend on the speed of formation and strength of conditioned reflexes; from the speed of developing differentiated inhibition to similar stimuli - the ability to subtly capture the similarity and difference between objects or their properties; from the speed and ease of formation and alteration of a dynamic stereotype - adaptability to new conditions and readiness to quickly move from one way of performing activities to another.

Chapter I. Theoretical characteristics of the problem of giftedness

1. Definition of the concepts of ability, giftedness

2. Human abilities as psychological properties of a person

3. The concept of innate giftedness

4. Imagination as one of the components of talent

Chapter II. Practical aspects of education and training of gifted children

1. Speed ​​up learning

2. Enrichment of learning

3. World and domestic experience of working with gifted children

4. Teacher training for the gifted

Conclusion

Bibliographic list

Introduction

The problem of giftedness is now becoming more and more relevant. This is primarily due to the need of society for an extraordinary creative personality. The uncertainty of the modern environment requires not only a high activity of a person, but also his skills, the ability of non-standard behavior.

Early identification, training and education of gifted and talented children is one of the main tasks of improving the education system. However, the insufficient psychological level of training of teachers to work with children who exhibit non-standard behavior and thinking leads to an inadequate assessment of their personal qualities and all their activities. Often, the creative thinking of a gifted child is seen as a deviation from the norm or negativism. Experiments conducted in many countries of the world have convincingly shown how difficult it is to rebuild the education system, change the teacher's attitude towards a gifted child, and remove barriers that block his talents.

There is an opinion that gifted children do not need the help of adults, special attention and guidance. However, due to personality characteristics, such children are most sensitive to the assessment of their activities, behavior and thinking, they are more receptive to sensory stimuli and better understand relationships and connections. A gifted child is prone to a critical attitude not only to himself, but also to the environment. Therefore, teachers working with gifted children should be sufficiently tolerant of criticism in general and themselves in particular. Talented children often perceive non-verbal cues as a manifestation of self-acceptance by others. As a result, such a child may give the impression of being distracted, restless, constantly reacting to everything. For them, there are no standard requirements (everything is like everyone else), it is difficult for them to be conformists, especially if the existing norms and rules run counter to their interests and seem meaningless. For a gifted child, the statement that this is accepted is not an argument.

Gifted children are quite demanding of themselves, often setting goals that are not feasible at the moment, which leads to emotional distress and destabilization of behavior. Such children often have a lack of tolerance for children who are below them in terms of development of abilities. These and other features of such guys affect their social status when they find themselves in the position of “disapproved”. In this regard, it is necessary to achieve a change in this position, and, above all, this is due to the training of teachers themselves.

There are several organizational forms of acceleration: early admission to school; acceleration in the normal class; classes in another class; "jumping" through the class; profile classes; radical acceleration (the ability to study under a university program); private schools; early admission to higher education.

Researchers who have studied the effectiveness of forms of acceleration on all age stages, are unanimous that the optimal result is achieved with a simultaneous corresponding change in the content of curricula and teaching methods. "Pure" acceleration is somewhat like an emergency medical service, removing some of the "urgent" developmental problems of exceptional children, but not providing an opportunity to satisfy their basic cognitive needs. Therefore, only acceleration is rarely used. As a rule, curricula are based on a combination of two main strategies - acceleration and enrichment.

2.Enrichment learning

The strategy of enrichment in the education of outstanding children appeared as a progressive alternative to acceleration, which began to be practiced somewhat earlier. Leading educators were concerned about the development of the child as a whole person and therefore believed that enrichment, without focusing on acceleration as an end in itself, gives the child the opportunity to mature emotionally in a peer environment, while simultaneously developing their intellectual abilities at the appropriate level. This idea of ​​enrichment is retained by most modern specialists.

In some cases, enrichment is differentiated into "horizontal" and "vertical". Vertical enrichment involves a faster progression to higher cognitive levels in the field of the chosen subject, and therefore it is sometimes called acceleration. Horizontal enrichment is aimed at expanding the studied area of ​​knowledge. A gifted child does not advance faster, but receives additional material to traditional courses, great opportunities for the development of thinking, creativity, and the ability to work independently.

The enrichment strategy includes several directions: broadening one's horizons, knowledge about the world around and self-knowledge, deepening this knowledge and developing tools for obtaining knowledge.

Of great importance is enrichment, which focuses on the development of the mental processes of students themselves. It reflects the main psychological approaches to the use of intelligence and cognitive activity. It is generally accepted that some factors of intelligence characterize the mental operations performed (memorization, evaluative operations), other features of the material (figurative, symbolic), and others - the resulting product, or result, of thinking (classification, determination of consequences). This "three-dimensional" model inspired the development of appropriate teaching methods.

Psychologists pay a lot of attention to the process of problem solving, problem-based learning.

When it comes to solving problems, they mean a general approach to the development of reasoning skills, which includes the skills to: identify a problem; analyze various options for its solution; evaluate the merit of each option; summarize everything found, etc.

The development of these skills is associated with both research skills and critical thinking skills.

Problem solving skills can also be given outside of specific disciplines, it is introduced as if in its pure form. Such assimilation of a general attitude to a task presupposes special preparation for transferring the developed skills to specific situations and subjects.

Cognitive psychology, which explains human cognition through information processing processes similar to computer ones, gave hope for the development of new aspects of thinking.

Curricula designed for the development of cognitive processes include various types of gaming activities: chess, mathematical and logic games, simulation of life situations involving computer games.

Enrichment learning can be specifically targeted at developing creative thinking. This may include problem solving sessions using well-known techniques such as brainstorming in all variations, synectics, etc. classes focused on developing the personal characteristics of creators may include relaxation exercises, visualization meditation, etc.

Special attention is paid to corrective, developing and integrative programs.

Although there is a lot of data characterizing gifted children as well-adapted, independent, more socially mature, nevertheless, most educators recommend programs in the socio-emotional sphere. They may target different targets. Corrective programs are created for those gifted children who experience emotional or behavioral difficulties. Developing are created to improve the state of the emotional sphere; they use such types of exercises as role training, sensitivity training, discussions in small groups. Integrative programs combine cognitive and emotional components. They can be divided into: aimed at discussion life values and research-related problems of self-actualization.

American educator Dorothy Sisk believes that discussion of life values ​​is important for gifted children because of their highly developed reasoning skills, increased sensitivity to injustice and contradictions. Therefore, courses that combine emotional and cognitive aspects are considered highly desirable for such students.

Self-actualization programs are based on traditional issues of humanistic psychology and, according to research, have a positive effect on self-esteem and interpersonal relationships.

A comparison of the acceleration and enrichment strategies shows that they can move one into the other depending on the goals and objectives set, however, highlighting them helps to understand more clearly what we want to achieve. It is also important to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of various forms of strategy implementation.

3. World and domestic experience of working with gifted children

In our country, since the 1960s, there have been specialized classes and schools where children are selected on the basis of their inclinations and a higher level of ability. Teaching certain subjects is conducted according to specially designed programs. The data for these grades show that, in general, the success of these children is much higher than that of their peers studying in regular schools.

There are other forms of organization abroad. One of them is the allocation within one class of groups with different levels of mental endowment. The gifted get the opportunity to learn in their own class, but in a group of peers who are close to them in terms of ability. In the case when such students are engaged in a specially designed program, the effect is very high. If these children study in a group according to the same program as the rest of the class, the effect of being allocated to a group is very small.

Another form of organization has a positive, but not so noticeable effect - the creation of groups with a high level of intelligence based on several classes.

So, the impact of learning in homogeneous groups on the academic success of gifted children is positive, but only in the case of specially designed programs.

At the same time, many educators in the West are critical of specialized schools for the gifted. This is connected both with concern for other categories of students, and with the opinion that other educational opportunities for children with high mental potential are preferable.

The most frequently expressed concern is that learning among their own kind creates in children with high mental potential a sense of belonging to the elite, forms an overestimated self-esteem. However, research evidence suggests otherwise. Learning together with other children with a high mental level has a positive effect on self-esteem - because in such a situation it is necessary to study with full dedication of strength, feeling constant stimulation from fellow students. As for very bright children who study in ordinary classes, they often treat their peers with arrogance, who, in their opinion, have difficulty learning the truisms.

The difficulty lies in the fact that, being among other gifted, with the same level of development and above, some of these children begin to suffer from injections of self-esteem, from a decrease in their status. Not for all the gifted, the situation of constant intellectual competition is quite favorable.

Thus, the long-standing and at the same time actual problem, whether to create classes that are homogeneous in terms of mental level, does not have a simple, unambiguous solution. It requires further research. This debatable problem should be solved taking into account specific socio-psychological circumstances. Giftedness is so individual and unique that the question of the optimal conditions for the education of each child should be considered separately.

4. Teacher training for the gifted

The striving for perfection, the propensity for independence and in-depth work of gifted children determine the requirements for the psychological atmosphere of classes and teaching methods.

Is it possible to change the content, process, results and atmosphere of teaching to an unprepared teacher for this task? Most often not.

Research data supports the common sense answer:

Unprepared teachers often cannot identify gifted children, do not know their characteristics;

Unprepared to work with highly intelligent children, teachers are indifferent to their problems (they simply cannot understand them);

Sometimes unprepared teachers are hostile towards outstanding children: after all, they pose a certain threat to teacher authority;

Such teachers often use tactics for gifted children to increase assignments quantitatively rather than change them qualitatively.

Thus, it is necessary to set and solve the problem of training teachers specifically for the gifted. As studies have shown, it is children with high intelligence who most of all need "their" teacher. Educational authority Benjamin Bloom identified three types of teachers that are equally important to the development of gifted students. It:

A teacher who introduces the child into the scope of the subject and creates an atmosphere of emotional involvement that arouses interest in the subject;

A teacher who lays the foundations of mastery, working out the technique of performance with the child;

A teacher who leads to a highly professional level.

The combination in one person of features that ensure the development of all these aspects in a gifted child is extremely rare.

Studies show that trained teachers are significantly different from those who have not received appropriate training. They use methods more suited to the gifted; they are more conducive to independent work of students and stimulate complex cognitive processes(generalization, in-depth analysis of problems, evaluation of information, etc.). Prepared teachers are more creative, encouraging students to take risks.

Do students notice differences between non-specially trained teachers? Yes, it is clear that gifted children rate the atmosphere in the classroom with trained teachers as more favorable.

Interpersonal communication, which contributes to the optimal development of children with outstanding intelligence, should be in the nature of help, support, non-directiveness. This is determined by the following features of the teacher's ideas and views:

Ideas about others: others are able to independently solve their problems; they are friendly and have good intentions; they have a sense of their own dignity, which should be valued, respected and protected; others have a desire for creativity; they are a source of positive emotions rather than negative ones;

Self-image: I believe that I am connected with others, not separated and alienated from them, I am competent in solving problems; I am responsible for my actions and trustworthy; I am loved, I am attractive as a person;

The purpose of the teacher: to help the manifestation and development of the student's abilities, to provide him with support and assistance.

According to researchers, the behavior of a teacher for gifted children in the classroom, in the process of learning and building their activities, must meet the following characteristics: he develops flexible, individualized programs; creates a warm, emotionally safe atmosphere in the classroom; provides students with feedback; uses different learning strategies; respects the personality, contributes to the formation of a positive self-esteem of the student; respects its values; encourages creativity and the work of the imagination; stimulates the development of higher-level mental processes; shows respect for the individuality of the student.

The question inevitably arises: "Does such a teacher -" a sample of samples "- exist in nature and is it possible to develop such qualities and skills."

Teachers can be helped to develop these personal and professional qualities in at least three ways: through training, in achieving an understanding of themselves and others; providing knowledge about the processes of learning, development and features of different types of giftedness; training the skills needed to teach effectively and create customized programs.

One of the forms of work with gifted children is mentoring (individual guidance).

In our country, this form is little known. In some schools, you can meet scientists, students who conduct additional classes or lead circles. Spontaneously, closer personal bonds between mentor and student can arise, which is extremely important. The need for such relationships is especially great in a child with high intelligence, with unusual requests that are difficult to satisfy in school conditions. So far, with all the changes in the education system, this form of work is not used purposefully. At the same time, in the United States, a certain tradition of guidance from an experienced specialist to a promising student has already developed. This individual form of work is called mentoring.

In our country, the word "mentoring" has become widespread, which is more often referred to as the field of vocational training in the industrial sector.

Mentoring comes in several forms. Mentors may be called upon periodically to work with a group or individual outstanding students in order to expand their knowledge of the world of the profession, specialties, and activities. Mentors can systematically work with a small group or one student on a project over time. The "classical" type of mentoring is associated with the historical understanding of this term - a mentor, an adviser, someone whom the student admires, whom he seeks to imitate, who influences his life.

Mentoring leads to "learning with passion" and gives students not only knowledge and skills. It contributes to the formation of a positive "self-image" and adequate self-esteem, development of leadership abilities and social interaction skills, helps to establish long-term friendships with peers and promotes creative achievements. Students learn to take into account not only their strengths, but also their weaknesses.

Conclusion

One of the most important components contributing to the creation and maintenance of the country's scientific, technical, political, cultural and administrative potential at a high level is an established system for searching for and training gifted individuals. The formation of an intellectual elite, which essentially sets the pace for the development of science, technology, economics, and culture, determines the effectiveness of this development.

The main direction in the development of the modern school is a nationwide program for the search, practical diagnostics, training, education and development of gifted children, aimed at training a creative person, talented specialists and their fruitful use. In the basic plan of general education educational institutions Russia notes: "Using the variable mandatory part of the curriculum, the school can create a curriculum with elective courses for students in grades X-XI, with an individual curriculum for gifted children" (N. O., 1995, N4, p. 5).

The upbringing and education of gifted children is a difficult and large-scale task: here is the appropriate upbringing and education of parents (parents who have no interests other than “bread” can hardly raise a gifted child, are unlikely to reveal all the possibilities of his talent); here is the appropriate training of teachers - preparing them for all the variety of difficulties and joys of working with young talents. Even our medicine must be specially prepared to deal with gifted children: many illnesses, especially the so-called psychosomatic ones, proceed in a very peculiar way and are common in them.

And of course, gifted children should become the subject of special interest of science - not only psychology and pedagogy, this is obvious, but also genetics and endocrinology (gifted children have a different ratio of male and female hormones than "ordinary" children).

Attention to a gifted child should not be limited to the period of his education. Experience shows that gifted people also experience significant difficulties in the period professional self-determination, and in the future, in the very process of creativity. In other words, talent needs the constant care of the whole society.

And you need to start with general psychological literacy. We need special schools for gifted children, specially trained teachers, special textbooks - but first of all, we need recognition of the very fact that they exist and that they are different - not only in their intellectual and creative abilities, but also in their personal characteristics. After all, giftedness is not only a gift of fate for those marked by it, but also a test.

Bibliographic list

There are outstanding children.... // Family and School, No. 3, 1990.

From Memories, reflections, conversations .. // Psychological journal. No. 1, 1992.

Vygodsky and creativity in childhood. Psychological essay: Book. for the teacher. M.: Education, 1991.

Gilbukh: gifted children. Moscow: Knowledge, 1991.

Klimenko talent tests. Kharkov: Folio, 1996.

Korshunov and his role in cognition. M.: Ed. Moscow State University, 1979.

gifted children. / Collection. Translation from English. M., 1991.

Molyako psychology of creativity and development of an approach to the study of giftedness. // Questions of psychology, No. 5, 1994.

Shurkov colorful deeds. M.: New school, 1994.

10. Jung of the child soul. M.: Kanon, 1995.

Federal Agency for Education

Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University

Faculty of Psychology and Education

Department of Preschool Pedagogy

COURSE WORK

The problem of children's giftedness

st-ki IV course, 504 gr.

Matveytseva O.

Scientific adviser:

Dmitrieva E.E.

Nizhny Novgorod, 2008

Introduction

I. The problem of studying children's giftedness

1.1 The essence of the basic concepts of giftedness

1.2Theoretical models of giftedness

1.3 Types and manifestations of giftedness in childhood

1.4 Factors influencing the development of children's giftedness

II. Analysis of psychological research on the problem of child giftedness

2.1 Diagnosis of child giftedness

2.2Education and upbringing of gifted children

2.3 Modern approaches to the study of child giftedness

III. Assessment of the degree of study of the problem of children's giftedness

Bibliography

Introduction

The most interesting for students of pedagogical universities, in my opinion, is the problem of children's giftedness. The very concept of giftedness is very multifaceted, it requires a broad understanding and a versatile approach.

The manifestation of individual differences in abilities is essential in preschool childhood, which determines the development of the personality as a whole, its further formation and manifestations at subsequent age stages. It is the specialists of preschool pedagogy and psychology, parents who are faced with the decisive task of developing the natural abilities of children and identifying their special potential as early as possible, indicating the presence of an invaluable gift of nature - giftedness.

Evidence of the inequality of mental abilities of people took place as early as ancient times. Genetically, the first explanation of the nature of individual differences and the existence of outstanding abilities in individuals was the conclusion about their "unearthly", divine origin (from the Latin "genius" - spirit). The meaning close to modern, the term "genius" acquired only in the Renaissance. Epoch after epoch, the views of ancient scientists were modernized, but they were not in demand by the education system. That is why, right up to the creation of the first specialized educational institutions, the spontaneously arisen interest in the problem, characteristic of any researcher, served as an incentive to study the nature of giftedness.

The first objective judgments about gifted children appeared at the beginning of the last century. The need to search for reserves to solve the most significant tasks facing modern society, makes the problem of the development of gifted children of particular relevance. Increased attention to the problem of giftedness is mainly associated with the economic breakthrough in many developed countries, namely with the increased level of general education of the population and significant achievements in the field of psychological and pedagogical sciences.

The problem of giftedness is being intensively developed in foreign psychology. Such researchers as K. Tekeks, S. Merland, M. Carnes and many other scientists proceed from naturalistic ideas about children's giftedness and encourage the creation of conditions that reveal the existing potential of a gifted child, without limiting the possibilities of its development. In domestic psychology, based on the works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, B.M. Teplova, A.R. Luria, A.V. Zaporozhets and other authors emphasize the decisive role of culture in the development of the child.

Interest in this problem has not dried up at the present time. The study of children's giftedness from year to year attracts an increasing number of scientific intelligentsia. Some modern researchers, Americans Nancy Ann Tapp, Lee Carroll and Jan Tober, argue that especially gifted children have unusual psychological characteristics and behavior, proclaiming them as messengers of the new world. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the concept of giftedness in our country has not been accepted for a long time. A contradictory slogan was proclaimed about the non-existence of incapable children, about the omnipotence of education, shaping public opinion about the natural giftedness of everyone without exception.

In fact, every normal child has the makings of almost any activity. But this by no means means that we can expect the same high development of the same abilities in all children. Thus, the interest and the need to study the problem of children's giftedness will never lose its significance and relevance.

I. The problem of studying children's giftedness

1.1 The essence of the basic concepts of giftedness

Thus, individual differences come out most clearly in the different susceptibility to learning and in the creative manifestations of children. At the same time, it is important to take into account not only the characteristics of the child, but their advantages for the growth of abilities. When such differences appear with a relatively equal stock of knowledge, skills and the same attitude towards activity, they indicate those features of the human psyche, which are called it. ability or talent.

Origins children's giftedness and its development in preschool age most consistently began to be studied by a team of employees of the laboratory of abilities of the Research Institute of Preschool Education under the leadership of L.A. Wenger. As a starting point, a model of the child's psyche was used, according to which the concept of giftedness is revealed through the concept of ability.

So under giftedness is understood as a high level of development of the child's abilities, which is steadily manifested over a long period of his life, in combination with a pronounced cognitive motivation. According to this concept, a mentally gifted child of preschool age is one who has the most developed abilities and interest in cognitive activity characteristic of preschoolers. Under abilities understood universal actions orientation in the surrounding world with the help of means specific to the preschooler. A high level of development of abilities allows a gifted child to quickly navigate almost any new task, clearly see its conditions, find ways to solve it, creating ideas for new creative products. Thus, if the word "abilities" is usually called separate mental properties, then giftedness is called a peculiar combination of abilities in a person, the unity that they make up.

Based on personality data, many psychologists correlate concepts developing personality and developing giftedness and see a clear relationship between these concepts. Awakening giftedness can exist, influencing the formation of personality, developing personal qualities. Personality formation enters into a complex and sometimes contradictory relationship with manifestations of giftedness.

It is worth emphasizing that its own internal activity is important for the formation of a person. Thus, the belittling of the subject in a person, the spread of one-thinking, obedient diligence are detrimental to the development of his abilities. And, conversely, in the manifestation of activity, a person is revealed as a subject in all his individual originality.

So, abilities and talents are formed in the course of life, thanks to the assimilation of social experience, and this process is inseparable from the own activity of a growing person. In the course of life, the child develops both his activity itself and the possibilities of its self-regulation, which plays an important role in the development of abilities.

All mental properties, which, of course, include both abilities and giftedness, have their own nervous basis. According to human physiology, the properties of the nervous system are part of makings- predetermined prerequisites for development, which can be included in activity, in the formation of abilities only in interaction with other conditions. There is reason to believe that a healthy normal person from birth has the inclinations for any human activity, but their initial level is not the same and determines the individual rate of development of abilities.

Individual internal conditions of development, which have their own innate prerequisites, are formed under the influence of external conditions - in the process of interaction of a growing person with the world, under the influence of training and education in the broad sense of these words. And the individual-natural data themselves develop, change along with age maturation, being included in the processes of mental development.

B.S. Alyakrinsky, I. Akimov and many other scientists in their works define such a component of giftedness as "talent" - exceptional abilities. Talent- the ability of a person to solve banal problems in an original way, which manifests itself when a person is in the normal range. If abilities and talent are manifested in several areas, they speak of giftedness. Giftedness and talent are often used as synonyms for genus and species. Every talented child is also gifted, but not every gifted child can be called talented.

One more concept should be introduced from the very beginning - "inclination". By using this word, psychologists mean a steady desire for some kind of activity. Propensity, i.e. disposition, attraction to some kind of occupation - something more than an interest in these occupations, although often the development of a propensity begins with an interest in a particular field of activity. But interest may not turn into inclination, since inclination is a disposition only towards personal direct activity in a given area.

Inclinations in many cases coincide with abilities. Inclinations - aspirations, abilities - opportunities, but between both - a deep relationship. On the one hand, an activity that disposes a person cannot but contribute to the development of the corresponding abilities. At the same time, those activities that are more successful, for which a person is more capable, are more fascinated. Thus, inclinations and abilities reinforce each other, develop together.

Thus, the researchers of this problem N.S. Leites, B.M. Teplov, V.S. Yurkevich, B.S. Alyakrinsky and others agree that "giftedness" means a high level of development of abilities and includes a number of interrelated concepts. However, when studying the phenomenon of giftedness, one should not lose sight of socio-historical changes, both in the types of activities themselves and in assessing their success.

1.2 Theoretical models of giftedness

The most important feature of the modern understanding of giftedness is that it is considered not as a static, but as a dynamic characteristic of a person. According to the not unfounded statements of Yu.D. Babaeva, A.I. Savenkova, V. Shebeko giftedness exists only in motor development. This understanding led to the creation theoretical models of giftedness, in which, along with such a factor as the potential of the individual, environmental factors are included.

These may include the model of F. Monks - "multifactorial model of giftedness", in which the author pays the main place to the factors of the microenvironment (family, school, peers).

A. Tampenbaum emphasizes that the presence of outstanding creative and intellectual abilities in itself cannot guarantee the realization of a person in creative activity. This requires the interaction of five conditions, including internal and external factors: the “g” factor or general abilities; special abilities in a particular area; non-intellectual characteristics (personal, volitional qualities); random factors.

"The structure of the intellect" by J. Gilford formed the basis of many concepts of diagnostics, training and development of gifted children in foreign pedagogical theory and practice. It is regarded as one of the most famous models of intelligence ever proposed.

Guilford classifies the manifestations (factors) of intelligence, based on which he sees the allocation of the main types, intellectual processes and operations performed. This approach allows you to combine five large groups of intellectual abilities: cognition, memory, convergent thinking, divergent thinking, evaluation.

The second method of this classification proposed by the scientist corresponds to the type of material: figurative, symbolic, semantic, behavioral.

According to J. Gilford, the application of one or another operation gives at least six types of final mental product: elements, classes, relations, systems, transformations, foresight.

The division of thinking into convergent and divergent proposed by the scientist was a significant step in the differentiation of the components of mental abilities, contributed to their greater understanding. This marked the beginning of the separation of the concepts of "intellectual giftedness" and "creative giftedness".

The American scientist L. Theremin, the author of the most ambitious long-term study of giftedness, came to the conclusion that the presence of high intelligence is not the only condition for success in creative activity. In the concept of giftedness developed by him, there is a triad: creative abilities, creative skills, creative motivation. The diagnostics of creativity developed by him are widely used all over the world in the identification of gifted children.

Within the framework of pedology founded by S. Hall, F. Galton, G. Doman, V.V. Klimenko, E. Thomas and other scientists developed the direction of "physical intelligence", according to which giftedness was determined by the characteristics of sensory processes. Doman's concept focuses on six vital functions: motor skills, language skills, manual, visual, auditory and tactile skills.

“It is the implementation of these six functions that serves as a life test for underdevelopment, normality, giftedness,” the researcher writes, while excluding the influence of environmental factors. This approach and the methods proposed by the author give a good practical effect.

The most popular over the past decade is the concept of giftedness by J. Renzulli, where giftedness is a combination of three characteristics: intellectual abilities, creativity and perseverance, taking into account erudition and a favorable environment. This model is democratic, which makes it possible to classify individuals who are successful in at least one of the parameters as gifted.

It was Renzulli who replaced the term "giftedness" with the concept of "potential". Therefore, this concept can be designated as a universal scheme for developing a system for educating and educating not only gifted, but all children.

This concept in a modified form is present in most modern foreign concepts of giftedness.

The German scientist K. Heller considers the multifactorial model of giftedness to be the most pedagogically effective. The so-called "Munich model" includes: giftedness factors (intelligence, creativity, social competence, etc.); environmental factors, achievements (sports, languages, sciences, etc.) and non-cognitive personality traits (overcoming stress, achievement motivation, work and study strategy).

As part of the implementation of the presidential program "Gifted Child" in our country, a "Working concept of giftedness" was developed, the purpose of which was to absorb all the best achievements of domestic and foreign psychology. A large group of reputable scientists D.B. Bogoyavlenskaya, V.D. Shadrikov and many others, whose work should be considered as subject to further development.

Within the framework of the “Working concept of giftedness”, it is of particular interest to present the “core of giftedness” in the form of two components - instrumental and motivational.

Motivation is differentiated into five main features: 1) increased selective sensitivity to certain aspects of objective activity; 2) a pronounced interest in certain activities; 3) increased cognitive need; 4) preference for paradoxical, contradictory information; 5) high criticality to the results of their own work.

Thus, these and many other concepts of giftedness served as the basis for further study of the problem.

1.3 Types and manifestations of giftedness in childhood

The problem of the essence of types of giftedness was studied in the works of N.S. Leites, E. Meiman, V. Stern, P. Torrens, I. Thorndike and other scientists.

According to Leites, general (mental) giftedness depending on the type of tasks, it was conditionally divided into two types - cognitive (intellectual), shown by children when solving mental problems, and creative - when solving problems for the imagination. Studies have shown that a high level of general mental giftedness is characterized by the presence of both intellectual and creative giftedness, each of which can be expressed in a child to a different degree.

Along with general giftedness, a set of abilities universal for any kind of activity, there is special talent, when a person is gifted in any one field of activity (musical, artistic, motor, etc.) and practically unsuitable for another. This type of giftedness is extremely rare in nature, but practitioners pay close attention to it, since it is special abilities that play a leading role in the overall development of a person.

The authors of the "Working concept of giftedness" propose to consider children's giftedness in another aspect - how much it is currently manifested by the child. Giftedness, manifested in the activity of the child clearly and distinctly, is called explicit, and, on the contrary, in a disguised form, hidden talent.

Another gradation - actual and potential talent. Manifested, obvious giftedness, i.e. noticed by psychologists, teachers, parents, is called relevant, and children with this type are called talented. Giftedness, which represents only certain mental capabilities (potential) for high achievements, but cannot be realized at the moment due to its functional insufficiency, is called potential.

According to the time of their manifestation, they distinguish early and late giftedness. There are numerous examples of famous personalities who showed their outstanding abilities in early childhood: A. Mozart, G.W. Leibniz, V. Hugo, I.I. Mechnikov and others. No less often, people who did not prove themselves in childhood achieved success in adulthood. This is N. Copernicus, I.A. Krylov, Aksakov, etc.

So, the facts of the existence of actual and potential, explicit and hidden, early and late giftedness show the complexity and importance of the problem of predicting development.

“It is not the mind of a person that is gifted in itself,” Chudnovsky V.E. and Yurkevich V.S. emphasize, “his personality is gifted.” Only an understanding of the personal dissimilarity of a gifted child makes it possible to understand his creative and intellectual abilities. The concept of "children's giftedness", according to A.M. Matyushkin, J. Renzelli and other scientists, is an analogue of the "personal potential". And we can talk about determining the level of giftedness, the degree of development of this potential, in relation to each child.

A well-known specialist in the field of children's giftedness N.S. Leites singled out 3 categories of children who are usually called gifted in pedagogical practice: children with a high level of intelligence (IQ); children who have achieved outstanding success in any kind of activity (with early mental specialization) and children with high creativity.

A.I. Savenkov in his work replaces the category of high creativity with a group of children who study well at school, calling this type of giftedness "academic giftedness".

According to the results of studies of the psychology of intelligence M.A. Kholodnaya, there are 6 categories of gifted children: smart, brilliant students, creative, competent, talented and wise.

Yu.E. Gilbuch, based on early studies of giftedness, identifies traits of general mental endowment: an unusually early manifestation of high cognitive activity and curiosity, the speed and accuracy of mental operations, due to the stability of attention and operational memory, the formation of logical thinking skills, the richness of the active vocabulary, originality.

A gifted preschooler reads signs, headlines and even books, solves mathematical problems, makes connections between various phenomena, remembers facts and events well, and is interested in social and moral problems. A feature of intellectually gifted children is the two-sidedness of their consciousness, its focus either on the task being solved, or on oneself - on how one's own psyche copes with the task being solved.

Studies have shown that the development of speech-cogitative activity of a baby in the first years of life is inextricably linked with motor activity. If a child begins to walk early, familiarization with the environment is more active and prerequisites are created for early mastery of speech and the rapid development of the intellectual sphere. However, it has been noted that many gifted children do not speak early, but as they grow older, demonstrate outstanding speech ability.

No less significant sign is the presence of creativity in the intellect of a gifted child. External manifestations of creativity are diverse.

Psychological studies show that the cognitive motivation prevailing in a creatively gifted child is expressed in the form of research, search activity and manifests itself in greater sensitivity to the new, to the novelty of the situation, discovering the new in the ordinary, as well as early enthusiasm for any activity (music, drawing, reading). , account, etc.).

A number of similar characteristics have been noted and described in the works of many foreign and domestic scientists. Analyzing the studies of L.I. Bozhovich, L.A. Wenger, D.B. Bogoyavlenskaya, A.M. Matyushkin, V. Vundr and many others A.I. Savenkov revealed the features of the mental development of gifted children, dividing them into cognitive and psychosocial.

Thus, to features of the development of the cognitive sphere relate:

Curiosity - curiosity - cognitive need. Gifted children, to a greater extent than their normal peers, are characterized by the desire for knowledge. A gifted child does not tolerate the limitations of his research, and this property, having manifested itself quite early, at all age stages continues to be its most important distinguishing feature.

Hypersensitivity to problems - the ability to see a problem where others do not see any difficulties. Even Plato noted that knowledge begins with surprise at ordinary things.

A propensity for tasks of a divergent type, that is, the ability to understand the most diverse problematic, creative tasks in terms of subject orientation, the main feature of which is the presence of many correct answers.

Originality of thinking - the ability to put forward new, unexpected ideas that differ from the generally accepted ones, as well as to creatively develop existing ones. Originality is manifested not only in thinking, but also in communication, behavior of a gifted child, as well as in all types of his activities.

Flexibility of thinking is the ability to quickly and easily find new strategies for solving, establish associative links and move from phenomena of one class to others, often distant in content. A high level of flexibility of thinking is a rare phenomenon, so its presence indicates the exclusivity of gifted children.

The ease of generating ideas (“productivity of thinking”) is very close to the flexibility of thinking, but characterizes a slightly different facet of giftedness.

Ease of association - the ability to develop generalized strategies based on the identification of hidden connections and relationships. A gifted child is able to perceive connections and relationships between phenomena, objects, events, and even concepts that may be non-traditional in a much more productive way than his normal peers.

In addition, scientists noted such characteristics of the cognitive sphere as the ability to predict, evaluate, high concentration of attention, excellent memory, stability, breadth of interests and inclinations.

To features of psychosocial development include: egocentrism, increased vulnerability of the emotional system, a tendency to leadership, competitiveness, the desire for self-actualization, perfectionism, social autonomy, a pronounced sense of humor.

Self-actualization - the desire to reveal one's inner potential, according to K. Holstein and K. Rogers, is the main motive for creativity. The sprouts of this aspiration appear already in childhood and must be supported and formed. Such a personality trait as egocentrism is most realistically manifested in the cognitive sphere. It should not be attributed to the number of negative qualities, since in this case this feature is mainly overcome with time.

So, the well-known researcher of the manifestations of children's giftedness N.S. Leites defines the signs of giftedness - the characteristics of the child that distinguish him, in some way raise him above the general level. These are, first of all, an increased disposition to assimilation, creative manifestations, unusual achievements in some types of activity, which was discussed in this section. At the heart of such manifestations are not only more favorable internal prerequisites for development, but also external factors that determine the development of certain abilities of the child. The next section of the work is devoted to this problem.

1.4 Factors influencing the development of children's giftedness

Childhood has highest value for the development of abilities and giftedness.

There is a qualitative originality of children's features. This is due to their different mental organization: extraordinary sensitivity to figurative impressions, richness of imagination, curiosity, ease and strength of the formation of certain properties.

It is very important to keep in mind the psychological data on age sensitivity, that is, a special responsiveness to the environment, or selective activity, which in its own way characterizes each stage of development. A.V. Zaporozhets wrote: “At every age, the child is especially sensitive, sensitized to certain kinds of influences, and therefore, at this genetic level, in the presence of appropriate social pedagogical conditions certain mental processes and qualities develop most intensively…”.

Leites emphasized that “it is during the years of childhood that “temporary states” arise at each age stage, expressing a kind of readiness for development.” According to modern data, there are sensitive periods of age development, each of which has especially favorable opportunities for the development of one or another direction of the psyche, and then the effect of such internal conditions weakens. According to L.S. Vygotsky, "the incompleteness of certain developmental processes is a necessary condition for a given period to be sensitive to certain conditions."

So, the formation of individual abilities occurs in the course of age development, and much depends on what will be developed from those properties that appear in different periods of childhood, the traits of what particular age and to what extent will affect the traits of the intellect. It is in the course of age development that the formation of individual differences in abilities takes place, and age features become at the same time the properties of the developing mind.

It should be emphasized that the internal activity of a person, inherent in the most diverse types of his inclinations, is at the same time the first condition for the development of abilities. One of the first researchers of children's giftedness, N.S. Leites, studied in detail the characteristics of the life and activities of gifted children and came to the conclusion that children's giftedness is manifested in inclinations to work, in the urgent need of such children to engage in a certain type of activity. “The upbringing of industriousness is the most important factor in the formation of any abilities,” B. Alyakrinsky rightly summed up in the book “On Talent and Abilities”.

With a wide variety of models of giftedness that currently exist, most psychologists consider such internal factors as intelligence, creativity, motivational and personal characteristics, along with factors of the social environment, as fundamental for the development of giftedness in children. Learning conditions, features of family education, cultural environment, etc. are the most important components of the social factor of development. The statistics of studies of different years (20-30, 80s of the 20th century) show the dominant role of the genotype over the environment in the development of children's giftedness. This problem was dealt with by N. Newman, A. Johnson, D. Shields, R. Wilson, D. Gorn and others.

Over the past decades, a lot of research has appeared on the impact of various learning environments on the developmental success of gifted children. These studies made it possible to significantly expand the category of gifted children and prove the expediency of their education in special programs.

Successes in the development of this area of ​​research allow us to raise the question of the role of the family in the development of giftedness in children at a new level. Experimental studies of the influence of parents on the characteristics of their children's development mainly concern the study of the relationship between self-esteem, children's success in one area or another, their ideas about abilities and parents' social expectations. The facts obtained as a result of research testify to the role of family ideas about the "ideal" model of education on the development of the motivational and personal attitudes of the child, which contribute to or hinder the development of giftedness in children.

From the point of view of pedagogy, the environmental variability of intelligence indicators is associated mainly with the variability of the intra-family environment. In relation to it, the external, cultural environment acts as a general background for development. Thus, the “intra-family environment” has the greatest influence of all social factors: the home environment in general, the object-spatial environment, the nature of relations with family members.

O.M. Dyachenko suggested taking into account, as an additional factor that ensures the development of giftedness, the realization of abilities in specific children's activities. The model of development of giftedness was presented by her in the form of three blocks.

The first block is the motivation for the corresponding type of activity. In the case of mental giftedness, this is a cognitive activity that is productive in nature and is connected to the holistic experience of the child. The second block is operational, characterized through the concept of abilities, which in preschool age are determined by the level of visual modeling (cognitive abilities) and the level of development of productive imagination (creative abilities). The third is the implementation block, which assumes the possibility of making your achievements a reality, formalizing the results of the decision, etc. In preschoolers, this block is characterized by the possibility of manifesting their own subjectivity in various types of children's activities.

As you know, preschool age is the age of play. Research data show that the enrichment of the content of children's games has a decisive influence on the observations of life around them, organized and carefully thought out by adults. game form activities in accordance with the aspirations of a preschooler, for example, in introducing the world of music, helps to develop the child's talent, and a skillful combination of game management methods contributes to the maximum development of the child's creative talent. At present, a close relationship has been proven between the development of abilities and the position of emotions that cause a child's interest in activities. In no other child's activity is emotional experience accumulated so successfully as in play. In addition, the game can be an effective means of preventing and correcting such personal problems of a gifted child as anxiety and aggression, as well as being the main factor in the development of children's creativity (creativity).

So, the developing personality is influenced by both external and internal factors. Smoothing out their negative and strengthening positive influences, it is possible to achieve the maximum development of natural inclinations, revealing the potential of a developing personality. For each child, such an area of ​​activity, such methods of education and training, such an approach to interaction must be found in which the positive aspects of his individual abilities will be revealed.

II . Analysis of psychological research on the problem of child giftedness

2.1 Diagnosis of child giftedness

Current state The education system is characterized by great attention to supporting the development of the internal potential of a gifted child. According to N.S. Leites, the concept of "gifted" in relation to a child has two different meanings: gifted precisely as a child, and gifted in a fuller sense - as a bearer of a long-term, lifelong gift. This is a very important distinction, which emphasizes the special responsibility in judging the signs of children's giftedness. After all, there is such a phenomenon as age-related giftedness, in which there can be no confidence in the constancy of this gift. That is why the question arose of replacing the expression "gifted child" with "a child with signs of giftedness" in the "Working Concept of Giftedness".

The problem of diagnosing children's giftedness in psychology and pedagogy is considered at two levels: theoretical and methodological. The first, theoretical level involves the clarification of the theoretical issues of giftedness (concepts, features, etc.), which was discussed in the previous sections. At the second level, the development of the concept of the diagnostic procedures themselves and the selection of methods for identifying the gifted are carried out.

One of the variants of the organizational and pedagogical approach is one-time examinations, or express diagnostics. Since Binet's time, for a long time, high intelligence was determined using standardized tests (IQ). In the future, psychological research acquired a multidimensional nature of assessment (intelligence, creativity, level of personal development). However, the need for special organizational and pedagogical solutions to the problem on a reliable basis led to the creation of diagnostic models for the level of giftedness of a long-term nature.

For example, the RAPYHT comprehensive assessment project developed by M. Carne, A. Schwedel and other scientists. Initial assessment general and special giftedness of children is carried out with the help of special questionnaires for teachers and parents. If the assessment of adults exceeds a certain level on one of the questionnaires, the child is included in the number of candidates. Further, in order to verify the data obtained, all children are involved in special classes in small groups in accordance with the nature of their giftedness. In the case of an adequate level in one of the activities based on the results of the classes, the child is included in the additional program.

No less interesting is the Illinois model, in which a group of 22 children from 3-5 years of age who are ahead of the development of their abilities is recruited. The identification process is divided into three stages: search, evaluation, selection.

Approximately one month before individual examinations, parents are widely notified about the possibility of potentially gifted children to attend groups for training under a special program.

While parents are filling out questionnaires about the development of the child, psychologists are testing him (information about the results is not reported to parents).

The final stage has a dual purpose: to select the most suitable for training in this program; to ensure the participation in this program of children from different socio-economic backgrounds and racial groups. The final decision on admission is made by the council of teachers.

Thus, thanks to many well-known concepts of diagnostic procedures, experience has been gained in identifying gifted individuals in the context of ordinary kindergarten.

A relatively young direction is diagnostics of the development of children's giftedness by a teacher. Indeed, in the end, it is the teacher who bears the main work of teaching, educating and developing the child, and it is he who is primarily responsible for its results.

Among domestic and foreign psychologists and teachers, many paid attention to the personal and professional qualities of a teacher dealing with children's giftedness (A.M. Matyushkin, Yu.Z. Gilbukh, N.S. Leites, and others). Among these qualities, the ability to track the level of development of the intellectual and creative abilities of children stands out. In order to be able to monitor the development of the internal potential of their pupils in the most qualitative and effective way, the teacher must master specially developed methods that are quite informative and relatively easy to use. To this end, within the framework of the conceptual model of Professor A.I. Savenkov, a group of researchers led by S. Ledneva developed and tested in a kindergarten a set of diagnostic methods to assess the level of development of children's giftedness by teachers.

In their work, the teachers relied on the principle of minimum sufficiency of the content of the methods for the most effective and adequate tracking of the development of the internal potential of the pupils' personality. Therefore, the methods cover the cognitive and personal spheres of development, as well as the behavioral characteristics of the child, which makes it possible to determine the priority area of ​​his interests.

Scientists offer a set of methods that enable the teacher to independently identify and regularly monitor the development of intellectual and creative abilities of pupils.

The first method is aimed at assessing the teacher's qualities according to the following system: low level (this quality does not appear at all), below average level (this quality appears, but quite rarely), average level (this quality is equally manifested and not manifested) , the level is above average (this quality is often manifested, but not always), high level (the quality is always manifested). These qualities include memory, attention, the ability to analyze and synthesize, productivity, flexibility, originality of thinking, perfectionism (diligence).

A detailed description is given for each of the qualities. For example, memory . The ability of a child to quickly memorize and retain various information in memory for a long time (either auditory, or visual, or motor). For example: "Does this bird look like the one we saw here last winter?" (“Little computer.” Here and below, in parentheses, the figurative name of a child with a high level of development of one or another quality is indicated).

Psychologists also use games-exercises for the development of verbal-logical and volume-spatial thinking, various competitions to identify certain signs of giftedness. For example, these:

"Unusual carousel"

On the board or on a piece of paper, a carousel model is drawn with a word in the center, for example, the word "sun". The teacher invites the children to “ride” their words on the carousel, but stipulates the following condition: “Only the one who comes up with a story that connects his word with the word “sun” can ride.”

At the end of the game, the stories are discussed again, and the child who comes up with the most interesting story receives an incentive prize.

"I am a draftsman"

Equipment. Demonstration model of a prism or other geometric figure and handout models of small volumetric figures of three or four types.

A conversation is held with the children, in which the need for an accurate drawing is explained before the turner turns the part, the builder builds the house, etc. After that, the children are invited to try themselves as a draftsman and make a drawing of the existing demonstration figures.

In the subsequent conversation and a little experimentation (comparison of a prism and a rectangle), the children and the teacher find out that the drawing should have three parts: top (bottom), front, profile, and draw a drawing of this figure.

Then the children are given small simple figures or models of geometric figures for independent execution of the drawing.

Complication 1. Three figures are placed in front of the children, indicated by numbers, and each child has a piece of paper on the table with the number of the figure, the drawing of which he is to make.

After finishing work, the children change their drawings. They are invited to determine the number of the figure, the drawing of which was made by their friend.

Complication 2. A. The teacher has several figures on the table, and on the table each child has drawings of these figures. Children have to determine which of the shapes corresponds to the drawing of each one.

B. "Find the parts of the whole." A poster with the image of parts of a figure is hung out in front of the children. Below is one of the parts. The children are given the task: "Find a figure that, when combined with this figure, forms a circle (square, etc.)".

The culmination of developing work with children, according to psychologists, can be the so-called intellectual competitions. They give children the opportunity to compete and demonstrate to parents the methods and techniques for developing their intellectual and creative abilities.

Competition of intellectuals.

Tasks for children:

1. "Girdles of great warriors"

It is necessary to guess which patterns can continue the patterns drawn on the ribbons.

2. "Mysterious writings of the ancestors" You must guess which figures the water has erased and draw them on your cards in place of the question marks.

3… "Unfinished figurines". Before you are unfinished figures, your task is to finish them.

This, of course, is far from all the methods and techniques that a teacher can use in the work to identify and develop the giftedness of their students.

The problem of early detection of giftedness is very acute, because not all children with signs of giftedness can show unusual potential. In this regard, the problem of its diagnostics and development acquires the greatest urgency.

2.2 The problem of education and training of gifted children

For a long time it was a common statement about the omnipotence of education. Physiologist I.P. Pavlov, characterizing the extraordinary plasticity of the higher nervous activity of a person, its enormous possibilities, wrote: "... nothing remains motionless, unyielding, but changes for the better can always be achieved, if only the appropriate conditions are implemented." Later studies have shown that the development of the child has its own laws, its own internal logic, and is not just a passive reflection of objective conditions.

The fate of miracle children is not always happy. Life practice shows that many of them do not achieve noticeable success on their chosen path. The outstanding inclinations inherent in them do not always provide, it would seem, already the predestination of talent. However, as mentioned earlier, abilities are not given from birth. They are the result of the development of the initial level of inclinations.

Most often, the reason for the failure of initially gifted children is insufficient education and training. Relying on exceptional natural talent with a large number of inclinations, parents and teachers lose sight of the main condition for the formation of abilities - the education of diligence. After all, easy teaching does not bring benefits, but harm, because it is not able to develop perseverance, perseverance, will, and the natural sources of abilities - inclinations - do not get the opportunity to develop.

Thus, the belief that the inclinations are abilities in themselves is the most common basic pedagogical mistake in relation to the "wunderkinds".

To avoid the problems of further education and socialization in the society of peers, special attention should be paid to the initial upbringing of a gifted child in the family. After all, parents, like no one else, are able to discern the first signs of a manifestation of giftedness in a child. It is from the correct attitude of parents to the characteristics of their baby that recognition in society will come from. However, their opinion can turn out to be very subjective, because the idea of ​​the uniqueness of their own child is initially familiar to all parents. This implies the problem of early diagnosis, assessment from the outside, receiving recommendations for education and training.

At the moment, there are various methods for identifying giftedness in children. M Parrot has developed questions for parents that will help to understand in which area the child's abilities are clearly manifested:

1. If we compare physical activity your child with the activity of his peers, in whose favor will this comparison be?

2. At what age did your child learn:

· cut out pictures with scissors, color the drawings inside the contours,

· tie shoelaces,

· write in block letters of the alphabet, your name and other words,

· rewrite or copy poems, stories,

· name the letters of the alphabet (in books, on signs, etc.),

3. Does the child understand some things that are too complicated? For example, what?

4. Does he use complex words in his speech, speaks in long sentences?

5. Can you say that your child has an unusually good memory?

Parents usually emphasize the lack of special efforts in children on the way to quick memorization and assimilation of various information. For preschoolers with a good memory, the transition to conceptual thinking may begin earlier, so you should pay attention to the systematic knowledge of the child. No need to strive for the child to remember as many facts, events, names as possible.

Undoubtedly, an important point in the development of the abilities of a preschooler is to establish contact with him, show interest in his activities, support and help from adults. According to the amplification theory child development, it is necessary to create conditions that enrich the development of the child, allowing the maximum manifestation of his inclinations, opportunities, which is especially important in the case of gifted children.

Another important issue in the upbringing of a gifted child is the problem of his education before school, integration among peers. Parents' fears about the still not eradicated trend of "trimming to the average" in the modern system of preschool education and school education are not unfounded.

Numerous facts of life and evidence of science show that many gifted children do not achieve the desired success in their chosen path. This is due to the fact that a highly gifted child, studying with less gifted children, often expends little effort due to the lack of competent guidance from the teacher. As a result, the original giftedness not only interferes with the development of volitional qualities, but also involuntarily delays the development of the abilities themselves - the brilliant inclinations of such a child do not turn into equally brilliant abilities, they are not used. Criticizing the theory of innate abilities, T.V. Leibniz: "Bare possibilities are nothing."

The position of gifted children is often exacerbated even during the transition to a new level of education. They are incapable of systematic hard work and, as a result, lose self-confidence, are disappointed in their abilities. The recognition of their chosenness is replaced, in their opinion, by the injustice of the demands of others - conditions for conflict are created.

Based on the foregoing, the most important rule for the integration of gifted children is learning on the verge of overcoming difficulties. “An individual approach to the formation of abilities means providing additional work for those students who easily and quickly master the material in order to bring their strengths to the required tension, develop their abilities, including their ability to work,” Soviet scientists A.G. Kovalev and V.N. Myasishchev.

Often, parents of gifted children, in order to avoid difficulties, try to deal with them themselves: they read books, answer questions, help in creative self-expression, which is important in the upbringing of any child. But in order to grow a truly creative person, it is necessary, first of all, to turn your attention to yourself, to your relationship with the child from the outside.

The very first and most important thing is to love your child and accept him as he is: to rejoice in his successes, to be attentive to his deeds and deeds, to follow the child in the development of his interests, to give him the opportunity to choose, carefully opening up new areas of knowledge, guiding his attention. An atmosphere of kindness, sensitivity, attentiveness is necessary in the development of a gifted child. Otherwise, the child's abilities may subside, fade away due to lack of interest, ridicule and even criticism from adults.

As studies have shown, for the development of a child’s creative potential, not only an adequate assessment of his strengths and capabilities is necessary, but even a little overestimated, thanks to which he will have a reserve of strength and confidence when meeting with failures. After all, there are many difficulties on the life path of a gifted person, for which you need to gradually prepare the baby, strengthening his faith in himself.

A parent needs to be an example for a child, to use their knowledge, skills and abilities more widely, without abusing the help of specialists. However, one must not forget one wise pedagogical rule- "do no harm". Gifted children are very sensitive and vulnerable. Numerous study loads can be too tiring for them. Specialists of the Creative Giftedness Center believe that a gifted child needs free time when he could retire and be alone with himself.

It is generally accepted that the upbringing and education of gifted children should be non-traditional. Most of the programs and techniques are aimed at including research, experiments, hypotheses, which should be included in all the usual activities of children. In the best way, the manifestation of the individuality of each child is facilitated by play-type activities. At the same time, one should not forget about the role of the family, the warm atmosphere of which is also necessary in the development of the giftedness of the child.

So, the strategy of adults in interacting with a gifted child, first of all, is as follows: resort to analogies, ask leading questions, create conditions for independent search activity, show tolerance and intuition.

2.3 Modern approaches to the study of child giftedness

Among the scientific developments of recent years, the most interesting is the study of a group of psychologists led by N.E. Verax. The origins of this study lie in domestic psychology in the works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, B.M. Teplova, A.R. Luria, A.V. Zaporozhets and other authors, where the emphasis is on the decisive role of culture in the development of the child.

Studying the development of mental giftedness in preschool age, scientists introduce the concept of "normative situation", which is understood as a combination of facts, conditions and circumstances in relation to which society prescribes certain actions to the subject. A normative situation is a space of individual activity, acting as a set of typical situations with a set of standard methods of activity or culture prescribed by norms. Researchers have proved the dependence of the normative situations that arise in the educational process on the education system itself, which can have a different impact on the development of children's giftedness, supporting or inhibiting children's activity and initiative.

The introduction of this concept allows us to consider in a new way the concept of the development of giftedness, i.e. the activity of a gifted child in a normative situation. Research has identified several types of activity. In one case, the child's actions are aimed at identifying the possibilities that exist in the given circumstances, which indicates creative giftedness. When activity takes place in a space of possibilities, where the child himself is looking for a cultural norm as a special opportunity, it is reflected in the concept of intellectual giftedness.

The analysis of educational work in preschool educational institutions leads to two fundamentally different approaches. In one, children are given maximum freedom of action, in the other, on the contrary, rigid determination and the need to follow the instructions of adults. In the first case, the child moves in the space of possibilities and develops creativity, but this freedom does not guarantee the general level of child development necessary for schooling. In another case, acquiring skills that are useless for preschool age, the child is deprived of the opportunity for self-realization and personal growth. Researchers see the solution to this situation in giving the child the opportunity to express their individuality in a cultural form. To do this, the child must not only move in the space of possibilities, but also be able to formalize the results of this movement, creating their own cultural products, i.e. show mental activity both creatively and intellectually.

As a result of testing this hypothesis in practice, the following conclusions were drawn:

1. The development of children's mental gifts can be considered in the context of the analysis of normative situations that arise in educational work with children of preschool age.

2. The normative situation makes it possible to selectively influence the components of mental giftedness of preschoolers: cognitive abilities, creative and cognitive activity.

3. Depending on the nature of normative situations, the education system can have a different influence on the development of children's giftedness, supporting or inhibiting the activity and initiative of the child.

4. Support for children's initiative can be carried out in two forms: in productive project activities, and in the form of productive interaction - rule-making.

The phenomenon of the extraordinary giftedness of modern children remains one of the most actively discussed topics by scientists in recent decades. Especially gifted children by American scientists were called Indigo children, the first judgments about which date back to the 80s of the last century. In 1982, Nancy Ann Tapp, an American who had the ability to see the aura of people, wrote a book called How Color Helps You Better Understand Your Life. Nancy classified certain types of human behavior by aura color and argued that indigo people can be recognized by their deep blue aura color. But the authors of subsequent publications proved that the color of the aura is a variable criterion, it can change depending on the state of health, mood. Therefore, in order to decide whether a child belongs to the indigo category or not, one must take into account a wide range of indicators, primarily the level of intelligence development, creativity, area of ​​interest, and behavioral characteristics. Indeed, according to the ideas available in foreign sources, indigo is a person who, from childhood, is guided through life by his destiny, his desire to contribute to improving the life of mankind.

In the mid-80s, the book "Indigo Children" by psychologists Lee Carroll and Jan Tober was published in the United States. To this day, this book is printed in large numbers, sells well and is widely discussed. The authors of the book claim that the Indigo child has unusual psychological characteristics and behavior. Such children they proclaimed as messengers of the new world. Now, according to some researchers, there are about 30 million such children, and there are even judgments that out of every ten children, nine are Indigo!

There are child prodigies who show good abilities in mastering the basics of science. They tend to do well in school and college. As for Indigo children, their performance is not always on top, because they are not interested in the process of standard education. The Indigo Child is gifted, not just capable; has innate gifts and talents, and not just a good student. AT foreign literature the thought persistently sounds: Indigo children are geniuses in what they are intended for, they are able to make discoveries intuitively, not on the basis of existing knowledge, thereby ensuring the evolution of mankind, introducing new views and ideas into society. Here are just a few of the hallmarks of Indigo children:

special sensitivity to the need of all living things for respect, independence, love and sympathy.

• prohibition to limit oneself to obsolete ideals or dogmas.

Exacerbation of all the senses, which often causes irritation and overload, and there is a feeling of ill health.

Difficulty to part with some objects, because they value too highly in things not the material, but the “soul” of these things.

Not distinguishing boundaries between play, study, relationships and work. All these aspects are combined for them into a single life experience.

· excellent sense of correctness, they do not need discipline as a limitation.

extreme high energy.

lack of communication skills, especially if there are no others like them nearby,

early computerization.

a philosophical approach to life, characterized by depth and originality.

Also, many "indigo" have well-developed healing and psychic abilities from birth.

Purposefulness characteristic of children of the new millennium, freedom-loving disposition, an increased sense of their own importance and value, rejection of dogmas, refusal to obey authorities - all this very often confuses parents and teachers. If we take into account the mass of energy inherent in Indigo children, their unwillingness to focus on boring things, as well as the philosophical, not childishly adult view of the world, it becomes clear that these children need special approaches in development and education, new ways of interacting with them.

Nancy Ann Tapp proposes the following classification of the types of indigo children: humanist; conceptualist; painter; a person living in all dimensions. This classification was adopted by many modern foreign doctors and psychologists.

At humanist pronounced social orientation. His mission is to serve the masses, to work with people: he is a future doctor, lawyer, teacher, businessman, politician. He loves people, animals, plants, the earth and the stars. He wants everyone to feel good, he wants to love everyone, always and everywhere. He fits in perfectly with society. He loves people, happy to talk to any person in an extremely friendly manner. At the same time, he has his own clearly expressed opinion. He is ready to communicate always and everywhere, and at the same time, sometimes he completely forgets about the time, about what he was going to do. Often he feels misunderstood and unrecognized. Due to his special emotionality, he quickly develops overexcitation and overstrain. He needs rest to balance his inner world. When he gets bored, he takes refuge in his own world.

Unlike the indigo humanist, who embodies the idea of ​​human brotherhood, peacefulness, indigo conceptualist busy not so much with people as with projects. This is a future architect, designer, astronaut or pilot. He likes to develop ideas, create plans, but he wants to do it at his own pace, immersing himself in the business and implementing it. At the same time, he does not allow anyone and in any form to distract him from the chosen occupation. It is characteristic that he is not focused on achieving success.

He tends to manage the father or mother, give valuable practical advice on housekeeping, which most often creates serious problems in the family.

He wants to understand everything. For example, he disassembles devices into parts in order to understand how they are arranged. As a child, he usually goes in for sports, he is very dexterous. Has a tendency to secrecy, does not like to talk about his affairs. He loves technology, devices, most of all he loves a computer.

Features of the personality of an indigo artist in that:

He can draw for hours and loves when others draw for him.

He is able to feel a lot and wants to be believed when he talks about his feelings.

In life, he prefers to be realized through creativity. Likes singing, dancing, ballet, theater, circus, painting, drawing, playing music, etc.

He wants to be aware of family affairs, to feel his involvement.

This is a hidden healer (usually he heals with music, painting or dance and sees this as his life goal and his calling).

An indigo artist is able to become intensely involved in the creative process. He likes to be close to his parents, he is able to concentrate on the game only when he feels the support of the family. At the same time, no one and nothing can distract him from his occupation. Two-three-year-old children can already do a lot on their own. They easily communicate with other children and seem older than their age. When they later come into contact with the "big" world, their behavior may change under pressure from outside.

Features of the personality of "living in all dimensions":

He is full of new ideas, philosophical reflections, new ideas, which causes dissatisfaction with others.

He is a born leader, and he wants to blaze new trails.

He is not ready to limit himself to outdated ideals or someone else's expectations.

In our society, in various age categories, there are individuals who have the properties and characteristic qualities of an indigo personality. It was they who prepared the way for the current wave of new children. They, the forerunners of these new children, have been living on Earth for many years. In their youth, such people often had to face difficulties both in society and in their own families, as they were treated with methods that brought harm to them. Today's Indigo children also face many challenges, and it is up to us as adults to protect them from abuse, to help them achieve the success they deserve.

To love everyone without any conditions, so that unconditional love will again triumph on Earth.

With its high-frequency energy, help humanity and the world to increase the frequency of their vibrations.

Cultivate tolerance on earth.

Revitalize your mediumistic abilities so that humanity again perceives enlightenment as the "norm".

To teach that everything should be done for the highest good of one and all.

In the foreign press, a test is given to determine whether a particular child belongs to the indigo category. It is convenient for parents, preschool teachers, school teachers. At the same time, this test not only reveals all the controversial issues regarding the characteristics of indigo children, but also allows you to take a fresh look at the individual characteristics of children. The test is divided into 3 age categories 0-5, 6-10 and 11 to adulthood. Consider the first part of the questions concerning preschool age.

Age 0-5 years

1. Waking up in the morning, he complains of various pains, because he does not want to leave "his world."

2. He needs surprisingly little time to sleep, while he is full of strength and energy.

3. He is clearly different from other children.

4. He does not allow himself to be drawn into the situation emotionally.

5. He treats things as if they are alive and he can hurt them.

6. He has an increased need for attention and security, he always wants to stay in the same space.

7. He is incredibly sensitive, he has a very strong intuition. Often he already knows what you are going to say.

8. His very first word may be “no”, and he uses this “no” much more often than all other words.

9. He often plays with invisible friends whom he perceives as real.

10. He wants to be close to his parents for a long time and get a lot of attention from them.

11. He can be really bored.

12. He is a typical individualist.

13. He knows exactly what he wants, and it can be difficult to make him give up his intention.

14. When he starts talking, he stutters because he can't find words fast enough.

15. He speaks very convincingly about such things that he cannot possibly know about at all.

16. He communicates with animals, plants and stones.

17. He has mediumistic abilities and feels what is "real" and what is not.

18. With his inner eye he sees images, colors and forms that he cannot properly describe.

19. Sometimes he recalls situations from his past lives.

When answering questions, use the following scores:

O = never

1 = sometimes (behavior bordering on unusual)

2 = often (occurs so often that it draws the attention of others)

3 = very common (occurs so frequently that it permanently affects the child's life).

If most of the ratings are "0" or "1", then we can assume that the child does not belong to the category of indigo children. It's just that his behavior sometimes resembles the behavior of these children.

If the main part of the ratings is “2”, you can conclude that the child has many of the properties and qualities of an indigo personality, is a true representative of the children of the new time, and his task is to help humanity in the implementation of the transformations of the new millennium. But he is not a 100% indigo child.

If the score “3” prevails noticeably, then you can consider that you have a real indigo in front of you.

The above test shows how much is still unknown in the indigo phenomenon. Who are they, these kids with the look of a wise adult?

Some Russian doctors see psychiatric symptoms in indigo children. Some articles even suggest that these are children “possessed by an evil spirit”, “devils”, that the clever words that can be heard from such children are not pronounced by them, but by the demon that has inhabited them. However, such sharp assessments are probably due to the incompleteness of knowledge about indigo children, about the diversity of their types, and the desire to get more information.

Thus, modern research on the problem of studying children's giftedness testifies to the unquenchable interest in this problem, its ambiguity, controversy, and the need to understand it to the end. After all, every child is born with huge inclinations and there is virtually no limit to the development of human abilities.

III . Assessment of the degree of knowledge of the problem

The problem of children's giftedness has been widely studied both in domestic and foreign psychology in the works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, B.M. Teplova, N.S. Leitas, J. Gilford and many others. Scientists have developed theoretical approaches to giftedness, clearly defined its varieties and external manifestations, identified factors influencing the development of abilities, and proposed options for educating and educating a gifted child.

The most acute problem is the diagnosis of gifted children. Thanks to the research of A.M. Matyushkina, Yu.Z. Gilbukha, A.I. Savenkova, S. Ledneva gained experience in identifying gifted children.

The subject of frequent discussion of science children's giftedness remains at the present time. In recent decades, American scientists have raised the question of the existence of extremely gifted children with special psychological characteristics. This movement gave a huge impetus to a more versatile study of this problem. New scientific research will undoubtedly benefit education and upbringing, draw attention to the study of all children without exception, and encourage a more respectful and careful attitude towards gifted children, young representatives of humanity who are coming to replace us.

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Introduction

In a dynamic, rapidly changing modern world, society is much more likely to rethink the social order of the school, correct or radically change the goals and objectives of school education.

Previously, the main goal of school education was defined as the formation of the foundations of a comprehensively and harmoniously developed personality, the education of people who know the basics of science. Now it is seen as focusing on the education of an active, creative personality, aware of the global problems of mankind, ready to participate in their solution to the extent possible. Society needs people who think outside the box, who are able to look for new ways to solve the proposed problems, to find a way out of problem situations.

Early identification, training and education of gifted and talented children is one of the main problems of improving the education system. There is an opinion that gifted children do not need the help of adults, special attention and guidance. However, due to personality characteristics, such children are most sensitive to the assessment of their activities, behavior and thinking, they are more receptive to sensory stimuli and better understand relationships and connections. Such children are waiting not only for the joys of learning, but also for disappointments and conflicts. It is they, the most inquisitive, who often get bored in class. Most teachers simply have no time to take care of a gifted child, and sometimes they are even hindered by students with amazing knowledge, with not always clear mental activity. Children who are ahead of their peers tend to attract attention. The rapid completion of tasks, the readiness to correctly answer the teacher's question - for them a desired mental game, competition. It is not enough for such children to learn and do in the classroom. Often in the primary grades, the most developed student is no longer asked, as if not noticing his readiness for an answer.

The most capable children need a load that would match their mental strength, but often the secondary school, apart from the "average" program, cannot offer them anything.

Thus, there is a contradiction between the requirements of society and the current state of affairs in the school. On the one hand, the state requires an active, creative personality, and on the other hand, the school focuses on the average student.

Therefore, modern psychological science is increasingly touching on this topic. Their psychological models of giftedness were developed by a number of Western psychologists: J. Gilford, E. De Bono, J. Gallair, J. Renzulli, P. Torrens. In Russian psychology, the problem of giftedness was developed by such scientists as B.M. Teplov, S.L. Rubenstein. In the study of the problem of giftedness in children, a huge contribution was made by the doctor of psychological sciences N. S. Leites. His works on the study of the psyche of gifted children occupy a prominent place in Russian psychology. Many psychological principles for the development of creativity in children of primary school age were put forward by N.N. Poddyakov, D.N. Uznadze, A.V. Zaporozhets, A. Matyushkin, V.A. Molyako. Numerous works of Wenger L.A., Gilbukh Yu.Z., Burmenskaya G.V. devoted to the issues of identifying such children, the peculiarities of working with them, their psychological problems. Interesting research in the field of physiology of gifted, brilliant people was carried out by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor V.P. Efroimson. As a rule, knowledge of the mechanics of any phenomenon makes it possible to more accurately judge its manifestations.

The object of the study is gifted children.

The subject of the research is manifestations of giftedness in children.

The purpose of the study is to study the manifestations of giftedness in children.

Research objectives:

1.To analyze on the basis of scientific literature the concept of giftedness, the types of its manifestation, the psychological characteristics and problems of gifted children;

2.To characterize the possibilities of psychodiagnostic research of gifted children.

Chapter I. Psychological analysis of the problem of giftedness

1.1 Definition of concepts ability, giftedness

The dictionary of a practical psychologist gives several definitions of the concept of "giftedness":

A qualitatively unique combination of abilities that ensures the success of the activity. The joint action of abilities representing a certain structure makes it possible to compensate for the insufficiency of individual abilities due to the predominant development of others.

General abilities or general moments of abilities, which determine the breadth of a person's capabilities, the level and originality of his activity.

Mental potential, or intellect; a holistic individual characteristic of cognitive abilities and learning abilities.

The totality of inclinations, natural data, a characteristic of the degree of severity and originality of the natural prerequisites for abilities.

Talent; availability of internal conditions for outstanding achievements in activity .

The ambiguity of the term indicates the multidimensionality of the problem of a holistic approach to the sphere of abilities. Giftedness as the most general characteristics the sphere of abilities requires a comprehensive study - psycho-physiological, differential-psychological, socio-psychological.

The subject of heated discussions remains the question of the nature and prerequisites of giftedness. Modern research in this area are aimed at using electrophysiological, psychogenetic and other methods to reveal the relationship between biological and social in the nature of giftedness.

In Russian psychology, primarily through the works of S. L. Rubinshtein and B. M. Teplov, an attempt was made to classify the concepts of "ability", "giftedness" and "talent" on a single basis - the success of the activity.

Abilities are considered as individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another, on which the possibility of success in activity depends, and giftedness - as a qualitatively peculiar combination of abilities (individual psychological characteristics), on which the possibility of success in activity also depends.

Sometimes abilities are considered innate, "given by nature." However, scientific analysis shows that only inclinations can be innate, and abilities are the result of the development of inclinations.

Makings - congenital anatomical and physiological features of the body. These include, first of all, the features of the structure of the brain, the sense organs and movement, the properties of the nervous system, which the body is endowed with from birth. The inclinations are only opportunities and prerequisites for the development of abilities, but do not yet guarantee, do not predetermine the emergence and development of certain abilities. Arising on the basis of inclinations, abilities develop in the process and under the influence of activities that require certain abilities from a person. Outside of activity, no abilities can develop. Not a single person, no matter what inclinations he possesses, can become a talented mathematician, musician or artist without doing a lot and persistently in the corresponding activity. To this it must be added that the inclinations are ambiguous. On the basis of the same inclinations, unequal abilities can develop, depending on the nature and requirements of the activity in which a person is engaged, as well as on living conditions and especially education.

The development of abilities is also influenced by the features of the functioning of higher nervous activity. So, the speed and strength of mastering knowledge and skills depend on the speed of formation and strength of conditioned reflexes; from the speed of developing differentiated inhibition to similar stimuli - the ability to subtly capture the similarity and difference between objects or their properties; from the speed and ease of formation and change of a dynamic stereotype - adaptability to new conditions and readiness to quickly move from one way of performing activities to another.

Abilities differ in quality, breadth, originality of their combination (structure) and degree of development.

The quality of abilities is determined by the activity, the condition for the successful implementation of which they are. They usually say about a person not just what he is capable of, but what he is capable of, that is, they indicate the quality of his abilities. By quality, abilities are divided into mathematical, technical, artistic, literary, musical, organizational, sports, etc.

By breadth, general and special abilities are distinguished.

Special abilities are the conditions necessary for the successful performance of any one particular type of activity. These include, for example, musical ear, musical memory and a sense of rhythm in a musician, "estimation of proportions" in an artist, pedagogical tact in a teacher, etc. General abilities are necessary to perform various activities. For example, such an ability as observation is needed by an artist, a writer, a doctor, and a teacher; organizational skills, distribution of attention, criticality and depth of mind, good visual memory, creative imagination should be inherent in people of many professions. Therefore, these abilities are called general.

No single ability can be sufficient for the successful performance of an activity. It is necessary for a person to have many abilities that would be in a favorable combination.

· a high level of production of new images, fantasy, imagination and a number of others.

A. M. Matyushkin put forward the following synthetic structure of giftedness, including in it:

· the dominant role of cognitive motivation;

· research creative activity, expressed in the discovery of the new, in the formulation and solution of the problem;

· the possibility of achieving original solutions;

· the possibility of forecasting and anticipation;

· the ability to create ideal standards that provide high ethical, moral, intellectual assessments.

At the same time, A. M. Matyushkin considers it fundamentally important to note that giftedness and talent must be associated with the characteristics of creative activity proper, the manifestation of creativity, and the functioning of a "creative person." His research also allowed him to identify the following components in the system of creativity:

· inclinations, inclinations, manifested in increased sensitivity, a certain selectivity, preferences, as well as dynamism mental processes;

· interests, their orientation, frequency and systematic nature of their manifestation, dominance cognitive interests;

· curiosity, the desire to create something new, a tendency to solve and search for problems;

· speed in the assimilation of new information, the formation of associative arrays;

· tendency to constant comparisons, comparisons. development of standards for subsequent selection;

· manifestation of general intelligence - grasping, understanding, speed of assessments and choice of a solution, adequacy of actions;

· emotional coloring of individual processes. emotional attitude, the influence of feelings on subjective evaluation, choice, preference, etc.;

· perseverance, determination, determination, diligence, systematic work, bold decision-making;

· intuitionism - a tendency to ultra-fast assessments, decisions, forecasts;

· relatively faster mastery of skills, habits, techniques, mastery of labor techniques, handicraft skills;

· the ability to develop personal strategies and tactics in solving general and special new problems, tasks, finding a way out of complex, non-standard, extreme situations, etc.

In a slightly different, more integral way, one can imagine the manifestation of giftedness through:

· dominance of interests and motives;

· emotional immersion in activity;

· the will to decide to succeed;

· general and aesthetic satisfaction from the process and products of activity;

· understanding the essence of the problem, task, situation;

· unconscious, intuitive solution to the problem ("non-logical");

· strategic in intellectual behavior (personal ability to produce projects);

· multivariate solutions;

· speed of decisions, estimates, forecasts;

· the art of finding, choosing (ingenuity, resourcefulness).

The manifestation of creative search can be represented by the following features: reconstructive creativity; combinatorial creativity; creativity through analogies.

It seems possible to fix the manifestation of intelligence by: understanding and structuring the initial information; problem setting; finding and designing solutions; forecasting decisions (development of ideas for solutions), hypotheses.

The levels of achievement can be determined by the tasks that the subject sets for himself, or by the successes themselves, and here it is appropriate to single out three conditions:

· the desire to surpass existing achievements (to do better than it is);

· achieve top class results;

· to realize the most important task (maximum program) - on the verge of fantasy.

In terms of emotional response to the performance of activities, enthusiasm can be divided into three types: inspirational (sometimes euphoric); confident; doubting.

Thus, the proposed structure quite diversely describes the various types of giftedness, their dominant characteristics, and the peculiarity of combinations of the most important qualities. Everything that relates to general creative giftedness is directly related to various types of special giftedness - scientific, technical, pedagogical, artistic, etc.; but at the same time, we are dealing with the manifestation of certain dominant qualities, features that characterize the specifics of creativity in a particular area of ​​human activity.

An interesting concept of innate giftedness, proposed by V.V. Klimenko. According to him, the makings (human sensitivity) provide about 10 billion sensory channels of one-way communication with environment. Such sensitivity is achieved by an extraordinary equipment of the human body: a receptor that perceives energy and information both from outside and from the body itself; a conductor - a conductor of the perceived; a part of the brain where it is carried out (or not carried out - it is simply stored) turning them into a fact of consciousness. Thus, potentially as many working abilities can be created from the inclinations of a person as there are channels of communication between the environment and a person with his inner world. However, in reality, the number of abilities depends on the organization of the teaching and human activity.

Thus, abilities are the process of materialization by the executive organs of the psyche and motor skills of natural sensitivity and meanings reflected in object structures.

The materialization of the products of sensitivity consists of three types of abilities:

· the ability to reflect the outside world and ourselves in it as a thinking particle of nature (we hear, see, touch, etc. - all sense organs work for this process);

· the ability to design the external environment, including oneself (the creation of a different, man-made nature mentally, by the work of the imagination, the creation of hypotheses - tomorrow to do this and that.);

· the ability to create in the course of one's activity products and objects that satisfy the aspirations and needs of a person, and to recycle oneself from the inside according to the standards of harmony (implementation of ideas, specific actions with specific things and objects).

A person has learned to increase the ability of reflection and psychomotor skills many times over with the help of a huge variety of instruments, devices, machines: from ordinary glasses to space stations. But the ability to create, and especially to creativity, is not yet enhanced by anything. It should be noted that in psychology, sensitivity and abilities are studied as relatively independent elements of the psyche, consciousness and human activity. They are considered from the point of view of the totality and sequence of actions (mental and psychomotor), due to which a more or less accurate reflection of objects and phenomena involved in the process of activity is obtained.

Thus, there is a need to replace the analytical trend in psychology with another one - integrity. You need to turn to the person, to the understanding that everything in him is interconnected and harmonious by nature. And the main integrity of any activity and its technology is a person in whom sensitivity, abilities and mechanisms are indivisible. Mechanisms are a combination of abilities that are interconnected and systematize the diverse content reflected by a person and hold it in a single whole.

The human psyche and psychomotor has innumerable possibilities for creating mechanisms. They are neoplasms that are not fixed either to a specific sense organ or to a specific ability: this is a system of abilities with properties that none of the components of integrity possesses. Moreover, this new formation is both active and cognizing: acting - a person cognizes, and cognizing - acts, solves mental and psychomotor problems. The number of mechanisms can be infinite. By changing the working conditions of a person, we create thereby new mechanisms, new ways of action. One of these mechanisms, of course, is talent. The essence of talent lies in the ability to act, it should not be sought out either in the special qualities of the brain, or in the construction of the body, or in any other abilities. Talent is a person who solves well-known problems in an original way.

2 Types of giftedness

The types of talent include:

Artistic talent.

This type of giftedness is supported and developed in special schools, circles, studios. It implies high achievements in the field of artistic creativity and performing skills in music, painting, sculpture, acting skills. One of the major problems is to general education school these abilities were recognized and respected. These children devote a lot of time, energy to exercises, to the achievement of mastery in their field. They have few opportunities for successful study, they often need individual programs in school subjects, understanding from teachers and peers.

General intellectual and academic endowment.

The main thing is that children with this type of giftedness quickly master the fundamental concepts, easily remember and retain information. Highly developed information processing abilities allow them to excel in many areas of knowledge.

Academic talent has a slightly different character, which is manifested in the success of teaching certain academic subjects and is more frequent and selective.

These children may show high results in ease and speed of progress in mathematics or a foreign language, physics or biology, and sometimes have poor performance in other subjects that are not perceived so easily by them. The pronounced selectivity of aspirations in a relatively narrow area creates its own problems at school and in the family. Parents and teachers are sometimes dissatisfied with the fact that the child does not study equally well in all subjects, refuse to recognize his giftedness and do not try to find opportunities to support and develop a special talent. As an example of academic talent, one can name the well-known mathematical talent.

Psychologist V. A. Krutetsky comprehensively studied children with this type of giftedness and revealed the structure of mathematical abilities. It included the following components.

Obtaining mathematical information. The ability to formalize the perception of mathematical material, grasping the formal structure of the problem.

Processing of mathematical information. It includes:

a) the ability for logical thinking in the field of quantitative and spatial relations, numerical and sign symbolism; the ability to think in mathematical symbols;

b) the ability to quickly and broadly generalize mathematical objects, relations and actions;

c) the ability to curtail the process of mathematical reasoning and the system of corresponding actions; the ability to think in folded structures;

d) flexibility of mental processes in mathematical activity;

e) striving for clarity, simplicity, economy and rationality of decisions;

f) the ability to quickly and freely restructure the direction of the thought process, switching from direct to reverse thought (reversibility of the thought process in mathematical reasoning).

Storage of mathematical information. Mathematical memory is a generalized memory for mathematical relations, typical characteristics, reasoning and proof schemes, methods for solving problems and principles for approaching them.

General synthetic component. Mathematical Orientation of the Mind.

Creative talent.

First of all, disputes continue about the very need to single out this type of giftedness. The essence of the disagreement is as follows. Some experts believe that creativity, creativity is an integral element of all types of giftedness, which cannot be presented separately from the creative component. So, A.M. Matyushkin insists that there is only one type of giftedness - creative: if there is no creativity, it makes no sense to talk about giftedness. Other researchers defend the legitimacy of the existence of creative talent as a separate, independent species. One of the points of view is that giftedness is generated either by the ability to produce, put forward new ideas, invent, or by the ability to brilliantly perform, use what has already been created.

At the same time, researchers show that children with a creative orientation often have a number of behavioral characteristics that distinguish them and which cause by no means positive emotions in teachers and people around them:

· Lack of attention to conventions and authorities;

· Greater independence in judgment;

· Subtle sense of humor;

· Lack of attention to the order and organization of work;

· Bright temperament;

social giftedness.

The definition of social giftedness says that it is an exceptional ability to establish mature, constructive relationships with other people. Allocate such structural elements of social giftedness as social perception, social behavior, moral judgments, organizational skills, etc.

Social talent acts as a prerequisite for high success in several areas. It involves the ability to understand, love, empathize, get along with others, which allows you to be a good teacher, psychologist, social worker. Thus, the concept of social giftedness covers a wide range of manifestations associated with the ease of establishment and the high quality of interpersonal relationships. These features allow you to be a leader, that is, to show leadership talent, which can be considered as one of the manifestations of social talent. There are many definitions of leadership talent, in which, nevertheless, one can single out common features:

· Intelligence is above average;

· Ability to make a decision;

· The ability to deal with abstract concepts, with planning for the future, with time constraints;

· Sense of purpose, direction of movement;

· Flexibility; adaptability;

· Sense of responsibility;

· Self-confidence and self-knowledge;

· Perseverance;

·Enthusiasm;

· Ability to clearly express thoughts;

The listed types of giftedness manifest themselves in different ways and meet specific barriers in the way of their development, depending on the individual characteristics and originality of the child's environment.

3 Psychological characteristics of gifted children

The approach to the term “gifted children” turned out to be interesting. Who can we call that? How to find the exact definition of this concept? The expression "gifted children" is used very broadly.

For example, Matyushkin A.M., Mede V., Gilbukh Yu.Z. believe that if a child discovers unusual success in learning or in creative activities, is significantly superior to his peers, he can be called gifted. If a child has an unusually fast pace of mental development and clear achievements in a particular activity, it is legitimate to recognize him as outstanding.

Leites N.S., Burmenskaya G.V., Krutetsky V.A. are convinced that this cannot be said for many children. To reliably determine the significance of children's properties, to identify such children in whom outstanding properties are a real guarantee of their future opportunities - is a very difficult problem, which in psychological science still very far from a solution. Therefore, the words "gifted child", "gifted children" should be used with caution, being aware of their conventionality.

An analysis of the literature showed that giftedness should be understood as a higher than that of his peers, all other things being equal, susceptibility to learning and more pronounced creative manifestations.

Bearing in mind the manifestations of children's giftedness, S.S. Stepanov gives the following definition: “Giftedness is a significant advance in mental development compared to age norms or exceptional development of special abilities (musical, artistic, etc.).

The giftedness of children can be established and studied only in the process of education and upbringing, in the course of the child's performance of one or another meaningful activity. The manifestations of giftedness in a child are associated with the extraordinary possibilities of childhood years of life. It must be borne in mind that in the early preschool years, rapid development occurs in all children, making a decisive contribution of childhood to the formation of intelligence.

The main difficulty in identifying the signs of giftedness at the time of childhood lies in the fact that it is not easy to single out in them the actual individual, relatively independent of age. So, the high mental activity observed in the child, a special readiness for tension is an internal condition for mental growth. And it is not known whether it will turn out to be a stable feature in subsequent age stages. The creative aspirations of the child, the production of new trains of thought by him can also be attributed to the forerunners of giftedness, but it is not yet a fact that they will receive further development. At the same time, early manifestations of giftedness do not yet predetermine the future capabilities of a person: it is extremely difficult to foresee the course of the further formation of giftedness.

Gifted children who excel in one area are sometimes no different from their peers in all other respects. However, as a rule, giftedness covers a wide range of individual psychological characteristics. Most gifted children have special traits that distinguish them from most of their peers.

Gifted children, as a rule, are distinguished by high curiosity and research activity. Psychophysiological studies have shown that these children have increased biochemical and electrical activity of the brain.

Gifted children perceive the lack of information that can be learned and processed painfully. Therefore, limiting their activity is fraught with negative reactions of a neurotic nature. Gifted children at an early age are distinguished by the ability to trace causal relationships and draw appropriate conclusions; they are especially keen on building alternative models and systems. They are characterized by a faster transmission of neural information, their intracerebral system is more branched, with a large number of nerve connections. Gifted children usually have excellent memory, which is based on the early acquisition of speech and abstract thinking. They are distinguished by the ability to classify and categorize information and experience, the ability to widely use the accumulated knowledge.

Most often, attention to gifted children is attracted by their large vocabulary, accompanied by complex syntactic constructions, as well as the ability to ask questions. Many gifted children enjoy reading dictionaries and encyclopedias, coming up with words that, in their opinion, should express their own concepts and imaginary events, prefer games that require the activation of mental abilities.

Gifted children are also distinguished by an increased concentration of attention on something, persistence in achieving results in the area that interests them. However, the diversity of interests inherent in many of them sometimes leads to the fact that they start several cases at the same time, and also take on too complex tasks. They also have a disposition towards clear schemes and classifications. For example, they can be captured by compiling some tables of historical facts, dates, writing out in a different sequence the information that attracted their attention.

In the field of psychosocial development, gifted children are characterized by the following features.

Often, gifted children have a strong sense of justice, which manifests itself very early. For example, a six-year-old child returned home after attending Sunday school for the first time and angrily declared that "God is not fair." The lesson that day was about the biblical story of Noah's Ark. At home, he declared: “God told people what to do and what awaits them if they misbehave. So they could escape and not drown. And he did not say anything to the animals, he did not warn them, so why should they die? God is unjust!”

The personal value systems of young gifted children are very broad. They acutely perceive social injustice, set high standards for themselves and others, and respond vividly to truth, justice, harmony, and nature. Television brings images of distant problems into our homes, and young gifted viewers are waiting, and sometimes demanding, that their parents do something for those who need help.

Usually at this age, children cannot clearly distinguish between reality and fantasy. This is especially evident in gifted children. They are so whimsical in verbal coloring and development of effective fantasies, they get used to them so much, literally “bathing” in a vivid imagination, that sometimes teachers and parents show excessive concern about the child’s ability to distinguish truth from fiction. This vivid imagination gives birth to a whole fantastic life, rich and vibrant. After many years, many of them, both in work and in life, retain the element of play, ingenuity and creativity, the qualities that have given humanity so much both in material and aesthetic development.

One of the most important traits for the inner balance of a gifted person is a well-developed sense of humor. Talented people love inconsistencies, puns, "tricks", often seeing humor where their peers do not find it. Humor can be a saving and healthy shield for the subtle psyche, which needs protection from the painful blows inflicted by less susceptible people.

Another feature of gifted children is competitiveness. The tendency of a gifted child to compete was noted by many researchers (N. Goldman, K. Johnstone, M. Parten, V. E. Chudnovsky, V. S. Yurkevich, etc.). Competitiveness, competition is an important factor in the development of personality, strengthening, tempering of character. The experience of victories and defeats acquired in the course of various intellectual, artistic, sports competitions of children is extremely important for later life, without it it would be naive to count on the education of a creator who is not afraid of life's difficulties. Through competition, the child forms his own idea of ​​his abilities, asserts himself, gains confidence in his abilities, learns to take risks, and gains the first experience of “reasonable adventurism”.

The source of the tendency to compete in gifted children should be sought in opportunities that exceed the usual. A particularly important role is played here by the ability to highly differentiated assessment. The self-assessment built on this basis, even if it is not overestimated, but adequate, can stimulate interest in competitive forms of interaction with peers. But, noting this phenomenon as natural, many researchers constantly talk about the need for competition not so much with “normal” children as with the same gifted children. Moreover, according to some experts, the experience of defeats is especially valuable.

But competition as a method of psychosocial development has its drawbacks. The natural desire of a gifted child to win, to win with constant reinforcement achieved through competitive struggle with non-gifted peers, as established in a number of studies, does more harm than good. personal development. Competing with stronger ones (gifted children or older ones), subject to a number of pedagogical conditions, gives good results.

The next feature of gifted children is hypersensitivity to problems. The ability to see a problem where others do not see any difficulties is one of the most important qualities that distinguishes a true creator from a “mediocre” person (D. Gilford, V. Lowenfeld, A. N. Luk, A. M. Matyushkin, K. Osborne and etc.). Among the qualities inherent in a gifted child, hypersensitivity to problems traditionally occupies one of the leading places. Even Plato noted that knowledge begins with surprise at what is ordinary. “Everything is taken for granted only to him whose mind is still inactive.”

Gifted children are constantly trying to solve problems that are too tough for them yet. From the point of view of their development, such attempts are useful. But since gifted children excel at certain things that most of their peers cannot achieve, the parents of such children (and through them, the children themselves) tend to expect the same ease in all their endeavors. The exaggerated expectations of adults have been called the "halo effect" and have attracted the attention of everyone who works with gifted children at any stage of their development. In early childhood, gifted children are just as emotionally dependent, impatient, and emotionally imbalanced as their peers. Sometimes they are more eloquent - because their ability to express themselves is more perfect. However, their remarkable verbal abilities can also lead adults to misperceive their level of emotional maturity - which exacerbates the problem.

Research shows that the fears of young children are usually devoid of realism. Parents of six-year-olds who grew up in the city find it hard to understand why their children are most afraid of lions or tigers, and not cars at all, which pose a much more real danger to them. Gifted children, on the other hand, tend to have exaggerated fears, since they are able to imagine many dangerous consequences. They are also extremely receptive to non-verbal expressions of feeling by others and are highly susceptible to the silent tension that arises around them.

Perfectionism is also considered a feature of gifted children - the desire to bring the results of any of their activities to their compliance with the highest requirements, standards (moral, aesthetic, intellectual, etc.). This quality is closely related to the ability to evaluate, expressed in the child's desire for excellence. An internal need for the perfection of the products of one's own activity is characteristic of gifted children already at the earliest stages of life. These children are not satisfied without reaching the highest possible level.

At primary school age, gifted children - like their less capable peers - are age-related egocentrists in their interpretation of events and phenomena. It has practically nothing to do with egoism and really manifests itself only in the cognitive sphere. Egocentrism in this case is a feature of age development, mainly overcome with time. It is associated with the projection of one's own intellectual and emotional reactions on the perception of other people: the child is sure that his perception of phenomena and events is identical to the simultaneous perception of other people.

Gifted children, as well as their "normal peers", often do not understand that those around them for the most part differ significantly from them in thoughts, desires, and actions. This is also characteristic of adults, but if an adult’s egocentrism is largely a derivative of egoism, then a child’s egocentrism has a different nature and is determined by his inability to take the position of another person, to “de-center”, associated with the limited experience.

It is very important for teachers and parents to grasp in a timely manner, not to miss the features of the relative constancy of individuality in children who are mentally ahead of their age.

The giftedness of a child is a rather stable feature of precisely the individual manifestations of an outstanding intelligence that grows with age.

A well-known specialist in the field of children's giftedness N. S. Leites, classifying different pedagogical approaches to this problem, distinguishes three categories of children who are usually called gifted in social and pedagogical practice: “children with high IQ; children who have achieved outstanding success in any kind of activity and children with high creativity.

Another specialist in the field of psychology of the intellect, M.A. Kholodnaya, argues that six categories of such should be distinguished; “smart”, “brilliant students”, “creative”, “competent”, “talented”, “wise”.

Real pedagogical practice has learned to distinguish only three categories of gifted children.

The second group of gifted, to whose existence pedagogical practice responds, are children who have achieved success in some areas of activity. Their identification is based on valid diagnostic methods and does not present any particular difficulties. These include gifted young musicians, artists, mathematicians, athletes. This category of children is often called talented.

Babaeva Y.D., Leites N.S., Maryutina T.M., Melik-Pashaev A.A. basically distinguish 3 main features that gifted children have:

1. cognitive need.

a) activity - the child is constantly looking for changes in impressions, new information. The more he learns, the more he wants to know.

b) the need for the process of mental activity itself

c) pleasure from mental exertion

1. Intelligence.

It is characterized by the concreteness of thinking and the ability to abstract.

a) the speed and accuracy of mental operations, due to the stability of attention and excellent working memory.

b) the formation of logical thinking skills, the desire for reasoning, generalization, highlighting the main thing, classifications.

c) the richness of the vocabulary, the speed and originality of word associations

1. Creativity

a) a special mindset

b) installation on the creative performance of the task

c) the development of creative thinking and imagination

4 Psychological problems of gifted children

The provision on the harmonious mental development of gifted children has been repeatedly revised throughout the history of the psychological and pedagogical study of the phenomenon of child giftedness.

Modern research shows that harmony in the development of various aspects of the psyche of a gifted person is a relative rarity. More often one can encounter uneven, one-sided development, which often not only persists throughout the life of a gifted person, but also deepens, giving rise to a number of psychological problems. According to Zh.Sh. Terasier, gifted children and adolescents often suffer from the so-called dyssynchrony in the pace of development of the intellectual, affective and motor spheres; "dyssynchrony" refers to the effect of the accelerated development of one of the mental processes in combination with the usual (age-appropriate) or even slow development of another

Dyssynchrony of mental development is a holistic phenomenon. At the same time, two main aspects associated with dyssynchrony are differentiated:

) internal, i.e. associated with the heterogeneity of the pace of development of various mental processes (intellectual-psychomotor or intellectual-affective dyssynchrony), as well as with uneven development of a separate mental process (for example, in intellectual development there is often a dissynchrony between the process of mastering language means and the ability to reason);

) external - reflecting the features of the interaction of a gifted child or teenager with his social environment (teachers, parents and relatives, other children). It is assumed that dyssynchrony can act as a reason for the non-adaptive behavior of a gifted child or adolescent in his relationship with the environment. Features of learning can both strengthen and weaken dyssynchrony.

A common type of dyssynchrony is associated with a difference in the pace of development of intellectual and communicative processes. It is known that a high level of intellectual development not only does not guarantee a child, and even an adult, success in communicating with other people, but is often combined with great difficulties in establishing contact and communicating, and this is precisely where the phenomenon of intellectual and social dyssynchrony manifests itself.

Although gifted children and adolescents with communication difficulties often successfully interact with partners via the Internet, one should be aware that the processes of communication undergo significant changes compared to traditional forms communication. Firstly, the content of a number of communicative goals changes, and some complex communicative actions that require a high level of development of social-perceptual, emotional processes (empathy) and, in general, social competence are excluded or modified. Secondly, the ways of practical implementation of communicative goals are being transformed.

Another common type of dyssynchrony is caused by uneven development of intellectual and psychomotor processes, the latter are responsible for human motor activity. The presence of giftedness in the psychomotor sphere is widely recognized, it is actively diagnosed: teachers and trainers select promising children and adolescents for sports, ballet, circus skills, etc. on an ongoing basis. It is quite well known, even from everyday observations, that giftedness in the psychomotor sphere is often combined with underdevelopment of the intellectual sphere of a child, adolescent, or adult. Many hours of classes and training, lack of free time, severe physical fatigue of talented athletes do not contribute to the development of their intellectual abilities. Another well-known option is that intellectually gifted children can too often be characterized by a delay in the development of psychomotor skills, i.e. muscle stiffness, clumsiness, awkwardness and insufficiently fast motor reaction. There are frequent cases when the best "mathematician" of the class or a gifted young poet in the classroom physical education are among the underperforming students. This causes ridicule, and even persecution from classmates. The early experience of such conflicts with peers has a negative impact on the formation and development of the character of gifted children and adolescents. Moreover, they often do not know how to establish themselves in a group of peers, are not physically developed enough to stand up for themselves in skirmishes, they are not characterized by aggressiveness, so they avoid collisions - as a result, relatively many gifted children and adolescents acquire a reputation as cowardly "sissy" or daughters”, which also does not contribute to the harmonious development of their character.

A very common type of intellectual-psychomotor dyssynchrony is poor writing skills in children who are gifted in the intellectual sphere. According to a number of researchers, this is due to differences in the speed of intellectual and psychomotor processes in these children. Being underdeveloped, written language is in conflict with the rapid pace of cognitive activity. The child's efforts to get rid of this type of disharmony can result, on the one hand, in a sharp decrease in the pace of intellectual actions, and on the other hand, a noticeable deterioration in the quality of writing - illegibility, carelessness, numerous typos and omissions of significant elements of the message.

Gifted children are at high risk of social exclusion and rejection by their peers. The real level of abilities of gifted children is not understood by others, and the normal development process for such a child is seen as an abnormal inability to live in society. Such children have difficulties in finding congenial friends, there are problems of participation in games of peers that are not interesting to them. Children adapt to others, they want to seem like everyone else. Teachers very often do not recognize gifted students and negatively evaluate their abilities and achievements. The complexity of the situation is aggravated by the fact that the children themselves are aware of their otherness.

Social isolation is not a consequence of emotional disorders, but the result of the conditions in which the child finds himself in the absence of a group with which he could communicate.

Psychological practice shows the inconsistency of the position that a child who is ahead of his peers in terms of intelligence, brilliant with mental abilities, will not encounter difficulties in educational institutions - he, obviously, is destined for a happier childhood than others. In fact, children with early mental flowering can expect considerable difficulties both at home and at school in the course of age development.

First of all, it is important how parents and other older family members behave when an unusual child is discovered. Often, along with joy and pride, such a child also causes concern, even anxiety. Sometimes his parents are worried about what others, it would seem, can only dream of: the child reads all the books in the house; he is absorbed in solving problems; it can not be torn off from mounting any devices. This degree of addiction to mental work gives the impression of excessiveness. For example, a child brings 2-3 books from the library every day, very different, indiscriminately, immediately reads them, and changes them the next day. Often parents, with whom nothing of the kind has happened, cautiously look at such enthusiasm, at activities that are not age-appropriate. At the same time, it is far from always that adults manage to at least not bring down all their doubts and fears on the head of a child.

In other families, the giftedness of the child is accepted as a ready gift, which they rush to use, enjoy, which promises a great future. Here they admire the success of the child, the unusualness of his abilities and willingly demonstrate to friends and strangers. This is how childish vanity is warmed up; and on the basis of conceit and vanity, it is not so easy to find a common language with peers. In the future, this can turn into considerable grief for a growing person.

Thus, in the matter of educating gifted children, a great responsibility lies with specialists: teachers, child psychologists. They should prompt in time, direct parental education.

But a child with the flowering of intellect encounters difficulties of misunderstanding not only at home, in the family circle, but also at school, where everyone is taught the same way, and teaching often begins with what is no longer interesting to him.

It is for them, the most inquisitive, who often get bored in the classroom after the very first lessons. Already able to read and count, they have to stay idle while others master the alphabet and basic arithmetic. Of course, a lot depends on how the teaching is conducted. For example, developmental education carries something new for the strongest students (for them it can be especially attractive), but the trouble with our schools is that even the best teacher, dealing with a whole class, is deprived of the opportunity to focus on those who goes ahead...

Difficulties can begin with the fact that a child ahead of peers tends to constantly attract attention. The rapid completion of tasks, the readiness to answer correctly is not a teacher's question - for him a mental game, a competition. And he more hastily than others pulls his hand - joyful, anticipating approval. And at the same time, he constantly yearns for new mental food ... But after a while, this bothers the teacher, and other students, and himself. Such a student gradually becomes a burden to everyone in the class.

Often in the elementary grades, the most developed student almost ceases to be asked: the teacher is sure that he already knows. And when he sees that the teacher does not need his activity, and switches to something extraneous, the teacher’s dissatisfaction cannot be avoided: why is he distracted and not interested in classes?

So, at first an enthusiast of studies, the child becomes superfluous at school, and she is unnecessary to him. As a result, already in the first school years, and even more so in adolescence, many outstanding children find themselves in conflict with teachers. The reason for this conflict is that the most capable students need a load that would be according to their mental powers; and the secondary school, except for the secondary program, cannot offer them anything.

An outstanding student is a test for a teacher, especially if the main thing for the teacher is “to have order”. True, a considerable part of gifted children, in the end, somehow adapts to the general requirements. But this happens, in essence, at the cost of weakening, if not losing, some important features that distinguish such children. They are forced to become less independent, to slow down their curiosity and creative impulses. Their special abilities remain unclaimed.

There are other options school difficulties in a child with early mental flowering. Both parents and teachers expect and demand from him that he must be an exemplary student, an excellent student. But marks are often put not only for knowledge, but also for behavior, for handwriting. Gifted children get much more than others, for example, a task that is not completed in the form, for a statement not provided for by the topic in the lesson, for careless written work. And in some families, any decline in grades is perceived as a drama.

A child with high mental development often has difficulties in relationships with peers. It is known that conflicts that arise in the process of children's communication with each other are inevitable. With regard to gifted children, the situation is complicated by the fact that the difficulties that children experience in establishing and maintaining good relationships with their peers are intensified due to their high mental and speech development. In other words, the abilities of gifted children are a kind of barrier separating them from "average" peers. There are frequent cases when the general mass of schoolchildren does not perceive extraordinary peers, expels them from their ranks, hanging insulting labels, begins to actively reject such children from themselves, tries to put them in an awkward position. And a gifted child, in order not to be rejected, strives to be “like everyone else”: he avoids revealing himself to be the most knowledgeable or, moreover, the most diligent, withdraws into himself, becomes isolated.

Very often gifted children themselves are the source of their problems. It's no secret to anyone how difficult relationships can be between gifted children and their peers. True, in most sources they are described mainly in the same plane: the successes of gifted children are the envy of their peers and for a long time the basis for an arrogant attitude and arrogance on the part of these children. It is believed that conflicts and problems flow from here. A lot of additional experiences fall to the share of a gifted child if he is not given physical education, labor classes. Physical incompetence, timidity in a student who is far ahead of others mentally, will certainly become an occasion for ridicule. Friction with comrades is also caused by what children play: young intellectuals are drawn to various verbal games, to chess in those years when their peers are predominantly active and more fun games.

The level of intellectual development allows gifted children to analyze their own behavior, but due to normal age-related egocentrism, they need the help of adults. Gifted children are characterized by a fairly standard compatibility of behavioral patterns, so it is difficult for them to find a common language with their peers. In this regard, teachers of gifted children often note their desire to interrupt the interlocutor, correct him, demonstrate their own knowledge and turn others into an object of ridicule.

The reason for the desire of such children to interrupt the interlocutor lies in the fact that they are already aware of what is being said and are ready to complete the interlocutor's thought for him, offering his answer, although the interlocutor is not yet ready to accept it.

Such children grasp a thought on the fly, even if something new is being communicated to them, and strive to demonstrate their understanding. Such an "interrupting", premature response is a reflection of the standard speed of perception of interlocutors.

In each such case, the child obviously believes that all other listeners participating in this conversation perceive and process information at the same speed. Here the child lacks patience, which takes place not only in communication with peers, but also in the classroom at school, in communication with adults.

As a result, the gifted child encounters alienation. He does not understand the negative reaction to his act, which, in his opinion, was supposed to show generality, and by no means superiority. In response to the apparent rejection of others, gifted children often use two types of weapons - a rich language reserve and a keen perception of the vulnerable sides of friends or family members. Because of this, their retaliatory attacks are often more painful than what provoked them. This kind of demonstration of strength is expressed in ridicule, mockery, ruthless sarcasm towards other children.

Research by P. Torrens showed that gifted children quickly pass the initial levels of intelligence development and resist all types of non-creative work. This creates a lot of problems, is assessed by teachers as stubbornness, laziness or stupidity. The low psychological level of teacher training for working with children who show non-standard behavior and thinking leads to the fact that, when evaluating their wards, teachers note demonstrativeness in them, a desire to do everything their own way, hysteria, inability to follow accepted patterns. In addition, the originality of creative thinking is often assessed by others as a deviation. Gifted children have to spend about 2/3 of the time at school in vain, showing "intellectual sabotage". Gifted children go through the initial levels of social adaptation much faster than their peers (obedience and exemplary behavior, focused on obtaining a positive assessment from adults); in adolescence, they often seem to bypass the phase of childish conformity and resist standard rules, group norms, and intragroup orientations toward authoritarian leaders.

Researchers show a higher sensitivity of gifted children to new situations, which leads to particular difficulties.

L. Hollingworth, studying the problems of adaptation of gifted children, identified the following psychological problems:

1. School dislike. This attitude often comes from the fact that the curriculum is boring and uninteresting for gifted children. Behavioral disturbances may appear because the curriculum does not match their abilities.
2. gaming interests. Gifted children enjoy complex games and are not interested in those that their peers are fond of. As a result, a gifted child finds himself in isolation, withdraws into himself.
3. conformity. Gifted children, while rejecting standard requirements, are not inclined to conformism, especially if these standards run counter to their interests.
4. Immersion in philosophical problems. It is common for gifted children to ponder over such phenomena as death, the afterlife, religious beliefs, and philosophical issues.
5. Discrepancy between physical, intellectual and social development. Gifted children often prefer to associate with older children. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult for them to become leaders.
6. The pursuit of excellence. Gifted children are characterized by an inner need for perfection. Hence the feeling of dissatisfaction, their own inadequacy and low self-esteem.
7. Need for adult attention. Due to the desire for knowledge, gifted children often monopolize the attention of teachers, parents and other adults. This causes friction in relationships with other children. Often, gifted children are intolerant of children who are below them in intellectual development. They may alienate others with remarks of contempt or impatience.

Parents and educators working with gifted children should help the child gain a normal self-perception and change this or that undesirable behavior model.

5. Teaching methods for gifted children

Since gifted children have a higher level of intellectual development, can absorb material faster and deeper than most of their peers, they need slightly different teaching methods.

One way to solve these problems can be enrichment and acceleration.

In a typical school setting, acceleration takes the form of a child entering first grade earlier and then "jumping" through grades.

Acceleration has both positive and negative features. On the one hand, a gifted child receives a load adequate to his abilities and gets rid of the tedious boredom of slow progress through the material, which is necessary for his less developed peers. On the other hand, however, heavy workloads and age-inappropriate social situations are sometimes too difficult for the precocious child.

Another method of supporting the education of gifted children - enrichment - most often in our country takes the form of additional classes in various circles (in mathematics, physics, modeling, etc.), sections, schools of special disciplines (music, drawing, etc.) . In these circles, there is usually the possibility of an individual approach to the child and work at a fairly complex level that does not allow boredom. Thus, sufficient motivation and good conditions are created for the progress of a gifted child. The problem here is that a child who attends a circle (or circles) continues to study general education subjects in a way that does not correspond to the characteristics of his intellect.

A more systematic and theoretically substantiated method of enrichment was developed by a well-known specialist in the field of giftedness psychology J. Renzulli. This method involves three levels. The first level includes classes on general familiarization with broad, sometimes ideological topics that go beyond the normal school curriculum. The aim of the work within the first level, covering all, and not just especially gifted children, is to help students find an area of ​​interest to them. The second level is aimed at the development of cognitive and emotional processes. A feature of the Resnulli method is an attempt to combine cognitive learning with the interests of the child, manifested on the basis of first-level classes. The first two levels are designed for all children, but in the course of these classes, those who can be considered especially gifted in some areas stand out from the total number. These children are admitted to the third, highest level of enrichment in the Resnulli system. Work within the framework of this third level involves independent individual research of the student in the area that is of greatest interest to him, thereby the child gains experience of his own creative work: not just the assimilation of knowledge accumulated by people, but the production of their own product. The Reznulli system thus includes not just methods of intellectual enrichment of students, but also methods of identifying the most gifted of them based on the very educational process rather than psychological tests. This ensures a certain "democratic" work, emphasized by the fact that two of its three levels are provided to all students, and not just a select few. In addition, three levels allow you to include a very important point in the formation of interests before independent work.

The second way - special schools for gifted children: lyceums, gymnasiums. The activities of such institutions are based on a number of scientific principles.

Find a growth point. To successfully work with a gifted child, the school must find him forte and give him the opportunity to show it, feel the taste of success and believe in his abilities. Then and only then the student will have interest, develop motivation, which is a necessary condition for success.

Identification of individual characteristics. Giftedness does not lie on the surface, it may be invisible to the "naked eye".

Lessons on an individual schedule. The goal of keeping the child in his points of growth implies the possibility of an individual speed of advancement in various disciplines. The child should be able to study mathematics, native or foreign language etc. not with his peers, but with those children with whom he is on the same level of knowledge and skills.

Small study groups. It is desirable that study groups do not exceed 10 people. Only in this case can a truly individual approach be achieved and provide an individual schedule for students.

Special help. The condition for successful pedagogy of giftedness is the provision of assistance, which involves both individual lessons with specialists and special means in the classroom.

Education of leadership qualities. Creative activity is characterized by the ability to independently, without regard to others, choose the scope of their activity and move forward.

Curriculums that open up space for creativity. Programs for gifted children should provide opportunities for independent work and consideration of complex worldview problems.

Organization of classes according to the type of "free class". This type of activity, which is acceptable for small group sizes, involves the possibility of students moving around the classroom during classes, the formation of groups occupied with various issues, and the relatively free choice of work by children.

The teacher's style is co-creation with students. When working with gifted children, a teacher should strive not so much to convey a certain body of knowledge as to help students make independent conclusions and discoveries. This approach is also connected with the fact that the teacher does not establish unambiguous assessments of correctness, the standard of the correct answer. Pupils argue with each other and evaluate different possibilities of answers.

Selection of teachers. The selection of teachers should be based not only on their competence and ability to find an approach to students. Consequently, the selection of teachers should also take into account the factor of personal creativity, the brightness of the candidate.

Working with parents. Parents should be provided with non-banal information about their children, their strengths and weaknesses and development prospects.

Formation of correct relations between students. The attitude towards leadership and competition should not turn into aggressive forms of student behavior. A firm ban must be imposed on any verbal or physical aggression.

Individual psychological help. Even with the most rational organization of the educational process, the emergence of personal problems in gifted students cannot be ruled out. In this case, they should be assisted by a professional psychologist.

It is easy to see that the stated principles form a kind of maximum program, which is not easy to implement in full. However, the experience of their application shows their great developmental effect. Positive results can be achieved even if these principles are partially implemented.

The practice of developing gifted students involves the development and implementation of special programs and teaching materials aimed at teaching gifted children creativity, the ability to communicate, the formation of leadership and other personal qualities that contribute to the future social realization of a creative personality.

Passov (1982) proposed 7 principles of curriculum specialization for gifted and talented children of different ages.

1. The content of the curriculum should provide for a long, in-depth study of the most important problems, ideas and topics that integrate knowledge with structures of thought.
2. The curriculum for gifted and talented children should provide for the development of productive thinking, as well as skills for its practical application, which allows students to rethink existing knowledge and generate new ones.
3. The curriculum for gifted and talented children should give them the opportunity to join the ever-changing, developing knowledge and new information, instill in them the desire to acquire knowledge.
4. The curriculum for gifted and talented children should provide for the availability and free use of appropriate sources.
5. The curriculum for gifted and talented children should encourage their initiative and independence in learning and development.
6. The curriculum for gifted and talented children should contribute to the development of their consciousness and self-awareness, understanding of relationships with other people, nature, culture, etc.
7. The curriculum for gifted and talented children should be evaluated according to the previously outlined principles. At the same time, special attention is paid to the complex mental processes of children, their abilities for creativity and performing skills.

These principles are designed to help professionals involved in the education of gifted and talented children.

The following are some of the most important abilities and skills to be developed in gifted children.

1. Cognitive abilities and skills
2. Possession of a large amount of information.
3. Rich vocabulary.
4. Transferring what you have learned to new material.
5. Establishment of causal relationships.
6. Finding hidden dependencies and relationships.
7. The ability to draw conclusions.
8. Ability to integrate and synthesize information.
9. Participation in solving complex problems.
10. Organization of information.
11. Ability to capture complex ideas.
12. The ability to notice subtle differences.
13. Sensitivity to contradictions.
14. Using alternative ways to find information.
15. Situation analysis.
16. The ability to evaluate both the process itself and the result.
17. Ability to anticipate consequences.
18. The ability to reason.
19. Building hypotheses.
20. Application of ideas in practice.
21. The ability to transform.
22. Critical thinking.
23. High curiosity.
24. 2.Creativity
25. The ability to take risks.
26. Divergent thinking.
27. Flexibility in thought and action.
28. Speed ​​of thought.
29. The ability to express original ideas, to invent something new.
30. Rich imagination.
31. Perception of ambiguous things.
32. high aesthetic value.
33. Developed intuition.
34. 3. Features of the emotional sphere
35. Realistic self-concept.
36. Respect for others.
37. Empathy for people.
38. Tolerance for other people's idiosyncrasies.
39. Tendency to introspection.
40. Tolerant attitude towards criticism.
41. Willingness to share things and ideas.
42. Persistence in completing the task.
43. Independence in thought and behavior.
44. Lack of impatience in anticipation of reward.
45. Competitiveness.
46. Sense of humor.
47. Sensitivity to the analysis of moral problems.
48. Confidence in your strengths and abilities.

intrinsic motivation.

Chapter 1 Conclusions

The ambiguity of the term "giftedness" in the scientific literature indicates the multidimensionality of the problem of a holistic approach to the sphere of abilities. In domestic psychology, the concepts of "ability", "giftedness" and "talent" are differentiated on a single basis - the success of the activity. Abilities are considered as individual psychological characteristics of a person. Abilities are the result of the development of inclinations.

A qualitatively peculiar combination of abilities necessary for the successful performance of any activity is called giftedness.

In general, giftedness can be represented as a system that includes the following components:

· biophysiological, anatomical and physiological inclinations;

· sensory - perceptual blocks, characterized by increased sensitivity;

· intellectual and mental capabilities that allow you to assess new situations and solve new problems;

· emotional-volitional structures that predetermine long-term dominant orientations and their artificial maintenance;

The types of giftedness include artistic, general intellectual or academic giftedness, creative, social giftedness.

Most gifted children have special traits that distinguish them from most of their peers. In terms of mental development, gifted children are distinguished by high curiosity and research activity; the ability to trace causal relationships and draw appropriate conclusions; excellent memory, which is based on early mastery of speech and abstract thinking; the ability to classify information and experience, the ability to widely use the accumulated knowledge; a large vocabulary, accompanied by complex syntactic constructions; increased concentration of attention on something, perseverance in achieving results.

Modern research shows that harmony in the development of various aspects of the psyche of a gifted person is a relative rarity. Gifted children and adolescents often suffer from the so-called dyssynchrony in the pace of development of the intellectual, affective and motor spheres. By "dyssynchrony" is meant the effect of the accelerated development of one of the mental processes in combination with the usual (age-appropriate) or even slow development of another.

Gifted children are at high risk of social exclusion and rejection by their peers.

5. Since gifted children have a higher level of mental intellectual development, they can absorb material faster and deeper than most of their peers, they need slightly different teaching methods. One of the ways to solve these problems can be enrichment and acceleration. The practice of developing gifted students involves the development and implementation of special programs and educational materials aimed at teaching gifted children creativity, communication skills, the formation of leadership and other personal qualities that contribute to the future social realization of a creative personality.

Chapter 2

1 Study of the structure of intelligence (Amthauer test)

The intelligence structure test was first described by R. Amthauer in 1953. The group test is intended to assess the intelligence structure of persons aged 13 years and older. Amthauer included in his test tasks for diagnosing the following components of intelligence: verbal, counting and mathematical, spatial, mnemonic.

The test consists of 9 subtests, each of which is aimed at measuring different functions of intelligence.

Sat. logical selection.

Designed to explore inductive thinking and language sense. The subject's task is to complete the sentence with one of the given words.

Sat. Definition of common features.

Aimed at the study of the ability to abstract, operate with verbal concepts. In tasks, 5 words are offered, of which 4 are united by meaning, one is superfluous.

assignments. Time - 6 minutes. The maximum score is 20 points.

Sat. Analogies.

Aimed at the study of combinatorial abilities. There are 3 words in the task. Between 1 and 2 there is a connection, after the third dash. It is necessary to choose from 5 options one that is associated with the third, as the first with the second.

Sat. Classification.

Focused on the study of the ability to make judgments. The examinee must identify two words general concept. 16 tasks. Time - 8 minutes. Evaluation depending on the level of generalization Maximum evaluation - 32 points.

Sat. Account assignments.

Aimed at the assessment of practical, mathematical thinking.

assignments. Time - 10 minutes. The maximum score is 20 points.

Sat. Rows of numbers.

Aimed at the study of inductive thinking and the ability to operate with numbers. The subject must establish the pattern of the number series and extend it. 20 tasks. Time - 10 minutes. The maximum score is 20 points.

Sat. Choice of figures.

Aimed at the study of spatial imagination, combinatorial abilities. The tasks are divided into parts of geometric shapes.

assignments. Time - 7 minutes. The maximum score is 20 points.

Sat. Problems with cubes.

Aimed at the study of spatial imagination and combinatorial abilities. In each task, a cube is shown in a changed position.

assignments. Time - 9 minutes. The maximum score is 20 points.

Sat. A task on the ability to focus attention and retain what has been learned in memory.

It is proposed to memorize 25 words and find them among the proposed other tasks.

assignments. Learning time 3 minutes. Run time 6 minutes Maximum score - 20 points.

In total, the test contains 176 tasks. Total run time 90 minutes. The maximum score is 192 points.

Test procedure:

To organize and conduct testing, it is necessary to prepare workbooks. The answers to the tasks fit them into the answer forms. Before completing the tasks, the experimenter analyzes, together with the participants, examples of problem solving.

Analysis of the results: For children 12 - 13 years old

Raw scores Intelligence level > 100 Very high > 90 high > 71-89 normal

2 Research on the creative thinking of gifted children (Modified Williams Creative Tests)

Among the many abilities that are most important for a child's growth and development, the area of ​​creativity remains the least supported by valid assessment methods. The author of the modified tests is E.E. Tunic.

This toolkit has been developed to meet this need; it is a system for measuring eight factors of divergent thinking and personality characteristics according to the Williams model.

Table 1 Williams' model of creative behavior of the child

Creative factors Meaning Cognitive-intellectual creative factors Thinking fluency Thinking up as many ideas as possible Generating a large number of ideas Thought fluency Not one but several relevant answers Flexibility in thinking Use different approaches Diversity of idea types Ability to move from one category to another Direct thought in detours Originality of thinking Unique or new ways of thinking Unusual answers Original, non-standard ideas Departure from the obvious, generally accepted Elaboration of thinking Add to ... Ennoble an idea Embellish a simple idea or answer to make it more interesting, deep Expand, add something to the main idea Personal-individual creative factors Ability to take risks Have courage ... Structurally accept criticism, assume the possibility of failure Try to make assumptions, make guesses Operate in unstructured conditions Protect your own ideas Complexity (complexity) Explore the unknown (Being prepared...) Seeking many alternatives Seeing the difference between what is and what could be Tidying up the messy Dealing with complex problems Doubting the only right decision Curiosity Being prepared... Having a desire... Being inquisitive and interested Play with ideas Find a way out of confusing situations; Show interest in riddles, puzzles Reflect on the hidden meaning of phenomena Follow a premonition, just see what happens Imagination Have the power to...Visualize and build mental images

CAP is a set of tests consisting of two methods for children: the Test of divergent (creative) thinking and the Test of creative personality characteristics. The third method, the Williams Scale, is intended for parents and teachers to evaluate the same studied factors that characterize creative children.

All three techniques can be used to identify and assess the most important factors associated with creativity, which are found to some extent in all children.

These techniques can be used by teachers who are interested in identifying and developing the various abilities of children, and not just in the traditional assessment of academic achievement and testing of intelligence.

The adapted version can be used for children from 5 to 17 years old, that is, for children of older kindergarten groups, as well as for schoolchildren.

The divergent thinking test can be used for children from 5 to 17 years old. The second part - Test of personal creative characteristics (self-assessment) for children from 5 to 11 grades of the school. And, finally, the third part - the Scale for assessing personal creative manifestations by parents and teachers - for children from 5 to 17 years old.

The divergent thinking test is aimed at diagnosing a combination of verbal left hemispheric indicators and right hemispheric visual-perceptual indicators. Data are assessed using four factors of divergent thinking: fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration, obtained as a result of factor analysis, in the study of intelligence by Gilford. The full test reflects the cognitive-affective processes of synchronous activity of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

The Creative Personality Test is a 50-item questionnaire that measures how inquisitive, imaginative, problem-solving, and risk-taking children perceive themselves to be. The results are presented as a total raw score and four individual scores for curiosity, imagination, complexity, and risk-taking. These factors are individual-personal in nature and correspond to the alternation of left hemisphere verbal analysis with right hemisphere processes. Therefore, both test methods meet the criteria that require either the alternating work of the hemispheres, or their integration in information processing through synthesis.

The Williams scale is a questionnaire that can be used to evaluate eight factors of creativity, determined in the two previous tests, through observation. The questionnaire contains 6 characteristics for each of the eight factors on which parents and teachers are asked to evaluate the child.

Applying these tests, we get the opportunity to assess the totality of the various cognitive and personal qualities of the child.

These tests make it possible to assess the cognitive and affective-personal divergent qualities of children for:

selecting children whose talents and creativity could not be assessed using previously existing methods;

selection of children for education using the program for the gifted, in order to develop creative abilities;

identifying and placing in special groups for special or individual programs or for regular classes those children who were previously considered incompetent due to poor academic performance or low IQ scores.

2.1 Divergent (creative) thinking test

Order of conduct:

Conducted in a group, limited in time: 20 minutes for senior grades (4-11 grades), 25 minutes for junior grades (1-3 and kindergarten children). In elementary grades, children can verbally name captions for drawings.

Instruction:

Before starting testing, you need to read the instructions for the Divergent Thinking Test: “This task will help you find out how capable you are of creative self-expression using drawings. 12 drawings are offered. Work fast. Try to draw such an unusual picture that no one else can come up with. You will be given 20 (25) minutes to draw your drawings. Work the squares in order, don't randomly jump from one square to another. When creating a picture, use a line or shape inside each square to make it part of your picture. You can draw anywhere within the square, depending on what you want to represent. You can use different colors to make the drawings interesting and unusual. After completing each drawing, think of an interesting title and write the title in the line below the picture. Don't worry about correct spelling. Creating an original name is more important than handwriting and spelling. Your title should tell about what is shown in the picture, reveal its meaning.

Data processing:

The described four cognitive factors of divergent thinking closely correlate with the creative manifestation of the personality (right hemispheric, visual, synthetic style of thinking). They are assessed together with the fifth factor characterizing the ability for vocabulary synthesis (left hemisphere, verbal style of thinking). The result is five indicators expressed in raw scores:

fluency (B)

flexibility (G)

originality (O)

development (P)

name (H)

Fluency - productivity, is determined by counting the number of drawings made by the child, regardless of their content.

Rationale: Creative individuals work productively, and more fluency is associated with this. The range of possible points is from 1 to 12 (one point for each drawing).

Flexibility is the number of changes to a drawing category, counting from the first drawing.

living (F) - a person, a person, a flower, a tree, any plant, fruit, animal, insect, fish, bird, etc.

mechanical, object (M) - a boat, a spaceship, a bicycle, a car, a tool, a toy, equipment, furniture, household items, dishes, etc.

symbolic (C) - letter, number, name, coat of arms, flag, symbolic designation, etc.

specific, genre (B) - city, highway, house, yard, park, space, mountains, etc.

Rationale: Creative individuals often prefer to change things rather than sticking inertly to one path or one category. Their thinking is not fixed, but mobile. The range of possible points is from 1 to 11, depending on how many times the category of the picture will change, not counting the first one.

Originality is the location (inside-outside relative to the stimulus figure) where the drawing is done. Each square contains a stimulus line or shape that will serve as a constraint for less creative people. The most original are those who draw inside and outside the given stimulus figure.

Rationale: less creative individuals usually ignore the closed stimulus figure and draw outside of it, i.e. the drawing will only be outside. More creative people will work inside the closed part. Highly creative people will synthesize, combine, and will not be constrained by any closed circuit, i.e. the drawing will be both outside and inside the stimulus figure.

score - draw only outside.

points - draw only inside.

points - draw both outside and inside.

The total raw score for originality (O) is equal to the sum of the scores for this factor for all drawings.

Elaboration - symmetry-asymmetry, where the details are located that make the pattern asymmetric.

points - symmetrically internal and external space.

score - asymmetrically outside the closed contour.

points - asymmetrically within a closed contour.

points - asymmetrically completely: external details on both sides of the contour are different and the image inside the contour is asymmetrical.

The total raw score for elaboration (P) is the sum of scores for the elaboration factor for all drawings.

The title is the richness of the vocabulary (the number of words used in the title) and the ability to figuratively convey the essence of what is depicted in the drawings (direct description or hidden meaning, subtext).

points - no name given

score - a name consisting of one word without a definition.

points - a phrase, a few words that reflect what is drawn in the picture.

point - a figurative name that expresses more than what is shown in the picture, i.e. a hidden meaning.

The total raw score for the title (N) will be equal to the sum of the scores for this factor received for each figure. Stimulus material for the test is available in Appendix 1.

2.2.2 Test of personal creative characteristics

How to:

Instruction:

This activity will help you figure out how creative you think you are. Among the following short sentences, you will find some that definitely suit you better than others. They should be marked with an "X" in the "Mostly true" column. Some sentences are only partially true for you, they should be marked with an "X" in the "Somewhat true" column. Other statements will not suit you at all, they should be marked with an "X" in the "Mostly false" column. Those statements about which you cannot decide should be marked with an "X" in the "Can't decide" column.

Take notes for each sentence and do not think for a long time. There are no right or wrong answers here. Note the first thing that comes to mind when you read a sentence. This task has no time limit, but work as quickly as possible. Remember that as you answer each sentence, you should note how you really feel about yourself. Put an "X" in the column that best suits you. For each question, select only one answer.

The text of the questionnaire is available in Appendix No. 2.

The key to the questionnaire is in Appendix No. 3.

Data processing:

When evaluating the data of the questionnaire, four factors are used that are closely correlated with the creative manifestations of the individual. They include: Curiosity (L), Imagination (C), Complexity (C) and Risk Taking (R). When processing data, a key is used. The sign "0" in the key indicates answers corresponding to a score of two (2) points. All responses that are on squares that do not fit into holes receive one (1) point, except for the last "Don't know" column. Responses in this column receive minus one (-1) point in raw scores and are subtracted from the total score.

The factor code in the fourth column of the key is used to indicate which of the four factors applies to each individual question. This questionnaire was designed to assess the extent to which risk-taking (R), inquisitive (L), imaginative (C) and complex idea (C) subjects consider themselves to be. Of the 50 items, 12 statements relate to curiosity, 12 to imagination, 13 to the ability to take risks, and 13 statements to the complexity factor.

The factor scores and the total raw score better demonstrate the child's strengths (high raw score) and weaknesses (low raw score). The individual factor score and the total raw score can then be converted to standard scores and noted on the student's individual profile.

2.3 Williams scale (questionnaire for parents and teachers)

The Williams scale - a questionnaire for parents and teachers to assess the creativity (creativity) of a child - is carried out individually, its time is limited.

The scale consists of eight subsections - indicators that characterize the behavior of creative children. For each indicator, six statements are given, according to which the teacher and parents should evaluate the child in such a way as to best characterize him. When choosing between the answers “often”, “sometimes” and “rarely”, you should mark with an X the answer that most accurately characterizes the type of behavior that the child most often demonstrates. At the end of the Scale, there are four questions to answer to get more information about the child.

The text of the questionnaire for parents and teachers is available in Appendix No. 4.

Instruction:

Circle one of the letters on the answer sheet to the right of the number of the corresponding statement. The meaning of the letter chosen should best describe the behavior of the child. In this case, the letters have the following meanings:

H - often I - sometimes R - rarely

Data processing:

All eight factors - divergent thinking (4) and personal creative characteristics (4) of the Williams model are included in this scale for evaluation by parents and teachers. For each factor, 6 statements are presented, for each statement a choice of 3 possible types of behavior is given: "often", "sometimes" and "rarely".

The score calculation consists of the following procedures:

Number of responses in the "often" column x 2 =

Number of answers in the "sometimes" column x 1 =

Number of responses in the "rarely" column x 0 =

Number of answers in "open" questions, with the answer "yes" and comments x 1 ==

Number of answers in "open" answers, with the answer "no" x 0 =

This is a quantitative calculation of the available data. Evaluation of notes and comments can help those who write programs for creative students by ranking the frequency of occurrence of the same or similar comments. The maximum possible total raw score is 100.

In general, normative data on tests are given in Appendix No. 5.

ability gifted children

Chapter 2 Conclusions

Diagnostic examination of gifted schoolchildren is an integral part of the work of a school psychologist and is carried out in order to determine the main directions of developmental work.

In order to study the structure of intelligence, the characteristic of the Amthauer test is given, which includes tasks for diagnosing the following components of intelligence: verbal, counting and mathematical, spatial, mnemonic. The test consists of 9 subtests, each of which is aimed at measuring different functions of intelligence.

Among the numerous abilities that are most important for the growth and development of a child, the area of ​​creativity is one of the most significant in the diagnosis of giftedness. Modified Tests Williams (SAR) is a system for measuring eight factors of divergent thinking and personality characteristics according to the Williams model. The CAP is a set of tests consisting of three methods for children:

The CAP was originally designed to select gifted and talented children for schools with federal, state, and local creative development programs. ATS is currently available to measure the creativity of all children.

Conclusion

The ambiguity of the term "giftedness" in the scientific literature indicates the multidimensionality of the problem of a holistic approach to the sphere of abilities. In domestic psychology, the concepts of "ability", "giftedness" and "talent" are differentiated on a single basis - the success of the activity. Abilities are considered as individual psychological characteristics of a person. Abilities are the result of the development of inclinations.

Makings - congenital anatomical and physiological features of the body. These include, first of all, the features of the structure of the brain, the sense organs and movement, and the properties of the nervous system. The inclinations are only opportunities and prerequisites for the development of abilities, but do not yet guarantee, do not predetermine the emergence and development of certain abilities. Arising on the basis of inclinations, abilities develop in the process and under the influence of activities that require certain abilities from a person. Outside of activity, no abilities can develop.

A qualitatively peculiar combination of abilities necessary for the successful performance of any activity is called giftedness.

In general, giftedness can be represented as a system that includes the following components:

· biophysiological, anatomical and physiological inclinations;

· sensory - perceptual blocks, characterized by increased sensitivity;

· intellectual and mental capabilities that allow you to assess new situations and solve new problems;

· emotional-volitional structures that predetermine long-term dominant orientations and their artificial maintenance;

· a high level of production of new images, fantasy, imagination and a number of others.

The types of giftedness include artistic, general intellectual or academic giftedness, creative, social giftedness.

Most gifted children have special traits that distinguish them from most of their peers. In terms of mental development, gifted children are distinguished by high curiosity and research activity; the ability to trace causal relationships and draw appropriate conclusions; excellent memory, which is based on early mastery of speech and abstract thinking; the ability to classify information and experience, the ability to widely use the accumulated knowledge; a large vocabulary, accompanied by complex syntactic constructions; increased concentration of attention on something, perseverance in achieving results.

In the field of psychosocial development, gifted children are characterized by the following features. Often, gifted children have a strong sense of justice, which manifests itself very early. They set high standards for themselves and those around them. In addition, giftedness researchers point to such character traits of gifted children as competitiveness, hypersensitivity to problems and perfectionism - the desire to bring the results of any of their activities to meet the highest requirements.

Modern research shows that harmony in the development of various aspects of the psyche of a gifted person is a relative rarity. Gifted children and adolescents often suffer from the so-called dyssynchrony in the pace of development of the intellectual, affective and motor spheres. By "dyssynchrony" is meant the effect of the accelerated development of one of the mental processes in combination with the usual (age-appropriate) or even slow development of another.

Gifted children are at high risk of social exclusion and rejection by their peers. Since gifted children have a higher level of intellectual development, can absorb material faster and deeper than most of their peers, they need slightly different teaching methods. One of the ways to solve these problems can be enrichment and acceleration. The practice of developing gifted students involves the development and implementation of special programs and educational materials aimed at teaching gifted children creativity, communication skills, the formation of leadership and other personal qualities that contribute to the future social realization of a creative personality.

Diagnostic examination of gifted schoolchildren is an integral part of the work of a school psychologist and is carried out in order to determine the main directions of developmental work. In order to study the structure of intelligence, the characteristic of the Amthauer test is given, which includes tasks for diagnosing the following components of intelligence: verbal, counting and mathematical, spatial, mnemonic. The test consists of 9 subtests, each of which is aimed at measuring different functions of intelligence.

Among the numerous abilities that are most important for the growth and development of a child, the area of ​​creativity is one of the most significant in the diagnosis of giftedness. The Modified Williams Tests (SAT) is a system for measuring eight factors of divergent thinking and personality characteristics according to the Williams model. The CAP is a set of tests consisting of three methods for children:

The divergent (creative) thinking test is aimed at diagnosing a combination of verbal left hemispheric indicators and right hemisphere visual-perceptual indicators.

The Creative Personality Test is a questionnaire that allows you to find out how inquisitive, endowed with imagination, able to understand complex ideas and capable of taking risks, children consider themselves.

The Williams scale is intended for parents and teachers to evaluate the same studied factors that characterize creative children.

The CAP was originally designed to select gifted and talented children for schools with federal, state, and local creative development programs. ATS is currently available to measure the creativity of all children.

Used Books

1. Azarova L.N. How to develop a creative personality junior schoolchildren. // Journal of Practical Psychology.- 1998.- No. 4.- p.83.
2. Amthauer R. Test of the structure of intelligence. Obninsk, Printer publishing house, 1993.
3. Bogoyavlenskaya D.B. Intellectual activity as a problem of creativity. Rostov n / D., 1983.
4. Bruno J. et al. Gifted children: psychological and pedagogical research and practice. // Psychological journal. - 1995.- No. 4.- p.73.
5. Gilbukh Yu. Z. Attention: gifted children. M. Knowledge., 1991
6. Leites N.S. On mental giftedness. M. Pros., 1960
7. Is it easy to be gifted? N. Leites. Family and school, №6 1990 page 34.
8. Loseva A.A. The work of a practical psychologist with gifted children adolescence. // Journal of Practical Psychology. - 1998. - No. 3 - p84.
9. Matyushkin A.M. Giftedness Mysteries. M., 1992.
10. Melhorn G., Melhorn H.-G. Geniuses are not born: Society and human abilities: Book. for the teacher: Per. from German - M., Enlightenment, 1989. - 160 p.
11. gifted children. Per. from English / Under the general ed. Burmenskaya G.V., Slutsky V.M. - M., Progress, 1991. - 383 p.
12. Ponomarev Ya.A. Psychology of creativity. M., 1976.
13. Psychology of giftedness in children and adolescents: Uchebn. manual for students of higher and secondary pedagogical educational institutions / Yu. D. Babaeva, N. S. Leites, T. M. Maryutina and others; ed. N. S. Leites - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2000.
14. Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. M., 1946.
15. Teplov B.M. Selected works: In 2 volumes - M .: Pedagogy, 1985.
16. Tunik E.E. Psychodiagnostics of creative thinking. Creative tests. S.-P., 1997.- 35 p.
17. Dictionary of practical psychologist / Comp. S.Yu. Golovin. - Minsk: Harvest, M.: AST Publishing House LLC, 2001.
18. S.S. Stepanov. "Psychological dictionary for parents", M., 1996.
19. Shumakova N.B. Interdisciplinary approach to teaching gifted children. // Question. psychology. - 1996.- No. 3.- p.34.
20. Efroimson V.P. The Riddle of Genius. M. Knowledge, 1991
21. Yurkevich V.S. A gifted child: illusions and reality: A book for teachers and parents. - M.: Enlightenment, Educational literature, 1996.

Attachment 1

Stimulus material for the divergent thinking test

Appendix 2

QUESTIONNAIRE

"Self-assessment of the creative characteristics of the individual"

If I don't know the correct answer, then I try to guess it.

I like to examine the subject carefully and in detail, to discover details that I have not seen before.

I usually ask questions if I don't know something.

I don't like planning ahead.

Before I play a new game, I have to make sure that I can win.

I like to imagine what I will need to know or do.

If something fails me the first time, I will work until I do it.

I will never choose a game that others are not familiar with.

I'd rather do things as usual than look for new ways.

I like to find out if everything is really so.

I like doing something new.

I love making new friends.

I like to think about things that have never happened to me.

I usually don't waste time daydreaming that someday I'll be a famous artist, musician, or poet.

Some of my ideas capture me so much that I forget about everything in the world.

I would rather live and work on a space station than here on Earth.

I get nervous if I don't know what's going to happen next.

I love what is unusual.

I often try to imagine what other people are thinking.

I like stories or TV shows about events that happened in the past.

I like to discuss my ideas with friends.

I usually remain calm when I do something wrong or make a mistake.

When I grow up, I would like to do or accomplish something that no one else has done before me.

I choose friends who always do things the usual way.

Many existing rules usually do not suit me.

26. I like to solve even a problem that does not have a correct answer.

There are many things I would like to experiment with.

If I once found an answer to a question, I will stick to it and not look for other answers.

I don't like speaking in front of a class.

When I read or watch TV, I imagine myself as one of the characters.

I like to imagine how people lived 200 years ago.

I don't like it when my friends are indecisive.

I love to explore old suitcases and boxes just to see what they might contain.

I would like my parents and teachers to do everything as usual and not change.

I trust my feelings, premonitions.

It's interesting to guess something and see if I'm right.

It is interesting to take on puzzles and games in which you need to calculate your further moves.

I am interested in mechanisms, curious to see what they have inside and how they work.

My best friends don't like stupid ideas.

I love to invent something new, even if it is impossible to put into practice.

I like it when everything is in its place.

I would be interested in looking for answers to questions that will arise in the future.

I love trying new things to see what happens.

I'm more interested in playing my favorite games just for fun, and not for the sake of winning.

I like to think about something interesting, about something that no one has thought of before.

When I see a picture of someone I don't know, I'm curious to know who it is.

I love flipping through books and magazines just to see what's in them.

I think that most questions have one correct answer.

I like to ask questions about things that other people don't think about.

I have many interesting things to do at school and at home.

Annex 3

The key to the questionnaire "Self-assessment of the creative characteristics of the individual"

No. of questions Mostly true (YES) Somewhat true (maybe) Mostly wrong (NO) Can't decide (don't know) No. of questions Mostly true (YES) Somewhat true (maybe) Mostly wrong (No) Can't решить (не знаю)10Р260С20Л270Л30Л280Л40С290Р50Р300В60В310В70С320Р80Р330Л90С340Р100С350Р110Л360Р120Л370Л130В380Л140В390В150С400В160В410С170С420С180С430Р190Л440Р200В450В210Р460В220Р470Л230В480С240С490Л250Р500С

Appendix 4

Williams scale. Questionnaire for parents and teachers to assess the creativity of the child.

Section I. FLUENESS

The child gives several answers when asked a question.

Child draws several pictures when asked to draw one

The child has several thoughts (ideas) about something instead of one.

The child asks a lot of questions.

The child uses a large number of words, expressing his thoughts.

The child works quickly and productively.

Section II. FLEXIBILITY

The child suggests several ways to use the object that are different from the usual way.

The child expresses many thoughts, ideas about a picture, story, poem or problem.

The child can transfer the semantic meaning of one object to another object.

A child can easily change one focus of vision (approach) to a possible other.

The child comes up with many ideas and explores them.

The child thinks of different ways to solve the problem.

Section III. ORIGINALITY

The child likes that the objects in the room are not located in the central part, he also prefers asymmetrical patterns and images.

The child is not satisfied with one correct answer and looks for other possible answers.

The child thinks in an unusual and original way (out of the box).

The child enjoys unusual ways of doing things and dislikes the usual ways.

After a child has read or heard about a problem, they begin to come up with unusual solutions.

The child explores common methods and comes up with new methods to solve a problem.

Section IV. DEVELOPMENT

The child adds lines, different colors and details to his drawing.

The child understands the deep, hidden meaning of answers or solutions and suggests the deepest meaning.

The child refuses someone else's idea and changes it in some way.

The child wants to embellish or complement other people's work or idea.

The child shows little interest in ordinary objects, he adds details to improve them.

The child changes the rules of the game.

Section V. CURIOSITY

The child asks everyone and everything.

The child likes to study the structure of mechanical things.

The child is constantly looking for new ways (ways) of thinking.

The child loves to explore new things and ideas.

The child is looking for different ways to solve the problem.

The child studies books, games, maps, pictures, etc., in order to learn as much as possible.

Section VI. IMAGINATION

The child makes up stories about places he has never seen.

The child imagines how others will solve the problem that he solves himself.

The child dreams of different places and things.

The child likes to think about things he has not experienced.

The child sees what is depicted in the pictures and drawings in an unusual way, not like others.

The child often experiences surprise at various ideas and events.

Section VII. COMPLEXITY

The child shows interest in complex things and ideas.

The child likes to set difficult tasks for himself.

The child likes to learn something without outside help.

The child likes difficult tasks.

The child shows perseverance in order to achieve his goal.

The child offers too complicated ways of solving the problem than it seems necessary.

Section VIII. RISK ABILITY

The child will defend his ideas, not paying attention to the reaction of others.

The child sets himself very high goals, and will try to achieve them.

The child admits for himself the possibility of mistakes and failures.

The child loves to explore new things or ideas and is not influenced by others.

The child is not too concerned when classmates, teachers or parents express their disapproval to him.

The child will not miss the chance to take risks to find out what will come of it.

The next four questions will give you the opportunity to express your opinion about the child and about the program at the school for creative children. Answer briefly but clearly.

Do you think that the child is gifted or can become one?

Do you think that the child is creative or he can become

What do you expect from the school program for creative children?

What changes would you like to see in your child as a result of participation in the program for creative children?

Appendix 5

Regulatory data for the CAP test set Table 2

Mean MS standard deviation ?Divergent Thinking Test General 84,422.7 Fluency 9.41.3 Flexibility 6.72.0 Originality 23.46.8 Elaboration 15.79.4 Title 24.25.2 Creative Personality Questionnaire General 62.118.0 Curiosity 16.44.3 Imagination 16.04.7 Difficulty 14.85.1 Riskiness 15.35.2 Scale WilliamsTotal47,921.5

This table was compiled by Williams - as a single, general table for the age range of 8 - 17 years.