Counseling the Gifted Child

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Counseling the Gifted Child
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• Like the Knights of the Round Table searching
  for the Holy Grail, gifted students explore the
  self within and the world without in hopes of
  reaching understanding. This search for meaning
  suggests gifted young people have particular
  issues in psychosocial development.
• Linda Silverman

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• The information in this PowerPoint comes from
  Linda Silvermans book entitled Counseling the
  Gifted and Talented

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Five Traits That May Produce Conflict

1. Divergent Thinking Ability
2. Excitability
3. Sensitivity
4. Perceptiveness
5. Entelechy

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1 Divergent Thinking Ability
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Divergent Thinking Ability

• Characteristics
• Preference for unusual, original, and creative
  responses
• Find it hard to organize thoughts, feelings, and
  materials
• Immersion learners (want to learn everything
  about one things at a time)
• Lack of interest in usual rewards
• Find it hard to organize thoughts, feelings, and
  materials

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• In essence, creative thinking is rejection of,
  and rebellion against, some accepted standard.

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• What counseling issues do you think might arise
  due to divergent thinking ability?

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Counseling Issues

1. Receiving so little validation fosters a negative
   self-image
2. Because their feelings and thoughts are so
   interconnected, it is hard for them to sort them
   out
3. Due to social censure for originality, many
   gifted develop false selves that they show to the
   world
4. Some need help learning how to listen to others
   in a more focused fashion
5. Need to know it is good to follow their own
   vision as long as they realize the cost of doing
   so

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2 Excitability
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Excitability

• Characteristics
• High energy level
• Pace of the world seems too slow
• Great need to explore their environment
• Emotional intensity
• Need for novelty
• Cycle of boom and bust
• Reactive
• Can take one of two paths
• 1) Become a stimulus seeker, or
• 2) Become a stimulus avoider

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• Such children are often regarded as troublesome
  by adults and peers.

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• What counseling issues do you think might arise
  due to excitability?

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Counseling Issues

1. Self-esteem issues may develop because the child
   may not experience the personal satisfaction of
   completing something
2. Difficulty with self-regulation and self-control
   may develop
3. Need help finding satisfaction in creative
   endeavors and intellectual pursuits rather than
   in novelty
4. Help regulating the stimulation around them
5. Help identifying signs of their own impending
   loss of control

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Strategies to be Taught

1. Relaxation techniques
2. Self-talk to reduce stress
3. Humor to defuse conflict
4. When to ask for a change of place or task
5. How to apologize and ask for appropriate
   attention

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3 Sensitivity
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Sensitivity

• Characteristics
• Depth of feeling that results in a sense of
  identification with others (people, animals,
  nature, the universe)
• Compassionate and Passionate
• Feel responsible for others feelings
• Think with their feelings
• Dedicated to friendships, not seeing the faults
  of others
• Cope by taking one of two paths
• 1) Withdrawing, or
• 2) Trying to make everyone happy

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• They seem not only to know what others feel, but
  to actually feel the feelings within themselves.

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• What counseling issues do you think might arise
  due to sensitivity?

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Counseling Issues

1. May try to please the counselor or stay isolated
2. These children give without measuring the cost to
   themselves
3. Suggest that receiving can also be a type of
   gift
4. Need to learn the differences between selfishness
   and having a self
5. How to create appropriate boundaries
6. Look for co-dependent relationships

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4 Perceptiveness
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Perceptiveness

• Characteristics
• See several points of view simultaneously
• Can quickly get to the core of an issue
• Insightful and intuitive
• See beyond superficiality
• Seek for and tell the truth
• Justice and fairness are crucial
• Recognize patterns and find hidden meanings
• Idealistic and positive
• Can take one of two paths
• gt 1) What is wrong with me?
• gt 2) What is wrong with everyone else?

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• They need to trust their own perceptions while
  understanding the limitations of others!

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• What counseling issues do you think might arise
  due to perceptiveness?

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Counseling Issues

1. The most important counseling issue is learning
   when and how to trust their own perceptions and
   how to assess what they are told about themselves
   by others (Self esteem issues may result)
2. Learn how to be trusting (but not naïve)
3. A rigid concept of right and wrong may lead to
   conflict with adults they view as misinformed or
   foolish
4. Need help understanding that others may not be as
   perceptive as them
5. Learn when feelings will be a more important
   focus than the truth
6. Margaret Mead approach to dynamics

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5 Entelechy
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Entelechy (Greek for having a goal)

• Characteristics
• Need for self-determination
• Inner strength and desire to become all one can
  be
• Believe in themselves no matter what
• May inspire or shame others by their strength of
  will
• Appear to elicit positive responses from adults
• May have unlikely friendships because they are
  drawn to the specialness of others
• Often lead peers in group activities
• Everyone relies on them, but they are not
  necessarily popular

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• These gifted people are deeply involved in making
  their own destiny!

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• What counseling issues do you think might arise
  due to entelechy?

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Counseling Issues

• 1. The specialness of the gifted child may
  become a liability. Some people try to break the
  childs strong spirit.
• 2. The child sees adults as people who treat
  them in extreme ways
• A) Exceptionally willing to help, or
• B) Always finding fault
• 3. Need to develop internal security regardless
  of the way others react to them. They need to
  develop a more balanced view of themselves as
  having positives and negatives (not all good or
  all bad)
• 4. Strategies for learning how to compromise

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Counseling Issues

• Many of these children are lonely and need help
  learning how to find true friends
• How to set boundaries for not giving too much
• Have a strong need for a special dream or goal to
  focus on

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What do I do next?
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Take Your Sun Glasses.
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And Life Preserver.
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Into the Pool of Knowledge!
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How do I do this?
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Six Most Common Concerns

• Feeling different
• Confusion about the meaning of giftedness
• Lack of understanding from others
• Fear of failure
• Perfectionism
• Existential depression
• See handout for more ideas

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Instructional Objectives

• To help gifted students understand what being
  gifted means
• To help gifted achievers and underachievers
  discover commonalities
• To help gifted students gain comfort with their
  capabilities
• To help them deal with procrastination and
  perfectionism
• To help them learn to enjoy the present, instead
  of being preoccupied with the future
• To help them solve problems involving conflicts
  with teachers and students
• See handout for more ideas

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Sample Activities and Lessons
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Created by Jason McIntoshTemplate by Animation
FactoryJanuary 2011jmcinto_at_avondale.k12.az.us