Growing and learning in preschool: Childcare Center in Edinboro, PA
What it Looks Like to Promote Young Children’s Growth and Discovery
Stories and Resources for Early Education Leaders
Collection
By
Lisa Guernsey
,
Laura Bornfreund
,
Cara Sklar
,
Abbie Lieberman
, and
Aaron Loewenberg
Dec. 18, 2019
About this Project
Research shows that teaching and learning environments for young children are most effective when they are based on findings from the science of child development, which include but are not limited to the provision of opportunities for children to engage in hands-on exploration, question-asking, and discovery; positive relationships and enriching back-and-forth social interactions; and targeted and personalized instruction that is tailored to a child’s specific needs, growth, and development across multiple domains and subject areas.
What does this look like in practice? The following project, which is informed by the learning sciences and inspired by the Ideal Learning Principles published by the Trust for Learning, is designed to provide stories and portraits from classrooms and other learning environments. We will update this special section throughout 2019, highlighting recent articles and reports from New America authors, writing and reports from other outlets, and books, videos, and other resources for education leaders.
Our Writing
In our recent articles and reports, we at New America analyze current trends in early education while telling stories and painting portraits of teaching and learning environments that support young children’s growth and discovery.
Source: Shutterstock
Learning to Read Can Be a Joy—If It’s Taught Right
Laura Bornfreund, April 30, 2020
Tools of the Mind takes a more well-rounded approach to learning, combining structured reading instruction with opportunities for children to develop executive function skills.
Read the article
Children in a Tools of the Mind preschool classroom pretend to be doctors.
Source: Children’s Aid, PS 152 in Washington Heights, NYC
Scientific American: Boosting Kids’ Executive Function and Oral Language Skills
Lisa Guernsey, October 1, 2019
An article in the October issue of Scientific American, “How to Prime Preschoolers for Success,” features examples from scientific studies on teaching methods that have long-lasting effects.
Read a blog post about the article
What to look for
In classrooms with 3 to 6 year olds, look for:
- Children articulating plans, following through, and recalling what they want do, what materials they will use, how they will use those materials and who they want to play with during child-initiated times of the day.
- Teachers expanding and extending children’s plans and abilities to recall their plans through thoughtful open-ended questioning and conversations to enhance children’s executive functions skills (working memory and mental flexibility).
- Children actively engaged in problem solving with materials and resolving social conflicts with one another.
- Children engaging in cooperative and complex play with increasing language skills.
- Teachers down on children’s level, playing as partners, following their lead and scaffolding on their learning.
- Teachers and children sharing control throughout the daily routine. Meaning, teachers plan the day, but children contribute their ideas, thoughts, and actions according to their own developmental levels of learning.
— Shannon Lockhart, associate director of the early childhood group at the HighScope Educational Research Foundation.
See more.
Source: Routledge, 2019
New Book Features Examples of Using Media to Create Critical Thinkers
Lisa Guernsey, August 12, 2019
The book helps to shine a light on the role of early media literacy and the need to set the foundation for building critical-thinking skills so that children can become savvy consumers and creators in this media-driven world.
Read the article
Source: Shutterstock
This Playful Pre-K is No Longer Sole Purview of the Elite
Aaron Loewenberg, June 3, 2019
Reggio Emilia is an educational philosophy that prioritizes play-based, hands-on learning over a prescribed curriculum.
The city of Boston is working to expand equitable access to Reggio-inspired early learning.
Read the article
What to look for
In classrooms for children 3 to 6 years old, seek signs of:
- Children engaged in small group projects using a variety of materials and media
- Children giving and receiving feedback about their work with peers and adults
- Classrooms with documentation on the wall narrating the work and thinking of children
- Teachers taking notes, photos, and videos of the work children are involved in
— Marina Boni, program director in the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood. See more.
Source: Taken at Breakthrough Montessori Public Charter School.
Photographer, Katie Jett Walls.
How Jeff Bezos Can Make Good on the Promise of Montessori Schools
Lisa Guernsey, March 7, 2019
Six months ago, Jeff Bezos pledged to donate money to create a “Montessori-inspired” preschool network. This will require attention to research on Montessori programs, visits to schools, and a recognition that creating rich learning environments for children takes dedicated training and a deep understanding of child development.
Reprinted in the Pacific Standard on March 8, 2019
Read the article
What to look for
In classrooms for children 3 to 6 years old, seek signs of:
- Children absorbed in what they are doing, not distracted by other things happening around them.
- Children given opportunities to be independent and take responsibility for their environment.
- Classrooms that are free of clutter; walls that are not papered with ABCs, posters, and charts.
- Teachers using a natural voice not a “teacher voice.”
- Social interactions between children in which they ask each other questions and learn from each other.
— Katie Brown, DC Regional Coordinator at National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. See more.
Source: New America
A Focus on Teaching and Learning in Pre-K through 2nd Grade: Lessons from Boston
Laura Bornfreund and Aaron Loewenberg, November 29, 2018
This report explains the work that has taken place over the last decade in Boston to improve and reform pre-K through 1st and 2nd grades. It is a story of realizing that the work of increasing student achievement is not confined to a single grade, but requires sustained efforts to improve the grades that follow.
Read the article
Source: Shutterstock
Extracting Success in Pre-K Teaching: Approaches to Effective Professional Learning Across Five States
Abbie Lieberman, Shayna Cook, Sarah Jackson, April 30, 2018
High-quality professional learning can help pre-K teachers develop the knowledge and competencies needed to best serve young students.
Read the report
What to look for
In professional development, seek signs of:
- Educators playing, exploring, and tinkering together.
- Educators trying out new tools and resources before putting them in front of children.
- Peer-to-peer exchanges and conversation.
- Ongoing PD: Educators coming together over weeks, months, and years to practice, share, and reflect on what works.
— Tamara Kaldor, associate director of the Technology and Early Childhood Center at Erikson Institute. See more.
Recent Writing from Other Outlets
- Opinion: Early Ed Should Adopt These 3 Ideas From Montessori Schools, The Hechinger Report, April 18, 2019
- For Schools That Use the Reggio Emilia Method, Children Lead the Curriculum, Nashville Scene, February 14, 2019
- Will the Real Montessori Please Stand Up?, The Hechinger Report, December 18, 2018
- Power to the kids: A Preschool Approach Imported from Italy Comes to Public Schools in Denver, Chalkbeat, December 13, 2018
- Montessori, long a favorite for wealthy families, struggles to expand its reach, Washington Post, November 5, 2018
- A Prescription for Play, Brookings Institute, August 21, 2018
- The Perks of a Play-in-the-Mud Educational Philosophy, The Atlantic, April 26, 2018
- A New Push for Play-Based Learning: Why Districts Say It’s Leading to More Engaged Students, Collaborative Classmates, and Better Grades, The 74 Million, February 6, 2018
- Studies Shed Light on Merits of Montessori Education, U. S. News & World Report, January 2, 2018
- Free Play or Flashcards? New Study Nods to More Rigorous Preschools, The New York Times, May 30, 2017
- Preschool Curriculum Creator Extends Reach to Kindergarten, EdWeek, May 16, 2017
- At ‘Nature Preschools,’ Classes are Outdoors, EdWeek, January 17, 2017
- New research on homegrown curriculum “Tools of the Mind” helps pave way for expansion, Chalkbeat, November 12, 2014
S. News & World Report, January 2, 2018Books and Other Resources
Position statements and consensus documents:
- Principles of Ideal Learning Programs, Trust for Learning
- Developmentally Appropriate Practice Position Statement, National Association for the Education of Young Children
- 3 Practices and 3 Polices for High-Quality Teaching and Learning in Pre-K, statements agreed upon by national experts with facilitation by New America, and published by the Alliance for Early Success
- 5 Priority Practices for Parents, Teachers, and Caregivers, The Early Learning Lab
Books:
- Diverse Families, Desirable Schools: Public Montessori in the Era of School Choice, Mira Debs (Harvard Education Press, 2019)
- Visible Learning: Promoting Reggio-Inspired Approaches in All Schools, Mara Krechevsky, Ben Mardell, Melissa Rivard, and Daniel Wilson (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
- A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Laura E. Berk, and Dorothy G. Singer (Oxford University Press, 2008)
Berk, and Dorothy G. Singer (Oxford University Press, 2008)Toolkits and Websites:
- High Quality Early Learning Project
Early & Elementary Education
K-3
Pre-K
Ambitious Harvard study aims to discover how children grow, learn, thrive – Harvard Gazette
Ambitious Harvard study aims to discover conditions under which they do best
By Liz Mineo Harvard Staff Writer
Date
Third in a series of articles on cutting-edge research at Harvard.
A young child spends weekdays with her grandmother down the street while her parents work. Another attends an unlicensed day care center run by a neighbor. A third is with his stay-at-home dad. A fourth is cared for by a private nanny in the comfort of her own house.
Researchers have long studied how small children grow and learn in formal, high-quality preschool programs, and have found that they develop better language, math, and literacy skills as well as stronger social and emotional connections than those who don’t attend.
Yet little is known about the children who are looked after under informal arrangements involving neighbors, relatives, friends, or nannies, even though these cover 40 percent of children in Massachusetts.
Two Harvard researchers are working to figure that out.
Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) professors Nonie Lesaux and Stephanie Jones, both developmental psychologists, are launching an ambitious study to follow 5,000 children, ages 3 and 4, for four years. The study will track some students before and after their elementary school years, and perhaps into adulthood. The cohort, recruited from 168 communities, is designed to reflect the changing demographics of children across the state.
Through the Early Learning Study at Harvard, Lesaux and Jones aim to update the science around child care by examining the links between children’s development and the characteristics of the educational and care settings where they spend their formative years, be those relatives’ homes or unlicensed daycare centers or, for comparison, local Head Starts and Montessori preschools.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions that parents, communities, policymakers, and school districts are grappling with,” said Lesaux, the Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society and the School’s academic dean. “And we don’t have enough specific information to drive 21st-century policy in early education.”
HGSE professors Nonie Lesaux (left) and Stephanie Jones, leaders of the Early Learning Study at Harvard, recently spoke at a seminar on early education and stress.
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer
“Our body of evidence is outdated. … And what’s missing is the settings described as informal or non-licensed that are offered outside the formal centers. We just don’t know very much about them.”
— Stephanie Jones
The researchers want to know how those environments affect children’s learning skills and development. Researchers also hope to find out whether children’s learning varies by groupings, and what features of early schooling help support or undermine them.
“Our body of evidence is outdated,” said Jones, a professor of education. “It’s based on studies from the 1960s, primarily. It also focuses primarily on the center-based, licensed, formal early education offerings. And what’s missing is the settings described as informal or non-licensed that are offered outside the formal centers. We just don’t know very much about them.”
Unprecedented scope
In early childhood education, the most influential research includes the Perry Preschool Study, conducted in the mid-1960s at a Michigan preschool, and the Abecedarian Project, conducted in the 1970s in North Carolina. Both studies, which followed children into their adult years, found that the children who received preschool education thrived more than those who did not. The preschool children earned more money, were more law-abiding, were more likely to graduate from high school, and even were healthier.
Conducted by the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Ed School, the new Harvard study is designed to be groundbreaking in scope and unprecedented in reach, said Lesaux.
For the first time, researchers will study informal care settings and link their features to children’s social and emotional development. The researchers plan to connect what they learn about early math, literacy, and language skills with data that reflect today’s populations and current settings. A 2016 study, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, examined the quality of informal preschool settings versus formal settings, but used decade-old data.
Earlier studies showed that children who spend more time in daycare centers make advances in language and cognitive skills, but, depending on the number of hours and the characteristics of the settings, may also develop more behavioral problems than children who spend fewer hours there.
A recent study led by Dana Charles McCoy at HGSE analyzed 22 studies on early childhood education published between 1960 and 2016 and found that the benefits of early childhood education have lasting effects. The study concluded that those who went to preschool were less likely to be placed in special education classes and be required to repeat a grade, and more likely to graduate from high school.
In the new study, researchers will assess children’s progress in language, early math, and literacy skills, but also their social, emotional, neurophysiological, and cognitive development by examining their interactions with other children and their relationships with adults in their lives. Lesaux and Jones hope the Early Learning Study eventually will have an impact on national educational policy.
“It certainly has the potential to change the national conversation about early education,” said Lesaux. “It will be the first look, statewide, at both children and the variety of early education settings.”
The researchers also hope to learn why some advances from early education persist for children while others fade in the first years of elementary school.
“A lot of the focus of other studies is the fadeout of academic skills,” said Tara Chiatovich, the Zaentz Initiative’s research scientist and the study’s manager. “We want to see what happens with gains in social and emotional development, which may tend to persist over time more than academic skills.
We also want to see where those gains are maintained or undermined in the early years of elementary school.”
Research suggests that high-quality early education makes an important difference in children’s lives, but only a minority of them benefit from it. Of the 60 percent enrolled in some form of preschool nationwide, only 20 percent attend what would be considered a high-quality program. The features of high-quality early schooling include small group sizes, low adult-to-child ratios, and caregiver competencies.
“Children only get one start. Pay now or pay later.”
— Nonie Lesaux
“Many families don’t have access to a high-quality early education experience for their child,” said Jones. “And we know from decades of research that what really impacts outcomes for children is exposure to high quality. It’s meant to level the playing field, and we’re not there yet.”
The 2006 Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found a strong correlation between higher-quality child care and school readiness.
Children in high-quality settings were found to have broader vocabularies, coupled with stronger language and early math skills. They also generally were more cooperative than peers in low-quality preschool programs.
High-quality early education is especially important for children from vulnerable populations, said Lesaux and Jones. Stress and adversity affect children’s learning. Research has shown that children from low-income families benefit the most from high-quality early education, and yet the movement toward universal high-quality preschool has been an uphill battle nationally.
“It has been hard to build the political will to fund high-quality preschool experiences,” said Lesaux. “As a country, we’re not in agreement that it’s worth the investment.”
Field worker Yvonne Illich is helping to recruit families to participate in the Early Learning Study. Her pitch? “I tell them they can see how their child is growing and developing.”
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer
Already in the works
The new study has begun a household survey of parents across Massachusetts to recruit children and families.
On a recent afternoon, Yvonne Illich, a field worker with Abt Associates, a research firm partnering with Harvard to conduct the study, took a break from knocking on doors in Lexington, one of her designated work areas.
“Parents ask me, ‘What’s in it for my child?,’ ‘What’s in it for my family?’ ” said Illich. “I tell them they can see how their child is growing and developing. Parents want to make sure their children are having the best jump-start in life.”
In addition to launching an academy for professional learning in early childhood education to hone policymakers and practitioners’ expertise, the Zaentz initiative has begun a fellowship program to build a new pipeline of leaders in the field.
Lesaux and Jones hope that the study’s eventual findings will shift the needle in the debate on universal high-quality preschool. With the number of working families growing nationally, child care is a necessity, said Jones, and having more and better options is important.
“We can ignore these opportunities, or we can invest and do something about it by working on quality,” Jones said.
“Whether it’s worth it is not the question; it’s how to maximize it.”
By helping to strengthen early education nationally, the study also could help to strengthen families and society in general, said Lesaux.
“In a high-quality preschool, kids are emotionally more regulated, they do better by their behavior, they bring more to interactions with adults, and adults feel good about both working and knowing that their child is safe and healthy,” said Lesaux.
“Children only get one start,” she added. “Pay now or pay later. We don’t need any more data in this country about the effects of a lousy education on the life of an individual and the life of a community and the strength of the society.”
“I don’t want to go to school.” Why does a teenager not want to study?
10/18/2018 “I don’t want to go to school.
Adolescents do not want to study or go to school in general. With this problem, many parents turn to the Children’s Helpline 8-800-2000-122. It happens that a child enjoyed his lessons, loved school, classmates and teachers, and then suddenly everything changed. And now he no longer approaches notebooks, he reluctantly gives in to the persuasion of his parents to take up his mind, every now and then he strives to get into the phone so that no one touches him. Of course, tension is growing because adolescence is a crucial time when you need to do your best and get into a good university or find a job. Parents are puzzled about how to respond to the statement “this will not be useful to me in my life” and do not know at all how to inspire their children with the motivation to learn, set goals and live with pleasure at the same time. What is behind this situation? An adult tries to return responsibility to the child, to force or convince him to study, and the teenager resists parental persuasion and tries to get out of the situation. The reason for the decline in learning motivation is often not laziness at all. Here the features of age and the psychophysiological features inherent in it play a role. Let’s divide the reasons for not wanting to study into three groups: 1. Socio-psychological reasons: a teenager has problems with other people or features of age affect his learning motivation. 2. Failure to learn: the child does not have the skills to learn successfully, he does not know how to do it. 3. Educational mistakes: parents or teachers do something wrong. What decisions and actions of parents can provoke a crisis of learning motivation ? 1. sent the child to school early If a child already knows how to read and write, this does not mean that he is ready for school. There is also psychophysiological development. At the age of 6, in preschoolers, especially boys, the hand is not ready for writing, the nervous system has not matured to the extent that it can maintain concentration for 45 minutes, so the child finds it difficult, he gets tired, and this makes him think that studying is unbearable and unpleasant process. 2. Building too distant perspectives “ If you don’t study, you will become a janitor ”, parents often scare. But to say this to a child of 13-14 years old is ineffective. Teenagers perceive such words of parents as an exaggeration. A teenager is most often motivated by immediate prospects and clear examples of success. 3. Lack of a clear organization of the child’s life with your life. If chaos and constant spontaneity reign in his daily life, then one can hardly expect him to be organized in his studies. 4. Lack of unity of demands on the part of parents Often mom and dad, grandparents cannot agree on what rules a teenager should live by. And he quickly understands that you can always find a loophole in the requirements if they are different from the parents. All adults in the family must agree and adhere to a single line so that the child knows the rules. 5. Incorrect methods of upbringing Suppression of personality leads to deplorable consequences. It is often voiced by the phrases: “ You are still nobody”, “You have not been asked ”, and is also accompanied by threats, physical punishments or, conversely, excessive flattery: “Well, do it, please, I will let you play on the phone for another two hours” . Parents are too tough or too soft. This is pressure or manipulation that causes psychological harm to a teenager, suppressing or corrupting him. 6. Excessive requirements without taking into account the objective capabilities of the child Perhaps a teenager refuses to study not because he is lazy. This may be a feature of mental development, fatigue or physical ailment. Some parents believe that the stricter and more demanding they treat their child in school, the more responsible and diligent he will be. Alas, it is not. However, they do not praise the child at all. But the refusal of the child is perceived negatively. 7. The habit of always being on the teacher’s side Parents strive to support the teacher’s authority in the eyes of their child, but sometimes they take the teacher’s side thoughtlessly. A teenager should feel that parents are the people who will support and protect him in case of injustice. Then he will feel more confident at school, he will not be afraid to answer the accusations once again. This will make the teenager calmer. 8. Making fun of a child, frequent negative evaluations « Are you incapable even of such an elementary thing? You can’t do it, don’t even try! “. Unfortunately, parents say this to their children. These incorrect parenting practices relate to the parent’s emotional response and signify the discomfort and helplessness that the parent himself feels. 9. Demanding unconditional success in studies, punishment for poor grades It is bad when parents are not interested in circumstances, but only in grades. But the assessment reflects the result of the learning process. A teenager could try, but simply did not understand something, miss something. It is no coincidence that teachers ask children to work on mistakes so that the child can figure out what and why he did wrong, for which he received this or that mark. Parents can help their child analyze what went wrong and why: “ How did you do it? Where did you start? Why did you do it this way here? » What other reasons could there be? 1. If there is discord in the family between parents or other family members, and the teenager becomes a witness of frequent conflicts, negativity, then it is difficult for the child to make efforts to study. He is worried, tired emotionally and physically, and he does not have enough strength for school. 2. Trouble in the classroom It is important for parents to find out if their child is having problems at school. Perhaps he did not have contact with the teacher or the methods of communication of teachers are not the most pleasant. Or the child may have problems with peers: offended, bullied, not accepted. Maybe it’s just such a period – he quarreled with friends, at the beginning of the school year he found out that his best friend had gone to another school, but he hadn’t found a new one yet, fell in love with a girl. 3. No target Indeed, sometimes it is difficult for a teenager to understand why certain knowledge or skills will be useful to him in life. What skills does a child need to be able to learn: 1. Ability to make an effort He should have practical experience of living in a situation where you have to try, make an effort to get something. For example, from early childhood, a child should strive for something himself: to reach for a toy, later – to cut something out of paper himself, at a younger school age – to complete the work he has begun to the end, to get the desired thing only as a result of his labor. That is, it is necessary to form the habit of regulating one’s behavior. 2. Ability to act on instructions from an adult Again, from early childhood, a child repeats everything after his parents and learns in this way. 3. The ability to organize oneself To do this, a child should have their own shelves in the closet, their own bedside tables, drawers, boxes from childhood. He must know where everything is in the house and why. He must understand the daily routine and be aware of what he is following. He must live according to the regime and see that adults also follow the routine. At school age, as early as possible, he should know how much time it takes to complete a particular task in order to be able to calculate his time later. 4. The ability to break down an array of learning tasks into small steps When a child sees a “colossus” of what needs to be done, he says: “ No, it’s impossible! ” and refuses to execute. Big and difficult work does not seem so scary if you divide it into parts and do it sequentially. The root cause is more important than dealing with the consequences. The first step to increasing a child’s learning motivation is to eliminate the true causes of his crisis. It is important to reduce the negative impact of events and circumstances that led to a decrease in interest in learning. Remember that only the child who wants to learn is supported, praised for success, accepted as a person and trusted. Explain to your child that school is just a stage, and help them pass it with pleasure, together and despite any difficulties. It is difficult for both you and the teenager to understand everything, so if at some point it becomes difficult and you want to discuss it with professional psychologists, even just talk it out, feel free to call 8 800 2000 122! The call is free and anonymous! Your reliable family helper is your Child Helpline
Number of impressions: 2792 Return to list |
” Why does a teenager not want to study?
It turns out a vicious circle in which no one gets what he wants. 
This is fixed in the mind of the child and discourages the desire to learn in the future. 
This leads to the fact that the child begins to perceive responsibility as a heavy burden, from which he gets tired and tries to get rid of. He is not confident in himself, he believes that he still cannot earn high marks from his parents, so he does not even try. 
When parents run out of educational resources, they get angry, offended, afraid, but they do not want to admit it and take out these negative emotions on the child. A teenager under such an attack closes, ceases to trust his parents or begins to actively defend himself, attack in response and refuse to fulfill the requirements presented in this form. 
Trouble, tense situation in the family 
It is important to help the child to see this with illustrative examples. And most importantly, let him understand that studying helps a person develop. Rapid learning skills help in adult life – a person quickly masters new areas of work, quickly adapts to a new situation. 
At senior preschool and primary school age, a child must learn not only to repeat after an adult, but also to reproduce actions according to instructions independently. 
If you do not do big things, then they will not disappear by themselves, but will accumulate and become even larger: from a small snowball they will turn into a big snowball. Scientists named signs of giftedness in children
How to discern a gifted child? When is the “golden period” for the development of talents in children? What is the “age of questions”? These and other questions of “RG” are answered by the leading researcher of the laboratory of psychology of giftedness of the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education Elena Belova.
Elena Sergeevna, a high school student from Yekaterinburg, who memorized and wrote more than 13 thousand numbers after the decimal point from the Pi sign, got into the Russian Book of Records. There are kids who, by the age of 2-3, know the multiplication table, the capitals of all countries. Are they gifted kids?
Elena Belova: Giftedness and learning outcomes, training are two different things. If you show the letters of the alphabet and repeat the names to a two-year-old child every day, in a month or earlier he will know a lot by heart. But it will not be knowledge that will please him, but the approval of adults. A gifted child is ready to give up sweets, walks, and sleep for the sake of a new book, a favorite pastime. The main component of giftedness is a high creative potential. It allows you to think outside the box, unconventional, find original solutions and can manifest itself already in preschool childhood. No wonder the age from 5 to 8 years is called the “golden period” of the development of children’s creativity.
About 20 percent of today’s preschoolers have a high creative potential. However, the disclosure of this potential can be delayed and even ruined at any stage of development.
How can parents understand if they have a gifted child or just an ordinary one?
Elena Belova: Pay attention to how your child explores the world around them. There is evidence that gifted children in the early stages of development – up to 2-3 years old – have a more persistent and pronounced reaction to a new object, sound, image. New toys delight everyone, but one child will forget about the toy in an hour, and the other will try to study it better – throw it up, twist it, lower it into the water, cover it with a rug … Speech is the most important indicator of development. Children have a so-called age of questions – from about two and a half to three and a half years. It is difficult to distinguish this age among the gifted. They ask a lot of questions all the time.
Topics are deeper, and topics are broader. For example, a child at the age of four may be interested in how a computer or TV works, memorize chess combinations.
What if you take tests that will tell you whether you have a miracle child or not?
Elena Belova: First, answer the question: why do you need to identify giftedness? To satisfy your own vanity, in order to relieve anxiety (all children are like children, but mine is not like that), for psychological help, in order to create conditions for the development of abilities?
Of course, for the development of abilities!
Elena Belova: Here is the simplest questionnaire for parents and teachers. Answer “yes” or “no” to five statements. 1. The child is proactive, lively, mobile. 2. He readily responds to everything new. 3. Curious, loves everything mysterious, incomprehensible. 4. Often needs the support of elders. 5. Shows the ability to concentrate for a longer period of time than peers.
Did you answer “yes” to all questions? There are reasons to consider the child capable. The use of serious tests requires professional training, so it is better to contact specialists.
And keep in mind that gifted children can be very sensitive, vulnerable.
8 percent of preschoolers and primary school children admitted that they cannot live without gadgets…
Elena Belova: them fade into the background. We cannot completely remove gadgets, but if we do not develop the creative potential of the child, it will hardly be possible to talk about giftedness. What’s in Gadgets? Ready-made instructions, a series of changing sensory impressions instead of independent play, active creativity and communication with close adults. Perhaps gadgets contribute to the development of attention, memory, reaction speed, and the accumulation of visual experience. How useful this will be when initiative and independence are required is a question.
…To make your gifted children grow up financially wealthy as well – read excerpt from Yakov Mirkin’s book, published in today’s issue.
By the way
Considered stupid…
Thomas Alve Edison neighbors, acquaintances, teachers considered mediocre child. He was absent-minded, studied poorly, and in addition had hearing problems. His parents had to pick him up from school.
Photo: Gettyimages
Ilya Mechnikov was known as a loser in his childhood, he endured ridicule from his brothers and their contemptuous attitude. The only place where he was head and shoulders above everyone else was botanism. He paid 2 kopecks to the brothers just for them to listen to him.
Photo: Gettyimages
…and idolized
Sergei Prokofiev was an adored child in the family, his parents became his first teachers in Russian, arithmetic, geography, history.
By the age of 6 he had already written three plays.
Photo: Gettyimages
Charles Gounod was multi-talented: he composed sacred music, drew beautifully and wrote talentedly. His parents were also extraordinary people and supported their son.
Photo: Gettyimages
Specifically
How to help your creative abilities unfold
1. Take your child for a walk, even if he is still in a stroller, put your phone in your pocket. Try to talk as much as possible with the child, show and name what surrounds him: “This is a tree, it is big, tall, this is a flower, look how beautiful it is!” The child’s vocabulary begins to grow long before the child begins to speak.
2. Read books to your child, saying all the words. Pay attention to the illustrations, details. Ask: “Who is the bunny looking at?”, “Where did the fox run?” and so on. The child is silent and does not answer? Give the answer yourself: “The bunny looks at the house (wolf, grove .
..)”, “The fox runs to the lake (into the forest, on the path …)”.
3. When active speech begins, watch how it develops. Speech disorders are usually very closely related to the functioning of the brain. Remember: gifted children may speak later than usual, but they begin to speak a lot at once and quite correctly. But if there is still no speech at the age of three, perhaps this is a reason to turn to a speech therapist.
4. Preschool age – the age of play. When buying new toys, prioritize those that allow your child to use them creatively.
5. Keep a diary of the child’s development, until the age of 7, development is at a gigantic pace. Write down the ideas, sayings, writings of the baby. Be attentive to all his creative manifestations!
Meanwhile
An account in favor of Kamilla
Recently, on one of the TV programs about the unusual abilities of children, Kamilla Aliyeva from Dagestan amazed the host. The girl does mental arithmetic and solves two thousand examples in her mind in 20 minutes! How does a 12-year-old girl do all this?
Photo: 1tv.