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Pre-school assessment of gifted children
Public Health (1989), 103, 441~146
Pro-School Assessment of Gifted Children Ann Roden Senior Clinical Medical Officer
Harrow Health Authority Community Health Services, dhittlesea Road Clinic, Whittlesea Road. Harrow Weald, Middx, HA3 6ND
The following paper is an analysis of 27 consecutive referrals of children, thirteen boys and fourteen girls, in one health district, for assessment on the grounds of possible giftedness, with a view to early placement in a state-maintained school or nursery school. The assessments were made using the Ruth Griffiths scales of mental development? Requests for Placement The children in the present study were seen between D e c e m b e r 1983 and A u g u s t 1988. Their ages ranged f r o m 2 years 5 m o n t h s to 4 years 10 months. A b o u t 5,000 children in this age range live in the district. Table I shows the requests that a c c o m p a n i e d the referrals. Sources o f Referral Children were referred by the following agencies: general practitioner, health visitor, education d e p a r t m e n t , d a y nursery and a parent. See Table II. Reason for Referral The children were referred because the a u t h o r is k n o w n to be interested in gifted children and sympathetic to their needs. T h e Local E d u c a t i o n D e p a r t m e n t will only consider Table I
Requests for placement
Request for nursery school place Request for early admission to school Total number of children assessed Table II
General practitioner Health visitor Education department Day nursery Parent Total
Male
Female
Total
3 10 13
6 8 14
9 18 27
Male
Female
Total
8 3 1 1 13
10 3 1 14
18 6 1 1 1 27
Source of referral
© The Society of Community Medicine, 1989
442
A. Roden
recommendations for early placement in nursery school or day school, if there is independent evidence o f giftedness. In general, the education psychologists do not see children with special needs due to giftedness before school entry, making it difficult for the needs o f the pre-school gifted child to be met. They are involved with other special needs i.e. retardation, deafness, language disorders, etc., in pre-school children. However giftedness is recognised as one o f the criteria for early admission to nursery school by the Education Authority. The Education Act 19812 gives parents the tight to request the local education authority for an assessment o f a child thought to have special educational needs. The children in this study had originally presented themselves at routine health visitor/ child health clinic or general practitioner check-ups. The presenting factors included feelings that the child was very bright, particularly verbally; was inadequately stimulated at home; mother was unable to cope with the demands of a very verbal, dexterous child; the child had outgrown playgroup; some presented with behavioural problems, such as hyperactivity and sleeplessness (Rowlands, 1974), 3 some children were reading already (self taught). Definition of Giftedness
A gifted child may be defined as one who is outstanding generally or has a specific ability, i.e. words, mathematics, art, music, ballet, sport, socially. Incidence
Using the Intelligence Quotient, we can say that 3% o f children have an I.Q. o f over 130 and 2% have an I.Q. o f over 140. This represents about 200,000 children in this country: equivalent to the number o f severely subnormal and subnormal children at the other end o f the scale, with an I.Q. o f 70 or less. The author is aware that intelligence testing is not carried out as a routine by educational psychologists seeing children who are suspected of having special needs. They prefer to use a wider battery o f tests. Method of Assessment
In the present study the children were seen accompanied by their mothers. In two cases father attended as well. Twenty two children were seen in the Child Health Clinic by the author, five were seen by a medical colleague - 3 at home, 1 in the Day Nursery and 1 in the hospital assessment clinic. Only three o f the children were known by the author prior to the assessment. The children were tested using the Ruth Griffiths mental Developmental Scales.~ This is a standardised test for testing young children. It consists o f 6 scales which each give a mental age. The six scales examined are: L o c o m o t o r Scale (L), Personal/Social scale (P/S), Heating/Speech scale (H/S), Eye-Hand co-ordination scale (E/H), Performance scale (Perf) and Practical Reasoning scale (PR). The score to be expected at a particular age is based on studies o f large numbers o f children of that age, from which a mean score, expressed as 100, can be derived. A score o f 130 or more on any one scale is accepted as evidence of giftedness on that particular scale. The population data can also be used to arrive at an individual's mental age (M.A.). This in turn can be compared with the chronological age (C.A.) as a percentage ( M A / C A × 100) to yield a quotient. The average o f the quotients from the six scales gives a general quotient (G.Q.).
Pre-School Assessment of Gifted Children
443
All the c h i l d r e n settled well to the test s i t u a t i o n . Each test t o o k one to one a n d a h a l f h o u r s to complete. T h e children were all tested o n the p e r f o r m a n c e scale first, as this is a n o n - v e r b a l scale. This helps to give the child a sense o f a c h i e v e m e n t a n d confidence. T h e l o c o m o t o r scale was d o n e last, so as n o t to overexcite or tire the child, a n d thereby m a k e it difficult for the child to settle to the tasks which require their a t t e n t i o n a n d c o n c e n t r a t i o n . T h e result o b t a i n e d are s h o w n in T a b l e III.
Results T a b l e III shows the results o b t a i n e d in the p r e s e n t s t u d y o f 27 the children assessed.
Table III Male C.A. 44 51 32 49 45 54 56 54 46 45 48 48 47
Female C.A. 36 37 53 47 47 53 38 38 57 58 53 39 50 29
M.A.
L
P/S
H/S
E/H
Perf
P.R.
G.Q.
59 65 43 57 56 70 64 57 59 66 6l 60 46
136 118 119 118 129 107 107 107 130 120 108 116 101
132 122 125 122 129 114 110 96 147 142 112 112 97
154 137 169 126 142 144 107 126 147 164 141 137 118
123 125 125 114 120 140 128 118 117 178 158 100 76
127 115 131 114 106 129 121 100 113 111 112 129 84
127 149 137 110 129 144 114 89 113 169 133 158 114
134 128 134 118 126 130 115 106 128 147 128 126 98
M.A.
L
P/S
H/S
E/H
Perf
P.g.
G.Q.
59 55 69 66 67 65 51 47 67 75 66 48 66 33
167 114 128 127 128 113 142 126 105 103 113 108 128 110
167 162 128 140 128 113 147 157 109 110 109 128 132 151
122 173 143 149 140 113 126 147 123 141 135 159 156 131
128 157 113 153 174 143 142 95 126 138 136 103 136 89
100 157 128 115 144 128 126 135 133 131 128 108 128 96
122 135 136 123 136 128 131 121 112 148 124 128 108 110
133 150 130 135 142 123 135 130 118 129 125 122 132 115
C.A.=Chronologieal age (months); M.A.=Mental age (months); L= Locomotor scale; P/S=Personal/social scale; H/S = Hearing/Speech scale; E/H = Eye-Hand co-ordination scale; Perf= Performance scale; P.R. = Practical Reasoning scale; G.Q. = General Quotient
A. Roden
444
Analysis o f the Results The results showed that o u t o f 27 children assessed, 23 (14 girls a n d 9 boys) showed evidence o f giftedness o n o n e scale or more, o f these 11 (7 girls a n d 4 boys) h a d a G e n e r a l Q u o t i e n t o f 130 or more. C o n s i d e r i n g the separate scales, T a b l e IV shows the n u m b e r s of children gifted o n one scale or more. T a b l e V shows the relation between the score o n the hearing/speech scale a n d the general quotient. T h e table shows n o evidence of c o r r e l a t i o n between a high H / S score a n d a high G.Q. I n contrast, the table suggests that a low H / S score m a y be correlated with a low G.Q., the only two exceptions h a v i n g reached u n u s u a l l y high scores o n the l o c o m o t o r a n d personal/ social scales. These findings do n o t a p p e a r to have been influenced by differences o f sex. T a b l e VI shows the r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s that were m a d e for a d m i s s i o n to n u r s e r y school a n d school.
Table IV L F
M 2
3 5
Total
M 3
P/S F 6 9
Gifted on one scale or more H/S F
M 9
M
10 19
E/H F
3
M
8 11
I
P F
M
5 6
6
PR F 5 11
Twenty-three of the twenty-sevenchildren were found to be gifted on one scale or more. Four children (all of them boys) were found not to be gifted on any scale.
Table V
Hearing/speech and General Quotient
<130 > 130 All
G.Q.
< 130
> 130
6 2* 8
9 10 19
*Both scored > 130 in Locomotor and Personal/social scales.
Table VI Recommendation for admission
Nursery school Number of children F Total M
School Number of children F Total M
Early Would benefit Usual time
3 . -
8
7
1
2
Total
5 .
.
1
.
9
6 2 1
13 2 3 18
Pre-School Assessment of Gifted Children
445
Outcome In this district children are commonly admitted to Nursery School one or two terms before they are due to start school as rising fives. However places are only available for less than half of the eligible population in the maintained sector. Before January 1988 children were admitted to school three times per year as rising fives. Since January 1988 admission is only in September and January. This means that, for a child born between September and December, an early start to school would be in the previous January i.e. age 4 years to 4 years 9 months. In this study three boys and two girls were admitted to nursery school early, four boys and five girls were admitted to school early. Two o f the boys admitted to nursery school were subsequently admitted to school early. There are no details on the outcome for four boys and three girls. The one child referred by the day nursery, remained there until school entry, as this provided all day care. A nursery school place only provides half day education. Five of the children tested are attending a First School where the author is the named School Doctor. The Headteacher is extemely interested in the variety of giftedness exhibited by the children in her school. On the suggestion o f the author she has set up various clubs on Friday afternoons during school hours. These are similar to many of the activities that are organised by The National Association for Gifted Children. This Headteacher has very kindly given me a short report on each o f the five children, together with some o f their written and artistic work. All five reports were highly favourable, showing that all these children had benefited from their placement. The following extract is an example. 'J. is age 8 years 5 months. His writing is logically structured, spelling and syntax accurate. He displays less flights o f fancy than some of his classmates, but appears to me to be very clear thinking, able to make deductions in an almost adult way. He enjoys music and joins in most activities although he will, occasionally, question the reasons for activities (always very politely). He sometimes comes and asks me about the whys and wherefores and I find myself answering as I would an adult. I encourage h i m to question things that do not seem to make sense. (He usually has a point!). He sails through mathematics and his drawings are technically accurate.' (J. was 46 months when he was first assessed.) Discussion The Education Act 19812gives parents the right to request the local education authority for an assessment of a child thought to have special educational needs. The Department of Education and Sciencen recognises that gifted children may have special educational needs. In this district the local education authority accepts evidence of giftedness as a criterion for early admission to nursery school. However intelligence testing is not carried out routinely on pre-school children. Educational psychologists are involved with pre-school children for a variety o f other reasons, such as developmental delay, deafncss or disorders o f language, but do not usually see gifted children with special educational needs before their entry to school. They may become involved at a much later date after the child has developed behavioural difficulties5 due to giftedness. Gifted children may come to the attention o f health workers either at medical consultations or at routine health surveillance examinations. Parents may find it difficult to cope with exceptionally bright children, highly verbal and dextrous, who arc inadequately stimulated at home and who may have outgrown the activities o f a playgroup. Some such children may present behavioural problems, s such as m o t o r hyperactivity or
446
A. Roden
sleeplessness.3Apart from the educational advantages, early placement in school or nursery school will often prove beneficial to the health o f a gifted child and other members o f the child's family. 6 In the present study 24 of the 27 children were referred to the child health clinic by general medical practitioners or health visitors. On assessment, 23 o f the 27 met the criteria for giftedness, confirming the appropriateness of the original referrals. The preponderance of high scores on the hearing and speech scale suggests that verbal proficiency is an important criterion influencing the decision to refer children for a special assessment, though not necessarily associated with a high general quotient. Scores on the L o c o m o t o r and Personal/social scales, being more dependent on physical skills, tend to result in more age appropriate scores.
Conclusion O f the 27 children assessed with a view to early placement at school and or nursery school, 5 were admitted early to nursery school and 9 early to school. Two were admitted to school at the normal time. The seven for whom no details are available were considering admission to private schooling. F o u r children did not meet the criteria for giftedness on any scale. There is certainly the need for a structured environment for these children who are living in an adult world with a child's immaturity - often seeing implications in what is happening around them far beyond their years. They need to be treated as an adult, but must not miss out on the childish things or the things that are appropriate to their age. In fact they may appear to be more childish at times. Some of their special needs can definitely be met by early admission to nursery school and or school. There is a great need for m o r e nursery school provision than is at present available. It is also necessary for Health Visitors to have more training in recognising gifted children, as appropriate m a n a g e m e n t and counselling can help to prevent the more serious problems that can afflict gifted children and their families at a later date?
References 1. Griffiths, R. (1970). The Abilities o f Young Children. Child Development Research Centre: London. 2. The Education Act (1981). HMSO: London. 3. Rowlands, P. (1974). Gifted Children and their Problems. J. M. Dent & Sons: London. 4. Hoyle, E. & Wilks J. (1976). Gifted Children and their Education. HMSO: London. 5. Kellmer Pringle, M. L. (1970). Able Misfits. Longman Group Ltd: London. 6. Freeman, J. (1983). Clever Children - A Parents' Guide. Hamlyn Paperbacks: Feltham.
Pro-School Assessment of Gifted Children Ann Roden Senior Clinical Medical Officer
Harrow Health Authority Community Health Services, dhittlesea Road Clinic, Whittlesea Road. Harrow Weald, Middx, HA3 6ND
The following paper is an analysis of 27 consecutive referrals of children, thirteen boys and fourteen girls, in one health district, for assessment on the grounds of possible giftedness, with a view to early placement in a state-maintained school or nursery school. The assessments were made using the Ruth Griffiths scales of mental development? Requests for Placement The children in the present study were seen between D e c e m b e r 1983 and A u g u s t 1988. Their ages ranged f r o m 2 years 5 m o n t h s to 4 years 10 months. A b o u t 5,000 children in this age range live in the district. Table I shows the requests that a c c o m p a n i e d the referrals. Sources o f Referral Children were referred by the following agencies: general practitioner, health visitor, education d e p a r t m e n t , d a y nursery and a parent. See Table II. Reason for Referral The children were referred because the a u t h o r is k n o w n to be interested in gifted children and sympathetic to their needs. T h e Local E d u c a t i o n D e p a r t m e n t will only consider Table I
Requests for placement
Request for nursery school place Request for early admission to school Total number of children assessed Table II
General practitioner Health visitor Education department Day nursery Parent Total
Male
Female
Total
3 10 13
6 8 14
9 18 27
Male
Female
Total
8 3 1 1 13
10 3 1 14
18 6 1 1 1 27
Source of referral
© The Society of Community Medicine, 1989
442
A. Roden
recommendations for early placement in nursery school or day school, if there is independent evidence o f giftedness. In general, the education psychologists do not see children with special needs due to giftedness before school entry, making it difficult for the needs o f the pre-school gifted child to be met. They are involved with other special needs i.e. retardation, deafness, language disorders, etc., in pre-school children. However giftedness is recognised as one o f the criteria for early admission to nursery school by the Education Authority. The Education Act 19812 gives parents the tight to request the local education authority for an assessment o f a child thought to have special educational needs. The children in this study had originally presented themselves at routine health visitor/ child health clinic or general practitioner check-ups. The presenting factors included feelings that the child was very bright, particularly verbally; was inadequately stimulated at home; mother was unable to cope with the demands of a very verbal, dexterous child; the child had outgrown playgroup; some presented with behavioural problems, such as hyperactivity and sleeplessness (Rowlands, 1974), 3 some children were reading already (self taught). Definition of Giftedness
A gifted child may be defined as one who is outstanding generally or has a specific ability, i.e. words, mathematics, art, music, ballet, sport, socially. Incidence
Using the Intelligence Quotient, we can say that 3% o f children have an I.Q. o f over 130 and 2% have an I.Q. o f over 140. This represents about 200,000 children in this country: equivalent to the number o f severely subnormal and subnormal children at the other end o f the scale, with an I.Q. o f 70 or less. The author is aware that intelligence testing is not carried out as a routine by educational psychologists seeing children who are suspected of having special needs. They prefer to use a wider battery o f tests. Method of Assessment
In the present study the children were seen accompanied by their mothers. In two cases father attended as well. Twenty two children were seen in the Child Health Clinic by the author, five were seen by a medical colleague - 3 at home, 1 in the Day Nursery and 1 in the hospital assessment clinic. Only three o f the children were known by the author prior to the assessment. The children were tested using the Ruth Griffiths mental Developmental Scales.~ This is a standardised test for testing young children. It consists o f 6 scales which each give a mental age. The six scales examined are: L o c o m o t o r Scale (L), Personal/Social scale (P/S), Heating/Speech scale (H/S), Eye-Hand co-ordination scale (E/H), Performance scale (Perf) and Practical Reasoning scale (PR). The score to be expected at a particular age is based on studies o f large numbers o f children of that age, from which a mean score, expressed as 100, can be derived. A score o f 130 or more on any one scale is accepted as evidence of giftedness on that particular scale. The population data can also be used to arrive at an individual's mental age (M.A.). This in turn can be compared with the chronological age (C.A.) as a percentage ( M A / C A × 100) to yield a quotient. The average o f the quotients from the six scales gives a general quotient (G.Q.).
Pre-School Assessment of Gifted Children
443
All the c h i l d r e n settled well to the test s i t u a t i o n . Each test t o o k one to one a n d a h a l f h o u r s to complete. T h e children were all tested o n the p e r f o r m a n c e scale first, as this is a n o n - v e r b a l scale. This helps to give the child a sense o f a c h i e v e m e n t a n d confidence. T h e l o c o m o t o r scale was d o n e last, so as n o t to overexcite or tire the child, a n d thereby m a k e it difficult for the child to settle to the tasks which require their a t t e n t i o n a n d c o n c e n t r a t i o n . T h e result o b t a i n e d are s h o w n in T a b l e III.
Results T a b l e III shows the results o b t a i n e d in the p r e s e n t s t u d y o f 27 the children assessed.
Table III Male C.A. 44 51 32 49 45 54 56 54 46 45 48 48 47
Female C.A. 36 37 53 47 47 53 38 38 57 58 53 39 50 29
M.A.
L
P/S
H/S
E/H
Perf
P.R.
G.Q.
59 65 43 57 56 70 64 57 59 66 6l 60 46
136 118 119 118 129 107 107 107 130 120 108 116 101
132 122 125 122 129 114 110 96 147 142 112 112 97
154 137 169 126 142 144 107 126 147 164 141 137 118
123 125 125 114 120 140 128 118 117 178 158 100 76
127 115 131 114 106 129 121 100 113 111 112 129 84
127 149 137 110 129 144 114 89 113 169 133 158 114
134 128 134 118 126 130 115 106 128 147 128 126 98
M.A.
L
P/S
H/S
E/H
Perf
P.g.
G.Q.
59 55 69 66 67 65 51 47 67 75 66 48 66 33
167 114 128 127 128 113 142 126 105 103 113 108 128 110
167 162 128 140 128 113 147 157 109 110 109 128 132 151
122 173 143 149 140 113 126 147 123 141 135 159 156 131
128 157 113 153 174 143 142 95 126 138 136 103 136 89
100 157 128 115 144 128 126 135 133 131 128 108 128 96
122 135 136 123 136 128 131 121 112 148 124 128 108 110
133 150 130 135 142 123 135 130 118 129 125 122 132 115
C.A.=Chronologieal age (months); M.A.=Mental age (months); L= Locomotor scale; P/S=Personal/social scale; H/S = Hearing/Speech scale; E/H = Eye-Hand co-ordination scale; Perf= Performance scale; P.R. = Practical Reasoning scale; G.Q. = General Quotient
A. Roden
444
Analysis o f the Results The results showed that o u t o f 27 children assessed, 23 (14 girls a n d 9 boys) showed evidence o f giftedness o n o n e scale or more, o f these 11 (7 girls a n d 4 boys) h a d a G e n e r a l Q u o t i e n t o f 130 or more. C o n s i d e r i n g the separate scales, T a b l e IV shows the n u m b e r s of children gifted o n one scale or more. T a b l e V shows the relation between the score o n the hearing/speech scale a n d the general quotient. T h e table shows n o evidence of c o r r e l a t i o n between a high H / S score a n d a high G.Q. I n contrast, the table suggests that a low H / S score m a y be correlated with a low G.Q., the only two exceptions h a v i n g reached u n u s u a l l y high scores o n the l o c o m o t o r a n d personal/ social scales. These findings do n o t a p p e a r to have been influenced by differences o f sex. T a b l e VI shows the r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s that were m a d e for a d m i s s i o n to n u r s e r y school a n d school.
Table IV L F
M 2
3 5
Total
M 3
P/S F 6 9
Gifted on one scale or more H/S F
M 9
M
10 19
E/H F
3
M
8 11
I
P F
M
5 6
6
PR F 5 11
Twenty-three of the twenty-sevenchildren were found to be gifted on one scale or more. Four children (all of them boys) were found not to be gifted on any scale.
Table V
Hearing/speech and General Quotient
<130 > 130 All
G.Q.
< 130
> 130
6 2* 8
9 10 19
*Both scored > 130 in Locomotor and Personal/social scales.
Table VI Recommendation for admission
Nursery school Number of children F Total M
School Number of children F Total M
Early Would benefit Usual time
3 . -
8
7
1
2
Total
5 .
.
1
.
9
6 2 1
13 2 3 18
Pre-School Assessment of Gifted Children
445
Outcome In this district children are commonly admitted to Nursery School one or two terms before they are due to start school as rising fives. However places are only available for less than half of the eligible population in the maintained sector. Before January 1988 children were admitted to school three times per year as rising fives. Since January 1988 admission is only in September and January. This means that, for a child born between September and December, an early start to school would be in the previous January i.e. age 4 years to 4 years 9 months. In this study three boys and two girls were admitted to nursery school early, four boys and five girls were admitted to school early. Two o f the boys admitted to nursery school were subsequently admitted to school early. There are no details on the outcome for four boys and three girls. The one child referred by the day nursery, remained there until school entry, as this provided all day care. A nursery school place only provides half day education. Five of the children tested are attending a First School where the author is the named School Doctor. The Headteacher is extemely interested in the variety of giftedness exhibited by the children in her school. On the suggestion o f the author she has set up various clubs on Friday afternoons during school hours. These are similar to many of the activities that are organised by The National Association for Gifted Children. This Headteacher has very kindly given me a short report on each o f the five children, together with some o f their written and artistic work. All five reports were highly favourable, showing that all these children had benefited from their placement. The following extract is an example. 'J. is age 8 years 5 months. His writing is logically structured, spelling and syntax accurate. He displays less flights o f fancy than some of his classmates, but appears to me to be very clear thinking, able to make deductions in an almost adult way. He enjoys music and joins in most activities although he will, occasionally, question the reasons for activities (always very politely). He sometimes comes and asks me about the whys and wherefores and I find myself answering as I would an adult. I encourage h i m to question things that do not seem to make sense. (He usually has a point!). He sails through mathematics and his drawings are technically accurate.' (J. was 46 months when he was first assessed.) Discussion The Education Act 19812gives parents the right to request the local education authority for an assessment of a child thought to have special educational needs. The Department of Education and Sciencen recognises that gifted children may have special educational needs. In this district the local education authority accepts evidence of giftedness as a criterion for early admission to nursery school. However intelligence testing is not carried out routinely on pre-school children. Educational psychologists are involved with pre-school children for a variety o f other reasons, such as developmental delay, deafncss or disorders o f language, but do not usually see gifted children with special educational needs before their entry to school. They may become involved at a much later date after the child has developed behavioural difficulties5 due to giftedness. Gifted children may come to the attention o f health workers either at medical consultations or at routine health surveillance examinations. Parents may find it difficult to cope with exceptionally bright children, highly verbal and dextrous, who arc inadequately stimulated at home and who may have outgrown the activities o f a playgroup. Some such children may present behavioural problems, s such as m o t o r hyperactivity or
446
A. Roden
sleeplessness.3Apart from the educational advantages, early placement in school or nursery school will often prove beneficial to the health o f a gifted child and other members o f the child's family. 6 In the present study 24 of the 27 children were referred to the child health clinic by general medical practitioners or health visitors. On assessment, 23 o f the 27 met the criteria for giftedness, confirming the appropriateness of the original referrals. The preponderance of high scores on the hearing and speech scale suggests that verbal proficiency is an important criterion influencing the decision to refer children for a special assessment, though not necessarily associated with a high general quotient. Scores on the L o c o m o t o r and Personal/social scales, being more dependent on physical skills, tend to result in more age appropriate scores.
Conclusion O f the 27 children assessed with a view to early placement at school and or nursery school, 5 were admitted early to nursery school and 9 early to school. Two were admitted to school at the normal time. The seven for whom no details are available were considering admission to private schooling. F o u r children did not meet the criteria for giftedness on any scale. There is certainly the need for a structured environment for these children who are living in an adult world with a child's immaturity - often seeing implications in what is happening around them far beyond their years. They need to be treated as an adult, but must not miss out on the childish things or the things that are appropriate to their age. In fact they may appear to be more childish at times. Some of their special needs can definitely be met by early admission to nursery school and or school. There is a great need for m o r e nursery school provision than is at present available. It is also necessary for Health Visitors to have more training in recognising gifted children, as appropriate m a n a g e m e n t and counselling can help to prevent the more serious problems that can afflict gifted children and their families at a later date?
References 1. Griffiths, R. (1970). The Abilities o f Young Children. Child Development Research Centre: London. 2. The Education Act (1981). HMSO: London. 3. Rowlands, P. (1974). Gifted Children and their Problems. J. M. Dent & Sons: London. 4. Hoyle, E. & Wilks J. (1976). Gifted Children and their Education. HMSO: London. 5. Kellmer Pringle, M. L. (1970). Able Misfits. Longman Group Ltd: London. 6. Freeman, J. (1983). Clever Children - A Parents' Guide. Hamlyn Paperbacks: Feltham.