Bringing Out the Giftedness in Your Child: Nurturing Every Child's Unique Strengths, Talents, and Potential

by Rita Stafford Dunn, Kenneth J. Dunn, Donald J. Treffinger

Emphasizing a child's potential rather than any static or quantified definition of gifted'', it asks the question: How is your child talented''? This should challenge parents to examine their child and what they really know about his or her strengths, talents, needs and sustained interests, so that they can respond in appropriate and stimulating ways. Helps parents find the child's strengths and potential, shows how to use the home environment for nurturing and stimulation, how to choose and cooperate with teachers, how to select activities or games, how the parents' own behavior influences a child toward fulfilling its potential and how to determine a child's unique learning style.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Dhelal Al-Shwaikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

احببت الكتاب لاحتوائه على كثير من الاختبارات التي يمكن للوالدين تجربتها مع ابنائهم للوصول لنمط الشخصية الصحيح للابناء وبالتالي فهم متطلبات هذه الشخصية وكيفية التعامل معها لاستخراج افضل ما فيها

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book, with some good ideas on learning and the things that one can do to help their child learn. It was very easy to read and understand. I normally don't skip parts of books, but opted to by-pass the section that dealt with professional teachers and the school system as I am a homeschooling parent (though I did give it a quick glance). I have had one child go through the public school system and have very rarely found teachers or the system open to suggestion or change. I enjoyed the fact that the authors recognized that many of the principles will fall on deaf ears when it comes to 'the system." "Unfortunately, most teachers are trained to teach essentially one way (although universally deny it): through lectures and discussions, which are auditory" (p. 188) Mass production education has its limitations, some self-imposed due to lack of creativity and foresight and some by design. I have always made consideration for those that are by design, and have found a way to fill in the gaps whenever those limitation fell on the former limitations in regards to my child who was in the public school system. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book and even learned a few things and was validated in many of my teaching styles. Who doesn't like a little validation? I also enjoyed the fact that the authors acknowledged that no matter how hard one tries, there will always be those little areas that one misses when one is trying to help a child learn and that that is okay. The only effort one can ever make is their best effort. If you find a gap has been created somewhere, you acknowledge it and move forward.


The word that drew me to this book was 'giftedness' having had my child diagnosed with the 'giftedness malady' ;), but I quickly found as the authors mentioned that it can be used across the board with all children provided there is time and patience and openness to the fact that everyone is gifted in some fashion. I have always lamented that the school system and even the public do not open their eyes to acknowledging the different gift children possess. "Schools often ignore--or even relegate to failure--students with other, more creative kinds of intelligence. Consider those who have the ability to originate beautiful music, art, dance, drama, photography, prose, and philosophy, or a talent for design, mechanics, electrical innovations, architecture, or needlework. Wherever there is humanity, we need people who have the sensitivity to reach and energize human beings, provide leadership under stress and heroics in dangerous situations, and galvanize courage when only despair is evident; to value humanity and uplift people's spirits; to provide direction and seek solutions when none is apparent; to explore new paths and move forward on roads that others fear to tread; to produce poetry that inspires and revitalizes, clothing that enhances the stature of modest persons, products that cure illness and provide safety and security for masses." (p 185-186)

It is very sad to see many talents go unused for underused simply because those gifts are not as easily measured as the "purely academic" ones. My only solace is that without parental support and acknowledgement of those gaps within the public school system, "purely academic" gifts can also become unused or underused at some point even when the gift has been identified. I realize that this is NOT a great amount of solace there, but at least everyone gets to experience being a cylindrical tube with a helix wrapped around it ;)

While reading this book, I really tried to see where I fit in the learning style category and to see how my education and innate learning style affect my teaching. This book gave me some insight into both of those things and I know that that insight will allow me to be a better teacher, a better student of life, and even a better parent.


I really enjoyed the following passage:
"Why certain human talents and gifts become respected and others do not is difficult to explain. All gifts enhance the quality of life; all talent enriches those whom it touches; all beauty adds to our pleasure; all ability is valuable. In the United States, talents that produce monetary wealth seem to be more highly valued than others; in other parts of the world, age, prestige, heritage, or beauty are valued more. We damage our children, ourselves, and society when we restrict recognition of gifted-ness to verbal or mathematical ability and exclude from stature the many other forms of gifted-ness that uplift individuals and all those with whom they interact" (p. 186)