Some 6.000 Canarian families could have a child with high intellectual abilities at home ... but are they aware of this reality at home? And in school?
Within the framework of the recent interview we conducted with Africa Borges del Rosal, a professor at the ULL who is dedicated to the research and approach of this issue in Canary Islands (you can see it, here) We share with the readers of Sanus by Canary Doctor a list of 5 data or information about gifted children in Canary Islands
1- Did you know that it is estimated that 6000 Canarian children could be endowed with high intellectual abilities?
This figure is not exact, but taking into account that it is understood that 2% of the school population would be made up of gifted children, the figure in our archipelago is estimated at 6.000.
2- Did you know that less than half of the families of gifted children in Canary Islands know about it?
Less than half of that estimate of 6000 children with intellectual giftedness in Canary Islands is aware of their reality.
Neither they nor their parents or teachers have been able to label what happens to them. Therefore, without detection, there is also no correct approach to their superior intellectual abilities.
As Africa Borges, an expert on the subject, explained to us, many do not even know they have this condition.
Do you know how to recognize it?
Possibly to these Canarian families, it seems "striking" that the child from a very young age speaks with well structured phrases. Or learn to read before the average of children. It may also seem remarkable that the child is interested very early in transcendental issues, deep or scientific (with questions about death, the origin of things, among other issues). Or you find interesting their high degree of curiosity, creativity or perfectionism.
But in many cases, for lack of information, they do not resort to a specialist or to the educational system itself for guidance. In this way, it is difficult to detect if it is a child with high intellectual abilities.
The reality is that no more than half of the cases of gifted children are detected in Canary Islands
The misinformation on the subject and the low performance that these children often present in school (because they are demotivated or bored, mainly), do not facilitate the detection process.
3- Did you know that the latest known data places Canary Islandsas the fourth community with more children with high intellectual abilities throughout Spain?
For the 2016-2017 course, the number of schoolchildren considered to have high intellectual abilities in Spain was 27.133 children, of which, 2.122 were located in Canary Islands.
At the top of that last report to which we had access, was Andalusia with 11.500 cases, followed by Murcia (with 3.698 known cases for that date)
4- Did you know that Canary Islandsis one of the Autonomous Communities where programs to detect children and young people with intellectual giftedness work best?
We highlight at this point the work done by our guest this week, the psychologist and professor at the ULL, Africa Borges del Rosal, who has spent almost 2 decades dedicated exclusively to helping gifted children in Canary Islands, launching initiatives such as:
* The Workgroup and Research in Gifted ”(GTISD)
* The "Comprehensive Program for High Capacities" (PIPAC)
* The International Network for Research, Intervention and Evaluation in High Intellectual Capacities (REINEVA)
* The “Share” mentoring program
* The “Conference on High Intellectual Capabilities” (University of La Laguna
5-Did you know that 70% of students with intellectual giftedness have poor school performance?
This figure, taken from the report on “Precocious, gifted and high-capacity students” carried out by the Ministry of Education, confirms that many of the gifted children are due to boredom, demotivation, lack of an educational system appropriate to their abilities, among main causes, end up having problems at school.
As our guest indicates, the expert professor on the subject, Africa Borges del Rosal (whom you can listen to talking about this interesting topic, here), if they do not give them adequate challenges to their intellectual capacity, they do not develop study methods that enhance their abilities.
Hence the importance of identifying giftedness as soon as possible, in order to offer each child an inclusive education and as closely as possible to their abilities.
A phrase to reflect and close ...
We close this note with an appointment that we find interesting to share with the readers of Sanus by Canary Doctor:
“In reality, children who are not gifted, in a broad sense, are talented, because they all have skills and talents that need to be discovered in order to develop, and so that they can be happy.” (Dr. Joaquín Gairín, Professor of Pedagogy)
Interview with Africa Borges del Rosal
If you want to see or read the full interview with our guest, where she talks about the high intellectual abilities of children and gives interesting advice for parents and teachers who share their daily lives with gifted children, we invite you to read it in the following link:
