Albert Einstein was reportedly 4 years old before he spoke his first word, 7 years old before he learned to read. Still, he went on to make many major contributions to the field of science, including the theory of relativity and quantum theory.

Walt Disney was reportedly fired from the Kansas City Star newspaper because of a lack of creativity. Still, he went on to become one of the world’s greatest animators, an entrepreneur, an international icon, a film producer, a philanthropist, and more.

Identifying the gifted can be a daunting task for parents, educators, and the general public, shared Dr. James A. Reffel, director of Valdosta State University’s new Center for Gifted Studies. There is no universally agreed upon definition of a gifted child. As such, a child who is considered gifted, intelligent, and talented in one context and/or culture might not be considered the same in another.

“For decades, myths related to gifted education have had detrimental effects on providing quality instruction for our nation’s high-ability learners,” according to the National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagc.org). “These myths have affected every facet of the field and, in turn, have distorted the perception of not only what gifted students need in the classroom but also what they can offer the nation now and into the future.

“Persistent belief and the subsequent response associated with gifted education myths contribute to an overall lack of attention and challenge for high-ability students in our schools. As a result, gifted education programs remain underfunded, achievement gaps continue to widen, and too many children across the nation who require ‘something different’ have no place to thrive.”

With the recent construction of the new 33,000-square-foot, $5 million Psychology Building, Reffel, a professor in VSU’s Department of Psychology and Counseling, believed the time was right -- and the space available -- to open a Center for Gifted Studies. He had years of experience in the field of gifted education and knew that gifted children deserve to be better understood; they deserve to be challenged and guided.

The Center for Gifted Studies strives to develop talent, creativity, and critical thinking in individuals with gifts and talents; support cognitive, social, emotional, and wisdom development in individuals with gifts and talents; study the nature, identification, assessment, and evaluation of individuals with gifts and talents; and create curriculum, methods, and materials appropriate for individuals with gifts and talents. Through the center, teachers can add a gifted endorsement to their current Georgia teaching certificate, parents and teachers have access to a resource library, and students can talk to experts in the field about their unique social, academic, and emotional needs.

Reffel said that he and members of the Center for Gifted Studies staff, including Dr. David M. Monetti, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Counseling, are available to consult with teachers and parents who want to learn more, willing to conduct assessments, and eager to pursue research opportunities to better meet the needs of South Georgia’s gifted and talented population, including men and women of all ages, not just school-age children and teenagers.

“The establishment of this center has been a goal of mine for a long time and fortunately all the pieces have finally come together,” Reffel noted on the Center for Gifted Studies website (www.valdosta.edu/coe/psychology/giftedstudies/index). “Our mission is to help address the variety of needs of individuals with gifts and talents. Our mission is ambitious, but our efforts are necessary.”

When asked why he chose to focus his efforts on gifted children, as opposed to those with other special needs, Reffel said that the gifted population is often underserved and that he believes every child has the right to learn something new every day.

According to a Sept. 13, 2010, story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “… many of the most disinterested students in a classroom are also the high-ability children who spend the bulk of their school day going unchallenged and largely ignored. Our nation’s education system has a long history of disregarding the needs of the gifted and talented students, a neglect that threatens the ability of our state and nation to compete in an increasingly competitive world.”

The AJC went on to note that the nation, as a whole, lacks a comprehensive gifted education strategy. However, it also stated that Georgia is better than most states at serving gifted students, although its programs are not where they should be.

“The impact of this complacency is visible throughout much of our national education system, which focuses primarily on preventing struggling students from failing by setting proficiency as a primary goal,” the AJC continued. “While it is vital to ensure that all students are accomplishing baseline concepts and skills, the programs and funding currently available encourage educators and administrators to focus almost exclusively on students who struggle to get by while ignoring those seeking more academic challenge. The solution to this problem is comprehensive reform that recognizes our nation has an obligation to invest in our most promising students and that our long-term stability and prosperity depends on reigniting this commitment to excellence.”
Reffel and Monetti indicated that gifted children often demonstrate a need to learn at a much faster pace; process material to a much greater depth than their average peers; and show intense energy, imagination, intellectual prowess, sensitivity, and emotion which are not typical in the general population.

When asked what strategies work when it comes to educating gifted children, Reffel said that gifted and talented students need special gifted education programs that challenge them in the regular classroom and enrichment and accelerated programs that enable them to make additional progress. He said that acceleration works and more research supports this intervention than any other. He also said that grouping students with similar abilities together for instruction has been shown to have a positive impact on learning and that gifted and talented students thrive in programs like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate, which promote advanced content, rigor, and higher-order thinking.

In order to achieve its goals, the Center for Gifted Studies, Reffel said, will focus much of its attention on training teachers to work with gifted children.

According to the National Association for Gifted Children, gifted children spend 80 percent of their time in the regular classroom, yet few classroom teachers have had any training in meeting their needs. The research suggests that gifted and talented students learn differently than other students, and if teachers know this, they can better adapt their instruction using an array of strategies to help all of the children reach their full potential. Also, teachers who have a better understanding of gifted children are better able to refer them for special programs and services.

From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19, VSU’s Center for Gifted Studies will host a Gifted Summit, open to teachers, parents, and others who work with gifted children or who simply have an interest in learning more about the needs of this specialized population. Dr. Thomas P. Hebert, author of “Understanding the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Students” and a professor of educational psychology at the University of Georgia, will be the keynote speaker. The summit is offered free of charge and pre-registration is appreciated.

For more information, please email[email protected], call (229) 245-3869 or (229) 249-2777, or visitwww.valdosta.edu/coe/psychology/giftedstudies.