THE WARWlCK BEACON. TUESDAY MAY 18, 1982

LIFEBEATS

The Gifted Child

"The child is identified as gifted, so he has unusual visual perception. But if someone else didn't know he's gifted, it would be called a visual perception problem."

"We're not taking full advantage of them. Our society puts so much emphasis on conformity and mediocrity, that we end up scarificing the individual."

"There are children out there with very high IQ's that flunk basic math. They flunk basic math because their minds are too busy imagining complex mathematical formulas to pay attention to basic math."

By KlMBERLY SCHWAB

Last week, 1 wrote a story for LlfeBeats about the learning disabled. I therefore thought it would be appropriate for this week's section to do a story on the other side of the coin-the gifted. What I didn't realize is that the two subjeets, learning disabled and gifted, may very well be the same.

To do my story on the gifted, I met with Marie Friedel, the founder and director of the National Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children. Marie is the mother of 22 year old Lance, "who flunked out of kindergarten. and is one of the most creative and talented people I've ever known" she says. Marie took her son out of the school systems when she realized the schools couldn't meet her needs. She educated her son herself.

When Marie and I first started to talk in her Warwick home. I wanted the answers to questions like how parents can tell if their children are potentially gifted, and how the gifted children's learning processes can be accelerated so their true potentials can be reached. It didn't take too long to realize that I was talking apples, and Marie was talking oranges.

According to Marie, the children identified in the schools as gifted, and placed in gifted programs such as offered in Warwick or Cranston, are not the childen with the greatest needs. "The schools address gifted children by attempting to enrich and accelerate and keep the child from being bored." she explained. saying that the children enrolled in gifted programs have IQ's of between 120 and 130, and are already doing well in school, if not somewhat bored. "'There's no difference in the curriculum, it's just more of the curriculum that they were getting before."

Marie, instead, describes her idea of a gifted child as one who really doesn't do well in school at all. The child may be disrupted in class, overactive, extremely sensitive, frustrated, nasty, belligerent and questioning of authority.

"The truly gifted child thinks differently, acts differently and feels differently. Differently from what culture has set as a norm," said Marie. "And because of his cognitlve development, he realizes he's different, and hides that which is inside himrelf that we need to look for to determine that he is lndeed gifted."

Marie went on to describe how gifted children are not allowed outlets for their creativity, because expression of these talents is deviant.

As she spoke, voices from my past floated back to me, telling me to draw within the lines, and that plants' leaves are green, not purple. I remembered a doctor putting me on tranquilizers before I was even old enough to go to school, because I prelerred to stay up and talk with the adults, rather than go to bed.

Marie also spoke of the frustration that truely creatively gifted children suffer from because their talents are suppressed. Marie says that our prisons and reformatories are filled with very creative people, who in their frustration turn against society.

"We're not taking full advantage of them. Our society puts so much emphasis on conformity and mediocrity. That we end up sacrificing the individual."

In her 18 year crusade for the gifted. Marie has seen hundreds of children come through her household.

"What I love to see is a child like a little boy who came here a awhile ago. He waited in the livingroom. and instantly took in everything in the room in a glance. Then he picked up this, picked up that. touched the lamp and wanted to know what material it was made of," she said. "Most adults would look at this behavior very poorly. But I love to see it. I love to see a child who's overwhelmed with curiosity. It's beautiful when that curiosity is fullilled, but it can be truly awesome to be the parent of a creatively gifted child"

It can also be awesome to be charged with the education of a gifted child, she says, recalling her experiences in dealing with various school systems regarding the educatian of her son, Lance.

Marie and her husband Jack were told by a doctor when Lance was very young that he was an exceptional child Yet, Lance disliked school from the very day he started. He did not excel. In fact, he did rather poorly.

It was only after the Freidels were informed that Lance should be kept an extra year in kindergarten, despite the fact that he could read at the age of three, and after a Rhode lsland private school for gifted children refused at accept Lance, because he was too advanced, that the Friedels opted to educate their son at home.

Marie said she did not withdraw her son from the schools because she had a chip on her shoulder.

"When Lance was young I was extremely pro American public education. I felt the public schools were the bsckbone of our nation. It wasn't until years later, that I realized I wss banging my head against a wall, that I began to advocate gifted children being taught outside of school." she said.

Marie contends that a family's right to educate their children outside of school is protected under the Blll of Rlghts. "We're a free nation" she says. She also contends that recognition of this right is becoming increasingly common, as school systems, like Cranston adopt guidelines for home education.

One of the biggest problems surrounding the gifted, said Marie, is identifying them.

"Russia identifies their very creative and talented people," she says. "Only in Russia, you do for the staten not yourself. And I'll tell you, in Rhode Island. If you don't do for the state, they put you on drugs."

Marie says the most tragic aspect of giftedness is how frequently gifted children are prescribed drugs, because they tend to be overactive. Due to their insatiable hungers for knowledge, gifted children don't sit quietly in the classroom, and are sometimes disruptive.

"There sre schools that have refused to aceept some gifted children I've known if they're not on drugs," she said describing virtual horror stories of medically-suffocated talents and promice. Marie also asserts that gifted children can often be labelled as learning disabled.

"There is no such thing as a learning disabllity," she sald confidently. "There are handicaps, but children diagnosed as LD are not disabled. They're different. They learn differently, and they need to be taught differently.

"There are children out there with very high IQ's that flunk baslc math. They flunk basic math because their minds are too buzy imagining complex mathematical formulas to pay sttention to baslc math," she said.

Marie's description of extremely gifted children included sensiivity, frustration overactivity, and needing alternative methods of learning. Her description sounds hauntingly similair to descriptions of the learning disabled.

How can gifted children be positively identified, I asked, E. Paul Torrance, a researcher in the field of the gifted, has developed a test for the gifted.

Marie brought out a copy of the test, in which children are asked to look at a line or figure on a blank page, and draw a picture. encorporating the figure. The tests are evaluated in terms of fluency, flexibility, elaboration and originality.

"And it's the children who score highest in originality that get the drugs," she asserts. "They're the ones who want to do things their own way.

"The children who score high on elaboration are the ones that need time when learning. They want to get into it all the way. They need to work at their own pace. But in the schools, all children are expected to be finished with their assignments when the bell rlngs, which is so frustrating to a child like this."

Going over the test of one gifted child. Marle pointed to an ertremely high score in "unusual visual perception."

"The child is identified ss gifted, so he has unusual vlsual perception. But if someone else didn't know he's gifted it would be called a visual perception problem."

Marie explained that the suffering and frustration of the gifted has never truly' been understood. And she contends that this misunderstanding includes the peception that the gifted have too much in their favor and to their advantage to be deserving of extra attention or funding.

"As a society, we've done a great deal for the handicapped and retarded because we tend to support the underdog.

"I am very much concerned over the growing recognition the students are graduating from high school without being able to read.' she said "there's a growing movement toward getting back to the basics, which will only cause further suffering for the creatively gifted. who must be free to flower the way God meant for them to flower.