Opinions of parents on their preschool children with gifted potential

Abstract

While there are numerous public centers for gifted children outside of compulsory school hours in Türkiye, facilities for gifted preschoolers remain limited. To address this gap, a consortium of public and civil organizations established Şanlıurfa Gifted and Talented Education Center for children aged 3-6 years, funded by the Ministry of Industry and Technology from 2021 to 2023. This study, one of several academic initiatives within the project, explores parental perceptions of giftedness in young children, comparing views of parents whose children scored within normal and high IQ ranges. Upon the project center's opening, advertisements solicited applications for full-time programs. During the spring semester of 2022, 81 volunteering applicant families completed semi-structured interview forms, explaining how they came to the conclusion that their children were gifted. Subsequently, their children underwent IQ testing, classifying them as either within the normal or potentially gifted group. Researchers conducted content analysis on the initial family responses to identify perceptual differences between families of children with normal and high IQ scores. The analysis revealed several characteristics parents associate with potentially gifted preschoolers, aligning with existing literature. These include language proficiency, curiosity, strong memory, interest in mathematics and foreign languages, musical talent, rapid comprehension, sociability, high attention, logical thinking, and creativity. Notably, many of these traits were also attributed to children scoring within the normal IQ range scores, with exceptions being early eading and writing abilities, leadership skills, and expert opinion. The study concludes that parents of both gifted and typically developing children identify similar indicators of giftedness and subtle differences seem to exist in their perceptions of these traits. Further research is recommended to explore implications for the early identification and support of gifted children. The paper's conclusion discusses the full implications and limitations.