Parents and teachers can find budding brilliance a difficult proposition. Normal school may seem largely irrelevant to gifted children - they have already solved many of the problems which present challenges to their peers.
Special talents require appropriate stimulation, says Sheila Gilheany, director of the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) in DCU. "If they don't get the stimulation they need, these children may become apathetic, bored or even disruptive.
"Alternatively, they may, perhaps, fade into the background. They may not lose their ability, but they may lose the motivation to use it. If the only talent a student has is a gift for maths, it's very sad if this becomes a burden which he or she rejects."
There are about 10,000 "highly able" children in Ireland, she estimates. CTYI helps to identify them and to provide them with additional stimulation on Saturday mornings and in summer time.
Mathematical and verbal reasoning tests are used as a means of identifying talented eight- to 12-year-olds, while the US college entry test, the SAT, is given to those between 12 and 16 years. The reason for giving tests that would be more appropriate to older age groups is that, in a test designed for their own age group, they would all score 100 per cent.
These tests require students to use logic to approach problems they will not have encountered before. This approach allows a finer differentiation.
Gilheany acknowledges the limitations of testing verbal and mathematical intelligences alone but says the tests provide some handle with which to identify these children.
All second-level schools in the Republic have been circularised about CTYI, while primary schools in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Clare have also been alerted. At second-level, half of the 800 schools have participated and demand from primary schools, which were first offered programmes three years ago, is "incredible." In 1993, there were 177 students on the first course, whereas last year 1,200 students participated in CTYI programmes.
This autumn, for the first time, talented eight- to 13-year-olds in the Cork and Limerick region will have the opportunity to attend Saturday classes, organised by the CTYI. Previously, these classes have only been available in DCU in Dublin.
CTYI provides weekend and summer programmes as well as correspondence courses for students aged eight- to 16-years-old. These courses range from archaeology to computing to pharmacology to creative writing. Teachers are mostly experts in their own field. "They must have a huge enthusiasm for their subject and a love of children," says Gilheany.
While there are charges for the courses - £100 for 10 Saturday classes and £520 for a three-week residential course (£260 for non-residential students) - and the assessment (£35 for older students and £15 for younger students), Gilheany says about one quarter of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and nobody has been turned away on the grounds of inability to pay.
CTYI gets its funding from a variety of sources including DCU and industry. Last year the Government contributed £30,000, recognising for the first time that these children have a special educational need. This year the centre is hoping that the Department of Education and Science will continue if not increase its contribution.
Contact: CTYI, Dublin City University, Dublin 9 - phone (01) 704 5634
