Dimitrios Papadopoulos
Giftedness responds in people from infancy through adulthood. Although research has recognised the early years in a gifted child’s future development and learning as critical, preschool teachers and school psychologists of this population have limited knowledge about the expression and special characteristics of giftedness at this stage of development.
Due to the fact that gifted children have special learning and cognitive abilities, it is important for teachers to recognize these characteristics at an early stage, and then design and implement gifted intervention programs. Additionally, the enrollment of gifted children in conventional classrooms that do not follow any kind of gifted educational program as for the teaching style, pose risk factors for inhibiting the development of their talents and the experience of positive emotions. Further, many gifted children exhibit even from preschool age feelings of frustration, boredom, low self-esteem, under-achievement and other negative characteristics, that may be the result of their asynchronous development or are due to the inability of school to identify their special abilities and support them with gifted pedagogical methods.