What makes a child prodigy

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The families of gifted children are child-centered, meaning that family life is often

totally focused on the child's needs. But the fact that parents spend a great deal of time

with their gifted child does not mean that they create the gift. It is likely that parents

65 first notice signs of exceptionality, and then respond by devoting themselves to the

development of their child's extraordinary ability. And of course we have no information

on the number of child-centered families that do not produce gifted children.

Gifted children typically grow up in "enriched" family environments with a high

level of intellectual and/or artistic stimulation. We cannot conclude that stimulation

70 and enrichment lead to the development of giftedness. First, gifted children may

need an unusual amount of stimulation and may demand enriched environments,

a demand to which their parents respond. Thus, the child's inborn ability could be

the driving force, leading the child to select an enriched environment. Parents of

gifted children typically have high expectations, and also model hard work and high

75 achievement themselves. But it is logically possible that gifted children have simply

inherited their gift from their parents, who also happen to be hard-working achievers.

Parents of gifted children grant their children more than the usual amount of

independence. But we do not know whether granting independence leads to high

achievement, or whether it is the recognition of the child's gift that leads to the

80 granting of independence. It is very possible that gifted children are particularly

strong-willed and single-minded, and thus demand independence.

labeled a prodigy.

That is a sentiment echoed by Rasta Thomas, 27, who was also Senior Men's

Division of the get a

30 He made dance history as a teenager, winning the preterons/nectioninternational.ballerCompetitionin/actuation Gold Medal in the age of 14. He now headlines his own dance of Dance. Mississippi, at the "I think if you give any seven-year-old the training had, you company, Bad Boys will

product that is at the top of its game, Thomas says. "I have had hours and hours ang

million dollars invested into the training that received."

a But Ellen Winner, the author of Gifted Children: Myths and Realities, disagrees. "You

Enabling Talent to Flower Winner says prodigies are born with

35 can't make a gifted child out of any child." to be enabled in order to have their

natural talent, but she does believe they "need

ability flower." Both Julian Lage, who played with vibraphonist Gary Burton at

age 12, and Rasta Thomas, who studied at the Kirov Ballet Academy in

say they had that support. But the success that both Lage Washington

and Thomas enjoy today

40 adults is due to much more. Winner says studies have shown that most music

as

prodigies are unheard of as adults. "The gift of being a child prodigy is very different

from the gift of being an adult creator, she says. "To be an adult creator means you

which means taking a risk.' Both Lage and Thomas took

in their

45 have to do something new, that creative risk early, composing and choreographing while they were still as well. "T do write," he says. "I

teens. Gaven Largent is headed in that direction

haven't written too many songs with lyrics, but that's something I'd like to work on."

Right now, he adds, he is working on a gospel song.

The Role of Families

by Ellen Winner, Excerpted from Child Prodigies and Adult Genius: A Weak Link

The notion that giftedness is product of intensive training reflects an overly

50 optimistic view of the power of nurture. A more negative view of the power of

nurture is reflected in another common claim-that

pushing will be disengagement, bitterness, and gifted children are created by

driving, overambitious parents. There is concern that the end result of such extreme

55 are often told to let their children have a normal childhood.

But most gifted children do depression. Parents of such children

not become bitter and disaffected. Moreover, it is

impossible to drive an ordinary child

Eited children, In adition, gifted children typically report that their family played to the kinds of high achievements seen in a

60 positive, not negative, role in their development. We know quite a bit about the

family characteristics of gifted children, at least of those in

characteristics are positive ones, as described below, but our society, today. These

the research does not

allow us to conclude that particular family characteristics play

development of giftedness. a causal role in the

 Reading

Read the passages carefully. Then complete the exercises that follow.

CD 1

ETR 8 What makes a child prodigy?

What is the secret to having a gifted child? How important is the environment in which

these children are raised? Can parents actually help their children become gifted, or is genius

inborn? The following passages explore the many questions surrounding child prodigies.

Are gifted children born or made?

by Susan Logue, Voice of America News

Some say given enough time, money, and instruction, any child can develop a

5 special expertise. Others, however, insist that gifted children are born, not made.

A Rage to Master

Gaven Largent, 13, has been playing music for five years. He started with guitar

lessons at age eight, but not long after, he quit-not making music, just taking lessons.

"T wasn't learning anything," he says. "I was just playing those notes on the paper; it

was boring.'

10 "Gaven became frustrated that it was sheet music and he was only playing the

notes on the music," his mother Melissa says. "He wanted to fill it in and make it

more.' She says they knew when he was nine or ten that music would be his focus.

"It became an obsession for him to figure out the sounds that he heard on a CD or the

radio or live music."

15 That obsession is one of the trademarks of a gifted child, or prodigy, according to

developmental psychologist Ellen Winner, who teaches at Boston College. 'I say they

have a rage to master. It is difficult to tear them away from the area in which they

have high ability."

Looking Back as Former Child Prodigies

Julian Lage, who is now 21, remembers playing guitar for hours as a child. "You

20 wake up and you eat and you play music and you sleep." Lage, who recently released

his first CD, Sounding Point, started playing guitar at five. A few years later, he was

a the subject of a documentary film, Jules at Eight. Still, the title "child prodigy" was

something he never felt he could relate to. ("'Younger musicians, my contemporaries

who have been called child prodigies, they feel slighted because it does undermine

25 the work ethic, the thousands of hours you put in just to be able to produce a sound

on your instrument." CHAPTER 4 What makes a child prodigy? 75