One of the first assignments I received upon joining the 优蜜视频 staff was to provide a Chinese translation for our program flyers. Being a native speaker, naturally I thought it wouldn鈥檛 take more than a few hours, but when I started looking on the Chinese search engine, Baidu, I realized I had underestimated the challenge.

One of the top results was 鈥済enius education,鈥� which I hesitated to transcribe. Digging further, I found that few scholarly writings in Chinese focused on the needs of gifted education.

Stumbling upon a blogger鈥檚 post, the writer devoted the entire post to praise the special characteristics of giftedness: gifted students have impressive memory, savvy sense of humor, and unbounded intellectual energy; they are naturally mature, creative, compassionate, and empathetic. They kind of sound like鈥� geniuses.

While all of these qualities are true for some gifted kids, it is not true for all. It is also alarming that there is a void in information when it comes to the needs of gifted youth.

Emotions are the heart and soul of a gifted child. The intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical aspects of the child make up the well-being of the whole child and lead to a balanced life.
When it comes to development, one characteristic to describe gifted children is asynchronous, or uneven. While their minds are often ahead of their physical growth, their cognitive and social-emotional functions can develop at different paces.

To further debunk myths, gifted children are not always high achieving. While they have deep intellectual capacity, learning repetitive material and being forced to learn at others鈥� paces will quickly burn out their passion to learn.

Gifted students also possess high emotional intensity. They feel deeply about the environment around them, but when they are teased by peers for not fitting in because they are 鈥渘erds,鈥� or punished by teachers for disrupting the class because they already know the material, many of them will internalize the feelings and shut down their social interactions.

Perhaps the positive stereotypes associated with gifted and talented youth overshadow the needs of these children, and as a result, they receive very little support. According to the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), there are more than 3.2 million gifted students in America鈥檚 public elementary and secondary schools , yet there are no federal mandates to support gifted education.
On the state level, fourteen states currently allocate no funding to gifted education. Out of the states that do provide funding, most of them only provide identification services, not curriculum-wide support[1].

Being gifted is a not a choice, but the lives of gifted children will be affected by the choices we make. We owe it to these kids to give them an environment in which to thrive and reach their fullest potential. Giftedness should be understood, nurtured, and maximized. They too are kids, and they too need support 鈥� in any language.

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Reference

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Podcasts are an excellent source of entertainment and challenge; they keep us alert on the commute home, amused while waiting at the doctor鈥檚 office and entertained before falling asleep. At 优蜜视频, we are discovering that podcasts can also be an excellent alternative source of information for our brightest minds. Plus, we know that your kids, who constantly crave information, are going to be looking for cool things to learn about over the holiday break from school. As our gift to you this holiday season, we present our five favorite podcasts for the gifted child.

1. 60-Second Science
听 听 听 听 听听

In this podcast, Scientific American provides daily, one-minute commentary on some of the most interesting developments in the field of science.

We recommend:

Full length podcasts of this type are also available at .

2. Astronomy Cast
听 听 听 听 听听

A facts-based journey through the cosmos while telling the story of astronomy earns this podcast high ratings. Although they haven鈥檛 produced a new recording in over a year, Frasier Cane, publisher at Universe Today, and Pamela Gay, professor at Southern Illinois University, have provided enough mental nourishment to last a long, long time.

We recommend:
: A podcast relaying the little-known facts surrounding Newton鈥檚 life and extracurricular accomplishments. We learn that Newton had a difficult childhood as a twice-exceptional student. And, in his adult years, he was so committed to an experiment that he jammed a knitting needle into his eye to explain how optics worked!

3. MinutePhysics
听 听 听 听 听听

This podcast is accurately described as 鈥渃ool physics and other sweet science鈥攁ll in a minute!鈥� Not to mention, you鈥檒l be in for a good laugh.

We recommend:

4. Merriam-Webster鈥檚 Word of the Day
听 听 听 听 听听

Each day, a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word鈥攅xplaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin. These definitions and roots may surprise you!

We recommend:
鈥淗ypermnesia鈥�: A word that certainly describes some of the gifted students we serve!

5. The Stuff of Genius
听 听 听 听 听听

Every invention starts out as an idea, and it only takes a bit of genius to make it a reality. 鈥淭he Stuff of Genius鈥� is a podcast from howstuffworks.com. They describe the inception and process of a particular invention each podcast.

We recommend:

Although we鈥檝e yet to relish every episode on our favorite podcast list, these are some of the episodes that stood out most to us. Come wander into the rabbit hole of podcast information with us!

Does your child have a favorite podcast? How have podcasts been a source of interest and learning for your family? Please share in the comment section below!

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