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Special Abilities Of Verbally Gifted Children

11th April 2022

Having a newborn baby at home is really a special feeling. Parents are always in awe of those cute giggles and adorable gestures that babies make before they learn to speak. Generally, verbal skills develop at the age of 6-9 months in newborn babies. Babies start speaking words like ‘mommy’, ‘daddy’, ‘hey’, at this age. Children who are verbally gifted might not show symptoms initially but gifted communication skills can be identified within 2-3 years of birth.

At an infant stage, babies do not speak clearly, and therefore, it becomes quite tough for parents to figure out if they have verbally gifted kids. Early years childhood care teachers and Special education teachers have the capabilities to identify these challenges. Online learning disabilities course provides supreme guidance to special ed teachers so that they can figure out such verbal gifts and use teaching strategies to help them to communicate freely.

SIGNS OF VERBALLY CHALLENGED KIDS:
 

• Learns to talk before than their friends.
• Become an expert in letter sounds and begins reading before their peers
• Demonstrates expertise in grammar and spelling
• They use an advanced vocabulary for their age
• Writes descriptively and communicates stories with ease
• Demonstrates an above-age ability to understand double meanings
• Shows high potential to learn other languages with ease
• Enjoys verbal puzzles and games
• Likes to read outside of class and for enjoyment
• Reads fluently and above grade level when compared to peers

Class teachers in inclusive classrooms should have the capability to find out the verbal challenges of a special kid in case parents of gifted children are not aware of the fact. It becomes quite transparent if children are having issues with their language skills. When kids reach a certain age when they can easily express their social and emotional points of view but are unable to express them verbally or express much better than other kids of the same age. By 1 year, kids can speak short sentences and if they are verbally gifted children they can be pointed out at how they are speaking.

Reading, speaking, creative writing, foreign language, and general verbal reasoning are 5 areas where it can be identified if a child is having verbal gifts or not. A learning environment should be created for these special kids to provide them with exact language learning sessions. In order to teach students having verbal gifts, SEN teachers must be well aware of their potential and mental growth level. 

Some verbally gifted children tend to get rid of language learning stages, observing them as they stay silent is definitely not an option. For example, a verbally gifted child may not imitate words as most children do at age 1. They also may not begin speaking simple sentences like "Me bag" at age 2. Then suddenly at 2 and half years age, they will ask a question like "Where's my bag?"

Reading is a skill that kids acquire when they are being properly instructed by teachers or parents. However, that instruction will be in vain unless children are having a grasp of the basics of a language. A written word is simply a visual representation of spoken language, and if a child does not have the ability to read properly, it will be next to impossible to make the connection between the spoken word and the written symbols on a page.

Hence, verbally challenged kids may speak better than children of their age or may not speak at all. Parents often confuse seeing their kids speaking quite advanced than other children and might consider that as a real talent. Online learning disabilities courses help class teachers and parents to identify of kids are verbally gifted or not.

Written By: Aditi Ghose