Gifted Education International 2006 Vol 20, pp 63-68

©2006 A B Academic Publishers

Denise de Souza FleithI

University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil
and Tania Gonzaga Guimaraes
University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

psychoeducational service
for parents of gifted and
talented students:
a brazilian experience

Abstract

This article describes a counseling service for parents of gifted and talented children in Brazil. The main
purpose of this service is providing an opportunity for parents to receive information on giftedness,
share experiences with other families, and discuss strategies to be implemented in the familial context
to enhance and cultivate children's abilities. An evaluation of the service by the participants and
coordinators is provided. The importance of guiding families of gifted and talented children is discussed
as well as the problems faced by these families.

In the last decades, interest in implementing academic achievement, but it has not been
educational practices that attend the valued enough to date to create the kinds of
academic and cognitive needs of gifted environments in which that emotional
students has been growing significantly development can be nurtured' (p. 23).
around the world. In this regard, many
programs have been proposed aiming to In order to maximize their potential, it is
foster intellectual abilities of gifted students, essential to have a holistic perspective of the
as well as to enrich academic curriculum students, including the family system.
(Alencar & Fleith, 2001; Renzulli, 1986; Van Colangelo (1997) pointed out that 'the family
Tassel-Baska, 1998). On the other hand, the has been recognized as a primary and critical
social and emotional development of talented component in the development of talent and
students has been neglected. According to the success of children in school' (p. 358).
Silverman (1993a), 'Healthy emotional However, parents are not knowledgeable
development is clearly as important as about the needs of their gifted child. They

!Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed

to the first author at the Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade
de Brasilia, 70910-900 Brasilia, OF, Brazil, or by email to
[email protected]
* E-mail: [email protected]
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also feel confused in relation to their role in self-development' (Webb, Amend, Webb,
stimulating the abilities of their child. These Goerss, Beljan, & Olenchak, 2005, p. 178).
problems are generated by many factors
(Colangelo & Assouline, 2000; Dettman & As a consequence, the family should be
Colangelo, 1980; Silverman, 1993b): (a) informed about the characteristics of gifted
Misconceptions and stereotypes about children and guided with respect to
giftedness, (b) covert hostility from the strategies that favor the social and emotional
society toward the intellectually advanced, development of their children. More
(c) lack of information about available importantly, parents of gifted children have
resources, programs, and services, (d) a need to share their parenting experiences
limited financial resources of parents, (e) with other parents of talented youngsters. As
child-centered families with high pointed out by Deslile (1992), ' It is naive to
expectations for education and achievement, believe that a characteristic as significant as
and (f) non-labeled siblings become more giftedness would not have some unique
competitive, and feel more neglected by impact on both the family and the child's
their families. role in the family, requiring some changes in
parent-child interactions' (p. 189). Therefore,
In addition, Silverman (1993b) calls parents of gifted children need resources and
attention to the fact that 'parents of other clear direction about their role in educating
exceptional children have societal support their child.
and sympathy, whereas parents of the gifted
have neither' (p. 162). In this regard, parents Although an increase in counseling
of talented children often feel isolated from families has been noticed in the last 10 years,
the usual support network. They rarely have according to Colangelo and Assouline
opportunities to talk with other families or (2000), few counselors have expertise in the
friends about their child's development and field of giftedness. Therefore, counseling
their parenting experiences (Webb & with families of gifted children 'is still an
DeVries, 1998). These parents, for example, area of exceptional need and challenge' (p.
'experience an unsettling dissonance 600). In the United States, one of the most
between the child-rearing practices known services for parents of the gifted is
recommended for an average child and the the Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted Model
reality of the child in their midst' (p. 3). Parent Support Groups. The objective of this
model is to provide information and
Furthermore, because gifted children guidance about gifted children and their
may have an asynchronous development, characteristics in ways which allow parents
e.g., intellectual skills are advanced but to nurture and enhance children's potential
social and motor skills are age appropriate) (Webb & DeVries, 1998. Ten parent group
(Piechowski, 1991; Silverman, 1993a), the sessions are held one week apart. The topics
parents are not sure if their child is gifted or discussed in the sessions are related to
not. In addition, parents did not know how characteristics of the gifted, motivation,
much they should encourage the talents of discipline, stress management, depression,
their children. Sometimes they prefer 'their communication of feelings, peer relations,
children to be 'normal' and not pay the price sibling rivalry, tradition breaking, and
of being different. In the process, they may parent relations. Each session is evaluated by
inhibit their children's growth and healthy the participants. .

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As pointed out by Webb and DeVries, Another recent counseling service for
parents at the first session have many parents of the gifted implemented in Brazil is
questions about gifted children, parenting the Psychoeducational Service for Parents of
and schooling, are highly verbal, feel Gifted and Talented Students. This service was
frustrated with school system, want as much created in 2002 at the University of Brasilia
information as possible, support and learn and has the main purpose of providing an
from each other, and form a cohesive group opportunity for parents to receive
quickly. On the other hand, at the last information on giftedness, share experiences
session, parents seem more optimistic, with other families, and discuss strategies to
confident and feel more competent, have be implemented in the family context to
more realistic expectations, and possess an enhance and cultivate children's abilities.
increased amount of useful information to
share. In conclusion, 'the groups provide a The children of the parents who
forum for parents of gifted children to gain participate in the psycho-educational service
exposure to a variety of parent-child attend an enrichment program for gifted and
experiences, to 'swap parenting recipes' and talented students established by the
to gain insight into how their parenting Secretary of Education of the Federal
styles can prevent or ameliorate problems' District. Students from kindergarten to high
(Webb & DeVries, 1998, p. 8). school are enrolled in this program. They
participate in enrichment activities once or
Another family counseling program has twice a week. The Schoolwide Enrichment
been established at the Belin-Blank Model by Renzulli (1986, 1994; Renzulli &
International Center for Gifted Education Reis, 1997) guides the program. Students
and Talent Development at the University of from different socioeconomic status and
Iowa. The focus is on helping families of from public and private schools attend the
gifted children to develop their own program. They are nominated by their
strategies to resolve issues efficiently. Five to teachers although parent nominations are
six sessions are held per family (Colangelo, also accepted. The team includes enrichment
1997; Colangelo & Assouline, 2000). teachers, psychologists and a program
Underachievement of gifted children has coordinator (Alencar & Fleith, 2001;
been the number one problem presented by Magalhaes, 2001).
the families.
Since the beginning of the program for
In Brazil, very few counseling services the gifted children from the Secretary of
for parents of the gifted have been Education of the Federal District until 2002,
implemented (Alencar & Fleith, 2001). At the the involvement of parents with this
Institute for Optimizing Learning, located at program was minimal. They did not know
the south region of the country, families of exactly the objectives of the program. Also it
gifted children receive information about was noted that parents did not have enough
giftedness and have opportunities to discuss information about giftedness or
significant educational concerns to foster characteristics of gifted children (Fleith &
positive and stable family relationships. As a Virgolim, 1999). The Psychoeducational
result, parents become confident in Service for Parents of Gifted and Talented
supporting their children's intellectual, Students was, then, created to fulfill the
social, and emotional development needs of parents.
(Sabatella & Becker, 2001).

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In this regard, the specific objectives of parents choose what they would like to
the service are: (a) Present and discuss topics examine at this time. In the eighth meeting
related to giftedness and the enrichment the family-child relationships and dynamics
program attended by their children; (b) Offer are analyzed. and finally, in the last meeting,
opportunities for parents to share their the service is evaluated by parents. They are
doubts, difficulties and successes related to required to fill out a questionnaire and to
the education of their gifted child; (c) evaluate the service orally. The questionnaire
Discuss stimulation strategies of their has the following questions: (1) What did
children's potential; and (d) Make them you like most in the meetings? (2) What do
aware of the need to follow the school you think that should be changed in the
performance of their children. meetings? (3) What is your opinion
regarding the time and duration of the
A parent group is organized each meetings, number of meetings, number of
semester. Nine meetings of two hours are participants, place where the meetings were
held with parents one week apart in the held, topics discussed, resources available,
evening. The meetings are coordinated by and coordinators? and (4) Suggestions.
the authors of this paper. A trained
undergraduate student in Psychology is in It is important to highlight that the
charge of paper and pencil recording each sequence of the topics are not always neatly
meeting. In the first meeting, the purposes of linear. Parents may require a topic to be
the service are explained to the participants. discussed out of the sequence. Moreover, it is
We clarify that the service is not a therapy relevant to clarify that a lecturing approach
group. Also in this meeting the participants is avoided. Especially because, as pointed
are asked to introduce themselves, to fill out out by Webb and DeVries (1998), 'No one has
a demographic questionnaire about all the answers to perfect parenting -
themselves (name, address, phone, email, particularly regarding those diverse children
gender, age, civil status, profession, level of whom we call talented or gifted' (p. 39). The
education, number of children) and about methodology employed involves reading,
their child who is attending the enrichment discussion, group dynamics, and videos.
program (gender, age, grade, area of talent,
order of birth), as well as an authorization The number of families per group varied
sheet to record the meetings. from 7 to 25. It is usual that couples or
mothers participate in the service. There
In the second· meeting an enrichment were two cases where only the fathers
teacher is invited to discuss the work they attended the service. Most of parents held a
develop at the program. In the third meeting high school diploma or a college degree.
information is provided about definitions According to Winner (1996), 'the level of
and myths on giftedness. The fourth meeting education attained by the parents plays a
discusses the socio-emotional development strong role in the development of a child's
of gifted children. The fifth meeting gift, because educated parents have the
examines parental expectations regarding means and the desire to provide enrichment
children's school performance and future environments' (p. 184). Moreover, it is
career and the development of self-concept, interesting to notice that the vast majority of
and the sixth discusses the importance of these families' children who were identified
limits in the education of the gifted. The as gifted were either first-born or only child.
seventh meeting has an open agenda, and Winner observed that gifted children occupy

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special positions in the family: 'they are every parent-child relationship is unique.
typically either first-born or only children' There are no recipes regarding how to raise a
(p. 183). gifted child (Roeper, 1995). As explained by
Olszewski-Kubilius (2002), 'the effect of the
In their evaluation of the psycho- family is complex and multifaceted.
educational service, the parents highlighted Different mixtures of family variables may,
the updated and theoretical based in fact, yield different outcomes for children
information they receive about giftedness, that are more or less supportive of creativity,
the opportunity to dismantle myths scholastic achievement, talent development,
regarding gifted people, the importance to and general mental health' (p 207).
share information and doubts with other According to this author, an important point
parents of the gifted, the positive interaction is the degree to which a family creates a
between the families and the coordinators of climate that allows gifted children to
the service, and the need for more meetings develop their identity, thoughts and feelings.
to discuss other topics that are relevant for Therefore, counseling services for parents of
the education of talented children. Also, the talented children may help families to
coordinators evaluated the service and pursue and achieve this goal. The
concluded that the positive aspects were the involvement of parents in the education of
access of the families to the information on the gifted is still a significant positive force
giftedness, the opportunities for them to (Dettmann & Colangelo, 1980). A
express and share their feelings regarding partnership between family and school is
the education of their children, the parents' imperative to promote the excellence in
access to strategies to nurture children's education and human development.
potential, and the process of becoming
aware of the importance of parents to
discuss with the school the best educational
practices for their high ability children. References

Brazilian parents in the first meeting, Alencar E. M. L. S. & Fleith, D. S. (2001).

1 1

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