Please verify your email address to receive email notifications.

Enter your email address

We have sent you a verification email. Please check your inbox and spam folder.

Unable to send verification, please refresh and try again later.

  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Can my gifted child start school early?

    Related Topics
    Children's Health Parenting
    answer this question

  • Find a professional to answer your question

  • Dr Will Pascoe

    HealthShare Member

    Hello.
    Apart from the legal/education department issues that may be connected with a child starting school early there are a number of other factors to consider. For example, has your child been tested and classified as gifted? In which areas does your child exhibit giftedness, e.g. literacy, numeracy, art, music, drama, science? How well does your child handle social interactions, especially with children older than her/himself? How well does your child cope with formal situations and restrictions on her/his activities?
    Recent research seems to support the idea that a child beginning formal education too early, particularly in literacy and numeracy, doesn't have any real value and in fact may be detrimental to the child's progress in other areas. Play based learing seems to be the better option. How this might effect a gifted child is yet to be clarified but I suspect gifted children would more likely do better in an informal setting with ample opportunity to express their particular areas of talent. 
    Are you involved with a support group or advisory group of any kind, either in person or online? 
    This is an important issue for you. I hope you and your child have a wonderful education experience together. Please contact me if you'd like further discussion.
    Best wishes,
    Will

    Reply to this post
     · 
    Report
    Reply to this post

    You must be a Health Professional to reply to this post. to your account or now (it's free).

  • Dr Simon Easterbrook-Smith

    Health Professional

    My research interests include immunology and the mechanisms of amyloid formation. The latter has implications for people who are dealing with Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease … View Profile

    I think that Will has offered you excellent advice.

    This is something that I can relate to personally - in psychometric jargon I am “profoundly gifted”. My parents, with the best of intentions, sent me to school as a 4 y.o. With adult hindsight this was a mistake because my social and emotional maturity lagged a long way behind my intellectual maturity.

    You might find the information in this site of some help in deciding what is best for your child: http://www.australiangiftedsupport.com/ .

    Reply to this post
     · 
    Report
    Reply to this post

    You must be a Health Professional to reply to this post. to your account or now (it's free).

answer this question

You must be a Health Professional to answer this question. Log in or Sign up .

You may also like these related questions

Related Fact Sheets
Related Questions

Empowering Australians to make better health choices