An Interview with Prof. Dr. Michael Shaughnessy:
5. Aug 2008
1. How did you involve in Gifted Education?
I first got involved in gifted education when I was completing a master's degree in School Psychology and I was asked to be part of a committee to set up a curriculum program for these children. We looked at I.Q. scores, standardized achievement test scores, teacher nominations and current g.p.a. and examined all of these variables in terms of selection. We also looked at various curriculum models.
2. What are you currently working on?
For many years, I have been conducting research on personality traits of gifted children. It seems that gifted children do have a distinct personality style that is often problematic, yet often helps them to achieve their goals. Other scholars may refer to this as "motivation"
but using well normed, well constructed, valid, reliable tests such as the 16 PF- Fifth Edition we do find that there are certain specific outstanding personality traits that help gifted children in their endeavors.
3. What do you think about IQ-Tests?
I could write a small book trying to answer this question. I do believe that they are important and that they yeild important information. I am not sure that teachers are well trained to examine carefully the scores and know the implications and instructional issues behind the scores. I am even concerned that some diagnosticians and school psychologists may know how to administer and score the tests, but do not know how to interpret the tests. I have done some work with Alan and Nadeen Kaufman in this regard, as well as Gale Roid, the developer of the Stanford Binet 5. Also, there are other intelligence tests out there that are little more than screening devices or tools. If you are going to spend one hour with a gifted child, one needs to come away from that hour with a good deal of information about the child's strengthes and weaknesses, learning styles, and cognitive structures.
I do believe there are issues in testing racially, culturally and ethnically different children. I would certainly not give an American I.Q. test to a child in Europe as the results would be highly questionable since those students are exposed to an entirely different realm of general knowledge.
4. Could you tell us about your best experience with gifted children or adults?
I believe that every experience that I have had has been a memorable one, since I have been able to provide some information, knowledge, or insight to either the child or the parent. We need to do much more to help the parents of gifted children and to assist in the social, emotional, and cognitive development of the child. I believe that gifted children need additional stimulation and different kinds of experiences and literary stimulation.
In terms of gifted adults, I have often tried to be supportive of them in their endeavors and have mentored quite a few gifted adults. Some I keep in contact with and I consider good colleagues and friends.
I used to talk to E. Paul Torrance quite frequently on the phone before he died and I appreciated his communicating with me about his ideas. I also have met Howard Gardner, who I consider to be a gifted adult and have learned a lot from him, and also Robert Sternberg.
5. What do you think about Future of Gifted Education?
Currently, there are many different models of " gifted education" and many different approaches. There is acceleration, and there are different " enrichment" philosophies. Often gifted children are mentored and in other instances, they engage in directed study or individual research.
ALL teachers and parents need to be aware of ALL of the different approaches to gifted education.
Sadly, there is no one world wide approach to giftedness- and perhaps there should not be- we need to look at the child's skills and needs and then try to provide the most appropriate educational intervention- be it acceleration or enrichment or mentoring !