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REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE CONFERENCE ON “EXCEPTIONALLY ABLE CHILDREN”  AT DCU

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE CONFERENCE ON “EXCEPTIONALLY ABLE CHILDREN” AT DCU ON SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER 1998

I am delighted to have been invited to join with the Irish Association for Gifted Children – who this year are celebrating their 21st birthday - and the Irish Centre for Talented Youth at DCU, for a Conference which deals with a unique group of people with special needs – “exceptionally able children”. I would like to thank Annemarie Hogan, the Chairperson of An Óige Thréitheach, for inviting me to the conference which addresses some of the important questions on the parenting and schooling of gifted children – who, surprisingly perhaps, can at times represent considerable difficulties for parents and teachers alike.

As a parent and through my former work in University – I know that the ‘established’ system and curricula have tended to be geared towards the vast bulk of school-going children – with the needs of those at the opposite extremes of the ability levels being addressed in more recent years. I know too of the dangers for children who are not recognised as being particularly gifted – of the frustration and boredom that can lead to psychological problems and difficulties between pupils and teachers and between children and parents – and of the very real risk of those children being assessed as being of only limited ability – with all of the downstream consequences which can follow from that wrong assessment.

Thankfully, such occurrences are more of a rarity nowadays, which is due in major part to the work of the Association over the past twenty one years – through the Newsletter and Information Sheets, the organised lectures, Explorer Clubs and summer camps – and through assisting parents and teachers in their efforts to enable children with exceptional ability to develop to their potential. The Centre for Talented Youth, which was founded in 1992 by Dublin City University, has brought a further dimension to the services available for talented youth in their academically stimulating weekend and summer programmes – which are now offered also in the University of Limerick, and in University College, Cork.

Through the joint efforts of both the Association and the Centre for Talented Youth you have made it possible to identify exceptionally able children – and, perhaps most importantly, to stimulate their particular talents at a vital early age so that they can go on to realise their potential in later years – thus minimising the dangers of misdirection which can so easily work directly against the individual concerned. The partnership which you have developed has been further strengthened in the preparation of the booklet “Understanding Gifted Children” – a parent and teacher guide – and which I am pleased to launch today. I congratulate you on the production of this very useful guide, which has been published by the Association and supported by the Centre – and I have no doubt that it will prove to be an invaluable source of reference.

The success of your programmes would not be possible without the co-operation and professional support of teachers, parents and the many others in the related disciplines who have an interest in the needs of gifted children. The official recognition that has been afforded to these children – through their recognition as being children with “special education needs”, is a further enhancement of the education environment within which they are schooled – and which has to cater for all ability levels. This means that the opportunities for exceptionally able children to uncover their talents are far greater now than ever before – and it is to the great credit to people like yourselves that this situation now prevails.

Today’s Conference is the outcome of yet another collaboration between the Association for Gifted Children and the Centre for Talented Youth covering a number of issues that are of particular concern to teachers, parents and others who have an interest in the special educational needs of gifted children. You are fortunate to have the opportunity to draw on the experience and expertise of contributors both from Ireland and from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.

I hope you find the Conference fruitful and rewarding and that you will go away this evening with much food for further thought on the education and ‘discovery’ of gifted children. I want to wish you well the continuation of the very productive relationship between the Irish Association for Gifted Children and the Irish Centre for Talented Youth.

ENDS