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+ − 8 <a name="Go And The Gifted Child">
+ − 9 <p><strong><hr>
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+ − 12 <p><strong>Go And The Gifted Child</a></strong>
+ − 13
+ − 14 <p><strong>© 2002 Milton N. Bradley</strong>
+ − 15
+ − 16 <p>There are many kinds of "giftedness" beyond that expressed by a high score on a standard IQ
+ − 17 test, but however identified and measured each presents essentially the same problem to parents,
+ − 18 teachers and developmental psychologists - how best to nurture and develop those so identified.
+ − 19
+ − 20 <p>In our society's search for equity, in recent years great emphasis has been placed upon providing
+ − 21 help and remediation to the less fortunate who have mental, emotional and physical disabilities,
+ − 22 and this is unquestionably a noble and worthwhile effort. But the reality is that essentially all of
+ − 23 human progress has been the result of the insights and talents of a select very few gifted
+ − 24 individuals and not all the rest of the vast mass of humanity. The sum of the output of all of the
+ − 25 millions of "ordinary" musicians who have ever lived does not equal that of one Mozart, nor did
+ − 26 the insight of all of the people who ever lived equal that of one Copernicus in determining the
+ − 27 true state of our solar system. So it should be apparent that if our society is to continue to
+ − 28 progress, identifying and nurturing the "gifted" among us must receive a far higher priority than
+ − 29 it has heretofore, cries of "elitism" notwithstanding.
+ − 30
+ − 31 <p>It has long been known that the human brain is "incomplete" at birth, and that most of its
+ − 32 important development takes place between then and adolescence. In a feature article in The New
+ − 33 York Times of June 24, 1986 entitled "Rapid Changes Seen In Young Brain" it was reported that
+ − 34 "...there are twice as many synaptic connections ..... in certain regions of children's brains than
+ − 35 those of adults. The number of synapses seems to fall by half in early adolescence." The article
+ − 36 further states " ... the child's brain develops virtually all potentially useful neural
+ − 37 interconnections by the age of 2. But <strong>it is childhood experience that shapes the architecture of
+ − 38 the brain, strengthening the neural circuits that are used and ultimately sacrificing those
+ − 39 that are not used."</strong>
+ − 40
+ − 41 <p>These facts have always been more or less intuitively recognized by parents, many of whom have
+ − 42 traditionally attempted to enhance their children's intellectual development via such devices as
+ − 43 "flash cards" to teach them specific skills such as arithmetic and language. But even when
+ − 44 augmented with physical exercise and sports training to enhance motor development, and
+ − 45 training in music and the arts to enhance cultural development, all of these historic attempts have
+ − 46 missed the most important single skill which can determine the individual's ultimate success or
+ − 47 failure in adult life, that of REASONING. In this area, the game of Go stands alone in its unique
+ − 48 ability to teach this almost infinitely valuable skill in the disguise of a pleasurable and non-threatening yet almost infinitely challenging strategic board .game
+ − 49
+ − 50 <p><em><strong>The extraordinary pedagogical attributes of Go improve both the mental development and
+ − 51 REASONING processes and academic performance of <u>all</u> children, but are even more
+ − 52 efficacious for the gifted.</em></strong> Not only are gifted children naturally attracted to the challenges posed
+ − 53 by the subtle and incisive tactics and profound strategy of Go, but they most readily learn how to
+ − 54 play and then move on to the higher skill levels where the benefits to their thinking processes and
+ − 55 study habits are actually developed and refined. For this reason, in this writer's view it is
+ − 56 inevitable that Go will ultimately become an integral and essential element in the education of
+ − 57 every gifted child.
+ − 58
+ − 59 <p>To learn how you can introduce Go to your school, group or organization, please send me an
+ − 60 email by clicking on my name at the bottom of my Go page.
+ − 61
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+ − 63
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