VIAGEM A “MOJAVE-ÓKI!” - Faders

ABSTRACT
This Dissertation intends to analyze the identification process of high abilities/giftedness
in children within four and six years old, considering an intelligence
conception evidencing its multiple expressions and a dynamic comprehension of the
indicators defining the subjects presenting such a characteristics. The theoretical
proposals of two different authors have contributed to support these conceptions:
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory and Joseph Renzulli’s Three-Ring
Conception of Giftedness. The research was characterized by focusing high abilities/giftedness
from a qualitative paradigm, resulting in the systematization of a procedure,
which recognizes not only the cognizant individual and his/her different ways
of knowing the world and expressing intelligence, but also his/her affective, psychomotor
and social components, emphasizing his/her singularities and potentialities,
recognizing his/her limitations and valorizing his/her interaction with the environment
where he/she lives. The information used for this study were collected from the videorecording
of the spontaneous activities of the subjects – two boys and one girl -, interviews
with their families and teachers, children’s products gathered in their Portfolios,
and information filed in Centro de Desenvolvimento, Estudos e Pesquisas nas
Altas Habilidades/CEDEPAH records. The recording guideline was to include activities
presenting beginning, middle and end, which were called Narrative Structures.
The first set of scenes included the activities of the three children taking part of this
research. The second cut was made guided by the appearance of behaviors indicating
the different intelligence domains: language, mathematics, sciences, music, social,
body-kinesthetic, spatial, visual arts and work styles. The analysis of the final
material has considered two dimensions – visual and verbal. The findings obtained
from this analysis allow concluding that high ability/giftedness indicators can be evidenced
in children within this age range. They also emphasize the importance of
identification procedures, which may provide stimulating and challenging activities to
the children, developed under multiple points of view, thus conducting to include professionals
from different areas in this action. The identification procedure herein proposed
is conceived as an ongoing process, assured by the subjects’ follow-up along
time, and in different situations of their own day-by-day. This approach provides a
narrative profile where each child’s strengths and weaknesses to be improved are
highlighted, also recognizing the environmental influences in the production of this
profile, encouraging strengths and helping to improve weaknesses. Therefore, the
behaviors presented are not considered as a final product of intelligence. Such kind
of study may be an important milestone in building public policies and searching for
service strategies aiming at prevention, as offering suitable information and guidance
to parents and teachers is part of these children educational process, avoiding problems,
which may impair their development.