A Different Perspective to the Early Intervention Applications during Preschool Period: Early Enrichment for Gifted Children

Abstract

The goal of this research is to identify the views of preschool teachers with gifted students in their classes on the use of enrichment methods as a tool for early intervention. In this context, differences teachers observed in these gifted children following the application of Renzulli’s Type I Enrichment Method to preschool science activities were determined. The study has been conducted using the phenomenological approach as a qualitative research method. The benefits of enrichment methods on the education of gifted children and the need for their use as an early intervention method are well-recognized by the scientific community in this area. On the other hand, there are few research based results on the application of these Type-I Enrichment methods to preschool children. During the early childhood period, awareness related to this topic is particularly important due to both the support needs of parents for their children with special needs as well as the role of teachers in the entire educational-behavioral development process of the children. The study group in this study consists of four preschool teachers from four different classes in a private preschool within the 2015–2016 education year. In the beginning of the study, preschool teachers with gifted children in their classrooms received training courses with applied content on both gifted children and enrichment methods. Teachers who participated in the study subsequently used Renzulli’s Type I enrichment methods to modify and enrich science activities within their classrooms throughout an entire semester. The teachers were then asked to evaluate the effects of enrichment activities on the children based on their own observations. The resulting findings were collected by the researcher through semi-structured interviews with these teachers. As a result, it was found that preschool teachers with gifted children in their classrooms indicate that early intervention is necessary for preschool gifted children, that the use of enrichment methods in this period is highly compatible with preschool pedagogy and curriculum and hence promises to be practical and sustainable and that enriched activities, in addition to their benefits for gifted children, may also offer benefits for children exhibiting normal development patterns under certain conditions. The results are then discussed in the context of enrichment, parent education, professionalization of teachers and preschool education providing richer benefits that are more sensitive to individual differences.