Subsistema Ejercicio:

Several research methods have been utilised when examining the personal experiences and perceptions of gifted children and their families in relation to initial identification (prior to study), educational experiences and support structures. These methods included:

• Interviewing

• Semi-structured Play Interviews

• Parent Records, Records of Developmental Milestones and Anecdotal Observations of Children’s Behaviour

• Children’s Drawings and Work Samples

3.8.1 Interviewing

Interviewing techniques were the main research methods utilised in this study. This decision was based on the previous successful past experience of the researcher when utilising semi-structured play for understanding children’s perspectives and interviews with young children and their families. This method also provided the means to understand the experiences of the participants more solidly and deeply from the combined perspectives of the child and their parents. The main aim of the interview as discussed in Stringer (2004) is to provide opportunities for participants to describe and interpret their situations and issues in their own words whilst also inviting others to view their world and understandings from their perspective.

Furthermore, Rubin and Rubin (2005) state that for responsive interviewing to occur effectively, the interviewer must demonstrate qualities of self-confidence, adaptability and a willingness to listen and change direction if they discover that a new focus or theme is evolving in the conversations with their interviewees. As highlighted in Rubin and Rubin (2005) and critical when planning and conducting interviews with young children, the interviewer must ensure they remain objective and establish precise guidelines or protocol that must be followed throughout the study. Any adaptations to this process must be documented and reported to ensure the study maintains rigour.

A number of specific interview questions were constructed as a guide for structured and semi-structured play interviews with separate guides constructed for the children (see appendix 9) and adults (appendix 11) . That is, the expression of questions constructed for the interviewing sessions were appropriate to the ages and stages of the participants, whilst also asking the same research questions guiding this study.

3.8.2 Semi-structured play interviews

“Gifted children themselves are perhaps the greatest source of knowledge and understanding of giftedness. Careful observation, active listening and close interaction over a period of time with a child who is gifted can provide a unique insight into the nature of giftedness in early childhood” (Harrison, 1999a, p.100).

Utilising the ‘voice’ of the young gifted child is a rare, and yet, increasingly popular method of research in early childhood and gifted education. As mentioned, a main aim of this study was to accurately represent the ‘lived’ experiences and perceptions of gifted children and the researcher recognised that a highly effective method to obtain these would be through semi-structured play interviews.

The interviews with the preschool children in this study were based on semi-structured play interview techniques as they can be used with all children no matter what their potential. Play techniques were essential for interviewing the pre-schoolers. Quite often young children have not developed adequate vocabulary nor reached a level of cognitive development for expressing themselves effectively through verbal language, but they are able to do so naturally through the language of play. Barlow, Strother and Landreth (cited in Hoffman, 1992) concluded that play is a medium through which children express their feelings, explore themselves and their relationships, and attempt to organise their experiences. Therefore, when play is used in interviewing, it helps pre-schoolers to feel less anxious and more comfortable, thereby fostering a positive relationship between the child and the interviewer. Furthermore, as the children become involved in play they also become involved in the interviewing process.

Play in interviewing offers an opportunity to gain insight into the world of individual children and in the process help them to express themselves and discuss their personal opinions and ideas. Gumaer (1984) observed that expressing their feelings and behaviours in play increases pre-schooler’s self confidence and feelings of security so they are able to be more open. Furthermore, Hoffman (1992) cited that through play children can act out and face their feelings of anger, anxiety, and frustration in safe, constructive ways.

Carter (1987) discusses two types of play appropriate in interviewing pre-schoolers (Carter, 1987, cited in Hoffman, 1991). Unstructured, or free play, allows children to spontaneously choose the toys or materials they will use and continue the interview at their own pace. Structured play, or controlled play, is set up by the interviewer who makes available play materials that are related or useful in focusing on the child’s thoughts and feelings, and therefore, gains insight into the child’s world.

In this study, the researcher used both an unstructured or free play interview technique with one preschooler. This decision was based on discussions with the child’s parent that this would work best. It was decided with the parents of the second preschooler that a more structured or controlled interview would work best for this child. The researcher decided to bring along her 7 year old daughter to the play sessions to enable each child to have someone to play with and take the individual focus off the young child. The children played together during the initial stages of the interview. The preparation of this situation involved parents asking their preschoolers if they would like to also meet the researcher’s daughter and have a play before the researcher administered the play interview questions. This was done so as to provide time for the younger children to get to know the researcher and therefore feel more comfortable in answering the focus questions. Both children were known to enjoy the company of older ‘girls’ and were very excited to have a new playmate to play with before, during and after the interview.

The play interviews were not used with the primary age children as all parents, and the children themselves, stated that they were comfortable with one on one interviews with the researcher. The primary age children also expressed excitement and a feeling of importance when asked to participate in the one on one interviews.

3.8.3 Parent Records, Records of Developmental Milestones and Anecdotal Observations of Children’s Behaviour

Parents of gifted children can offer a wealth of information in relation to the abilities and characteristics of their child. The recording of dated examples of early language development, developmental milestones, interesting events and behavioural observations may have been collected throughout their child’s life to date (Roedell, 1989). Most parents have been their child’s lifelong teacher and consequently, possess a detailed and descriptive dialogue about the responses and experiences of their gifted child. Therefore, this study has utilised records provided by parents when constructing a picture that represents the lived experience of their gifted child.

3.8.4 Children’s Drawings and Work Samples

As previously mentioned, collections of student drawings and work samples provide a rich source of highly informative and concrete visual information relative to certain abilities demonstrated by gifted children. As discussed in Stringer (2004), work samples may be used to demonstrate variation, extreme examples, typical and particular characteristics or exceptional examples of student work.

Furthermore, work samples may provide opportunities to become involved in descriptive dialogue with young children who may prefer to discuss their thoughts through pictures.

For this study, drawings and work samples were provided by one preschooler prior to the semi-structured play interviews, throughout the duration of the play interview and many weeks following the interview. The second preschooler completed drawings during the play interview and their parent provided several work samples at the conclusion of the parent interview. One primary age child was enthusiastic to show and tell their work portfolio during the interview, and another primary age child provided two writing pieces at the conclusion of their interview.

Therefore, although a wide range of data gathering strategies have been utilised, not all case studies were consistent. This inconsistency reflects the complexity and uniqueness of each case study based on the child’s age; stage of development; parent, teacher or family support persons’ level of

knowledge in relation to identification and characteristics of giftedness; or each participant’s personal enthusiasm or ability to supply work samples or examples of each child’s experiences, which could be dependent on influences such as accessibility to records or even time.