Social Environment of Gifted Children

Cilj ovog rada bio je dobiti uvid u socijalnu okolinu darovite djece i mogućnosti podrške iz iste. Definirali smo tko su darovita djeca i njihove specifične karakteristike, a kao glavne izvore podrške iz socijalne okoline izdvojili smo obiteljsku i obrazovnu okolinu, lokalnu zajednicu darovitog djeteta i suvremene izvore podrške. Iz provedenih istraživanja jasno je da je obitelj važan faktor u razvoju darovitog djeteta, kao i odnosi s nedarovitom braćom/sestrama na koje daroviti brat/sestra može utjecati i pozitivno i negativno. Istraživanja pokazuju da u pogledu obrazovne podrške u svijetu nedostaju adekvatni programi i pristupi te se u nekim zemljama roditelji odlučuju za obrazovanje u domu djeteta. Lokalna zajednica istraživanjima se pokazala kao utjecajan izvor podrške darovitoj djeci, primjerice program „Smisao života“ u Izraelu. Također tu uviđamo važnost uloge socijalnih radnika koja je, kako u Hrvatskoj, tako i u svijetu, vrlo nezamjetna u području darovitosti. Suvremene izvore podrške izdvojili smo kao sve bitniji i prisutniji oblik pružanja pomoći darovitoj djeci i njihovim roditeljima putem foruma, blogova, internetskih konferencija i mnogih drugih. Zaključili smo da u Hrvatskoj nedostaje istraživanja o darovitoj djeci u svakom aspektu te kako bi provođenje istih i uvođenje raznih programa i projekata dali prostora socijalnim radnicima za rad s darovitom djecom.The aim of this paper was gaining insight into the social environment of gifted children and the ability to support them. We defined which children are gifted and what are their specific characteristics. As the main sources of support from the social environment, we identified family and educational environment, a local community of gifted children and contemporary sources of support. From previous research, it can be inferred that the family is an important factor in gifted children's development, as well as the relationships with their ungifted siblings whom a gifted sibling can affect both positively and negatively. Research shows that there are no adequate programs and access in educational support in the world, thus in some countries, parents decide on homeschooling. It has also been shown that the local community is an influential source of support for gifted children, e.g. „Meaning of Life” program in Israel. We also recognize that the importance of the social workers, in the field of giftedness, is imperceptible in Croatia as well as in the world. Contemporary sources of support have been highlighted as an increasingly important form of providing help to gifted children and their parents via forums, blogs, internet conferences, etc. We conclude that there is a lack of research, regarding gifted children in Croatia in each aspect, therefore we believe that their implementation and the introduction of various programs and projects would give the opportunity for social workers to work with gifted children