Investigation of Parents' Views Regarding the Recognition and Education of Specially Talented Individuals in Early Childhood Period

This study was conducted with the parents of 30 children aged between 7 and 15 years with a mean age of 9.47 who were officially diagnosed as gifted individuals. Parents' views on recognizing and training gifted individuals in early childhood were examined. It is aimed to determine the characteristics of gifted individuals in early childhood and to reveal parental experiences about their education. Parents of students attending Malatya Science and Art Center (BILSEM) participated in this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 parents who voluntarily participated in the study. In this study, which was carried out with a phenomenological design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, a transcript of each interview was written from the audio recordings for data analysis. The answers were grouped under the main coding title and categorized. Subcoding was obtained from the categorized responses. In the sub-coding, similar expressions gathered under one heading were listed and the final tables were obtained. The tables were analyzed and the findings were obtained. The results obtained from the findings were summarized and interpreted in line with the sub-problems of the research. From the results of the research, it is understood that the most distinctive features of gifted individuals in early childhood are the advanced level in learning, motivation and language-speaking. In order to recognize the child in the early period, giving importance to the education of parents and preschool teachers, directing them to intelligence tests and developing a diagnostic program for these children are among the findings.