The Hungarian Genius Caravan was a success at the T-com Children’s Island11 July 2008
The Hungarian Genius Caravan made its debut at the beginning of June, within the framework of which the National Development Agency aims to draw attention to the importance of spotting talents, as well as the Hungarian Genius Programme. The Caravan is gradually approaching the halfway point, since the T-Com Children’s Island organised on 6 weekends has come to a close.
The main objective of the Hungarian Genius Programme launched as a flagship programme of the New Hungary Development Plan is to prevent the loss of any single genius, and it was in this spirit that aptitude assessments and ability tests were organised for children. During the course of the 6 weekends, the experts and specialists of the Caravan assessed the cognitive, movement, musical, numerical and verbal skills and abilities of approximately 1300 children aged 4-14.
The vast majority of the children were keen on taking part in the tests conducted by special education teachers, conductor teachers and child psychologists as an after school programme and many children even drew drawings that were later used to decorate the truck. The team of professional experts also organised music, singing and dancing programmes in which families interested could join in, which made time fly much quicker while they were waiting for their children.
On the basis of the tests conducted with 1300 children, it is plausible to state that the skills and abilities of visitors to the Children Island are above average, since on some days every third child showed talent in a given area. Even child psychologists had some doubts about the results: 15% of the children had IQs above 135. Absolute hearing was observed in the case of four children when musical abilities were assessed, which ratio is one and half times higher in relation to the world average.
In overall terms it is nevertheless plausible to state that the movement and motor abilities of the youngest age-group are particularly lagging behind. Beyond pinpointing talent, developmental psychologists also tried to screen out problems. A huge number of locomotor disorders, flat-footedness, spinal deformation or dystonia were detected among elementary school children and the attention of parents was drawn to the need to treat these in every case.