The education ministry has nine specialised competence centres, including CEJHP, where Laurent Dura is the current director Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

The education ministry has nine specialised competence centres, including CEJHP, where Laurent Dura is the current director Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

Laurent Dura, who currently serves as director of the centre for children and young people with high potential (CEJHP), explains more about the work the centre does.

Parents of children with high potential may find it challenging to maximise such potential or adapt to children’s needs. And for the youngsters themselves, not to mention their educators, it helps to have resources to navigate aspects such as getting advice or developing enrichment programmes.

One of nine specialised competence centres available through the education ministry, the was founded in 2018 and is dedicated to such youngsters. The services the centre offers, according to Dura, are “highly individualised”.

The team consists of psychologists, teachers and psychomotor therapists, among others, who help provide individual or group support, training, pedagogical advice and more. “[It’s] at least as important to work with the child as it is to work with the whole system… to implement ongoing strategies so maybe, at one moment, you can step back and you’re no longer needed, which is always an objective for specialists,” Dura explains.

That’s why the centre works with teachers, since they spend a lot more time with children than an outsider would, as well as with the family. Of course, anyone interested can approach or re-approach the centre as necessary, although the standard parental or guardian consent to work with the centre must be given.

Internationally, children considered to be “high potential” are generally recognised as those having an IQ of 130 or above, which the CEJHP can help specially diagnose.