Originally Posted by doodlebug
I don't have a copy of the report with me but what I can recall about the ENFP type for children is that they tend to have characteristics like:
* get highly charged about ideas and interested but then leave them quickly once they've satiated their interest. Easily distracted by a new idea
*Likes to work on the concept or idea but not actually produce the finished product
*Has difficulty attending to details as they see the gestalt so easily and aren't really interested in details. Needs cues ahead of time to attend to the details.
*Hates rote memorization tasks
*Prefers to have exploratory, self-discovery learning that is fun
*Goes off on tangents that they notice in conversations because of ability to see relationships and desire to connect ideas

Thanks Debbie. This is interesting to me because both DS and I are ENFP's and neither of us had any trouble with teachers in elementary school. In fact, DS was pretty universally adored by his teachers because of his high social skills, leadership ability, and great enthusiasm (which are part of the ENFP portrait as well). Yes, he is distractable and he doesn't like details, but mostly the teachers just got a kick out of telling me how much the liked having the extra time to chat with him at the end of the day while he was getting his backpack packed up (since packing backpack is a "detail" he has a "hard time attending to").

And I do know he can be disruptive. His GT teacher did mention the DS tends to "go off on tangents" but he also said that although he knew he needed to redirect DS sometimes, that was often hard to do because the tangents DS was taking were so fun and humorous that they seemed more interesting than what Mr. GT had planned so he would end up following DS's lead!

Because DS and I have done so well with our ENFP types, it really surprised me to hear that they may not fit well in an elementary classroom. But I have always known that our teachers have been amazing and we probably just lucked out by getting fun loving teachers who enjoy the extra energy and joy in their classroom!