Giftedness : Recognize the Signs
General Behavioral Characteristics
Gifted children’s behavior differs from that of their same age peers in the following ways:
- Many gifted children learn to read early, with better comprehension of the nuances of language. As much as half the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school (between 2 and 5 years of age).
- They are better able to construct and handle abstractions.
- They often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences
- They can work independently at an earlier age and can concentrate for longer periods.
- Their exhibit a wide range of interests and master each well.
- They are often mislabeled as hyperactive.
- They usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults; may prefer the company of older children and to that of their peers.
- They show an insatiable curiosity and like to learn new things; highly inquisitive.
- They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organized, goal-directed, and efficient manner.
- They exhibit intrinsic motivation to learn and explore; “I’d rather do it myself” is a common attitude.
Learning Characteristics
Gifted children are natural learners who often show many of these characteristics:
- They may show keen powers of observation and have an eye for important details.
- They may read a great deal on their own, preferring books and magazines written for children older than they are.
- They have well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis.
- They readily see cause-effect relationships.
- They are often skeptical, critical, and evaluative. They are quick to spot inconsistencies.
- They often have a large storehouse of information about a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly.
- They readily grasp underlying principles and can often make valid generalizations about events, people, or objects.
- They quickly perceive similarities, differences, and anomalies.
- They often attack complicated material by separating it into components and analyzing it systematically.
Creative Characteristics
Gifted children’s creative abilities often set them apart from their age-mates. These characteristics may take the following forms:
- Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related ideas.
- They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.
- They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusual, or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information. They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas, or facts.
- They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problem. They are willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving.
- They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or “what if” questions.
- They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity.
- They are extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations, or events.
- They often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasize and imagine.
- They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers are in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often disagree spiritedly to others’ statements.
- They are sensitive to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic values.
Typically a full scale IQ of 130 or above classifies a student as gifted. However in some school districts, ESL/ESOL students who also qualify for Plan B (reduced lunch) are classified as gifted program with lower IQ scores (e.g. 115-120). To enter a gifted program, some children are referred for an individual evaluation because they show a high ability to reason or a rapid rate of learning as compared to their peers, or they are referred based on their high scores on state or district assessments. Generally, several strategies are tried to give these children more opportunities to progress in the regular classroom. If these strategies are not effective, the parent or the school staff will then refer the child for an evaluation to determine if they are eligible for ESE gifted services. Learn more.
Some Myths about Gifted Children
- Gifted Kids are like cream that rises to the top in a classroom. Not necessarily. Gifted Children can have hidden learning disabilities go undiscovered because they can easily compensate for them in the early years.
- Gifted Kids are so smart they do fine with or without special programs. They may appear to do fine on their own. But without proper challenge they can become bored and unruly.
- Gifted and Talented means the same thing. Not necessarily. A ‘gifted’ learner will demonstrate high ability in one or more academic subjects, such as math or English. A ‘talented’ learner will exhibit a specific skill in areas such as physical aptitude for sports, music, design, creativity and performing arts.
- Giftedness makes life easier. More often than not gifted children can feel excluded and misunderstood. Because they generally have different tastes in music, clothing, reading material and even food, it can be seen as “odd” by peers resulting in a higher incidence of being shunned and bullied by other children.
- Giftedness equals high academic performance. About 3% of gifted students may also meet the criteria for ADHD and other specific learning disabilities.
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