Is My Child Gifted?

Often when you ask someone the characteristics of a gifted child, the person describes a BRIGHT child. Bright students often are students who are successful in the classroom setting. They work hard, follow the teachers’ directions, enjoy school, and find the curriculum neither too hard nor too easy. The gifted child may be the student spending most of his or her day “daydreaming” because he/she is so bored in the classroom. The gifted student may be doing everything except what the teacher wants him/her to do. Gifted children are often not challenged by the work presented to them because the concepts and ideas are below their intellectual prowess in some or all areas. They may even “give up” because of this or show very little work to demonstrate mastery of a subject. These are the students who require gifted education in order to be successful academically.

A Bright Child...	A Gifted Child...
knows the answer	asks the questions- often deep probing questions of an abstract nature
is interested	is highly curious
is attentive	is mentally and physically involved
has good ideas	has wild, silly ideas
works hard	plays around, yet tests well
answers the questions	discusses in detail, elaborates
top group	beyond the group
listens with interest	shows strong feelings and opinions
learns with ease	already knows
6-8 repetitions for mastery	1-2 repetitions for mastery
understands ideas	constructs ideas
enjoys peers	prefers company with like-minded ideas usually found in older students or with adults
grasps the meaning	draws inferences and opens up new questions
completes assignments	initiates projects
copies accurately	creates a new design
enjoys school	enjoys learning- but may hate school
absorbs information	manipulates information
technician	inventor-loves construction toys
good memorizer	good guesser
is alert	is keenly observant- seems to remember fine detail
is pleased with own learning	is highly self-critical- can be perfectionistic to the point of tantrums when young
enjoys straight-forward and/or sequential presentation	Thrives on complexity- need the whole picture.