Gifted and Talented Children

Defining and Identifying giftedness

Problems of Gifted Students

How does a Teacher or Parent recognize a Student's Special Ability?

Teaching Gifted Students

Out of the Mouths of Gifted Students

Quiz

Works Cited

Defining and Identifying giftedness

There are many definitions on what traits constitute a gifted child, but here is a little about the most popular theories.

Joseph Renzulli and Sally M. Reis (1991) define giftedness as including 3 basic characteristics:

1. above-average general ability

2. a high-level of creativity

3. a high-level of task commitment or motivation to achieve in certain areas.

The U.S. Government has isolated and described the five following categories of giftedness:

1. Intellectual-as indicated by performance or IQ score.

2. Creative

3. Leadership

4. Visual and Performing Arts

5. Psychomotor

Mental Self-management:

Robert Sternberg and Robert Wagner explain giftedness as a kind of mental self-management that has three basic elements:

1. adapting to environments

2. selecting new environments

3. shaping environments.

They say that giftedness resides in insight skills that include 3 main processes:

1. separating relevant from irrelevant info

2. combining isolated pieces of info into a unified whole

3. relating newly acquired info to info acquired in the past.

Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences:

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

• linguistic
• logical/mathematical
• spatial
• musical
• bodily-kinesthetic
• interpersonal
• intrapersonal

Barbara Clark

Clark's Five Headings of Characteristics of Gifted Children

1. Cognitive (thinking)

2. Affective (feeling)

3. Physical

4. Intuitive

5. Societal

It may also help to define some traits of gifted minds...

1. New material seems more recognized than learned-it's as if these students already knew a new concept and

were just waiting for it to come up in class.

2. Noticing patterns-in music, art, etc.

3. Energy-both physical and psychological.

4. Curiosity.

5. Drive and Concentration.

6. Memory.

7. Empathy-these students seem to understand others intuitively.

8. Heightened Perceptions.

9. Invulnerability-a gifted child has higher self-confidence, and does not necessarily feel the need to pursue

popularity, but this confidence may not extend past his/her realm of gifted knowledge and abilities.

10. Divergent thinking.

The Eight Great Gripes of Gifted Students:

1. No one explains what being gifted is all about-it's kept a big secret.

2. The stuff we do in school is too easy and it's boring.

3. Parents, teachers, and friends expect us to be perfect, to "do our best" all the time.

4. Kids often tease us about being smart.

5. Friends who really understand us are few and far between.

6. We feel too different and wish people would accept us for what we are.

 7. We feel overwhelmed by the number of things we can do in life.

8. We worry a lot about world problems and feel helpless to do anything about them.

Myths about the Gifted:

1. Global Giftedness-it is generally assumed that gifted children are smart about everything and it's just not true.

2. Talented, but not gifted-children who show exceptional ability in the arts or in sports are just as gifted as those who score high on their IQ tests.

3. Exceptional IQ-IQ tests can only measure a very limited amount of information (they definitely cannot measure nonacademic giftedness).

4. Biology vs. Environment or Nature vs. Nurture-Whatever you call it, giftedness is not a black and white issue; it takes some good genes and an encouraging environment to create a truly gifted child.

5. The Driving Parent-"Pushy Parents" are not all bad; as a matter of fact, they are necessary to develop the child's gift.

6. Glowing with Psychological health-These children face many problems and the more gifted they are, the tougher the problems they face.

7. All children are gifted-All children have their strengths, but no child is strong in everything.

8. Gifted children become eminent adults-Many factors influence a child into an eminent adult, including personality, motivation, family environment, opportunity and chance.

Some other problems that result due to their giftedness:

1. LONELINESS Gifted children are not social butterflies; they are introverted-sometimes because they don't feel they can relate to students, but also because they spend a lot of time concentrating on their gift.

2. ACUTELY SENSITIVE AND HIGHLY ALERT.

3. SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS Approximately 20-25% of gifted children have social and emotional difficulties, especially the ones with the most extreme gifts.

4. UNDER PERFORMANCE Gifted children may under perform because they are under challenged and also to gain social acceptance.

Here are some questions to help in the recognition of a gifted child:

• Who learns easily and rapidly?
• Who uses a lot of common sense and practical knowledge?
• Who retains easily what he or she has heard?
• Who knows about many things that the other children don't?
• Who uses a large number of words easily and accurately?
• Who recognizes and comprehends meanings?
• Who is alert and keenly observant and responds quickly?
• Who is persistent and highly motivated on some tasks?
• Who is creative, often has unusual ideas, or makes interesting connections?

To return to the Table of Contents 

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Teaching Gifted Students: Accelerated vs. Enrichment

Accelerating a student's education means that the student will move quickly through grades or a particular subject. Teachers and Administrators are often hesitant to accelerate a student, but it seems to work very well for the child. The child is obviously academically ready and therefore, will do as well, if not better, than his/her new classmates. And socially, the child probably prefers the company of the more mature set and will not be hurt by being put in classes with these students.

Enrichment is accomplished by the teacher giving the students additional, more sophisticated, and more thought-provoking work, but keeping them with their age-mates in school.

Teaching Methods for Teachers of Gifted Students

• encourage abstract thinking (formal-operational thought)
• encourage creativity and independence
• be imaginative, flexible, and unthreatened by the capabilities of the students
• check out Teaching English to the Gifted Student

The battle continues...so check out these interesting links of to accelerate or not:

• Acceleration: An Expanded Vision
• Should Gifted Students be Grade-Advanced?

Out of the Mouths of Gifted Students

Gifted Students give their own interpretations of giftedness:

• Being gifted means having a talent in a special sport, field, or just having a brain equal to Einstein or higher. But when I picture someone being gifted, I think of someone like John McEnroe or Beethoven, not someone in the seventh grade. GIRL, 12.
• Being gifted means that you are creative, original, and have good leadership qualities. GIRL, 12.
• Gifted means being selected to attend a resource room because of your behavior and your ability to think and learn easier than others. BOY, 9.
• Gifted is something that is hard to put down in print on paper. It is definitely not, in my mind, someone who is just a straight "A" student, though that might be one of the criteria. You must have that extra bit more of motivation that most kids don't have. You must be able to grasp complicated concepts and ideas easily and you must be responsible. Giftedness may not be something you always cherish, for it's a burden in many ways. But, being gifted, I find I have that urge to learn. BOY, 12.

Gifted Students give their personal opinions of their relationships with their peers:

• My friends try to get me to do their work for them. GIRL, 11.
• On the days I have gifted program, Martha isn't my friend. Other days she likes me. GIRL, 8.
• My friends think when I go to the gifted program I go to special education, and they call me names. BOY, 11.
• It makes me feel bad when people call me "brainy" and "Mr. Know-it-all" and quite a few other names which I dare not write! BOY, 10.
• Overall, they're pretty good about it, but when I get my report card they say "All A's again?" GIRL, 10.
• ...some get jealous, others call me "brain," but my real friends don't do either of these things-I respect them for that. GIRL, 12.

Gifted Students give their opinions on what Adults expect from them:

• My mom thinks I should be able to hear better. GIRL, 8.
• People expect so much just because I get A's in everything except lunch. GIRL, 10.
• At school the teachers expect a lot but at home I feel like a regular boy. BOY, 10.
• Adults think I should act like a grown-up, not be any fun, and not play with anybody who's not in the gifted program. BOY, 10.

Gifted Students give their opinions on what Friends expect from them:

• I don't think any of my friends expect me to "act differently" because I think they can accept me for the way that I am. GIRL, 11.
• Some people expect me to talk with big words, act right all the time, not be athletic, do things like staying inside all day reading. I do read, but not every second of my life. BOY, 11.

Quiz

True/False. To find out the answers, press the T or the F.

1. Olivia's parents are pushing her to pursue her interest in biology. This will cause her to loose interest and will waste her high IQ.

2. Sunny is a very talented soccer player and therefore, is gifted.

3. Since young Elizabeth is gifted, she will become an eminent and creative adult.

1. FALSE. Although it is a common myth that pushy parents are bad for gifted kids, that little bit of push may be the motivation to may the kid great!

2. TRUE. Giftedness includes the arts and athletics, not just pure academics.

3. FALSE. Many factors influence if a gifted child will become an eminent and creative adult (i.e. personality, motivation, family environment, opportunity, chance, etc.)

Delisle, James R. Gifted Children Speak Out. New York: Walker and Company, 1984.

Vail, Priscilla L. The World of the Gifted Child. New York: Walker and Company, 1979.

Winner, Ellen. Gifted Children: Myths and Realities. New York: Basic Books, 1996.