How to Identify Giftedness

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We talk a lot about children who might be struggling in math and being attentive and giving children who are behind in their math skills appropriate intervention and help. However, we don’t always talk that much about kids who are gifted academically and advanced beyond most of the rest of the kids in their grade. To be honest, children who comprehend above their grade level can be just as challenging as those who might behind in their skills. Being gifted can mean being bored most of the time and when kids are bored they might act out and seek negative attention as a result of needing more responsiveness in general. It’s then important to try and identify kids who exhibit higher levels of intelligence in school, to prevent them from becoming classroom distractions.</o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">However, identifying gifted children isn’t always very easy. Every child is different and may be advanced in very specific areas of their life, which may indicate that they are scholastically gifted too, or it may not. Another problem is that a lot of emphasis is put on test taking these days and how well a child does on tests, however, a lot of kids will do better if they are identified as gifted before they start taking lots of standardized tests. Regardless of difficulty in identification of children with large intellects, there are some common characteristics that are indicative of gifted children. Here are some signs that your child might be gifted:</o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1. They love to read.Many gifted children express interest in reading and books even before they can read. They also tend to learn to read for pleasure and meaning earlier than other children and they enjoy it. They might want to focus on certain subjects of interest and have favorite books, but they will constantly want to thirst their quench for learning about their topics of interest by reading. </o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">2. They prefer the company of older children or adults. Sometimes intellectually advanced children have a hard time relating to their peers regarding their interests. It also might be apparent that the gifted child’s abilities are above those of their peers, especially when it comes to conversation and humor. Gravitating toward adult conversation might make them feel more stimulated because they feel like they’re learning more by talking with adults.</o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">3. They recognize patterns at an early age.Repetition surrounds us every day and while we may not even recognize it outright because most adults make sense of the world through repetition, gifted children will often start noticing repetition of shapes, numbers, colors and even behaviors at a young age. This will continue on as they get older. They will likely find patterns and connect similarities between objects, ideas and facts. </o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">4. They hit developmental milestones early.With every age a child reaches, there are certain cognitive and physical milestones they will reach. From infancy through preschool age, most children have check-ups with pediatricians who observe milestones at certain ages to make sure children are developing as they should and start working on skills they might be behind on. Milestones are something that continue as children develop into school ages. Just as it should be documented if children are behind in hitting milestones, it should be children who develop language skills above their age level and show an advanced ability to learn and process information faster than normal. They are likely gifted. </o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">5. They ask lots of questions and never have enough answers.You know the toddler “why?” syndrome – where toddlers, relatively quickly after learning to how to talk ask “why?” about everything and anything you tell them? Well, think of that times 10. If your child is always asking questions when they are given answers and instead od of being satisfied with an answer they want to dig deeper and keep asking more questions, you might have a intellectually gifted child. They tend to have a need to want to make sense of the world, especially through logic. </o:p>

<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You may be wondering what you can do if you think your child meets most or all of the identifiers for being gifted. Acknowledging your child is gifted is the first step and talking to their teacher is the next step – especially if you feel like your child isn’t being challenged in class. Having a good relationship with educational institutions is important for your child, especially if they will continue past secondary school into college. And while educators play an important role in helping gifted children realize their potential, you can help as a parent, too, by having stimulating conversations with them, reading with them and making sure they have plenty of new material to read, taking them on creative, new adventures. Supplementing these things will help foster your child’s gifted mind and allow them to be their best self! </o:p>