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How do I know if my child is gifted? Elsewhere
on this site I've explained that a gifted child is not a 3 year old who
invents relativity; that that common myth of a gifted child is completely
unrealistic.
I explained that this myth does a lot of harm because it prevents so many
parents & teachers from accepting "giftedness" in gifted children
they do have. So:
if a gifted child isn't one who toddles about in nappies (diapers)
composing symphonies and inventing hyperspace travel, what is it?
This is rather like English spelling; it's a simple issue basically, but
it does get complicated by exceptions, here & there... & there... There's
a widely-used checklist, along the lines "if your child does all or many of
these, he or she may well be gifted".
I'll number the checklist for easy reference for "exceptions".
1
pass developmental stages earlier than average (ie, sits early, crawls
early, walks early; as a baby & toddler,
he or she may need far less sleep than others, especially
parents) 2
develop more advanced vocabulary than age peers 3
use fluent & expressive language 4
be very demanding, wanting constant interaction from adults; be very
demanding in many ways, especially re 5,6,12,13,16,19 & 21
5
be alert & respond actively to visual stimulation (eg pictures) and
stories 6
become easily bored with routine; seek out & enjoy new experiences 7
have a long concentration span for activities or projects which interest
her or him 8
set her or himself high or perfectionist standards 9
be highly self-critical; (this goes in conjunction with 8) 10
teach him or her self to read without anyone really noticing how; or
learn to read early 11
have a good memory - quick and detailed recall of information or events 12
enjoy amassing information, and develop detailed knowledge about topics
of interest
13
have an intense joy & interest in learning (NOTE: not necessarily school,
but learning) 14
develop high moral values and a strong sense of justice, early; this can
begin around 3 or 4 15
(related to 14), understand implications re wider issues; this may show up
particularly re environmental, world and social issues 16
show a high degree of genuine and deep curiosity 17
develop a sense of humour early, and of a type more adult-like than child-like 18
have a vivid and creative imagination, both re fantasising and re
problem-solving 19
enjoy playing with older children; enjoy the company of adults 20
adapt readily to new situations and routines 21
tend to dominate or organise others; this may appear as showing leadership
qualities 22
enjoy directing the activities of children around them, or taking on a teaching
role Some
of the many exceptions and problems with this type of list are: First
problem:
the main one, since this is being read by you, a parent who may have a gifted
child, and may therefore be of above average intelligence yourself: you may
need to make a major mental readjustment about all the above, because if you're
gifted yourself, you also probably set your
standards too high; you may accept
early developmental milestones as the norm, not recognise advanced vocabulary as
being advanced, not realise how short other children's concentrations spans are,
etc etc. Second
problem: Many of the above (eg 4,5,6,16,18,21) are highly characteristic of all
toddlers, and should remain characteristic of all children if not squashed out
of them. These are the means by
which nature has designed children to hurl themselves into the world around
them, to achieve the immense amount of learning about it, that they need to get
through. Dr
Christopher Green, in his book "Toddler Taming" quotes his
own experience, and many studies, to formulate an understanding of normal
toddler behaviour, in an attempt to reassure parents who are convinced their
toddler is the only 2 or 3 year old terrorist in the world. He emphasises the busyness of toddlers; their craving for
attention, preferably more than 24 hours per day of it; their high curiosity;
their creativeness at getting into anything and everything, especially if they
shouldn't; and the high resistance of many of them to bedtime in any form, or at
any hour. Third
Problem: People are individuals, humans are complex; gifted people especially so.
Personality comes into all these things.
Enjoying new experiences & routines (#6 &20) is something of a
bipolar personality trait; some kids are just built so they hate them, including
some gifted kids. Many kids pass physical developmental milestones early (#1);
the normal range in this area is very wide.
Very demanding, (#4); well, any kid can be this; spouses can be, family,
pets, what's new? Numbers 5 & 6
are again part of the bipolar personality trait which has been characterised by the
introvert/extrovert concept; so, many average kids can have these traits, and
many gifted kids don't have them. Numbers
21 & 22 are easily confused with (and sometimes are) bossiness, a trait
widely found in the whole population. Major
problem 1: The
little-understood neural glitches which show up as learning difficulties of some
types, So
this fact naturally knocks out #10, which is the gifted trait which most easily
impresses parents and school staff. In
fact sadly, it's very hard to convince most people, including about 99% of
education authorities, that a dyslexic child is gifted, no matter how high her or
his IQ is. Learning difficulties
can also affect #s 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, & 12.
Many of these are affected not because the child can't do them, but
because frustration & low self-esteem in the area affected by the learning
difficulty, makes them avoid related activities (probably invoking setting high
standards for themselves, #s 8 &
9). Major
problem 2: Underachieving.
All children want to feel accepted; most want to conform and seem like the
others. Many gifted kids begin this
process so early, they're already conforming and underachieving in play groups,
before they start kindergarten. The earliest attempts at setting up special classes for
gifted children, by asking their primary or secondary teachers to nominate the
students they thought were gifted, failed badly partly because of this.
By that time, many gifted kids were underachieving; others were just
turned off due to boredom, so they were also well camouflaged.
These are both very sad problems, because they can quickly become
subconscious, meaning the child her or him self doesn't know he or she's doing
them, and can't easily stop at will. So:
the indicators aren't always obvious. So:
How do I really know if my child's gifted? In
my experience, there are 2 pretty fail-safe issues. First, I find the first 2 years of life, unless there's some
factor like extreme ill health, usually give some very clear clues.
The younger the child is, the less underachieving, or low esteem from
frustration with learning difficulties, can muddy the picture.
Very simple actions in the first 2 years can indicate giftedness.
Highly intelligent behaviour very rarely happens by chance; it only has
to be seen occasionally, & can be relied on fairly confidently.
We've all heard the idea that given an infinite amount of time, a monkey
could write Hamlet, and we understand that's an illustration of the concept of
infinity. But to date, there are a
lot of monkeys on the planet, quite a while's passed, and none of them have
written Hamlet yet. Intelligent behaviour by sheer chance is not common. Therefore
something as simple as the time I saw an 8 month old child of a friend, draw a
circle and mark in eyes, nose and a mouth, can tell you "This is a gifted
child". (She's 8 now, and has
been tested, and yes, she's gifted.) That's
just not normal 8 month old behaviour; any of you who have access to an average
8 month old, try it. They scribble,
some draw circle shapes; but the average child is around 18 months old, or more,
before he or she fills in eyes & a mouth. Parents
usually notice the achievements of 1 & 2 year olds, because the wonder of it
all is still so fresh, and because they make us interact with them so much.
So if it seems to you that various activities of your child are unusual
compared to children you see from the wider community, then your child's quite
probably gifted. (Don't compare
with children of your friends, or family members; they're likely to be to some
extent a selected group. Because
you're intelligent, your friends & family are likely to be of above average
intelligence too.) If
your child is older, or as he or she grows, if you have that feeling
"He or she seemed so bright as a baby & young toddler, but it seems to
have faded as she or he's grown older", it's likely your child is gifted,
but is underachieving and trying to conform.
As already stated, this isn't always done consciously, so you can't
simply ask him or her if that's what he or she's doing; in an older child not
showing clear signs of giftedness, only a psychological assessment can now tell.
But if you have that feeling "Where did all of what seemed such
brightness in that baby, disappear along the way?", it's highly likely your
child is gifted. I find the gut
feeling parents get in those first 2 years is very reliable. Second:
Some of that checklist, I find, are very reliable if they do occur.
The long concentration span on activities that interest the child, #7, is
almost a decider on its own, because children within the normal intelligence
range really do have short concentration spans. This can fail gifted kids with
attention deficit disorder; but most of those do show long concentration span at
times, or for a few special interests. The
understanding of implications, #14, often leading to intense concern and worry
re environmental and world issues, is another very reliable one.
Humour is a surprisingly complex phenomenon, so #16 is reliable too,
although the reverse, lack of humour, isn't; many people, including the gifted, don't have much
sense of humour. The enthusiasm for
learning, #13, is almost a definite on its own, too.
The high curiousity,#15, is another good indicator, though not the
common, endless, almost meaningless, "Why? Why? Why?" (This is often not real
curiousity, but attention seeking.) When
curiousity goes beyond "Why?" into detail and more detail, and really wanting to
know all about this, then it's almost certainly giftedness.
Examples
of these can illustrate the difference between a "the 2 year-old inventing
calculus" myth, and a clearly gifted child - but examples are lengthy to set
out. I'll give just one.
A (just) 4 year old at our place, who wasn't reading at all (she turned
out later to have profound dyslexia), saw a drink coaster, a
tatty old souvenir from Bath, England; the well-known view from the
Roman baths, looking up through the Georgian "pump rooms", to the
Cathedral, showing 3 eras from English history, and asked "What's
this?" "It's called a
drink coaster; it's something you stand a drink on, to protect the table.'
"No, I mean, what is this a picture of?" (I think: gosh, how do I make
a simple answer of this): "It's a picture of a famous place in another
country; it's called "Bath", because of that sort of swimming pool you
can see there." "But why
is this part all broken around the edges?"
"Well, the people who built that big bath, lived a long time ago, so
it's all got a bit broken because a long time's gone by."
"What people were they?" I
was trying to avoid swamping this child with a lot of enthusiastic information I
assumed would bore her stiff, about the Romans, their empire, and their
fascinating relics in Europe, etc. But
she wasn't bored by this, even though she was only just 4. By questions like those above, step by step over the next 2
hours, she drew out of me a (slightly expurgated) history of the Ancient Romans
and their political methods, the organisation of their empire, the place of
women & children in their society, their bathing, their architecture, and
their mosaics. She sat among books
and atlases, looking through postcards of Roman mosaics; she had waited patiently
while I dug them out of cupboards. From
that battered little drink coaster, she'd become so passionately interested in
ancient Roman history that I let her borrow some of the books, & gave her
some of the precious postcards of mosaics.
That
order of curiosity, and that level of concentration span, indicates a very
likely gifted child. The checklist is good, if you remember all the differences between individuals, the special reasons why older gifted kids may not be openly doing the "gifted thing", and keep the learning difficulties issue in mind. Most
of all, remember
the "gut feeling" you had when your child was young; research has
shown that parents are the most reliable at detecting giftedness in their
children - as
long as they don't set their standards too high!
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