Traits of Gifted and Talented Kids
Q. How do
you tell when a child is creatively gifted or talented?
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Gifted students learn more quickly, deeply, and broadly
than their peers.
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They usually have learned to read early and thus have
larger vocabularies than their age-peers.
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They tend to have outstanding memories with a larger
knowledge base than most students.
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They are very curious and ask a lot of questions.
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They tend to have many interests, hobbies and
collections.
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Fluent idea generation and much better elaboration skills
vs. peers.
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May be noncomformist in clothing, hairdo, thoughts,
practices.
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Standardized test scores may be off the charts but
classroom grades not that hot.
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They are often called "intense" with strong concentration
powers, and either can't stand the slightest noise or distraction, or could
read a book in the midst of a hurricane without blinking an eye.
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They tend to operate at the same level as normal children
who are significantly older, oftentimes many grade levels older, thinking in
the abstract many years before their age-mates.
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They demonstrate high reasoning ability, creativity,
curiosity and excellent memories.
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They can get cranky about not wanting to do things that
"bore" them.
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Some tend to be sloppy, careless and lazy.
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Tend to prefer to work alone than to work in a
cooperative learning group.
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Tend to be bossy in group situations.
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May "blurt out" without worrying about inappropriateness
of timing.
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Tend to be "the class clown."
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Know things about current events and global issues that
most kids the same age have never even heard of.
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The things they do at school or home produce a "wow!"
from parents and teachers.
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They don't need much practice, but can master new
concepts or skills almost immediately.
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On the down side, they tend to be physically behind their
peers, emotionally oversensitive, perfectionist, and challenging or rebellious
of authority, including the teacher's authority.
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They tend to be loners or to hang out with older children
or adults.
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The culture is tough on gifted kids, and many of them
self-isolate to avoid stigma. Many more try to avoid being stigmatized as
gifted by hiding their abilities and underachieving to win social approval.
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They have a higher degree of depression and anxiety.
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While there are many gifted individuals who seem to excel
at everything, it is common to see a seventh-grader who can solve logic
problems on the college level but spells at an early grade-school level, or a
math whiz who is in the lowest reading group. This can cause real learning
disabilities to be passed over in a gifted child, since he or she does so well
in most subjects and can usually compensate for certain weaknesses by being so
outstanding in other areas.
- A famous expert on giftedness, Polish
psychologist and psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski, developed one more
theory on the traits of gifted children which is popular right now:
"positive disintegration" and the theory of "overexcitabilities." In a
nutshell, Dabrowski said that gifted kids tend to have high energy levels;
were passionate about things instead of just liking them; had noticeably
more curiosity; asked a lot of questions; had a rich fantasy life, and
were strongly connected with people to the point of being more altruistic
than other people.
Homework: See the website, www.giftedbooks.com.