Identifying Intellectually Gifted Students
Common Definitions and Characteristics of Advanced Learners
Sep 27, 2008
Identifying gifted children can be difficult -- primarily because even the experts can't agree on an exact definition. However, knowing the common characteristics of intellectually gifted students may help.
Three Definitions of Giftedness
Education professionals disagree on a specific definition of giftedness. This accounts for differences in the quality and content of GT programming from district to district and state to state.
- Giftedness Defined by Test Score: In general, a child who scores in the top 2-3% on IQ, creativity or achievement tests may be safely identified as intellectually advanced. However, many schools choose to serve the top 5-6% so as to make the services more democratic. Unfortunately, the differences between a highly gifted (top 1/2%) and a moderately gifted child may be extreme. Successful gifted programming depends on educators understanding these differences.
- Giftedness Defined by Achievement: Students who exhibit superior academic, musical, artistic or leadership talents may be identified for GT programming.
- Giftedness Defined by Asynchronous Development: In 1991 a group of GT professionals and parents known as the Columbus Group defined giftedness as "asynchrony." The group stated that gifted individuals have "advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm." This definition targets the inner experience of the gifted individual and perhaps best explains why specific programming for GT individuals is necessary. It also explains why a gifted child might be years ahead of peers with certain cognitive skills while more typical or even immature in other areas of development.
Characteristics of Intellectually Gifted Children
So the question remains. With these definitions in mind, how do educators and parents identify giftedness? Although no two gifted children are the same, GT professionals commonly cite lists of typical characteristics -- some of which may make participation in the regular classroom quite difficult.
- Perfectionism: See the child in the corner? The one who just crumpled up her math work because she was unhappy with having made a mistake? Gifted children often develop unrealistic expectations for their own performance.
- Emotional Sensitivity: Gifted children often have more intense reactions to their own emotions and the emotions of those around them. A GT child often has an advanced cognitive understanding of the world before having the emotional maturity to handle that understanding.
- Intensity of Interest: Gifted individuals will often want to delve into every nook and cranny of an interest until their curiosity is sated. In very young children this intensity can sometimes be misinterpreted as OCD or even Asperger's (indeed, these syndromes may exist in tandem with giftedness). The difference is a GT child will weave individual bits of knowledge into a larger web of understanding and will be able to reciprocate information and ultimately transition to other activities of interest to others.
- Overexcitabilities: Gifted children may often have sensory issues, or "overexcitabilities," that result from a more sensitive neurology. Although these sensitivities allow the individual to process experiences more intensely, sensory issues may also stand in the way of classroom success.
Gifted children can be quirky. In the end, students must be individually considered so that the strengths and the weaknesses of the whole child may be served.
References
Columbus Group (1991, July). Unpublished transcript of the meeting of the Columbus Group. Columbus, Ohio.
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