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What is Giftedness (High Potential)?
While there is no single definition of giftedness, most definitions involve the presence of high aptitude or intellectual ability. Children who are gifted have the capacity to achieve more and with greater facility than their typically-developing peers. Giftedness may manifest in one or more academic domains or may appear in an artistic or creative form. Giftedness is not the same as achievement: Though gifted children have high aptitude, they may require support to achieve their full potential. In fact, some 'twice exceptional' children with high potential also have learning, developmental, or emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Signs of Giftedness
Every child is unique and uniquely talented, and no two children with high potential are alike. Nevertheless, there are a number of traits and qualities that appear more often in gifted children:
Language Abilities
Early language acquisition
A large and highly-developed vocabulary relative to age peers
Use of sentence structure/complexity or grammar that is advanced relative to age peers
Precocious reading ability
Fast and enthusiastic speech
The ability to participate fully in conversations with adults and older children
The ability to understand and follow complex directions earlier than other children
An intense interest in language or reading
Learning Abilities
The ability to learn concepts and tasks quickly and often with little direction
An intense interest in the world or how things work
An excellent memory and recall
Deep funds of knowledge relative to age peers
The ability to concentrate for a long period on a task of interest
A strong interest in learning or a tendency to see learning as fun
Flexible and creative thinking
The ability to identify patterns and infer relationships more easily than age peers
The ability to ask insightful or incisive questions
The ability to solve problems more quickly than peers
Other Traits & Abilities
The early development of fine or gross motor skills
A high activity level or high level of alertness relative to age peers
A tendency to talk endlessly and about a wide variety of topics
High artistic or musical achievement
Strong emotional intensity
Emotional sensitivity and perceptiveness
Perfectionism and anxiety
A tendency to play with older children or have older friends
I Suspect My Child Is Gifted. What Now?
If you suspect your child is gifted, a good first step to take is to talk to your child's educators and determine whether or not your child's school has an identification program in place. Identification is especially important when it is required for access to gifted and talented education programs or when a child is showing academic, emotional, social or behavioural difficulties. Children with HP have unique educational needs, especially when challenged by emotional or behavioural difficulties or twice exceptionality. Misidentification or misattribution can lead to ineffective efforts at remediation.
Identification of Giftedness
The process for the identification of giftedness may differ from school-to-school. Some schools offer screening to all students, and others do so based upon teacher or parent referrals. Because every gifted child is different and manifests different abilities, evaluation for giftedness should include a variety of measures, comprising both standardised assessments of aptitude or ability (IQ tests) and qualitative assessments of aptitude, such as teacher and parent observations, portfolio reviews, and records reviews. Schools should avoid strict IQ cut-offs for service eligibility, especially for twice exceptional children.
Impediments to Achievement
Because gifted children experience the world differently than others, they may experience emotional, behavioural, or social difficulties that affect their ability to thrive and achieve their full potential. Some common problems experienced by children with giftedness include perfectionism, test or performance anxiety, social anxiety, distraction or boredom in school, intense emotions or hyper-sensitivity, and a tendency to talk out-of-turn or talk back. Moreover, some children 'twice exceptional' children with HP also have specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia or dyscalculia.
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