What is Gifted or Talented?
“Giftedness is not what you do or how hard you work. It is who you are. You think differently. You experience life intensely. You care about injustice. You seek meaning. You appreciate and strive for the exquisite. You are painfully sensitive. You are extremely complex. You cherish integrity. Your truth-telling has gotten you in trouble. Should 98% of the population find you odd, seek the company of those who love you just the way you are. You are not broken. You do not need to be fixed. You are utterly fascinating.”
Dr. Lind Silverman
Gifted is the term used for a significant ability in cognitive or other areas.
Kids who are gifted may appear ‘unusual’ in their behaviour, they think differently and get easily frustrated if having to ‘re-learn’ knowledge that they already know. They may have overall strength in their intellectual ability or have a specific area of strength such as in music or leadership skills.
Gifted definition
There is no universally accepted definition to what makes up the gifted child. A range of areas of giftedness may be seen in areas such as sport, entrepreneurial, musicality or artistic abilities. Such areas are not usually measured by intellectual ability. However, IQ testing can be used to measure significant cognitive strengths that occur in a very small population. One specialist in the field of giftedness, Dr Deborah Ruf Ph. D. author of 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options, views areas of giftedness across a spectrum from the Moderately Gifted (IQ scores of 120-129 who represent the 90th-98th percentiles) to the Profoundly Gifted (IQ scores of 141+ who represent the 99th percentile range). Please go to https://eleanormunsonphd.com/2011/01/defining-gifted for more detailed information.
What to do if you suspect a child in your class may fall within the Gifted or Talented range?
- Provide extension learning
- Do not require the student to complete or engage in school work that they already know.
- Do not make the student complete regular class work then give them extra work to fill in the time.
- Do make their academic starting point at a higher level than their peers.
- Check in-school assessments and consider their achievement levels above that of their peers.
- Provide opportunities to complete their own work areas of interest e.g. science, maths, design, building, music, creativity.
- Create a learning plan that grows their interests and abilities.
- Provide the opportunity to ‘think outside the box’ and contribute to their own learning plan (as deemed appropriate).
- Encourage their ‘different-ness’.
- Support their ‘different-ness’ through positive language and helping them to recognise and develop their own areas of strength.
What if a child seems to be within the Gifted or Talented range but struggles in one or more areas of their education, such as in literacy?
The Gifted or Talented child may also have a specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia. If the child demonstrates difficulty in an area(s) of learning (reading, writing, maths) then it is important to direct the parent to a psycho-educational assessment to investigate both the child’s intellectual ability and educational difficulty, to provide an indication of the child’s cognitive and academic strengths and weaknesses, and provide additional strategies to assist that child in the classroom.
If you continue to see advanced intellectual or academic abilities and would like to have this investigated further, then it may prove beneficial to ask the parent to have their child assessed. A comprehensive educational assessment by a psychologist who specialises in this field can provide insight into such abilities and offer suggestions and recommendations to support the child’s learning ability at school.
In Summary
Gifted is a term used to describe those of well above aged expected ability levels. Provide in school learning support to develop, enhance and promote their higher abilities. Then, seek a psychologist specialising in child cognitive and academic assessments who will investigate the child’s intellectual and cognitive abilities, and provide recommendations to support the child in their learning.
It is important to note that a younger child may fall within the gifted range on early testing, but this may be due to early development rather than an ongoing ‘gifted’ profile. At times, those found at a young age to be gifted may find their ability is within the ‘average’ range as they get older and as their peers ‘catch up’ in their development. Therefore, if assessed at an early age e.g. 6 years of age, a follow up assessment in approximately 2-3 years is highly recommended to determine the child’s ability level at that time.
What an assessment does not cover?
A psycho-educational assessment will not investigate strength in other areas such as musicality, leadership, entrepreneurial, business, science or sporting ability.
What causes giftedness?
At this time, there is no known cause behind a child having high ability or exceptional abilities. Giftedness is a neurological ability characterised by strengths in one or more areas of intellectual, academic or other abilities. Giftedness is lifelong and will not go away over time. It is ‘who’ the person is, and is unrelated to how hard they work.
Useful Websites
If you or your child’s school have concerns about your child’s academic progress and/or learning difficulties, Purple Giraffe Psychology would be honoured to help you in investigating your concerns.
Should you wish to know more about how to support your child in the classroom with their ongoing education, please contact Purple Giraffe Psychology via the form or information located on the contact page.
