While every class will have bright children, there is a distinct difference between a bright student and a gifted or high ability one. Not all children will display these characteristics, but they will exhibit some. The following list shows the subtle distinctions between these two quite similar children.

Szabos (http://www.tagfam.org/whoisgifted.html)

This table however only provides a fleeting glimpse of a gifted child. General behavioural, learning and creativity characteristics offer a more three-dimensional conception of giftedness (ERIC Clearinghouse, 1985). Once again the traits highlighted in each checklist are not representative of every high ability child. You may find yourself identifying with only one or two items in each case. The checklists do however provide a starting point to identifying gifted children across the age ranges.

General Behavioural Characteristics

The behaviour of gifted children will differ from that of their peers in the following ways:

• Many gifted children learn to read early, with better comprehension of the nuances of language. As much as half of the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school.
• Gifted children often read widely, quickly, and intensely and have large vocabularies.
• Gifted children commonly learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice.
• They are better able to construct and handle abstractions.
• They often pick up and interpret non-verbal cues and can draw inferences that other children need to have spelled out.
• They take less for granted, seeking the “hows” and “whys.”
• They can work independently at an earlier age and can concentrate for longer periods.
• Their interests are both wildly eclectic and intensely focused.
• They often have seemingly boundless energy, which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity.
• They usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults. They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers.
• They like to learn new things, are willing to examine the unusual, and are highly inquisitive.
• They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organised, goal-directed, and efficient manner.
• They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and are often very persistent. “I’d rather do it myself” is a common attitude.

Learning Characteristics

Gifted children are natural learners who often show many of these characteristics.

• They may show keen powers of observation and a sense for what is significant; they have an eye for important details.
• They may read a great deal on their own, preferring books and magazines written for children older than they are.
• They often take great pleasure in intellectual activity.
• They have well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis.
• They readily see cause-effect relationships.
• They often display a questioning attitude and seek information for its own sake as much as for its usefulness.
• They are often sceptical, critical, and evaluative. They are quick to spot inconsistencies.
• They often have a large storehouse of information about a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly.
• They readily grasp underlying principles and can often make valid generalisations about events, people, or objects.
• They quickly perceive similarities, differences, and anomalies.

Creative Characteristics

Creativity is often what separates gifted children from their peers.

• Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related ideas.
• They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.
• They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusual or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information.
• They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas or facts.
• They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems.
• They are willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving.
• They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or “what if” questions.
• They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity.
• They are extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations, or events.
• They often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasise and imagine.
• They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often disagree spiritedly with others’ statements.
• They are sensitive to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic values.

Here are some more characteristics of gifted children (Clark, 1988). These are typical factors stressed by educational authorities as being indicative of giftedness. Obviously, no child is outstanding in all characteristics.

1. Shows superior reasoning powers and marked ability to handle ideas. Can generalise readily from specific facts and can see subtle relationships. Has outstanding problem-solving ability.
2. Shows persistent intellectual curiosity; asks searching questions, shows exceptional interest in the nature of man and the universe.
3. Has a wide range of interests, often of an intellectual kind. Develops one or more interests to considerable depth.
4. Is markedly superior in quality and quantity of written and/or spoken vocabulary. Is interested in the subtleties of words and their uses.
5. Reads avidly and absorbs books well beyond his or her years.
6. Learns quickly and easily and retains what is learned. Recalls important details, concepts and principles. Comprehends readily.
7. Shows insight into arithmetic problems that require careful reasoning and grasps mathematical concepts readily.
8. Shows creative ability or imaginative expression in such things as music, art, dance, drama. Shows sensitivity and finesse in rhythm, movement, and bodily control.
9. Sustains concentration for lengthy periods and shows outstanding responsibility and independence in classroom work.
10. Sets realistically high standards for self. Is self-critical in evaluating and correcting his or her own efforts.
11. Shows initiative and originality in intellectual work. Shows flexibility in thinking and considers problems from a number of viewpoints.
12. Observes keenly and is responsive to new ideas.
13. Shows social poise and an ability to communicate with adults in a mature way.
14. Gets excitement and pleasure from intellectual challenge. Shows an alert and subtle sense of humour.

These lists provide preliminary guidelines, which should have a suspicious teacher or parent nodding their head. Identification using list methods alone is hazardous and difficult to relate to a real, live individual. For this reason it is worthwhile looking at the gifted Types put forward by George Betts and Maureen Neihart in 1988. Their research found recurring traits and responses, which led them to deduce six types of gifted individuals. They developed six profiles of gifted and talented individuals and explain how each profile copes in the traditional learning environment.

Type I – The Successful

The vast majority of gifted children will exhibit behaviours resembling those from the Successful group. These children have learned to use school and the education system to their own advantage. They recognise what is expected of them from their parents and teachers and display behaviour in accordance. They encounter few learning problems and perform well on achievement tests. This group don’t tend to display behavioural problems as they are keen for parent and teacher approval.

Type I’s habitually struggle to take charge of their own learning and so are rarely intrinsically motivated to pursue their own interest areas. They have a tendency to coast along in school, applying energy only when necessary. Many depend on their teachers and indeed parents for structure and focus, and therefore greatly rely on extrinsic motivation. This negatively impacts on their overall development, as the constant affirmation leads to a personal ignorance of their deficiencies. These children will nevertheless achieve, but ultimately they will not reach their potential as they have never managed to fully extend their creativity or become independent learners.

Gifted underachievers generally come from this group. Having never fully acquired the competency or mindset critical to autonomous learning and development, they are eventually tested by the challenges of adapting to life’s changes. From an educational perspective, children from the Successful group are easily identifiable as gifted. According to the authors they make up 90% of students on gifted programmes.

Type II – The Challenging

Children from this group are less recognisable as gifted individuals as they exhibit perceivably negative behaviours. They often struggle to have their abilities recognised and become frustrated when they are not. Coping with an education system that does not fit easily with their talents causes much stress. Unlike the Successful group, they find difficulty using the system to their advantage. Although highly creative, these children are very often thwarted by a system that does not properly cater or applaud their talents. In class they are notably rebellious, challenging authority and often questioning their teacher in front of the class. Children in this group are observed as stubborn, inconsiderate and cynical individuals.

Type II’s also struggle with their self-esteem and may or may not feel part of their social group. Some Type II’s challenge other children and as a result find themselves isolated or excluded from their peer group. Others gain popularity through their appealing sense of humour and their creativity. The Challenging very often have a negative self-concept.

Children in this group are believed to be at risk as “eventual dropouts for drug addiction or delinquent behaviour if appropriate interventions are not made.” While not scientifically proven to be the case, parents of students who dropped out of school remarked that they witnessed Type II behaviours in their children earlier on.

Type III – The Underground

Although it is not uncommon for males to become part of the “underground gifted,” gifted children that fall into this grouping are typically female aged between 11 and 13 years. A girls desire to ‘fit in’ becomes greatest during these years and in this bid to integrate into their social circle they are willing to conceal their advanced academic ability. Girls in this age group are often seen to undergo “sudden radical transformation” in variance with the expectations of their teachers and parents. While the natural reaction is to persist with the child to get back on track, this usually rectifies itself in time. The child will feel torn during this time as they are denying their true selves in favour of social acceptance. As a result of this children belonging to this group very often feel insecure, uneasy and restless. Alternative approaches and applications should be put in place during this period to ensure that their academic needs are being met, all but in a modified fashion.

Although this phenomenon is more evident amongst females, it is the case for some males, although generally when they are older (between the ages of 14 and 17 years) and interestingly in response to social pressures to undertake athletic activities.

Type IV – The Dropouts

Children from this group have developed very negative impressions of school and education stemming from feelings of isolation, not fitting in and not having their abilities recognised. They are angry that the educational system has not met their needs and they harbour feelings of rejection. School is perceived as a hostile environment. They tend to be defensive in manner and act out their anger by appearing depressed. Typically their interests lie outside of the school curriculum and therefore make it harder for them to receive praise, acknowledgement or any form of reward. Gifted individuals in their teenager years usually fall into this group. Because of this there is a danger that their reactions may be mistaken for the trappings of puberty rather than the natural reaction to the aforementioned sentiments.

Typically these students are not identified early enough, affording them time to develop negative, resentful attitudes. By this stage they also have developed low self-esteem.

Type V – The Double Labelled

Children who have physical, emotional or learning difficulties, along with high academic ability are Type V students. Very often these impediments hinder their identification and so differentiated programmes are not made available to them. Identification of dually exceptional children is becoming more prevalent, although their high ability is normally only revealed fortuitously as a result of investigating their discernible difficulties.

For these reasons identification of dual exceptionality can quite often be tricky.

“They may have sloppy handwriting or disruptive behaviours that make it difficult for them to complete work, and they often seem confused about their inability to perform school tasks. They show symptoms of stress; they may feel discouraged, frustrated, rejected, helpless or isolated.” (Betts & Niehart, 1988)

With low self-esteem, these children are unlikely to admit defeat and enlist assistance; rather they will complain that activities are “boring” or “pointless.” They may humiliate other children in an attempt to boost their own self-worth. They harbour feelings of unmet expectations and react negatively to any form of criticism. They have a tendency to intellectualise even simple things as a means of managing their own feelings of insufficiency. Usually children in this group have only their weaknesses concentrated on, with a failure to acknowledge or nurture their hidden aptitudes.

Type VI – The Autonomous Learner

Gifted children that fall into this group quickly developed autonomy at school. Using the system to their own advantage, unlike Type I children, they know how to use it to create new opportunities for themselves. They receive positive responses from parents and teachers for both their achievements but also for who they are. Individuals from this group have positive self-concepts as their educational needs are being met, albeit through their own actions. They believe in themselves, which allows them to take risks. They are successful individuals, with many going on to work in leadership roles.

Gifted individuals falling into this category show strong control and ownership over their own personal and educational ambitions. They do not rely on others for the fulfilment of their objectives.

References

• Betts, G., and Niehart, M. (1988). “Profiles of the Gifted and Talented.” Gifted Child Quarterly, 1988.
• Szabos, J. “The Gifted and Talented Child.” Maryland Council for Gifted & Talented Children, Inc. [online]. Available from: http://www.tagfam.org/whoisgifted.html. [Accessed: 12 December 2005]
• Eric Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education
  http://eric.hoagiesgifted.org
• Clark, 1988
• Kerr (1985) – underground gifted girls