Some of the Signs That Point to Gifted Child

Some parents have asked me how they can tell whether their children are academically gifted.

The short answer is that there is no simple way--there is no foolproof checklist that will enable you to judge your son or daughter.

The process by which public schools determine which children are gifted is, in fact, a rather complex and somewhat subjective one.

Gone are the days in which a single IQ test was administered to every child and those who scored above a certain number were deemed gifted. Such tests have shortcomings that go beyond the cultural biases for which they are most often criticized. Giftedness, educators have found, takes many forms, not all of them immediately identifiable by standardized tests.

In most school districts these days, children are placed in gifted programs because their classroom performance leaves no doubt that they belong there, or because they have been referred for testing by parents, teachers or administrators.

While some forms of giftedness may not be obvious, there are characteristics that most gifted children share, according to a couple of local experts on testing and educating gifted children.

In general terms, a gifted child shows skills or abilities that are “beyond their age or grade, or beyond their chronological peers,” said Sheila Smith, coordinator of gifted/talented programs for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

One of the most common and obvious traits among gifted children is the way that they ask questions.

Of course, children are famous for asking a lot of questions, but gifted kids ask even more of them, and usually raise rather sophisticated topics.

“They are interested in themes that are quite adult . . . ‘What is love?’ ‘What is beauty?’ ‘What is courage?’ ” Smith explained.

In addition, gifted children often show more interest in social and political issues, and may even devise some surprisingly reasonable solutions.

“(They’re) concerned about war, conflict, the environment,” said Smith, “often with plans and a willingness to do something about it at very early ages.”

Gifted children may also demonstrate an understanding of some concepts more advanced than is expected at their age, particularly in the areas of language and math. They may, for example, recognize alphabet letters or count to 10 before age 2.

A long attention span is also common among gifted children, especially when that attention is given to “things that perhaps would be considered beyond interest at the particular grade or age,” Smith said.

Many gifted children are more emotionally sensitive, which may not always be an asset.

“They don’t necessarily play the same way that average intelligence kids do, so they end up feeling different,” said Susan Golant, author of “The Joys and Challenges of Raising a Gifted Child.”

“When someone teases them, they actually feel very hurt and they (feel) that there’s something wrong with them,” she said.

Other common traits of giftedness include a sophisticated sense of humor, extraordinary memory, heightened alertness, and a penchant for lengthy and focused conversation.

Bear in mind, however, that a child with any or all of these traits may not necessarily be gifted.

“Sometimes parents confuse precocity--which is doing something early--with being gifted.” Golant said.

For example, she said, “children who read early are often thought to be gifted, (but) there are many gifted kids who learn to read when they’re 5, 6, and even 7.”

So much for general guidelines from the experts. Most parents, of course, are not exposed to a wide enough range of children to have a clear sense of how their child compares with others. The best way to know for sure if the child is gifted is to have him or her evaluated at school, or by a psychologist trained in assessing intelligence.