Each month,
CTD Director Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Ph.D answers the questions you ask
on Facebook about gifted education. This month, she discusses how to parent a child with exceptional talent, and how to detect giftedness (and what, exactly, "giftedness" means.)
Q: If a child tests as globally gifted but shows exceptional talent in one area, should you focus on the one area to the exclusion of others? (Assuming one has limited resources of time, which most parents do...) - Jacinda Townsend
A: I am assuming that when you say a child has tested as globally gifted, you mean that he or she has a high IQ or a high score on some test of cognitive ability. IQ is a good indicator of learning ability and rate of learning. A child with a high IQ is likely able to learn at a faster rate and pace compared to most children his or her age. Exceptional talent in a specific area is likely demonstrated also by a faster rate of learning and unusual level of achievement within a particular domain, like math or science. You should know that global ability is more characteristic of younger children and that with age and development, children's abilities differentiate and show relative strengths and weaknesses in different areas. The emphasis is on the word "relative" because a weak area could actually mean not as strong as performance in another area (e.g. verbal versus math) but not be weak (e.g. below average) in an absolute sense.
I think parents should feed children's strengths and interests, meaning, enable children to go as far as they are willing to go with regards to learning in an area that truly engages and motivates them. At the same time, work to ensure that children are getting good instruction in other areas, with attention to instruction that matches pace of learning and level of ability. The truth is thethat no one works in one single area or domain alone. Most meaningful work and research involves multiple academic areas and cuts across disciplines. Scientists have to give presentations at conferences and write papers for publication. Their verbal skills, oral and written, are as important as their scientific and mathematical reasoning skills. So, feed the hunger through participation in outside programs or materials you provide at home, but be careful to have a "balanced diet" to the extent possible.
Q: What is giftedness? How do you know a child is gifted? -Dee Dixon
A: There have been lots of definitions put forward regarding what is giftedness. The one I like is the one I worked on with a group of others in the field as the co-chair of a task force for the National Association for Gifted Children. You can find it online at
http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=574&ir) or go to
www.nagc.org, then to "Information and Resources" on the left column, then "What is gifted?". Though there are multiple perspectives on giftedness and what it is, I would say that it is typically defined as exceptional reasoning and learning ability and/or exceptional levels of achievement or performance within domains such as art, music, creative writing, mathematics, etc. In schools, giftedness is typically identified via the use of standardized tests of ability (like IQ or the Cognitive Abilities Test--CogAT) and/or by exceptional achievement as demonstrated in test performance or actual day-to-day achievement (e.g. being able to do mathematics several years beyond grade level).
Regarding knowing that a child is gifted, parents of very young gifted children will often notice that their child readily and easily absorbs any information in the environment, likes to play with numbers or words, or has intense interests or exceptional curiosity. When children enter school, giftedness may manifest in high achievement or in exceptional projects or products (e.g. art projects or science projects). Of course, there are children who, for a multitude of reasons, including motivational problems or learning disabilities, do not achieve at high levels in school but nevertheless have advanced reasoning abilities. These children are more difficult to identify and doing so may require more extensive testing by a school psychologist or other professionals. Parents may see discrepancies in these children's performance in the home versus school environment (e.g. extended work on self-initiated projects of interest at home but poor school achievement), which may be why they go unnoticed as gifted in school.
Do you have a question for Paula? Leave a comment below, or let us know on Facebook!
