How to Identify Gifted and Exceptional Children

In the era of educational and societal competition, each student needs the will power, intelligence and the quest for victory to reach the his/her learning heights. While bringing up a child, parents brood over the intelligence of their child. Questions become, "Is he smart or is she creative and gifted?" Each child is gifted in one way or other. In this article, tips are provided for identifying gifted and exceptional children.

Parents are the first caregivers and by closely attending to the activities of their child, they can identify a gifted and exceptional child. In general, they will show high intelligence, an aptitude for studies, creativity, leadership quality and keen observation. Some qualities that a gifted child usually exhibits:

• Attain physical maturity very early,
• Show high curiosity and inquisitiveness,
• Show excellent memory,
• Extra intelligence in learning alphabets and numbers,
• Start to read and write very early,
• Show extra interest for books and reading,
• Very attentive and get bored easily,
• Show good reasoning and problem solving skills.

Gifted children show some special characteristics emotionally include the following:

• They like the company of elders and easily adapt in the companies of adults,
• They are sensitive and show great concern for the feelings of their loved ones,
• They develop an idea about their intelligence and possess high expectations,
• They may become frustrated and get depressed when they fail to achieve certain goals,
• They may like to follow an organized routine and get irritated when the routine breaks down and becomes inconsistent.

The parents of exceptional children should give special attention to their kids as some of them are gifted with extra talents. They possess a uniqueness and need special attention to enhance their abilities. They can perform well at schools while learning alphabets and numbers. Some may show extra grasping and memory skills in activities and academics. Parents must get them prepared to face the challenges that they have to encounter at the time of learning new skills and enhancing skills where they excel.

Some exceptional children will show general intelligence same as that of a normal child. Provide them the opportunity, they will exhibit their academic skills in learning, listening and grasping. Some of them may show creativity and show interest in music, dance, drawing and other artistic activities. Children with a mild learning disability may show normalcy at the elementary school level but, they may show difficulty at higher studies. Encourage them to identify their interested fields on which they can show excellence.

Children with a severe learning disability may possess some extra talents; parents can detect those talents and train them to increase and enhance their special talents. The first step towards evaluating the intensity of their intelligence is the IQ test, even though they are not fully dependable. Although, it may not be possible to measure their abilities, by keen observation, parents and teachers can identify their gifted from exceptional children sometimes, but not always in the earlier years.

Have a close and engaging relationship with your child to recognise the sign of giftedness. It is advisable to consider it as normal, otherwise he/she may become overconfident and that may hinder his/her achievements, giftedness and exceptional abilities to grow and transform.

Sources:

http://www.nexusresearchgroup.com/gifted_kids/gifted3.htm

http://www.internationaljournalofspecialeducation.com/articles.cfm?y=2007&v=22&n=3