The Signs of a Gifted Child
A few weeks later, my daughter once again handed me an envelope. I eagerly opened it and was shocked�my daughter passed the test and it revealed she is indeed gifted! I hugged her and proceeded to dance around the room as she eyed me suspiciously.
When the euphoria died down and after several phone calls to everyone I know who cared enough to listen to my good news, I was left thinking, “Now what?”
It’s an overwhelming feeling; being happy with the knowledge that my child is doing well beyond her age and worrying at the same time how I can continue to motivate and guide her accordingly.
Thank God for the power of the internet and the amazing wealth of knowledge imparted by psychologists, teachers, parents of gifted children and gifted kids themselves. The information I’ve gathered helped me come to terms with this newest milestone in my child’s life.
This article will be the first of a series exploring things parents should know about their gifted children so that we can help them reach their fullest potential.
We will start off with the characteristics of a gifted child.
The Signs of A Gifted Child
1. Very curious and asks a lot of questions
Kids are naturally curious and quite inquisitive. With a gifted child however, he/she goes s step beyond merely asking questions, most of the time they actually act on it. As an example I will share some of my experiences with my own child.
One day she saw a photo of a guitar and asked what it was. I told her it was a musical instrument and that a musician can produce music on it by strumming/plucking the strings. She then proclaimed “I want to learn how to play the guitar, Mommy” To which I replied “Perhaps you can enroll for classes this summer.” After that she left the room and I continued with what I was doing. Moments later, my daughter burst into the room and excitedly showed me her latest creation – she made a small guitar out of cardboard and some strings! Of course it didn’t closely resemble a real guitar but you get what I’m saying. Gifted children go beyond just asking questions, they explore the possible answers and create something out of their ideas.
2. Very physically active and knows how to emphatize.
Children have boundless energy, some can’t sit still for long periods and some are very tactile. Gifted children are very physically active, often it is because they are curious about things, their mind is always at work and they want to have a first-hand experience. Gifted kids also have strong feelings, they know not only how to sympathize with other people, but also how to emphatize.
When my daughter was a few months old, I left her in the middle of our bed to get a bottle. I was gone for only a few minutes, when I came back, she was already dangerously close to the edge of the bed. This happened when she was barely two months old, most babies would be lying quietly at that age, but not my daughter. Let me tell you, my kid really tired me out when she was little. It was so hard to get her to sleep and I basically had to keep my eye on her at all times because she loved to touch everything around her.
She also shows deep empathy, she cried when she saw that part of a movie where a bird died, it wasn’t even a focal point in the movie. Gifted children gets involve with their surroundings both physically and mentally and they have strong feelings as well as opinions.
3. They like to play with older kids.
Children love to interact with other children. Gifted kids also love to interact, whether it be with a peer or an adult. Generally though, gifted children prefer to play with older kids. Perhaps this is because their mental age is beyond their physical age, meaning they feel mentally stimulated when in the company of older kids.
My daughter has a best friend in school, they always do things together and even call each other on the phone. But my daughter absolutely adores her older cousin who is five years older than her. Unfortunately we moved to another country and they haven’t seen each other for almost two years. But my daughter always thinks about her favorite cousin and when they’re talking on the phone, she will totally ignore me.
4. Generally, they get good grades and do well in test scores.
A bright, attentive child gets good grades in school as well as in tests. A gifted child may sometimes appear like he/she’s not paying attention, is playing around or appear bored but still manage to get good grades and pass tests. A gifted child may be good at some subjects and not so well in others. There are also those who are called gifted underachievers, gifted children who perform below their potential perhaps due to lack of stimulation and support.
To further stimulate my daughter, we have our own books at home which we work on everyday. These books complement those which she is currently learning at school. When we first studied addition, she would appear bored and disinterested and it would sometimes be frustrating for me. Then one day, I decided to test her to see if she understood how to add numbers. To my surprise she scored perfectly! That’s when I realized the reason why she appeared bored with our lessons, it’s because she already knew it. Since then the books we use are those that are at least two years ahead of her grade level and she enjoys them.
5. Generally, they are perfectionists and can sometimes be hard on themselves.
A 98% score on a test would make anyone happy. But for a gifted child it means he/she missed 2% of the question. Gifted children are generally perfectionists, they want to do well in everything they do and if they fail, they take it really hard.
My daughter gets easily frustrated. As a toddler she would cry when her blocks would fall down after carefully placing one on top of the other. When she came home with a 99% score on her math test, she appeared really disappointed. I constantly remind her that of course she should always do her best. But I also point out that she shouldn’t feel bad if she fails sometimes because nobody is 100% right all the time.
The signs which I’ve mentioned are just some of the characteristics of a gifted child. To learn more about how to know if you’re child is gifted, check out these resources:
Comparison of Birght Vs. Gifted
Checklist: Is Your Child Gifted?
Characteristics of Gifted Children
Learning about the characteristics of a gifted child is the first step to understanding how you can further help your child. As parents, this is our responsibility, it may be a long journey but it will certainly be a wondrous one.
