Characteristics of the Gifted ChildGiftedness & its Implications

for Our Children, Our Schools, and Our DistrictJanuary 12, 2010

Before We Dive In…

Why do you think your child is gifted?

Brainstorm all the things about your child that makes him or her gifted.

Objectives

• Provide a comprehensive description of what it means to be gifted.

• Address both the positive and challenging aspects of gifted children.

• Help you better understand and support your gifted child.

• Share strategies and resources for supporting gifted children.

Overview

• Definition• List of Characteristics• Suggested ways to help

your GATE Child• Table discussion after

each presenter– Share additional ways

you’ve supported your GATE child in this area

– Suggest what you’d like your school site or the district program to do to support you & your child.

• Overall Characteristics– Mary Beth Richardson

• The Perfectionist– Carrie Ashton

• The Creative Thinker– Gloria Gutierrez

• The Twice-Exceptional – Beverly Legaspi

• The Underachiever– Linda Perez

• Table Talks– Priya Morlock

Presentation Format Presentation Contents

Who Are the Gifted?

“…those who have ability in one or more learning areas that exceeds grade/age level expectations by two years or more”• Learns new material faster and at an earlier age than age peers.

• Remembers what has been learned forever.

• Is able to deal with concepts that are too complex and abstract for age peers.

• Has a passionate interest in one or more topics, and would spend all available time learning more about that topic if possible.

• Does not need to watch the teacher to hear what is being said; can operate on multiple brain channels simultaneously and process more than one task at a time.

• (Susan Winebrenner, Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom).

Gifted children are not special. All children are special.

…butthe gifted do have specific

characteristics and specialized needs that deserve attention.

Learning and Behavioral Characteristics• Precocious: learns at an

earlier age & makes more rapid progress.

• Exhibits asynchronousdevelopment (precocious in one area vs. age-appropriate or delayed in others).

• Advanced vocabulary and verbal ability.

• Outstanding memory; processes info in sophisticated ways.

• Learns easily with little help.

• Thinks at higher levels than peers; comfortable with abstract and complex thinking tasks and ideas.

• Needs a minimum of concrete experiences for complete understanding.

• Sees subtle cause-and-effect-relationships.

• Sees patterns, relationships, and connections that others don’t.

• Comes up with “better ways” for doing things.

Learning and Behavioral Characteristics, continued

• Prefers complex and challenging tasks to “basic” work. May make simple tasks more complex to stay interested.

• Transfers concepts and learning to new situations. Wants to share everything he/she knows.

• Curious; asks endless questions.

• Keen & alert observer. Doesn’t miss a thing.

• Intense.• Sophisticated sense of

humor.

• Many interests & hobbies (sometimes unusual) or singular passionate interests.

• Strongly motivated to pursue interests in own way. High energy level

• Sensitive to beauty and other people’s feelings, emotions, and expectations.

• Advanced sense of justice, morality, and fairness.

• Likes to be in charge; may be natural leader.

Challenges Associated with the Gifted

• Resists work or works in a sloppy, careless manner.

• Gets frustrated with class pacing.

• Rebels against routine or predictability.

• Asks embarrassing questions. Demands good reasons.

• Resists taking directions or orders.

• Daydreams.• Monopolizes discussions.

• Gets bossy.• Intolerant of imperfection

in self and others. • Sensitive to criticism; cries

easily.• Refuses to conform.• Resists cooperative

learning or group participation.

• Acts out or disturbs others.• Becomes class clown.• Impatient when not called

on; blurts.

Ways to Help Your GATE Child

• Listen: regularly schedule “sharing time”.

• Make Home an enriched place.

• Create a home library of reference materials.

• Allow opportunities to work with older children, mentors, or adults.

• Help find and identify interest-based groups to join.

• Support your child’s passionate interests (no matter how strange).

• Whenever possible, let your child solve his/her own problems.

• Elementary Years– Understand need to spend

time with older children– Try not to expect consistently

high grades. Struggling is OK!

– Model a balanced life.• Adolescence

– High-pressure time for conformity (gender issues). Listen!

– Help with organizational skills.

– “Imposter Syndrome”– Help discover college

requirements before start of high school.

– Explore “challenging courses” or concurrent enrollment.

Table Talk

• What are the most common characteristics your children share?

• What else do you do to support your GATE child with these characteristics?

• What would you like your child’s school or the district to do to further support children with these characteristics?

Record your thoughts on the poster!

Perfectionism

• Everything must be perfect!• They often grow up thinking that what they can do

is more important than who they are.• Perfectionists may believe that if you are smart,

all learning will be easy.• Many GATE students are perfectionists.• In school:

– In the primary grades, students work slowly to create a perfect product, asking for frequent feedback.

– In upper grades, this can change to look like procrastination.

Perfectionist Characteristics

• Believes worth as a person depends on being perfect.

• Sets impossible goals.• Fears people will not like

them if they are not perfect.• May believe is not capable or

does not deserve success.• Resists challenging work,

fearing others will notice struggling.

• Works very slowly.• Limits options and avoids

risks.

• Procrastinates to the point to which the work never gets done.

• May cry easily out of frustration.

• Asks for a lot of help and reassurance.

• Can’t take criticism or suggestions for improvement.

• Expects others to be perfect.• Never satisfied with own

success.

Ways to Help the Perfectionist Child

• The most important thing is to help your child understand it is all right to struggle to learn.

• Give your child activities to complete which require real effort.

• Help your child with short-term and long-term goals. – If long-term goal is a project (ex. Science fair), show how to

break it up into parts.• Help your child with creative problem-solving.• When encouraging your child, use the phrase, “Put forth

your best effort,” instead of, “Always do your best.”• Encourage your child to congratulate self for a job well

done.

Table Talk

• What else do you do to help your GATE child with perfectionism?

• What would you like your child’s school or the district to do to further support the perfectionist GATE child?

Record your thoughts on the poster!

Creative Thinkers

• Creative: “resulting from originality of thought or expression: imaginative”

• Thinking “outside the box”

• Nonconformists– Problem solvers– Artists– Inventors

Characteristics of Creative Thinkers

• Original ideas & products– “Wild & crazy”

• Behavior– “Fooling around”– Incomplete work– Argues to do things

differently

• Elaborates on ideas with excessive details

• Analyzes things from numerous perspectives

• Sense of humor– Loves to play with

words

• Says what they think without consequence

• Dresses or grooms in nonconformist ways

• Great imagination– Daydream – Pretend play– Fine arts

Ways to Help Creative Thinkers: Nurture Creative Thinking

• Encourage your child to examine environment from multiple perspectives

– Change narrator – Change the endings– Movies

• Foster your child’s curiosity by listening to his/her million questions

– Locate resources for answers

• Provide opportunities for meaningful decision making

– Family– Chores

• Provide regular opportunities for daydreaming

– Incubation

• Find outlets & audiences for their creative products

– School performances– School projects– Academic competition– Church programs– City

Ways to Help Creative Thinkers: Avoid “Creativity Inhibitors”

• Everything does not have to be perfect– School – Home

• Provide opportunities to work alone– Quiet place

• Allow your child time to “daydream”– Set up regular schedule

• Limit play time with “structured” toys & games– Lego– Building blocks– Magnetic construction– Video / camera

• Avoid being authoritarian– “Do so because I say so”

Table Talk

• What else do you do to help your creative thinker?• What would you like your child’s school or the

district to do to further support creative-thinking GATE children?

Record your thoughts on the poster!

Students Who are Twice-Exceptional• They have exceptionally high ability in one or

more areas with significant weaknesses in others.• Their giftedness coexists with a learning

challenge such as having a learning disability, behavioral problem, and/or Attention Deficit Disorder.

• They may have an academic learning strength, but it may never be recognized as giftedness.

• Anywhere from 10-30 percent of gifted kids may have some form of learning disability.

Learning Challenges a Twice-Exceptional Child May Demonstrate

• On tests of ability, may show significant discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal subtests.

• Has large vocabulary.• Reads significantly below

grade level but has a large storehouse of information on some topics.

• Can express verbally but has a difficult time writing ideas.

• Excels at abstract reasoning but unable to remember smaller details.

• Bright and motivated outside of school but has a difficult time with school tasks.

• Slow reaction speed may result in incomplete work and low test scores in timed tests.

• Lacks organizational and study skills.

Common Exceptionalities: ADD/ADHD

• Misdiagnosis of ADHD can occur in two directions.– highly energetic gifted children can be seen as ADHD – some gifted children who can concentrate for long

periods of time on areas of interest may not be seen as ADHD even when they are.

• Important to know the difference between giftedness and what is ADHD to ensure gifted children are not misdiagnosed.

Common Exceptionalities: Asperger’s Syndrome

• Asperger’s Syndrome is present when a person has some features of autism but may not match the entire clinical description of that condition.

• Asperger’s Syndrome is related to hyperlexia, a condition in which a child can read almost anything but doesn’t understand many of the words.

• Children with Asperger’s Syndrome tend to:– avoid direct eye contact with others– have trouble forming relationships with peers– lack empathy for others– have monotonous speech patterns– be unable to engage in small talk– appear to lack enjoyment in certain situations– exhibit repetitive motor mannerisms– be passionate about one topic.

Ways to Help Advocate Your Twice-Exceptional Child’s Success in School

• Teach your child organization skills.• Recognize your child’s strengths and help your child compensate

for weaknesses.• Consider that your child may have a learning disability before

concluding that your child is lazy or has an attitude problem.• Request a teacher who…

– Designs learning experiences around students’ passionate interests.– Provides a nurturing environment in which your child’s differences are

valued.– Allows and encourages students to demonstrate their learning in

learning-style compatible ways.– Provides graphic organizers.– Gives students who have difficulty writing, other options.– Provides clear, concise, written directions, and does not give too many

directions at one time.– Provides students with two sets of books and learning materials.

Table Talk

• What else do you/could you do to help twice-exceptional children?

• What would you like your child’s school or the district to do to further support twice-exceptional children?

Record your thoughts on the poster!

Underachievers

• GATE-identified students who are performing well below their capabilities.

• Perception: “They won’t do their work.”• Reality: they won’t do teacher’s work.• Will work on that which is meaningful to them.• Caught in power struggle.

Underachievement can be caused or affected by…

• Perfectionism• Work that is too easy or too hard• Lack of interest in the assignment; perception that

the learning has no meaningful, relevant, or real-life application

• Lack of opportunity to use their learning style strengths

• Lack of dreams or goals• Fear of rejection for being different

Ways to Help Underachievers

• Promote active inquiry, experimentation, and discussion at home.

• When in conflict with your child, emphasize high-level abstract thinking, creativity, and a problem-solving approach.

• Help your child use intellectual strengths to develop coping strategies.

• Keep communication open between school and home. • Promote self-direction.• Request a teacher who

– allows your child to work on projects that tap passionate interests

– offers options that enable your child to use strengths and preferred ways of learning

– provides challenging activities at an advanced level– provides for individual pacing in areas of giftedness and

disabilities

Table Talk

• What else do you/could you do to help underachievers?

• What would you like your child’s school or the district to do to further support under-achieving GATE children?

Record your thoughts on the poster!

Parent Input

• Choose presenter(s) to share poster contents with whole group

• Table presentations: take notes!

And Away We Go…

Final words…And a Quote…