Having a gifted child is something special. It’s take special time, knowledge, foresight, patience and a willingness to explore new options. This article by author Susan Johnsen touches on the topics and titles that the parents of gifted children seem to ask the most question about their gifted child. Johnsen’s article also shares real-life experience that gifted children are challenged with each day.
Definitions, Models, and Characteristics of Gifted Student
by Susan K. Johnsen
Andrea is a kindergarten child, full of energy and excitement like most children her age, except that she is already reading at a fourth-grade level and understands mathematics concepts at a fifth-grade level. She likes to play games with the other children in her classroom, but she is interested in black holes, a topic most children her age don’t understand. Since she is social, she has established a learning center about black holes for other children in her kindergarten classroom and has become the editor of a schoolwide newsletter. While very accomplished for a 6-year-old child, Andrea is quite humble about her prodigious abilities and appears to enjoy each day with her classmates.
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After failing two grades in his elementary school, Burton is 13 and has finally made it to the sixth grade. While Burton doesn’t turn in much work, his sixth-grade teacher has noticed that he seems to have a mathematical mind and catches on to new concepts easily. In fact, he aced a nationally normed analogies test and enjoyed talking about how each of the items was designed. His friends know that he has built a working roller coaster in his back yard out of scrap lumber and electronic equipment. However, because of his lack of interest in grades and schoolwork, the teacher did not refer Burton to the gifted and talented program because he doesn’t do the work that will prepare him for the mandated state test.
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Ryan, a high school student, is a challenge for his parents and teachers alike. It’s not unusual for him to wear Christmas lights to school to attract attention from his favorite girlfriend, to dye his hair several colors, or to wear red gloves to a band concert. Although he scores well on national tests, recently making a 1350 on his SAT, he performs at a minimal level in his classes and is not even in the top 10% of his class. He loves music, playing three different instruments proficiently: the tuba, the cello, and the bass guitar. Outside of school, he has organized and leads two jazz bands, recently cutting his first CD. The summer following his senior year, he has been accepted to the Drum Corps International before beginning college.
Definitions
These three vignettes based on true stories describe children who are gifted and talented. While not always shown in school, each one has particular abilities that are manifested in a variety of ways—one through his music and leadership, another through his reasoning and constructions, and the third through academic performance. Andrea’s teachers would clearly identify her as gifted and talented, but Burton and Ryan might not be selected because of their lack of interest in school. They are indeed different from one another, yet they all show high performance in the areas included in the United States federal definition of gifted and talented students:
The term “gifted and talented” when used in respect to students, children, or youth means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities. (P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388)
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