Characteristics of Gifted Children

tl;dr Observe your child's learning habits Examine judgement and reasoning strategies Consider a free online IQ test to measure fluid intelligence Compare school readiness against peers

Is your child gifted?

Parents can spend a significant amount of time, energy, and money on learning aids and educational tools for gifted and talented children. All children are unique and deserve the best possible education, but how can you tell if your child is truly gifted? What are some of the characteristics of gifted children? Fortunately, there are several traits usually associated with high intelligence that may differentiate these children from others learning alongside them.

Intellectual Characteristics

Observe your child's reasoning abilities. Gifted children can listen to multi-step directions from their parents, guardians or teachers and carry them out successfully where other young children may be limited to simple single or double-step directions. Listen to your child's speech. Exceptionally talented children may develop advanced speech abilities at an early age. They can say their first words at a young age, often even surprising their parents and may start speaking full sentences well before their peers. Also pay attention to the use advanced vocabulary and multi-syllabic words in their speech. Observe your child's reading abilities. Gifted children not only begin reading at an early age but they also enjoy being read to for prolonged periods by their parents or caregivers. Your child may be gifted if they learn quickly and are able to retain information easily. Gifted kids are often fast learners and have above-average memories.

Emotions and Judgment

Examine whether your child is highly sensitive or unusually compassionate for their age. Gifted children have been observed acting more like adults than children in difficult emotional situations. Many gifted and talented children are perfectionists and hold themselves to very high work standards (regardless if that work is a complex word puzzle or a simple coloring exercise). Gifted children may get angry or frustrated when they are unable to master tasks as quickly as they would like to. Gifted children can be morally sensitive and even preoccupied with justice and fairness. They will often question their parents and authority when they feel that rules are arbitrary and inconsistent. The greatest clashes often occur with authority figures (usually teachers) who they view as rigid and unfair. Children with high intellectual abilities often exhibit extremely mature judgment for their age, for example, identifying television content as inappropriate and switching to a more appropriate channel without being asked to do so by an adult. While most children have a preference to identify with their same-age peers, gifted children sometimes prefer the company of older children and even adults, but are still able to relate well with people of all ages (even including younger kids).

Interests, Creativity and Drive

Observe your child's energy and ability to pay attention to things that interest him for extended periods of time. While many children often exhibit high levels of energy and spirit, children with high intelligence are often able to channel their energy to areas in which they have deep interest - usually showing intense focus for longer periods of time than normal.

Next Steps

Many children can greatly benefit from structured learning programs that focus on both core learning and more advanced educational topics. Looking for testing for gifted children? But of course, every child deserves the best chance at a rewarding education. The KinderIQ free Kindergarten Readiness Test features dozens of online questions to help you assess your child's readiness for school and allows you to compare your responses to thousand of other parents so you know where to focus future learning activities. The KinderIQ free Children’s IQ Test is a tool to help assess fluid intelligence in children as young as three years old.