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After reading this article you will learn about the characteristics of gifted children.
1. Gifted children are uniformly and consistently high level performers not only in academic tests, but also on intelligence tests. This does not, however, mean that they top in all the subjects. While in general they tend to be toppers, there could be instances where the talented child may not top in a particular subject.
2. Gifted children are active including physical activity and interested in a variety of activities. Their interest is not confined to one or two specific spheres e.g. they are interested in sports, arts, general activities and what not.
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3. Their energy level is very high. They are very active and quick on the uptake and they show a lot of endurance.
4. They are temperamentally pleasant, moving easily with others with qualities of leadership and also a high sense of humour.
5. They show a high degree of initiative and take active part in group activities. They are altruistic and want to help others.
Very often we hear of a child being described as bright, gifted, etc. Who are these gifted children? People who use these terms appear to mean different things. The classroom teacher uses examination marks and classroom intellectual level to identify a bright child or gifted child.
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Some others use the terms to indicate a high degree of talent in a child in a specific sphere, e g., if a child exhibits a very high level of skill and performance compared to a normal child of the same age in mathematics, music, etc. he or she is described as a gifted child. Still others may mean child writing poetry at a very young age or being a very good chess player. This certainly puts us in some confusion as to who is a gifted child.
While different people may have different concepts we may define the gifted child as one whose measured I.Q exceeds 130 or 140 thus indicating that this giftedness reflects a high level of general ability of an adaptive nature and ability to learn cutting across subjects and disciplines rather than an exceptional ability in a single sphere.
The latter who show exceptionally high ability in a specific sphere, but fall within the normal range in other spheres may be called talented, prodigy etc. Scientific attention to the problem of giftedness was first drawn by Prof. Terman who developed the Stanford-Binet test of intelligence. Terman undertook a very comprehensive and long-term follow-up studies of gifted children. Subsequently, there were also other studies.
Terman’s investigations as well as others pointed out certain characteristic behavioural patterns which may help us to identify gifted children. In the first instance, they show that some of the populist ideas we have had about gifted children are absolutely baseless, e.g., for a long time it was thought that gifted children were loners, physically weak and unhealthy, socially underdeveloped, etc.
In fact, in many instances people tended to associate even mild degree of mental illness with giftedness. But research studies led by the studies of Terman have shown a totally different picture. It has been consistently shown that in general, gifted children are more healthy, more active and of better physical well-being. Further, they are found to be socially better adjusted and developed and so also of higher moral standards.
It has also been shown that such children were outstanding in their academic accomplishments that too consistently and across the board in all subjects. This generality and consistency of performance and achievement are the best indicators of giftedness. The gifted child is generally an all-rounder excelling in other fields also.