IDENTIFYING GIFTED AND

TALENTED
CHILDREN IN THE MAINSTREAM

CLASSROOM
By Elle Ryan
OVERVIEW
 Introduction
 Who is gifted? – a definition
 Characteristics of gifted children
 Other indicators for Profiling
 Introversion and Visual- Spatial
 Parents in the identification process
 Information Gathering
 Checklists for Identification
 Gifted programs – selective schools and school based
 International School context – Inquiry Based
 Differentiated Teaching strategies
WHO IS GIFTED?
 Former U. S. Commissioner of Education Sidney P.
Marland, Jr., in his August 1971 report to Congress, stated:
 “Gifted and talented children are those
identified by professionally qualified persons
who by virtue of outstanding abilities are
capable of high performance. These are
children who require differentiated
educational programs and/or services beyond
those normally provided by the regular school
program in order to realize their contribution
to self and society.” Piirto (2007) p
8
DISPLAY SOME OF THESE
CHARACTERISTICS:

 Precocity
 Excellent memories
 Achieving developmental milestones ahead of
the average
 Dyssynchrony
 Advanced physical skills and hand coordination
 Early and exceptional language patterns
 Early reading ability, which is often self-taught.
 Advanced social and cognitive development
 A well-developed sense of humour
 Extreme curiosity and ask complex questions
www.tasgifted.com
CHARACTERISTICS CONTINUED
 Desire to create, invent, investigate and
conceptualise -curious and inquisitive
 Unusual imagination
 Pleasure in intellectual activities
 Spontaneity
 Interest in collections
 Enjoyment in creating and building new devices
 Single minded in exploring wide-ranging and
special interests, often in great depth
www.tasgifted.com
HOWEVER THEY MAY ALSO DISPLAY SOME OF THESE
CHARACTERISTICS

 Preference to playing with older children as they

can’t relate to own peers can cause social problems in
the classroom

 Asynchronous development can cause frustrations for

children when they are physically unable to complete
tasks that their brain is telling them they can.

 The gifted child may have learning disabilities and are

identified for the disability but not the ability – can
cause low self- esteem.
www.tasgifted.com
GIFTED CHILDREN …
 Question authority – can be seen as rude or disruptive
– students often do this as their sense of justice and
fairness is intensified

 Are Uncooperative and stubborn

 Display Emotional frustration – when unable to

complete a task, or sensitive to others opinions
GIFTED CHILDREN…
Demonstrate behaviours which may result in being confused
with children with ADHD or Asperger’s Syndrome (some gifted
children are twice exceptional as well)

Tendency to daydream, doodle, ‘switch off’ into their own

world.

Poor fine motor skills – particularly handwriting – cause

frustration and teachers identify them as being ‘slow’

Ahigh level of perfectionism can cause unrealistic goal

setting and feelings of low self -worth if goals not achieved
 You may notice some or all of these
characteristics along with other indicators of
giftedness. Gifted children may not display
all of these traits all of the time.

www.tasgifted.com
OTHER INDICATORS FOR PROFILING
 Children with ear infections early in life are linked to
underachievement – auditory sequencing problems

 One sixth of gifted children have learning disabilities such

as dyslexia, visual processing, sensory processing disorder,
spatial disorientation and attention deficits such as ADHD.

 Difficult birthing can lead to sensory motor problems –

gross and fine motor difficulties. These deficits often
deter teachers from identifying giftedness – occupational
therapy is recommended

(Silverman 1993)
INTROVERSION AND VISUAL- SPATIAL
 60% of gifted children are introverted 75% of highly gifted
are introverted – reflective, deeply sensitive, less
aggressive, possess leadership qualities. The
characteristics of introversion are often seen as
behaviours that need ‘correcting’ by teachers and parents

 Gifted students, creative children and underachievers are

often visual- spatial learners. Most classroom
environments do not cater for these students. The Visual -
Spatial checklist should be used when identifying gifted
students. This allows for teachers to program curriculum
that meets the needs of these students

(Silverman 1993)
GENDER ISSUES
 Gifted girls use different coping mechanisms –they
tend to hide their abilities to blend in more easily for
social reasons

 Gifted boys are often seen as immature – ‘red

shirting’ and held back when unable to socialize with
peers
PARENTS IN THE IDENTIFICATION
PROCESS
 Parents are very good judges of their children’s
abilities and usually tend to underestimate the
qualities that their children possess.

 Parents are able to observe their children in a

variety of settings and for longer periods of time.

 With the knowledge they have about their child

parents are able to communicate this
information to teachers to assist in identification
– if not already identified before formal
schooling.
INFORMATION GATHERING
A COLLABORATION INCLUDING PARENTS, TEACHERS,
LEARNING SUPPORT, COUNSELOR, OT, DOCTORS
 Student profiling
 Past reports
 WALNA testing
 Standardised tests (i.e. IQ tests)
 Psychological reports
 IEP's
 Medical reports
 Performance in key Learning Areas
 Observations
 Observe students in different learning environments
 Look for learning style preferences
 Psycho-social interactions
 Checklist behaviours (WA Department of Education)
CHECKLISTS FOR IDENTIFICATION
 Behavioural – learning and psychosocial
 Characteristics and behavioural patterns common to
underachieving students – Silverman’s checklist
 Intellectual abilities
 Creativity
 Peer identification
 Harslett Scales for identifying Aboriginal students
 IQ – Standford-Binet
 Over- excitabilities – Dabrowksi Theory
 Select appropriate checklist to use (WA Department of
Education)

The above mentioned checklists can be accessed at the NSW DET

Gifted Education Curriculum Support Document.
GIFTED PROGRAMS - SELECTIVE
SCHOOLS SHOULD…
 cater for individual needs of students through a
differentiated curriculum

 provide further extension in those topics or areas in

which the students are demonstrating exceptional
ability

 enable opportunities for students to undertake

studies in related topics or learning areas

WA Department of Education
GIFTED PROGRAMS SHOULD…
 allow students to undertake studies in different and
additional areas of interest

 make more time for students to study important

areas in which less satisfactory progress is being
made

 include opportunities for accelerated progress in

specific subject areas or across the curriculum; and
 enable access to a range of additional programs.

WA Department of Education
SCHOOL BASED GIFTED PROGRAMS

The alternative to specialised gifted programs are

school based programs.

The programs offered in school can include acceleration,

curriculum compacting and year advancement.

In Australia there are common threads for gifted placement

in these programs.

(Queensland Department of Education)

QUESTIONS
 What programs and provisions are available if
you are unable to attend selective schools,

 are in an International context or

 your school hasn’t a gifted and talented program

in place?

 How do we cater for younger students?

MEETING THE NEEDS FOR THE GIFTED –
PROVIDING A DIFFERENTIATED
CURRICULUM.
“Differentiated Instruction is an instructional concept that
maximizes learning for ALL students—regardless of skill level
or background. It's based on the fact that in a typical
classroom, students vary in their academic abilities, learning
styles, personalities, interests, background knowledge and
experiences, and levels of motivation for learning.
When a teacher differentiates instruction, he or she uses the
best teaching practices and strategies to create different
pathways that respond to the needs of diverse learners”

(Staff Development for Educators)

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE –
INQUIRY BASED

“The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring,

knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a
better and more peaceful world through intercultural
understanding and respect. To this end the organization works
with schools, governments and international organizations to
develop challenging programmes of international education
and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage
students across the world to become active, compassionate and
lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their
differences, can also be right.”

 The IB curriculum uses a differentiated approach of teaching

practices.
DIFFERENTIATED TEACHING STRATEGIES
STRATEGIES FOR CREATING A
DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOM INCLUDE
 a variety of questioning techniques – eg. Bloom’s Taxonomy

 teaching metacognition strategies – children being aware of

their own learning process

 content enrichment through novelty and sophistication –

using creative and critical thinking

 De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats

Piirto (2007, pp502-515)

Curriculum differentiation for classes of
gifted students but can be adapted for
use in the regular classroom include

 Enrichment through tiered lessons – different groupings

 Enrichment through Cubing – different activities with varying

degrees of complexity based on interests

 Content acceleration – for subjects that are sequential ie.

Mathematics

Piirto (2007, pp. 495-501)

REFERENCE LIST
 Gross, M. (1999) Small poppies. Highly gifted children in the early years. Roeper Review. Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 207-214

 Hoagies Gifted http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/identification.htmIdentification of Gifted Children. Retrieved October 10, 2010

 International Baccalaureate Organisation IBO http://www.ibo.org/pyp/ Retrieved October 15 2010

 NSW Department of Education and Training. Gifted and Talented Policy

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/curriculum/schools/gats/PD20040051.shtmlRetrieved October 10, 2010.

 Piirto, J (2007) Talented Children and Adults. Their Development and Education. 3rd Ed. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press

 Queensland Department of Education. Framework for Gifted Education.

http://education.qld.gov.au/publication/production/reports/pdfs/giftedandtalfwrk.pdfRetrieved October 12 2010

 Silverman, L. (1993) Characteristics of Giftedness. http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/What_is_Gifted/characgt.htmretrieved

October 12, 2010

 Staff Development for Educators. http://differentiatedinstruction.com/ retrieved October 17 2010

 Victorian Department of Education. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/programs/gifted/default.htm

  
 WA Department of Education. Gifted and Talented Policy
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/curriculumsupport/giftedandtalented/detcms/portal/
 http://www.det.wa.edu.au/curriculumsupport/giftedandtalented/detcms/navigation/identification/identification-checklists/
Retrieved October 3, 2010