The Gifted, Talented & Creative

Presented by
Frank Owusu Sekyere
Lecturer DIS, COLTEK
Introduction

It is an uphill task trying to comprehend what the term

giftedness is all about. Clark, (1988) observes that
giftedness is somewhat an abstract term applied to
people, who by virtue of outstanding abilities are
capable of high performances.
 Gifted individuals have greater ability than most
members of society. Special education aims at
rendering services for any child markedly different
from the average, even if this difference is a positive
one.
The gifted, creative and talented child comes to the school
with special educational needs. He tends to learn in many
ways different from other children. He may be curious and
may think in more abstract terms.
To get to their maximum potential, the gifted, talented and
creative child should be exposed to suitable challenges and
stimulating educational needs and experiences. However,
attempts to meet their needs have always been a complex
and difficult task which tends to pose many complex issues
and problems for educators. Educators require a lot of
professional skills and sensitivity to identify the special
needs of gifted children.
Many people tend to question the rationale behind the
provision of special education services for the gifted
child. Their argument is that the gifted child is smart
enough to make it on his/her own. They are viewed by
many as typically doing well in school, find it easy
meeting age and grade levels of achievement, and are
mostly well behaved. Their believe is that, the gifted
child will develop his abilities even without the
provision of special education services.
The traditional view of special education is to provide
help for those who are not doing well in school.
Therefore, children who perform above average rarely
arouse the same level of concern, as do their disabled
peers. The Gifted and the talented are not perceived as
socially stigmatising conditions or situations of
unhappiness but are rather considered as highly
desirable conditions and a boost to social status.
The general thinking of many educators is that
although it is the moral obligation of society to assist
individuals with disabilities, there is no moral
necessity to provide assistance to children who are
already advantaged. They criticize the rationale
behind the selection and labelling of few and providing
them with special opportunities while attending to the
exclusive needs of only a small group of learners
Definition
no definition has been agreed upon. The difficulty in
defining giftedness is borne out by the fact that in one
recent publication, seventeen different conceptions of
giftedness were identified (Sternberg and Davidson,
1986). Notwithstanding the difficulties stated above
Definition cot
The United States office of education in 1977 gave a
definition for giftedness, which was revised in 1981 as:
“gifted children are those who give evidence of high
performance capability in areas such as intellectual,
creative, artistic, leadership capacity, or specific
academic skills and who require services not ordinarily
provided by the school in order to develop such
capabilities”. (PL 97 – 35).
Definition

Children and youth with outstanding talent who

perform or show the potential for performing at
remarkably high levels of accomplishment when
compared with others of their age, experience, or
environment. These children and youth exhibit high
performance capability in intellectual, creative, and or
artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership
capability, or excel in specific academic fields. They
require services or activities not ordinarily provided by
the school. Hardman, Drew and Eagan, (1999) cited in
Ocloo et al (2002
Factors contributing to gifted, talented &
creativity
Genetic Factors
Evidence from behavioural genetics shows that there is
a significant role played by genetic transmission in the
development of intelligence (Gallagher, 1981). Most
authorities in the area of behavioural genetics think
genetic factors are at least as important as
environmental factors in determining intelligence.
(Bourchard and McCue, 1981; Scar Salapatek, 1975),
Research shows that among Caucasian children in
North America and Europe, an estimated half to three
quarters of intelligence variation is due to genetic
factors
Causes
Environmental Factors
The field of genetics has not yet revealed how genes
influence giftedness. Moreover, advocates of heredity
do acknowledge the useful role environment plays in
the development of intelligence. Genetic capabilities
must be nurtured in order to reach their full
development. The unique development of gifted traits
can only occur through specific interactions within
family units and later with appropriate training and
education (Winzer 1996).
 Identification and Assessment of Gifted Children
Identifying gifted students is not as simple a task as it may
seem. Much of the success of programmes for students
who are gifted depends upon well-conducted
identification procedures. Right from the beginning, one
of the major concerns in gifted education has been the
problem of identification and its measurement correlates.
There is still a lot of confusion and problems when it
comes to the identification and assessment of gifted
children.
The heterogeneous nature of the gifted population, the
diverse definitions, and the administrative problems
makes identification very difficult and uncertain.
Problems can and do occur at various points in the
process. It is against this background that Borland (1989)
suggests that the process of selecting students and placing
them in appropriate programmes is the most difficult,
controversial and thankless of all the tasks in developing
and implementing programmes for the gifted
Observation

This is one of the most potent ways of identifying

gifted children. One may observe a three-year-old
tackling mathematical problems that are taught in
primary three. A four-year-old may be able to read and
draw maps as well as most adults (Robinson et al,
1979). Children are also observed to identify if they
exhibit high verbal ability. Some children may show
early and extensive vocabulary development.
Many children with advanced vocabulary possess an
intense interest in books. They learn to read very early
and accomplish the task successfully. Half or three
quarters of verbally talented children are able to read
by age of five (Piirto, 1994).
Teachers and parents should not think that
very young children would be gifted in
everything. In pre-school children, we may
observe dyssynchrony, which is uneven
development of motor skills.
Children learn their letters by a combination
of teaching by parents, teachers, and other
siblings and try to write early. Even though
children may know the letters, they may
lack the fine motor skills to form them well.
 Group Tests

Since most traditional definitions of

giftedness have been tied to intelligence,
identification procedures have mostly
involved some measures of intellectual
ability. Group or intelligence tests are
administered and the cut off score of say
120, 130, or 140 used to determine the
intellectual level of the individual.
However, Roedell et al, (1990) think in
recent times, group intelligence tests
have a high prevalence of under
identification and over identification of
exceptional children especially in the
case of creative divergent-thinkers and
very young children.
Children who may not think in a
standard way may score poorly and for
that matter may not be discovered.
Group intelligence test may identify
proficient test-takers at the expense of
those who may score lower but are very
creative and think originally (Renzulli,
1979)
 Achievement Tests
One other way of identifying gifted and talented children
is to employ achievement tests. Achievement tests have
been used to identify gifted and talented children who are
already performing at a high level academically. They
have also been used to identify children performing
extremely well in specific fields such as mathematics
(Stanley, 1979).
One unfortunate drawback of achievement
tests is that they are highly verbal; depend
upon the motivation of the child, and tests
how the child is presently performing.
They do not measure what the child is
capable of doing in the future.
Achievement tests detect the gifted
child who is not achieving above the
average. Therefore, the use of
achievement tests to identify gifted
children is a contentious issue (Winzer,
1996).
 Teacher Nominations
One major way of identifying gifted and talented children
is through teacher nominations. Teachers who deal with
these students on daily basis know them and can identify
some talents. Teacher nominations may be in the form of a
short descriptive letter or may involve checklists and rating
scales. However, teacher nominations have been criticized
for their ineffectiveness in accurately identifying gifted
children.
In many instances, teacher nominations
are seen to be suspect and invalid (Davis
and Rim, 1994) and may result in the
correct identification of a few as one in
five gifted children. (Martinson, 1975).
Perks (1984) thinks teachers who are fairly
efficient in identifying students who need
special help are relatively poor in
identifying gifted, talented and creative
youngsters.
Characteristics of gifted children such as
originality, risk taking, and rebelliousness,
Ironically these are not areas that teachers put
high premium on. Teachers may look for many
things as choosing one sex over the other,
conformist high achievers and overlook creative
or divergent thinkers (Martinson, 1975).
Teachers fail to recognize gifted and talented
children usually at the primary school level,
where it is very important to identify them.
These notwithstanding, teachers, with
training, can be effective evaluators of
giftedness (Bracy, 1984, Richard,
1991,Gagne, 1994).

 If not given such training, teachers may

look for behaviours such as neatness,
punctuality, and co-operation. There are
fine behaviours, which may be found in
some gifted students but may not be found
in many others. (Tuttle et al, 1988).
 Parent Nominations
Parents do observe their children engaging
in activities such as games, stories,
inventing and building things, solve
problems, and create all sorts of products.
 From these observations, they may
identify high performance.
These notwithstanding, some people think

parents are too biased to serve as useful

sources of information but this assumption is
not true (Tuttle et al, 1988).
Louis and Lewis (1992) found that parents

are especially accurate in their assessment

of creative thinking, abstract thinking, and
memory activities.
Kaplan (1986), found that a group of
parents recognised that their young
children displayed the ability to
concentrate for hours on projects, to
make things in a manner different from
the instructions given and to pay a
great deal of attention to detailed
behaviours that were not shown in
class because the class offered no
projects that could demonstrate the
child’s strengths and weaknesses.
 Peer Nominations
Peer nomination has been judged very favourably
by experts in the field and are growing in
popularity as a screening technique for giftedness
(Gagne, 1985). Students have the tendency to
agree with each other concerning the intellectual
and physical aptitudes of their peers and show
lesser agreement on creative aptitudes

Davis and Rimm (1985) think peers are

extraordinarily good at nominating gifted and
talented children while Richret et al (1972) see
peer nominations as the most adequate technique
for screening leaders and creative individuals
Peer nominations may also be very
useful in identifying minority children as
well as disadvantaged, handicapped
and rural gifted students (Banbury and
Willington, 1998).
Self-Nomination

Self-nomination has also been used to

identify people who have artistic, creative,
and scientific or other interests and
talents. Self nominations are best
recommended for junior and senior high
school students which as a result of peer
pressure may hide special talents (Davis
and Rimm 1994). 
 X’TICS OF GIFTED
INDIVIDUALS
Early signs of Gifted and Talented
The gifted or the talented may exhibit any of
these signs early in life. According to
Silverman, Chitwood and Waters (1986)
cited by Mensah, Yekple and Avoke (2005)
the following when apparent in early life
could denote giftedness or talented:
Good problem solving/reasoning abilities
Rapid learning ability
Extensive vocabulary
Excellent memory
Long attention span
Personal sensitivity
Perfectionism
Intensity
Unusual curiosity
High degree of energy
Preference for older companions
Wide range of interest
Concerned with justice, fairness
Keen powers of observation
Vivid imagination
High degree of creativity
Turns to question authority
Shows ability with numbers
Good at jigsaw puzzles
Physical characteristics
Individuals who are gifted exhibit
superior physical traits. Terman and
Oden (1959) found that gifted children
were:
larger at birth,
walked sooner,
went through puberty earlier,
 had fewer diseases and operations,
and reported less nervousness than
average persons.
Academic characteristics

Gifted children learn faster, and more easily than their

age mates. They learn to read sooner and continue to
read at a consistently more advanced level.
Gifted students can master the curriculum content of a
grade (class), two or three times faster than the average
child.
Students who are gifted like learning, enjoy difficult
subjects, and are willing to spend extra time on
projects that stimulate their interest.
Gifted students are also more adept at
critically evaluating facts and arguments.
Because they more readily recognize
relationships and comprehend meaning, they
can reason out problems more effectively
Another characteristic of individuals who are
gifted is that they are often impatient with
the routines in a regular classroom and tend
to dislike programmed instruction, chalk and
talk, endless drill, practice and repetition
along with concomitant lack of stimulation
and challenge.
 Social and Emotional characteristics

Relatively well-adjusted individuals,

Schneider et al, (1992)

Extremely precocious students may be at

greater risk for social problems than
modestly gifted children.

Gifted children tend to be well liked by

their peers, although popularity may taper
off in secondary settings.
Bright students most favoured by peers
were intelligent, athletic and non-studious.
The least favoured gifted students were
intelligent, studious and non-athletic.
Modestly gifted students seem to have the
most favourable profiles in terms of
personality and peer acceptance and
interaction.
Extremely gifted students view
themselves as mere introverted, less
socially adept, and more inhibited (Dauber
and Benbow, 1990).
 Behaviour
Like other children, children who are gifted
are not always well behaved.
They may interrupt others, fail to listen, be
argumentative and refuse to comply with
requests they view as trivial, be
excessively critical, teasing, or bossy, or
display a high energy level that results in
perpetual motion and disorganized work
habits.
Creativity leads to a set of personality
traits characterized by a strong self-
concept that gives little credence to
outside academic and social sanctions.
 Leadership characteristics
Persuasive.

Thinks clearly and shows good judgement

Sought for by others

Carries responsibilities well

Appears to be liked by others

Articulate

Takes an active role in decision making

Tend to control others in a group

 EDUCATIONAL PROVISIONS FOR GIFTED STUDENTS
 Acceleration means moving faster through

academic content (Winzer, 1996). It involves

programmes in which the student completes
courses of study in less time or at a younger
age than usual (Reynolds and Birch, 1998).
In acceleration, students speed up their
progress through the existing curriculum to
complete a prescribed programme in a
shorter time.
Acceleration can be done in a number of
ways including
early school beginning, (head starting)
grade skipping,
upgraded classes,
high school courses for credit,
extra work load,
seminars for college credit,
early admittance to secondary and post-
secondary programmes, and honours
programmes.
Students may do two years of work in one
year. The idea of a student doing two
years in one particular subject is
sometimes called telescoping.
Telescoping is especially implemented in
mathematics.
Early college enrolment (as was done
during the days of common entrance in
Ghana) and advanced placement are other
options. In this case, some students may
wish to accelerate their courses and
graduate early from high school
(Secondary school).
Another option is dual attendance whereby
a student may attend both a high school
and a college, taking courses in school
and college (Pendarvis, Howley & Howley,
1990).
There is another option in which students
may take advanced courses in high school
that count for college credit. Many
colleges accept credit from high schools
where students have taken an
examination. If the examination is passed
at a particular level, the student is given
college credit (Shulz and Turnbull, 1991).
 Enrichment
Enrichment involves offering a more in depth; more

varied educational experience and requires adding to

or modifying the usual curriculum (Schiever and
Maker, 1991).

Enrichment may involve Saturday classes, after

school seminars and special programmes during the

school days in which the student is placed with other
gifted students in a different classroom and exposed
to special challenging activities
 Ability Grouping
This approach to educating the gifted
involves changing the environment to bring
gifted students into contact with each other.
They are taken from diverse backgrounds
and placed in special groups. In some cases,
children go to their special classrooms. In
others, independent groups of students
progress at different rates within the same
classroom.
 Mentor Programmes
Under mentor programmes, gifted students
are allowed to work at a specified time
with adults in the community with whom
they share a special interest.

 The mentor usually the teacher sets up a

project with the student and the final result
is presented to the class in some form.

Mentorship may take the form of the

student observing and assisting an older
expert, a mentor in a scientific laboratory
or a hospital.
Mentorship can also take the form of
tutorials, which is a more formal
instructional role in which an experienced
person may tutor a younger gifted student.

Mentor programmes have many

advantages which include the following:

They are cost effective and serve as a

liaison between the school and the
community.
They allow students to pursue special areas of
interest.

Other benefits include career and interest

advancement,

 increase in knowledge and skills,

development of talent;

 enhancement of self esteem and confidence;

development of personal ethic or set of standards;

establishment of long-term friendships; and
enhancement of creativity (Edlind and Heansly, 1985).
 
This is encouraging students to find things
Brainstorming

for themselves. The gifted students are

encouraged to look for answers and ideas
for themselves with very little or no teacher
supervision and criticism.

 One advantage of this strategy is that it

allows the student to develop his thinking
and reasoning abilities in a divergent
manner which ends up making him not only
useful to himself but to his community as we