What is Giftedness?

Colorado's Exceptional Children’s Educational Act defines Giftedness as: ”aptitude or competence in abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishment in one or more domains are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational programming needs. Gifted children are hereafter referred to as gifted students. Children under five who are gifted may also be provided with early childhood special educational services. Gifted students include gifted students with disabilities (i.e. twice exceptional) and students with exceptional abilities or potential from all socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural populations. Gifted students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas of giftedness: 

• General or Specific Intellectual Ability 

• Specific Academic Aptitude

• Creative or Productive Thinking, Leadership Abilities

• Visual Arts

• Performing Arts

• Musical, Dance, or Psychomotor Abilities”

Not all gifted children look or act alike. Gifted and talented children are present in all student groups, regardless of gender, disability, English language proficiency, economic status, ethnic or cultural background. Gifted children are just as deserving as all children to have their academic and social emotional needs met at school in order to fully reach their potential.

Common Characteristics

Here are common characteristics that gifted individuals may show, but keep in mind that gifted children are diverse and their characteristics may vary:

• Unusual alertness, even in infancy

• Rapid learner; puts thoughts together quickly

• Excellent memory

• Large vocabulary and can put together complex sentences

• Can understand metaphors and abstract ideas with words

• Enjoys solving problems, especially with numbers and puzzles

• Often self-taught reading and writing skills as preschooler

• Deep, intense feelings

• Highly sensitive (can be touch, noise, smell, and emotions)

• Thinking is abstract, complex, logical, and insightful

• Idealistic at early age

• Concern with social and political issues and injustices

• Long attention span and intense concentration (around things they are interested in)

• Preoccupied with own thoughts—daydreamer

• Learns basic skills quickly and with little practice

• Asks a lot of questions constantly

• Wide range of interests or extreme focus in one area

• Highly curious

• Interest in experimenting and doing things differently

• Puts idea or things together that are not typical

• Unusual sense of humor

• Desire to organize people/things through games or complex stories

• Vivid imaginations (and may have imaginary playmates)

… These are just common characteristics. Giftedness looks different for different individuals.

Modified with permission from: Webb, J., Gore, J., Amend, E., DeVries, A. (2007). A parent’s guide to gifted children.  

Giftedness in Early Childhood

Gifted children frequently begin to exhibit traits of giftedness at a very early age, even in infancy. A study out of the Gifted Development Center in Westminster noted that, based on parents’ reports of their children in their first 3 years, gifted children were more likely to:

• Be very alert as infants

• Have a long attention span

• Have excellent memory and be rapid learners

• Speak earlier and have advanced vocabulary

• Be very observant and curious

• Have more than one imaginary companion

• Have a vivid imagination and high degree of creativity

• Recognize letters and words earlier

• Be earlier to show interest in time, counting, and math in general

• Be interested in books, math games, puzzles, calculators, and computers at an early age.

In addition, young gifted children also showed personality and social traits of giftedness, such as:

• Sophisticated sense of humor

• Intense reactions to frustration

• Perfectionism

• Concern with morality and justice

• Highly competitive

• Maturity for age

Source: Recognizing Giftedness in Young Children, Rogers and Silverman, 1988.

Helpful articles and websites:

• Supporting Gifted Preschoolers, The Davidson Institute

• Parenting the Young Gifted Child, by Nancy Robinson

• Frequently Asked Questions about Extreme Intelligence in Very Young Children, The Davidson Institute

• Early Childhood: Your young child is showing signs of advanced abilities, what do you do next? 

Helpful books:
The Gifted Parenting Journey, by Gail Post
Understanding Your Gifted Child from the Inside Out, by James Delisle
Raising Gifted Children, by Catherine Zakoian
A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children, by James Webb
Parenting Gifted Children 101, by Tracy Ford Inman

Early Access to Kindergarten and First Grade
Please see the Early Access Page for more information.