My son Julian, in my opinion, has traces of giftedness, suffice to say his skills in numbers and reading are well within the categories of being a gifted child. Alright, I am not a certified psychologist nor a developmental pediatrician but working with children has at least taught me to recognize skills at par, below or above the chronological age.

At present, his age is 5.5 and he has NOT been formally schooled yet, just being taught by me and attending social skills, language and conversation classes which I teach. Anyway, he has an amazing ability to remember dates and days. Ask him the day of a date, he will tell you. There is one glitch though, he has to have a point of reference, like a date a few days/weeks near the date you are asking him. He has developed a pattern which he uses to extract the date from his reference. The pattern? Ask him and he will probably explain it to you if he is not too shy to talk (read: it is his secret). Whenever he sees a calendar, he gets excited. Does this qualify him to be gifted?

continue reading this entry »

Below are the traits differentiating the bright child and the gifted learner:

Too often we hear people say that they know of someone, more often their relative, as being gifted. Observations such as early development of the expressive language skills, early gross motor development, ability to memorize songs as well as commercial jingles and ability to predict the time of day, based on TV viewing habits. Well, I’m kidding of course, with the last bit but believe me, I have heard all sorts of explanation to justify calling someone as gifted.

Below are giftedness traits that I have read and saved in my files some time ago. (I am, however, disappointed that I was not able to save the source. Lest I be charge with plagiarism, I am coming clean.)

1. Superior problem solving/reasoning abilities

2. Rapid learning ability

3. Extensive vocabulary beyond grade level

4. Excellent memory

5. Long attention span without losing interest

6. Sensitivity

7. Compassion for others beyond age norms

8. Perfectionism

9. High degree of energy

10. Preference for older companions

11. Wide range of interests in great depth

12. Excellent and sometimes unusual sense of humor

13. Early or avid reading ability well beyond grade level

14. Superior with puzzles, mazes, or numbers

15. Is perceived as mature for age

16. Perseverance in areas of interest