Gifted Child Test: Is My Child Gifted Checklist

Determining whether or not your child is gifted is no easy task. As you have likely already discovered, there are a plethora of definitions, characteristics, assessments, and theories – a virtual abundance of information.

To help parents unravel some of the conflicting information, we have put together this blog summarizing gifted characteristics, different types of tests that can be utilized, and an “Is my child gifted?” checklist. Let’s rev up!

Is My Child Gifted?

Gifted people are those who are able to use their potential better than their peers or standards. Every parent wants to know whether their children are gifted or have special needs and ask how do I know if my child is gifted.

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An IQ test for a gifted child is one of the best ways to measure their intelligence. It can help determine whether they have the highest IQ in the world compared with their peers and adjust their learning requirements.

The gifted and talented test can be applied by educational institutions or at the request of parents themselves. If your child is identified as gifted, you should support them with special education materials like MentalUP Brain Training Games.

MentalUP is an app that offers brain training games focusing on the development of short-term memory, visual attention, visual memory, sustained attention, visual recognition skills, reasoning, and planning to develop the intellectual potential of children.

Types of Giftedness

• Successful: This type of gifted child is the most easily identifiable and may account for up to about 90% of identified gifted students in schools. They are the students who have learned the system and are well adjusted to society with a generally high self-concept.
  
  “Successful” gifted children are very gentle in class, do their homework without a lot of pressure, test well, and may become perfectionists.
• Challenging / Creative: Challenging and creative students may be bored or exhibit behavioral problems because they feel they do not fit into the rigid structure of a typical school day. They may also face bullying because their gifts set them apart from their peers in ways they do not understand.
• Underground: This refers to gifted students who do not accept their talents or hide their giftedness to feel more included with a non-gifted peer group.
• Autonomous: Autonomously gifted children are like successful children in that they understand and can perform well in a traditional school system. But they are willing to push boundaries in ways that “successful” gifted children are not. Autonomously gifted children are strong leaders and creative thinkers.
• Dropout: These children express themselves by being depressed or withdrawn and responding defensively. They are identified very late; therefore, they are bitter and resentful due to feelings of neglect and have very low self-esteem. For these students, counseling is highly recommended.

Signs of Giftedness

Children generally manifest some indicating behavior that points out superior intelligence, brilliant intelligence, or normal intelligence.

So what are the certain behaviors and abilities that are linked to superior intelligence?

- Smiling or recognizing caretakers early

- Less need for sleep in infancy

- A strong focusing ability as early as age 2, and can last longer than their peers

- A strong memory – they don’t forget what they see, observe, hear, and experience

- Manifesting extreme curiosity and constantly questioning–every child asks questions, but gifted children ask questions insistently

- Enjoying learning by asking or experiencing

- Early use of advanced vocabulary–the ability to express thoughts readily and clearly

- Able to describe events or objects they imagine, presenting a three-dimensional imagination

Bright Child

A bright child knows the answer; the gifted learner asks the questions. The bright student with above average IQ score memorizes well, comprehends at a high level, absorbs information, and completes her work.

For the bright child, the average classroom teacher offers precisely what this student craves: clear expectations, a path to an A, and an environment where this sort of success is rewarded.

The bright child is interested and attentive at school; she listens to the material and is receptive. She enjoys her peers.

Gifted Learner

The gifted learner comprehends the nuances of the subject's material in a more complex, in-depth manner. Where the bright child accepts and readily retains information about the topic, the gifted learner manipulates that information in order to draw unique inferences.

The gifted learner is far less likely to be motivated at all by grades. They copy the teacher's model response to a question or task accurately, while they are original and continually developing.

The gifted learner is more than merely interested in the way that seasons change: they are highly curious about it. They show their attentiveness by staying in their seats and keeping their eyes on the teacher.

Emotional and Behavioral Traits of Gifted Children

Gifted children have differently-wired brains that make their experience of adolescence unique compared to their neurotypical age-mates.

While most individuals think of giftedness in terms of academics alone, giftedness also applies to a child’s social and emotional development.

This situation itself can carry some positive behavioral features as well as bring negative behavior patterns. So what are these emotional and behavioral traits of gifted children?

Positive Characteristics

Gifted children learn and memorize very easily. Their intensive reading has a great impact on this, as they passionately research and read a lot.

Of course, they are perfectionists. For this reason, they achieve unparalleled success; admittedly, there are long attention spans associated with this. They stick with tasks of their personal interest.

Unlike most people, ideas excite them, and they ask questions. They take risks in life. As they are good observers, they recognize problems and generally work independently due to these characteristics.

Negative Characteristics

Interestingly, the same reasons that encourage positive characteristics also lie at the root of negative behavior patterns of gifted children.

Since they learn rapidly, gifted children get bored easily, resist drills, and disturb others, such as underachievers.

Their attachment to their reading habits causes them to neglect their other responsibilities, and their perfectionist character causes them to be intolerant of mistakes.

Yes, they have a long attention span, and that's exactly why they tend to resist class routines and dislike interruptions. Because they recognize problems in detail, they impolitely correct both adults and peers. And they are often distant from the idea of ​​working with others.

Tests for Giftedness

1. Achievement Tests

How to test if your child is gifted is the question that many parents ask themselves. Achievement tests are designed to measure your child’s ability, skill, and knowledge over a wide range of subjects that your child has been taught, usually as a result of classroom instruction.

These tests generally cover the following abilities and subjects: oral language, reading, math, spelling, writing, vocabulary, social studies, science, editing, humanities, and sources of information (maps, diagrams, and reference materials).

2. Non-Verbal IQ Test

Non-verbal tests such as Leiter International Performance Scale have been considered pure measures of general intelligence and are excellent indicators of abstract reasoning, particularly in the visual-spatial domain.

Nonverbal assessments attempt to remove language barriers in the estimation of a student's intellectual aptitude. This is especially helpful in assessing students without speech or who have limited language ability, those that are hearing-impaired, and those with English language limitations.

However, they do not measure as wide a range of abilities as other IQ tests and would not be as predictive of success in a gifted program.

3. Standard IQ Test

An IQ test is an assessment that measures a range of cognitive abilities and provides a score that is intended to serve as a measure of an individual's intellectual abilities and potential. IQ tests are among the most commonly administered psychological tests.

Is My Child Gifted Checklist

• Did your child walk and talk earlier than most children of their age and gender?
• Did they show a comparatively early interest in words?
• Do they have an exceptionally large vocabulary for their age?
• Did they show an early interest in clocks, calendars, or jigsaw puzzles?
• Did they show an early interest in numbers?
• Did they show an early interest in reading?
• Do they express curiosity about many things?
• Do they have more stamina and strength than other children of their age and gender?
• Do they tend to associate with children older than themselves?
• Do they act as a leader among children of their own age?
• Do they have a good memory?
• Do they show unusual reasoning power?
• Do they have an unusual capacity for planning and organizing?
• Do they relate information gained in the past to new knowledge they acquire?
• Do they show more interest in creative effort and new activities than in routine and repetitive tasks?

Tips: How to Help My Child Pass the Gifted Test?

If you want to test the intelligence skills of your child with your own resources, you can use the MentalUP app.

MentalUP is an intelligence exercise application certified as a pedagogical product. One of the most important features is that you can view your scores in graphs and compare them with your peers.

Frequently Asked Questions