what does gifted look like?

[carmel23]

"It is not so much about being an advanced student as it is about being a person who learns and experiences life differently than the vast majority of other people."

http://www.examiner.com/gifted-educa...what-you-think


I've found this statement to be true in our family. And we primarily think of gifted in terms of school, and academics, but perhaps this is a fault? Of course there is an intellectual expression of giftedness, but this may not always translate to academic expressions.

[quaz]

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Edited by quaz - 5/25/11 at 10:35am

[physmom]

Thanks for sharing both of those quotes! I especially like the first one and agree that if fits very well to our family. We've always been different somehow. It's not that we're super rich and successful but we tend to have a restlessness about ourselves. We need to question things, travel, explore. Even mundane topics tend to get discussed to death... repeatedly and then researched. You wouldn't believe how many times we've had to look up something on ancient history or some minute detail of a TV show because we needed to put on of our minds to rest.

[AutumnW]

Thank you for posting this. I come in this forum sometimes to see how you all deal with different issues gifted children face since I can tell my ds is gifted as dh and I are and we all think and see things similarly but have been reluctant to post because I see a lot of people posting about all the skills their children have mastered by x months and that's not really the case here. He sees things and processes them differently than other children his age. This quote from the first article describes us
"synthesizing seemingly unrelated information and creating new ways to approach the material."

[carmel23]

Originally Posted by quaz

Giftedness, in my viewpoint, should not be looked at in terms of school and acdemics. When we do, we get the

My child knows abcs and 123s and is 18m, is my child gifted?

Gifted is MUCH more than that.

My favorite definition of giftedness is the Columbus Group definition, and is the one I personally buy into.
"Giftedness is 'asynchronous development' in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally." (Columbus Group, 1991)


To me, this sums up what I see in my kids and other gifted individuals.
Tammy

This is my absolute favorite definition of G as well!

[ChristaN]

Well, hey, thanks for posting a link to my article! 

[joensally]

That's awesome.