Characteristics
and Needs of
the Gifted

Characteristics and Needs
of the Gifted

by Mary Codd

According to Dr. Linda Silverman, Gifted Development Center in Denver, CO, Parents are excellent identifiers of giftedness in their children: 84% of the children whose parents say that they fit ¾ of the following characteristics score at least 120 IQ (the superior range). Over 95% show giftedness in at least one area, but are asynchronous in their development, and their weaknesses depress their IQ scores.

If you are a parent who suspects that your child may be gifted, here are some traits and characteristics of gifted children that might prove helpful to you.

Some General Characteristics

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education explains, These are typical factors stressed by educational authorities as being indicative of giftedness. Obviously, no child is outstanding in all characteristics.

1. Shows superior reasoning powers and marked ability to handle ideas; can generalize readily from specific facts and can see subtle relationships; has outstanding problem-solving ability.
2. Shows persistent intellectual curiosity; asks searching questions; shows exceptional interest in the nature of man and the universe.
3. Has a wide range of interests, often of an intellectual kind; develops one or more interests to considerable depth.
4. Is markedly superior in quality and quantity of written and/or spoken vocabulary; is interested in the subtleties of words and their uses.
5. Reads avidly and absorbs books well beyond his or her years.
6. Learns quickly and easily and retains what is learned; recalls important details, concepts and principles; comprehends readily.
7. Shows insight into arithmetical problems that require careful reasoning and grasps mathematical concepts readily.
8. Shows creative ability or imaginative expression in such things as music, art, dance, drama; shows sensitivity and finesse in rhythm, movement, and bodily control.
9. Sustains concentration for lengthy periods and shows outstanding responsibility and independence in classroom work.
10. Sets realistically high standards for self; is self-critical in evaluating and correcting his or her own efforts.
11. Shows initiative and originality in intellectual work; shows flexibility in thinking and considers problems from a number of viewpoints.
12. Observes keenly and is responsive to new ideas.
13. Shows social poise and an ability to communicate with adults in a mature way.
14. Gets excitement and pleasure from intellectual challenge; shows an alert and subtle sense of humor.

Visual Spatial Learners

According to Dr. Linda Silverman, Visual-spatial learners are individuals who think in pictures rather than in words. They have a different brain organization than auditory-sequential learners. They learn better visually than auditorally. They learn all-at-once, and when the light bulb goes on, the learning is permanent. They do not learn from repetition and drill. They are whole-part learners who need to see the big picture first before they learn the details. They are nonsequential, which means that they do not learn in the step-by-step manner in which most teachers teach. They arrive at correct solutions without taking steps, so show your work may be impossible for them. They may have difficulty with the easy tasks, but show amazing ability with difficult, complex tasks. They are systems thinkers who can orchestrate large amounts of information from different domains, but they often miss the details. They tend to be organizationally impaired and unconscious about time. They are often gifted creatively, technologically, mathematically or emotionally.

You can tell you have one of these children by the endless amount of time they spend doing advanced puzzles, constructing with Legos, completing mazes, counting everything, playing Tetris on the computer, playing chess, building with any materials at hand, designing scientific experiments, programming your computer, or taking everything in the house apart to see how it operates. For more on visual spatial learners, visit the Gifted Development Center's website.

Characteristics Comparison between Auditory-Sequential and Visual Spatial Learners

The Auditory-Sequential Learner	The Visual-Spatial Learner
Is a step-by-step learner	Is a whole-part learner
Has auditory strengths	Has visual strengths
Learns by trial and error	Learns concepts all at once
Is an analytical thinker	Is a good synthesizer
Attends well to details	Sees the big picture; may miss details
Does well at arithmetic	Is better at math reasoning than computation
Follows oral directions well	Reads maps well
Learns phonics easily	Learns sight words better than phonics
Can sound out spelling words	Must visualize words in order to spell them
Excels at rote memorization	Learns best by seeing relationships
Has excellent short-term memory	Has excellent long-term memory
Has neat handwriting	Prefers keyboarding to writing
Is well organized	Creates unique methods of organization
Progresses sequentially from easy to difficult material	Learns difficult concepts easily; struggles with easy skills
Learns from models	Develops own methods of problem solving
May need some repetition to reinforce learning	Learns concepts permanently: is turned off by drill and repetition
Performs well in timed tests	Performs better in untimed situations
Can show work easily	Arrives at correct solutions intuitively
Masters other languages in classes	Masters other languages through immersion
Learns in spite of emotional reactions	Is very sensitive to teachers' attitudes
Is comfortable with one right answer	Generates unusual solutions to problems
Develops in a fairly even manner	Develops quite asynchronously
Usually maintains high grades	May have very uneven grades
Enjoys algebra and chemistry	Enjoys geometry and physics
Is academically talented	Is creatively, mechanically, technologically, or emotionally gifted
Is an early bloomer	Is a late bloomer
Chart provided courtesy of the Gifted Development Center

Learning Characteristics of Visual Spatial Learners

Learning characteristics of visual spatial learners may cause them problems in school, and often gifted visual spatial learners are not recognized as being gifted in a typical school environment. To read a pdf file entitled Effective Techniques for Teaching Highly Gifted Visual-Spatial Learners click here.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Thrives on complexity	Struggles with easy material
Loves difficult puzzles	Hates drill and repetition
Fascinated by computers	Has illegible handwriting
Great at geometry, physics	Poor at phonics, spelling
Keen visual memory	Poor auditory memory
Creative, imaginative	Inattentive in class
A systems thinker	Disorganized; forgets details
High abstract reasoning	Difficulty memorizing facts
Excels in math analysis	Poor at calculation
High reading comprehension	Low word recognition
Excellent sense of humor	Performs poorly on TIMED tests
Chart provided courtesy of the Gifted Development Center

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