Characteristics, Not Tests, are Often the Parent’s First Signifier of Having a Gifted Child

When a parent brings his or her child to the Summit Center, it’s typically because they want to learn more about their child's various characteristics and behaviors. Although the list below isn’t a definitive list of traits that ONLY pertain to the gifted or twice-exceptional child, the chances are if your child is demonstrating a majority of these, there is something there you should explore further. You could start by scheduling a consultation or evaluation.

Common Characteristics of Gifted Children

• Unusual alertness as early as infancy
• Rapid learner; able to put thoughts together quickly
• Retains much information, good memory
• Unusually large vocabulary and complex sentence structure for age
• Advanced comprehension of word nuances, metaphors and abstract ideas
• Enjoys solving problems that involve numbers and puzzles
• Largely self-taught reading and writing skills as a preschooler
• Unusual emotional depth; intense feelings and reactions, highly sensitive
• Thinking is abstract, complex, logical and insightful
• Idealism and sense of justice appear at an early age
• Concern with social and political issues and injustices
• Longer attention span, persistence and intense concentration
• Preoccupied with own thoughts, daydreaming
• Impatient with self or others’ inabilities or slowness
• Ability to learn basic skills more quickly with less practice
• Asks probing questions and goes beyond what is being taught
• Wide range of interests (though sometimes extreme interest in only one area)
• Highly developed curiosity; limitless questions
• Interest in experimenting and doing things differently
• Tendency to put ideas or things together in ways that are unusual or not obvious (divergent thinking)
• Keen and sometimes unusual sense of humor, particularly with puns
• Desire to organize things and people through complex games or other schemas
• Imaginary playmates (preschool age children); vivid imagination

List reprinted from A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children (Great Potential Press) by James T. Webb, Ph.D, Janet L. Gore, M.Ed., Edward R. Amend, Psy.D. and Arlene R. DeVries, M.S.E.

Dr. Dan Peters, Ph.D., is co-founder of the Summit Center (http://summitcenter.us/), which provides psychological and educational assessments and counseling for children and adolescents, specializing in the gifted, creative, and twice-exceptional.