Just what is gifted and talented?

My daughters are both exceptional at art; my son has always been a mathematical genius. My girls have won prizes for art; my boy has won an academic prize every year of his life, including university scholarships. Are my kids gifted and talented?

What do we mean when by "gifted"? Françoys Gagné (2003) says: "Gifted students are those whose potential is distinctly above average in one or more of the following domains of human ability: intellectual, creative, social and physical. Talented students are those whose skills are distinctly above average in one or more areas of human performance."

Gagne's key word is potential. He believes in the power of environmental factors, that being natively smart isn't enough; a child needs support and guidance to achieve his/her gifted potential. Supporting and encouraging gifted kiddies is exactly where home and school collide.

So how do you know if a child is gifted?

Teachers, but mostly parents, can identify gifted children through their own observation and instincts. Often we know if there's something "extra" about a child: their questions, their insights. For my son it was his instant grasp of patterns and numbers, such that his kindergarten teacher had to stop him answering so other children had a chance. For guidance Betts & Neihart (1988) list six types of gifted students with particular needs. This identification grid can be a useful starting place for conversations between parents and school.

If we fail to identify gifted and talented (G&T) students, we risk damage to individuals who are so turned off by rigid education that they opt out, sitting well below the attainment radar, on their way to dropping out. We risk damage to society by not encouraging these students to fly and value add to society through their exceptional abilities.

Be clear - giftedness is not necessarily found in attainment or a steady march through the top of the grade/level bands, or in exam results.

Attainment levels can mislead on many fronts, a clear example is EAL students. Top performance in your school may not match with top performance in another school and IQ scores do not automatically equate with achievement.

Sadly schools often ignore the needs of students with exceptional potential, or miss the under-achieving gifted child due to inadequate identification and pressure on resources (money, time & staff can only go so far). We can't afford to assume G&T students will be all right, are easy to spot, just need more work, and don't need the nourishment that other SEN students need.

I bet there are inner city kids who are G&T but, while they are identified primarily on attainment, won't be accurately identified or supported and therefore will miss the much vaunted social mobility boat. To that end, the growth of academies could spawn a growth in rigorous identification of students to better facilitate student's achieving their true potential, which is what academies claim to be about.

So what can parents do to encourage their gifted or talented children? Parents need to encourage their interests; focus on reading. Play games such as Scrabble, Articulate, Boggle; lateral thinking games are excellent. Extra classes, personal tutors, clubs, travelling. Valuing, understanding and supporting their child is essential. Fighting on their behalf may be necessary too.

Here's a story about a pupil named Jo. Jo was a high achieving student with a particular flair for English. In year 11 she had a teacher who found her challenging questions to be under-mining and as a consequence humiliated her in class. Jo began failing English and started bunking school. Noticing this, her parents got in touch with the school, agreed to an independent English program tailored to her interests and needs. Jo returned to excellence in her work and was happy to return to school.

Schools must show the G&T child they are valued, giving them appropriate academic challenge and also chances to be together, to feel less isolated. The following strategies do work:

Acceleration – Students can be accelerated across the year or within subjects.

Differentiation – an over-used term, it means creating something to extend the child in your class; richer or more challenging tasks

Teacher-student matching – matching personalities as well as learning styles

Mentoring/cross age tutoring – matching younger or older students with similar interests/abilities to enhance learning of both

Independent Negotiated Programs – student interest and skills determine the scale and scope of the project, negotiated with staff regarding resources, etc

Competitions – individual, team, internal, external – there are heaps of them!

Gardner says: "I don't care what intelligence people have. I care whether they can do things we value in our culture. What good is it to know if you have an IQ of 90 or 130… if, in the end you can't do anything?" We must make sure gifted and talented children get the chance to do something fabulous.

Jackie Swift is head of English at a London secondary school and was G&T Co-ordinator at her previous school. She has published articles and stories across the globe on a range of topics and is currently completing PhD studies in literature. Read more from Jackie in her blog or follow her on Twitter @jactherat.

Gifted and Talented resources on the Guardian Teacher Network

View some of Jackie's resources for Gifted and Talented pupils here:

KS3 oral presentation preparations

KS3 enrichment programme

Individual project plans for students

Start-up quiz for use with students

Thanks to Jackie Swift for the following further information and reading list for those who want to delve deeper into this subject:

Betts & Neihart (1988)

Practical Tools – Understanding Giftedness (the link to Gagne doesn't work but the PDF files do and provide useful information and strategies

Gardner and Multiple Intelligences: Styles, Thinkers, Concept

Gagne and Differentiated Models of G&T and a graphic of the differenciated model here.

Levels of Giftedness

Mildly Gifted - IQ 115 – 129

Moderately Gifted – IQ 130 – 144

Highly Gifted – IQ 145 – 159

Exceptionally Gifted – IQ 160 – 179

Profoundly Gifted – IQ 180+

Some gods in the gifted and talented pantheon

1905 Binet – Introduced the idea of "mental age" & created the first structured intelligence test

1978 Renzulli – Developed the Three-ring Conception of Giftedness: the interaction between above average general intelligence; high levels of task commitment; and high levels of creativity.

1981 Gardner – Developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences; linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, body-kinesthetic, the ability to notice and make distinctions; and access one's own feelings about life

1983 Tannenbaum – Developed the Psychosocial Definition of Giftedness: giftedness = potential; talent = developed abilities. Five factors interact: general ability, special ability, non-intellectual factors, environmental and chance factors

1985 Gagne – Developed the Differentiated Model of Giftedness & Talent: the child progresses from giftedness (high potential) to talent (high performance) through the learning process, assisted by intra-personal and environmental factors

+ Bloom and that invidious taxonomy – ignore it at your peril!

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