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(Unit 8) Topic 5: The Gifted Child 

2 Clock Hours of Early Childhood Education

Assessing Giftedness

​Topic 5 Page 11

​The attributes of being gifted often are assessed from schools, psychologists, and parents. These assessments assist students in entering gifted and talented programs, but they are not the only way to assess or determine that a child is gifted. In fact, many of these assessments fall very short of identifying a gifted child. 

Schools and programs that have gifted programs will often use a standardized test to measure whether a child fits their admission requirements. These tests range from IQ tests to subject-specific tests to assess a child’s aptitude in a particular area. For early childhood children these tests usually fall short of accuracy, though for some they are a good fit. The most important consideration to take is the needs of the child and their wellbeing. Often, gifted children are also perfectionists and struggle with setting reasonable goals for themselves. They may feel as though they have failed based on assessment scores and this can have a negative impact on their self-esteem and self-image.  

In early childhood education these standardized assessments should be avoided unless absolutely necessary for a specific purpose. Instead of using assessments, document your observations and the child’s work, taking special care to point out the traits that may support the notion of giftedness. You may find that DeMarze has a knack for mathematical concepts both in hands-on work and in expressive artistic forms. Your co-teacher may have noticed that Olivia can read and comprehend text at a much higher level than her peers. A parent volunteer may see that Shantal is extremely expressive with her vocabulary and speaks with a mature tone and grammar.   

Video: Gifted and Talented Children: Signs and Identification
Source: ​Raising Children Network (Australia) raisingchildren.net.au
​Length: ​5:00 minutes

Click here to report problems with this video.

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Sourced from the Raising Children website, Australia’s trusted parenting website. For more parenting information,
​visit raisingchildren.net.au.

• Identifying Gifted Children from Diverse Populations by the National Association for Gifted Children 
• Parent Hot Sheet: Assessments version 5 by the National Association for Gifted Children 
• Who Are The 'Gifted And Talented' And What Do They Need? By NPR Education ​
• Pre-School and Kindergarten Programs by the National Association for the Gifted Child
• ​Gifted Preschoolers by The University of Southern Mississippi
• Appropriate Practices for Screening, Identifying and Serving Potentially Gifted Preschoolers by the Department of Education and The University of Southern Mississippi​
• ​Supports for Talented and Gifted Students by the Australian Department of Education

(Unit 8) Topic 5: The Gifted Child ​* Navigation Menu