The Gifted Child 2

A gifted child may show of his potentials at a very early age. As infants they gaze intently at people and objects and appears very alert and aware. They frequently reach developmental stages ahead of schedule. Other gifted children do not show their talents up until elementary school or even later. Boys tend to be late bloomers but looking back parents may recall events or traits that were clues. Here are some more special ways of the gifted.

* In many cases, gifted children teach themselves how to read.
* A gifted child have a rich fantasies and develop relationships with imaginary friends.
* They may have a mature sense of humor.
* They may develop elaborate theories about the way things work.
* Prefers to play with older children.
* May be fascinated with clocks and calendars and understand how they work ahead pf children their age.
* May be quick to understand cause and effect relationships and may form his own conclusion.
* They arrive at abstract thinking at an earlier age.
* Gifted children may remember that different pitches of a sequence of musical notes and may sing in perfect tune at an early age. All my kids sang in perfect tune when they were toddlers. Daughter #4 can even sang parts in alto at age 2. Were they gifted kids then? Nah! that was just the "genes".
* They may be unusually sensitive to the feelings of others and have an intuitive understanding of a parent's or friend's sadness or anger.

The Gifted Child

The "gifted child" can be the quick witted charmer, the eccentric loner, the artistic or musical prodigy, or the mini-genius accelerated many times over. Gifted children have been endowed with a very high potential to achieve. From birth on, it is up to parents, teachers and the child himself to translate that potential into accomplishments. Gifted children can usually learn skill with little or no formal training. Many master basic reading skills on their own. What?!Does that mean I was gifted child? I learned to read on my own - by reading billboards and crayon labels.

Is your child gifted? I don't know about you but do you honestly believe that sustaining your child on certain brand of milk will make him "gifted." Fat, maybe. Anyway, here are some special ways of a gifted child. A child may show one or more of these traits on occasion but a gifted child shows many of these consistently and to a remarkable degree.

* An extremely high energy level especially when working on projects. Might not need much sleep.
* Insatiably curious and have a wide range of interests and hobbies.
* Has an unusually long attention span.
* Has a remarkable memory and can retain most of what he observed or learn. If an object is removed from a room, a gifted child of 2-3 may inquire where it is.

* Likes to collect things such as rocks, bottle caps.
* A precocious talker using grown-up words at a young age and has no difficulty conversing with adults. Instead of saying "I saw a dog", a gifted child might say " I saw a black dog cross the street."
* A child talented in verbal areas enjoys rhyming and analogies.
* He can create a short stories, poems and letters at an early age.

There are more in my next post.