Gifted & Talented

Ana Smith
Sansanee Erickson
Angelica Rinebarger

Definition

Children and youth with outstanding

talent who perform or show the potential
for performing at remarkably high levels of
accomplishment when compared with
others of their age, experience, or
environment. These children and youth
exhibit high performance capability in
intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas,
possess an unusual leadership capacity, or
excel in specific academic fields. They
require services or activities not ordinarily
provided by the schools. Outstanding
talents are present in children and youth
from all cultural groups, across all
economic strata, and in all areas of human
endeavor.

(Friend, 2011, p. 470)

Subgroups
Giftedness: Advanced
placement in intellectual
areas, in specific academic
or art-related areas, or
unusual organizational
power for desired results
Talent: Extraordinary
ability in a specific area

Cognitive Characteristics
May understand
language and
mathematics at an early
age
Can get very absorbed in a
project or topic and have a
high degree of
concentration
Can have phenomenal
memory for information
they have only seen once

Reading Behaviors
Often read early
Read with expression
Have a high interest in
reading
Have early knowledge of
the alphabet

Writing Behaviors
Displays early ability to
make written sound-symbol
correspondence
Exhibits fluency and
elaboration in story writing
Uses advanced sentence
structure and patterns
Generates many writing
ideas
Uses precise, descriptive
language to evoke an image

Speaking Behaviors
Learns to speak early
Has a high-receptive
vocabulary
Uses advanced sentence
structure
Exhibits highly verbal
behavior in speech
Enjoys acting out story
events and situations

Mathematical Behaviors

Has early curiosity and

understanding about
quantitative aspects of things

Is able to think logically and

symbolically

Perceives and generalizes about

patterns, structures, relations,
and operations

Transfers learning to novel

situations and solutions

Displays persistence to solving

problems

Social and Emotional

Characteristics
Sense of Justice: Social
activist fighting for justice
Altruism and Idealism:
Unselfish, help the
community and others
Sense of Humor: Use humor
to dispel loneliness
Emotional Intensity:
Feel intense emotions about
an idea or subject for a long
period of time

Recommended Educational
Practices
Acceleration: advancing
learners through levels of
curriculum and programs
according to individual
achievement and
performance
Enrichment: the extension
of regular curriculum with
different examples and
associations that build
complex ideas

Works Cited
Marilyn Friend, (2011). Special Education. 3rd ed.
New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc..

All images:
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