What Does It Mean to Be Gifted?
We know you may have a few questions about what it means to have a gifted child. Such as: How do I know if my child is gifted? What are the signs that a child is gifted? Do gifted children benefit from being in a school for gifted children?
Over the past 60-plus years, Seattle Country Day School has educated gifted children, and we’ve worked with many educators and psychologists with significant expertise in educating gifted children. Based on decades of experience, we believe:
● Children can be gifted in very different ways;
● Children who are gifted come from all racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds;
● Gifted children need to learn in an environment that will challenge them; and
● Gifted children’s intellectual capabilities may outpace their emotional and social development.
Is Your Child Gifted?
Gifted children (and programs for gifted children) have been given different names: gifted, gifted and talented, highly capable. These titles mean roughly the same thing: that a child “has advanced ability or potential in one or more specific areas when compared to children of the same age, experience, or environment.” (Davidson Institute) If you are beginning to wonder if your child may be gifted, the questions below may help.
IS MY CHILD GIFTED? AN INFORMAL QUIZ
Does your child…
Ask lots of questions?
Display insatiable curiosity?
Need to know “why”?
Find joy in learning new things?
Make interesting connections?
Read at an early age?
Talk at an early age?
Enjoy taking objects apart and putting them back together?
Have deep conversations?
Ask big questions at a young age?
Have a sophisticated sense of humor?
Devise creative solutions to simple or complex tasks?
Ask to stay inside to read or finish a project instead of playing?
Display intensity?
Get engrossed in projects or obsessive about topics?
Grasp unexpected patterns and relationships?
If you answered “yes” to some of these questions, your child may be gifted or highly capable.
Is There a Test for Giftedness?
Tests that generate IQ scores provide one measure of giftedness, but no single tool can paint a complete portrait of a child. At SCDS, we use multiple tools, including an IQ test, to determine if our school would be a good fit for your student.
What Does It Mean to Be Gifted?
While gifted and highly capable children vary a great deal, many share some common characteristics.
Gifted children are curious. They learn by asking questions, by soaking up books and other materials, by exploring and tinkering. They teach themselves new things.
Gifted children have neural efficiency. They grasp factual-declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge (how to do something) more quickly than their peers.
Gifted children love learning…unless they’re bored. They play with ideas, they make associations, and they recognize patterns. However, if a gifted child isn’t challenged in school, they may tune out, misbehave, or not fulfill their potential.
Gifted children make connections. They add abstractions to what they want to learn, and then they begin to make connections. (E.g., “I want to learn more about comets, because comets can help me understand impact, cycles, and systems.”)
Gifted children often develop in an asynchronous way. Although their intellect develops rapidly, other development is likely to be at their age level. (Put another way: A five-year-old may be doing math well above their age level, but, like every other five-year-old, they still want to play.)
Gifted children are sometimes neurodivergent. They may have dyslexia, ADHD, an autism-spectrum disorder, or other learning challenges.
The Case for Gifted Programs
At SCDS, we believe that curiosity is a superpower. We believe that an inquiry-based gifted education, like that provided by our school, plays an important role in the educational ecosystem. By focusing on the learning needs of gifted and highly capable children, and using their curiosity to launch and deepen the learning process, our school helps these children to reach their full potential.
What do gifted children need in the classroom? They need to be able to explore their interests, ask questions, and find their own answers. They need challenges that stretch them, and they benefit from divergent thinking — the ability to identify and use multiple pathways to approach conversations, projects, and problems. Conversely, rote learning and memorization may bore gifted children, as these methods don’t provide the challenge and intellectual stimulation they need.
What do gifted children need from their teachers? Gifted children need teachers who give them the freedom to try new things, and the support to learn more rapidly and deeply if they are interested in a topic. They also need teachers who understand that gifted children, despite their intellectual gifts, are not little adults — they need to receive child-appropriate care and attention, and they may have emotional needs that differ from the typical child. The right teachers, like those found at SCDS, create an environment that not only helps children to excel academically, but also helps them become well-rounded, compassionate, caring young people.
What teaching method works for gifted children? Gifted and highly capable students are well-served by a method of teaching called guided inquiry, which we employ at SCDS. Rather than relying primarily on lectures or simply providing facts, teachers set the stage for compelling conversations and exploration. The guided-inquiry method keeps children interested in learning. Teachers also create opportunities for differentiation, where students can learn at different speeds.
What do gifted children experience at SCDS?
They find their people — other students who love to learn as much as they do. (If they were minimizing their intelligence to fit in at their old school, they no longer do.)
They have teachers who understand them and their needs.
They are stretched intellectually and supported emotionally. They have opportunities to feed their passions, discover new strengths, and ways to overcome challenges.
And, at SCDS, kids can be kids; we understand the value of play, growth, and strong personal relationships.
Want to Learn More?
We suggest…
Gifted children: IQ test
IQ testing information
Parental resources
Admissions FAQs
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the admissions office: admissions@seattlecountryday.org or (206) 812-8907.
We look forward to hearing from you.