Gifted vs. Highly Proficient

Sometimes children are labeled as gifted when they may just be ahead in their learning.  Children who attended pre-school may be ahead academically when compared to a child who had no schooling prior to kindergarten.  Does this mean one child is gifted and the other is not?  Determining the difference between a gifted child and a highly proficient one is a difficult task.  The highly proficient child knows the answers to the questions, whereas a gifted child will ask questions that are beyond the scope of the lesson.  Read through these six blog posts and see if your child is gifted or highly proficient.

• My View: 10 Myths About Gifted Students and Programs for Gifted This is a smartly written article by an educator who has been involved in gifted programs for more than 20 years.
• Is My Child Gifted You’ll find many questions here that can help you determine if your child is gifted or highly proficient.
• The Differences Between Bright and Gifted This is a very thorough list of how to tell the difference between a bright child and gifted one.
• Gifted or Just Bright? How Does a Parent Know? This post presents different questions to help the parent determine if their child is gifted.
• Bright vs. Gifted Children This blogger looks at the characteristics of a gifted child and his social behaviors to determine giftedness.
• Bright Student vs. Gifted Learner Several different charts with additional information regarding the difference between gifted and bright are available in this post.

Parental Role

As a parent, you may want to know what your role is in determining if your child is gifted.  Decades ago parents sent their kids to school and that was pretty much it.  It was the teacher’s job to teach your child.  Often, children who are labeled as gifted now were considered unruly or disruptive back then.  So much more is understood about learning styles and various special needs that school is an entirely different ballgame now.  Parents may have to step in to make sure that their child is getting the attention that he requires to learn and reach his full potential.  If you feel your child is gifted and not being challenged enough in class, you have the right to have him tested for the gifted program.

• Parent Advocacy Model – Are My Child’s Needs Being Met? Follow the flow chart on this blog to see if you are happy with the progress your child is making in class.
• Gifted Students Have ‘Special Needs,’ Too The feeling that the brightest children are not being taught to their full ability and that changes should be made to the system are shared in this post.
• Gifted Education Often, the needs of gifted students are not treated to the same level as a child who has another special need, such as ADHD.  This blogger discusses this issue in depth.
• Parents’ Experience of Rearing Gifted Children An interesting overview of what parents noticed about their gifted child while he was growing up is presented in this blog post.
• Parents of Gifted Kids Need This Information from Dr. Linda Silverman Here you’ll find information about the struggles of parenting a gifted child, as well as several links to other helpful information.
• The Role of Parents in Identifying Gifted Children This article is full of interesting information about what parents should watch for if they feel their child is gifted.

Testing for Giftedness

There are differing opinions about when a child should be tested for the gifted program.  If you test a child in kindergarten, are you truly finding the gifted kids or just the ones that are ahead of the learning curve?  How should a child be tested?  These questions and others will be discussed in the following six blog articles.

• The Myth of Testing for Giftedness This blogger feels that testing kids for giftedness is invalid.
• Schools Make Changes in Testing for Gifted Students Rules are changing, and some parents could pay to have their kids tested for giftedness.
• Gifted Testing A breakdown of how some kids are tested for giftedness is presented in this entry.
• Testing Your Gifted Child: The Pros and Cons Points to consider before testing for giftedness are presented here.
• Testing for Giftedness Read the story of this blogger’s journey through the gifted testing process.

Contributed by: findananny