Early Childhood

Gifted Students

Kevin D. Besnoy, Ph.D. ~

The Highland Schools,
Birmingham, AL

Todays Session
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Identif
the Classroom

What do you already know?

Cognitive Ch

aracteristics
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C
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Emotio

Social Characteristics

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Creative Ch

Typical Developmental Milestones

3 Months

7 Months

1 Year

2 Years

Begins to
develop a
social smile

Enjoys imitating
Enjoys social
people during
play
play

Raise head
and chest
while lying
on stomach

Reaches
Points to
Transfers
sitting
objects or
objects from
pictures when
position
hand to hand
its named
without help

Improved
Watches face
ability to
intently
track moving
objects
Smiles at the
Responds to
sound of your
own name
voice

Bangs two
objects
together

Walks alone

Begins make
believe play

3 Years

4 Years

5 Years

Climbs well

Goes up and
down stairs
without
support

Swings, climbs,
hops, and
summersaults

Makes
continuous
symbols that
resemble
writing

Read and
write their
names

Identify
initial, final,
and medial
sounds in
short words

Uses 4 - 5
word
sentences

Retell stories
that have
been read to
them

Can count 10
or more
objects

Cooperates
with other
children

Match some
spoken and
written words

Responds to Demonstrates Sorts objects

simple verbal
increasing
by shape and
independence
requests
color

Asynchronous Development
Example:
at the age of 4 or 5, a
child who carries on
intelligent
conversations with
adults may not be
able to tie his or her
own shoes

Turn, talk, & blog

How does asynchronous

development impact typical
developmental milestones?

Describe one student in your

class that exhibits
asynchronous developmental
characteristics

Cognitive and Achievement-Related Skills

Gifted children typically integrate
large amounts of acquired
information into their knowledge
base

Young gifted children often show

promise in certain academic
behaviors

Able to remember complex

information and decode other
d
an
s
ap
m
as
ch
su
s
em
st
sy
c
li
o
b
m
sy
written language
Verbal skills including advanced
vocabulary for age and use of
language in original and
meaningful ways

Young Socially Gifted Children

generosity

sharing of possessions

sympathy for others

desire to attend to other s

needs at an early age

Play Style
e
l
y
t
s
y
a
l
np
i
d
e
c
n
a
v
ad
y
l
l
a
i
c
o
s
Often

Mature sense of humor for their

ag

t
n
e
m
p
o
l
e
v
e
d
Advanced social
Use materials in nove
l ways and modifies th
e
play interactions with
their peers

Fears
Young gifted children
internalize a great deal
of input from their
environments

e
iv
it
n
g
o
c
d
e
c
n
a
v
d
a
f
o
e
Becaus
s
r
le
o
o
h
c
s
e
r
p
e
h
t
,
t
n
e
developm
g
in
d
n
a
t
s
r
e
d
n
u
r
e
p
e
have a de
of situations and
k
c
la
y
a
m
t
u
b
s
e
c
n
e
u
q
e
cons
fe
li
d
e
it
m
li
o
t
e
u
d
ls
il
k
coping s
experiences

Turn, talk, & blog

How do students
demonstrate their gifts in
your classroom?

Describe two strategies you

incorporate in your classroom
that allows students to
demonstrate their giftedness

Teachers need to be aware of

the ways in which atypical
behaviors manifest
themselves. Some behaviors
can be troubling to the
classroom teacher

Keep in mind that there is not an

exhaustive list of characteristics.
In fact atypical gifted students
will display their giftedness in
unique ways

Asking yourself internal why

questions to understand the root
causes of student behaviors will help
as you strive to provide the most
e
th
l
al
r
fo
n
o
ti
ca
u
ed
l
fu
g
in
n
ea
m
students they teach

Motivation: Evidence of Desire to Learn

Persistence in pursuing and/or

completing tasks

Self-selected tasks may be culturally

influenced

Focus motivation on non-school

activities rather than school
activities

Enthusiastic learner of non-school

or school subject matter

Aspires to be somebody, do
something

Motivation: Evidence of Desire to Learn

d
n
a
ts
n
e
m
n
ig
ss
a
e
n
ti
u
ro
h
it
w
d
re
Bo
ce
a
p
r
e
st
fa
t
a
s
rn
a
le
s;
n
o
ti
ti
e
p
re
Difficult to wait for others
Do things her/his own way
ct to
Does not want to stop one proje
start the next
Dislikes interruptions

Overly aggressive
Challenges authority

y
d
a
e
lr
a

se
u
ca
e
b
s
sk
ta
o
d
to
s
se
fu
Re
know it

Inquiry: Questions, Experiments, Explores

Asks unusual questions

for age
Plays around with ideas

Demonstrates extensive
exploratory behaviors

Inquiry: Questions, Experiments, Explores

Goes on tangents; can be

obnoxious with questions

Likes to stump people

with hard questions

Dominates discussions

Can become a pest

Interests: Feelings of Passion, Concern, or Curiosity about

Something

Unusual or advanced interests

in a topic or activity
Is a self-starter
Pursues an activity
unceasingly
Is beyond age group in
activities/interests
Shows concern for local and
global issues

Interests: Feelings of Passion, Concern, or Curiosity about

Something

Reads constantly, often at

inappropriate times

Dominates discussions; extends

comments with details beyond
the comprehension of age-mates
Goes on tangents with no followthrough

Loses other students by

explaining or over-analyzing
issues

Neglects other responsibilities

Leadership: Displays Leadership Among His/Her Peers

Is quick to help others

Easily carries out

responsibilities

Leads others in
unstructured situations
(could be in a negative
or positive way)

Leadership: Displays Leadership Among His/Her Peers

Bossy

Unwilling to listen to
classmates

Leads others into negative

behavior

Too authoritative

Impatient with others

Communication Skills: Highly Expressive & Eective

Use of Words, Numbers, Symbols
Demonstrates unu
sual
ability to commun
icate
verbally, physicall
y,
artistically, or sym
bolically
Uses p
articularly apt
examples, illustrat
ions, or
elaborations
Uses t
his ability in or out
of
the classroom

Communication Skills: Highly Expressive & Eective

Use of Words, Numbers, Symbols

Shows off

Invokes peer resentment

Constantly talks to and
monopolize the time of the
teacher
Loses or turns off
f
o
l
e
v
le
h
ig
h
h
it
w
ts
n
e
d
u
st
vocabulary

Reasoning-Logical: Approaches to Figuring Out Solutions

Makes generalizat

ions

Uses metaphors an
d
analogies

Thinks things thro

ugh in a
logical manner
Thinks critically an
d comes
up with a plausible
answer

Reasoning-Logical: Approaches to Figuring Out Solutions

Notice too much in classroom;

may appear off-task
y
il
d
a
re
s
n
io
ct
e
ir
d
w
o
ll
fo
t
o
N

Overlook details
Tell teacher better ways to do
things
Unwilling/unable to show
work or details

Humor: Brings Two Heretofore Unrelated Ideas or

Planes of Thought Together In A Recognized Relationship

Keen sense of humor which

could be gentle or hostile

Exceptional sense of timing

in words or gestures

Demonstrates unusual
emotional depth

Humor: Brings Two Heretofore Unrelated Ideas or Planes

of Thought Together In A Recognized Relationship

Be out-of-sync with classmates

and become socially isolated

Make jokes at adults or

classmates expenses

Play cruel tricks on others

Be the class clown

Problem-Solving Ability: Eective, Often Inventive, Strategies

for Recognizing & Solving Problems

Uses effective & inventive

strategies for recognizing &
solving problems

Able to change strategies if

selected solution doesnt work

Creates new designs, invent

Uses ability in or out of the
classroom

Problem-Solving Ability: Eective, Often Inventive, Strategies

for Recognizing & Solving Problems

Interferes with others

Perfectionistic

Avoids reflective, divergent

responses

Sometimes too innovative

Can be stubborn

Unwilling/unable to show
work or details

Imagination/Creativity: Produces Many Original Ideas

y
it
u
n
e
g
in
l
a
n
o
ti
p
ce
x
e
s
w
o
h
S
in using everyday materials
Has wild, seemingly silly ideas

n
o
n
h
g
u
ro
th
s
m
le
b
ro
p
s
e
lv
o
S
traditional patterns
Produce ideas fluently &
flexibly
Is highly curious
Displays figural or verbal
creativity

Imagination/Creativity: Produces Many Original Ideas

Gets lost in own thoughts

Appears to be daydreaming or
inattentive

No follow-through

Constantly doodles or draws

Insight: Quickly Grasps New Concepts and Makes

Connections; Senses Deeper Meanings

t
ec
rr
co
f
o
ry
ve
co
is
d
en
d
d
su
s
Show
solution following incorrect
attempts based primarily on trial
and error
Displays high ability to draw
inference
Appears to be a good guesser
Possesses heightened capacity for
seeing unusual and diverse
relationships
Integrates ideas and disciplines

Insight: Quickly Grasps New Concepts and Makes

Connections - Senses Deeper Meanings

Overlooks details

Out-of-sync with classmates

Appears to be showing off or

makes other students feel
inadequate

Impolitely corrects adults

Learner Profile
Remember no two
gifted children are
alike. These children
vary among themselves
as much as they do
from typical children

Programming
Remember that no two
gifted children are
alike. These children
vary among themselves
as much as they do
from typical children

Opportunities to build
academic skills through
advanced play

Early Exposure to Advanced Concepts in AgeAppropriate Ways

All the domains of development
and learning (physical, social and
emotional, cognitive, academic)
are important, and they are closely
interrelated.
Childrens development
and learning in one
domain influence, and are
influenced, by what takes
place in other domains

Programming
Authentic construction
n
o
d
e
s
a
b
e
g
d
le
w
o
n
k
f
o
exploration,
manipulative resources,
and experiential inquiry

Programming

Flexibility in the pace

at
which learning oppor
tunities
are provided