Assessment tools
help to detect gifted children.
Children who are able to perform intellectually challenging tasks for their age without difficulties are considered gifted. According to the National Association for Gifted Children, there are approximately three million gifted children in grades K-12 in the U.S., which is about 6 percent of the total student population. As intelligence is multi-faceted and displayed in different ways, the assessment of gifted children should focus on diverse ability areas. Assessment tools for screening a gifted child include tests, analysis of the child's production, interviews and simple day-to-day observation.
Intelligence and Achievement Tests
Intelligence quotient, or IQ, tests assess verbal and logical thinking. A child with exceptional abilities in other areas can be overlooked if only this type of test is used. According to the National Association of Gifted Children, the best and most used individual IQ tests for schoolchildren are the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-III) and the Stanford Binet Intelligence Test - Fourth Edition (SB-IV). Achievement tests show what a child has learned in a period of time. The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Third Edition (WJ-III) and the Kaufmann Tests of Educational Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA-II), are diagnostic tools used to screen students more broadly.
Children's Work Samples
The assessment of the child's body of work allows teachers and specialists to detect above the normal abilities. A portfolio with examples of the child' scholarly production in various areas have some advantages when compared to the sole use of intelligence tests. Analyzing a portfolio, teachers and specialists can detect giftedness in different areas of knowledge, and not only in logical thought.
Interviews and Observation
Screening children for giftedness does not always involve complicated tools. Parents and teachers can become aware of giftedness in children by matching everyday observations with lists of the traits of gifted children, which include excellent memory, long attention span, vivid imagination, unusual emotional depth and intensity, unusual curiosity, preference for older companions, above the average language development and persistence in attacking difficult mental tasks. Parents can offer excellent insights into their child's capabilities. However, parental judgment should never be the only factor used to determine giftedness. Interviewing the children is also a powerful tool to detect high-level abilities. Trained specialists in child behavior should perform the task.
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