Parents want to know if their children are gifted. They want the best education and the best opportunities for their children to grow and develop their special gifts. Traditional schools often are not equipped to deal with gifted students. These schools may not be able to provide the individual attention needed to address a gifted child’s needs for gifted programs and personal support. The solution is to have gifted testing. But what does gifted testing mean? What should be tested, and how? Also, when should testing be done? When is a child old enough to make any testing valid?
First of all, parents should pick up on some early clues to see if their children exhibit the characteristics of giftedness. It is possible that their children are not gifted at all but share some of the traits of the gifted. Other explanations of different behavior include ADHD and Autism, which would suggest a different course of action.
Early Signs of Giftedness may Suggest Later Testing
Gifted children have exceptional language skills. They learn new words quickly and easily. Gifted children speak in sentences with proper grammar. They participate in adult discussions and change their language as appropriate for different audiences. A gifted child may like to read and ask lots of questions to get as much information as possible on any given subject.
Surprisingly, though, the same children who speak with adults one moment can be throwing temper tantrums the next because they are frustrated. This is another sign of possible giftedness.
In addition to verbal skills, gifted children also show advanced learning skills. They learn quickly and are more focused. They have excellent memories and can recall facts and events easily. Gifted children are creative thinkers, possible day dreamers, and show non-verbal skills of grasping concepts and perceptions.
From an emotional standpoint, gifted children are sensitive and react to outside criticism. They are their own best critics because of their need for perfection. They are intense and can get very involved in projects and subjects. Gifted children can also be natural leaders and show leadership traits.
On the other hand, gifted children may also be reclusive and have difficulty associating with, and interacting with, other children or adults. This tendency to want to be alone is consistent with their desire to focus and to study a subject intensely and to great depth.
Another interesting observation of gifted children is that they appreciate nature and natural surroundings. Such children see beyond the confines of their home or classroom and see the bigger picture. It’s another indication of their awareness and sensitivity.
If your children show these characteristics and are at least 6 years old, you may want to consider professional gifted testing.
Free Online Testing Can Provide Further Clues
There is an online test that takes 5 minutes and includes 45 questions. This tool is a very comprehensive test of giftedness to determine whether or not a formal assessment should be made. The test was designed by Child Psychologist Dr. Tali Shenfield in cooperation with the UCLA Psychology Department and is a good first step toward formal testing.
Children may be gifted in one or more areas. Federal guidelines suggest that children should be tested on a variety of characteristics including general categories of intellectual, creative, leadership, and artistic as well as individual academic areas.
Schools Provide Group Testing
Teachers test students to determine level of knowledge and skills for almost every lesson in every subject area. In most cases, these are group tests. However, even in these group assessments, teachers may see exceptional abilities.
A teacher’s judgment is one possible criterion for designating a student as gifted. A student may make the Honor Roll on a regular basis. Students may show exceptional abilities or talent in the areas of mathematics, music or art.
Students may show leadership potential by being active in student council or leading discussion groups.
Psychological studies have shown that by combining group intelligence testing with group achievement testing, 97% of gifted children can be identified.
Tests are helpful in determining giftedness. However, tests alone are not enough. Other forms of assessment are needed, too – both objective and subjective.
Curriculum Based Assessments Are Popular
Some professionals feel that the best testing is curriculum-based assessment (CBA) where students are tested on the curriculum they are learning. Actual course materials are used in the testing process, whether that is an end-of-chapter test or text from reading exercises, or similar material.
There are some potential problems with this type of testing. Students who change schools may have to deal with different teaching styles or terminology. The scores needed to move to the next grade can also differ from school to school.
Achievement Tests Measure Performance
Achievement tests are used to evaluate a student’s performance in some area compared with other students. Typically, these tests are given for a single academic area like mathematics or language arts. There are standardized tests like SATs and MATs or similar assessments to evaluate academic proficiency.
Tests designed for gifted children include Test of Mathematical Abilities for Gifted Students or Screening Assessment for Gifted Elementary Students (SAGES).
Ability Tests Measure Knowledge
There are different kinds of ability testing. Some are criteria-referenced and test to see how well a child has learned a designated body of knowledge. These tests are content-based.
Another kind of abilities test is norm-referenced and measures a student’s performance against others who took the same test. This would show how the student did against a “norm” or “standardized” group.
Intelligence testing is one measure of giftedness. However, this is not the only kind of giftedness. These tests do not account for creative or leadership abilities. There are tests designed specifically for abilities. The list includes:
- Stanford Binet
- Wescher Intelligence Scale for Children
- Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
- Otis Lennon School-age Ability Tests (OLSAT).
Low-income or culturally diverse children, who may be underserved in general testing, would benefit from such tests as the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test or the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence.
Psychological Tests Provide Behavioral Clues
Supplementary psychological testing can be used to measure such traits as ability to control emotion, show empathy, handle depression, offer resiliency, or reduce anxiety. These tests can also show how a gifted child deals with social problems.
Results Can Vary
Tests provide data that comes in many forms: raw scores, grade equivalent scores, percentile ranks, standard scores, IQ scores, and more.
This data can be useful for parents who are considering placement of their children in gifted programs. Assessments are actually required by many programs. However, data are subject to interpretation, and the process of placement is different in every school and program.
Parents are encouraged to seek professional counseling and testing. After testing, parents can work with school officials and administrators of gifted programs to come up with the right educational strategy for their gifted children.
