What are characteristics of gifted and talented children?
There are numerous lists of these characteristics. The following is from Guiding the Gifted Child by James T. Webb, Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, and Stephanie Tolan:
Typical Intellectual Characteristics of Gifted Children:
- Unusually large vocabularies for their age
- Ability to read earlier than most children, often before entering school
- Greater comprehension of the subtleties of language
- Longer attention span, persistence and intense concentration
- Ability to learn basic skills more quickly and with less practice
- Wide range of interests
- Highly developed curiosity and a limitless supply of questions
- Interest in experimenting and doing things differently
- Tendency to put ideas or things together in ways that are unusual and not obvious (divergent thinking)
- Ability to retain a great deal of information
- Unusual sense of humor