Gifted programming generally isn’t available for the youngest gifted children. But that doesn’t mean that the classroom teacher or parents can’t provide appropriate instruction and social interactions for students who are ahead of classmates in preschool, kindergarten, or the earliest grade levels of school.
Generally speaking, both screening and individualizing for advanced young children can be managed fairly easily and informally. And, ideally, all students in the classroom benefit from an approach that identifies and addresses different learning and social needs. There are many good reasons why it helps students enjoy and do better in school when readiness screening is done routinely.
Students who are “gainfully employed” in active learning:
* are less likely to develop habits of inattention
* are less likely to grow restless and exhibit distracting or inappropriate behaviors
* are more likely to enjoy school
* are more likely to feel they are learning in school
* are more likely to actually be learning in school!
When you screen for giftedness, it is important to remember that there are levels and profiles of giftedness and — rather than cut-offs and test scores — you are looking for the relativity of a child’s abilities compared to the majority of the children in the classroom.
During whole-class instruction and lesson planning, good teachers naturally teach to a level that is slightly below the average of what the majority of children can manage. This way, the children who may be seeing the material for the first time or who may need a somewhat slower and more repetitive pace, can benefit both from the instruction and they can keep up. Most well-trained, experienced teachers already know how to differentiate their instruction to allow for more in-depth learning and investigation for children who can handle more.
The information I’ve included here is to help teachers (and parents and other caretakers) learn as quickly as possible who needs those deeper learning opportunities.
A Brief List of Levels of Giftedness Behaviors
The following lists help parents and teachers to figure out what children are already ready to do and learn during the school day. These lists are derived from my own continuing study of bright and gifted children during more than 20 years of working directly with them and their parents. As you read through the milestones, keep in mind that the point of it is to find out where the majority of your students already are in their skills and interests and where that smaller group of advanced and rapid learners already is in their readiness for more during their school days. You will use this list to “score” the Parent Questionnaire that follows it.
Level One (Moderately Gifted)
• These children show interest in many things before they are even two years old — like colors, saying the numbers in order, and playing simple puzzles.
• Most of them are good talkers by age three, and by four, many print letters and numbers, recognize simple signs, their name, and know most of alphabet.
• By the time they are six years old, many read beginner books and type at the computer, and most read chapter books by age seven.
• It is not unusual to find six to eight Level One children in an average classroom, children who are nearly always a few steps ahead of what the teacher is teaching the whole class.
Level Two (Highly Gifted)
• These bright children love looking at books and being read to, even turning pages without ripping them, by 15 months. Some shout out the name of familiar stores as you drive past.
• Many of these children know lots of letters by 18 months and colors by 20 months, and between ages three and four, they count small groups of objects, print some letters and numbers, and they very likely drive their parents crazy with all their questions.
• They’ll sit for what seems like hours as you read advanced level books, especially fiction and fantasy, to them, but they require a bit less of your time by age six, because most of them read for pleasure and information on their own by then.
• Level Two children can find only one or two others in their classroom who are as advanced as they are, which starts to make it hard to find good friends.
Level Three (Exceptionally Gifted)
• They’re born wide-eyed and alert, looking around the room, reacting to noises, voices, faces.
• They know what adults are telling or asking them by six months. You say a toy, pet, or another person, and they will look for it.
• Everything Level Two children do by 15 months, these kids do by 10 to 12 months, and they can get family members to do what they want before they are actually talking.
• By two years, many like 35+ piece puzzles, memorize favorite books, and know the entire alphabet — in or out of order!
• By three years old, they talk constantly, and skip count, count backwards, and do simple adding and subtracting because they like to. They love to print letters and numbers, too.
• They ask you to start easy readers before five years, and many figure out how to multiply, divide, and do some fractions by six years.
• Most of these children are a full two to five years beyond grade level by age six and find school too slow.
• There are one or two Level Three children in every 100 in the average school. They are rarely in the same elementary class and can feel very, very lonely.
Level Four (Exceptionally to Profoundly Gifted)
• Level Four babies love books, someone to read them, and pay attention within a few months of their birth.
• They are ahead of Level Three children by another 2 to 5 months while less than two years old.
• They have extensive, complex speaking by two years, and their vocabularies are huge!
• Most of them read easy readers by 3½ to 4½ years, and then read for information and pleasure by age five, with comprehension for youth and adult level books at about 6–6½ years.
• There are about one per 200 children in the average school. Without special arrangements, they can feel very different from their typical classmates.
Level Five (Profoundly Gifted in All Areas)
• Level Fives have talents in every possible area. Everything is sooner and more intense than others Levels.
• They have favorite TV shows before 6–8 months, pick out letters and numbers by 10–14 months, and enjoy shape sorters before 11 months.
• They print letters, numbers, words, and their names between 16–24 months, and often use anything that is available to form these shapes and figures.
• They show ability with 35+ piece puzzles by less than 15 months and interest in complex mazes before they are three.
• Musical, dramatic, and artistic aptitudes usually start showing by 18 months.
• Most speak with adult-level complexity by age two.
• At two and three-years-old they ask about how things work, and high interests in science — particularly biological and life and death questions — emerge.
• They understand math concepts and basic math functions before age four.
• They can play card and board games ages 12 and up by age 3½ to 4.
• They have high interest in pure facts, almanacs, and dictionaries by age 3½.
• Most read any level of book by 4¼ to five years.
• They read six or more years beyond grade level with comprehension by six years and usually hit 12th grade level by age 7 or 8.
• We know they occur more often than once in a million and “regular” grade school does not work for them. Levels Three through Five score similarly on ability tests — very high.
Parent Report Form
Here is the Parent Report Form that I developed, but you can modify it to meet your particular needs. It’s easiest to send it via email so that parents can fill it out on-line, the form will expand according to how much they write, and you will get it back to save and review. After the parents fill it out and return it, read and note which “Level” the parent is describing so that you can discover who is ready for what and which students also be able to work well together (be on the “same page”) in small-group learning activities. You are free to use it, copy and paste, or give it to a teacher.
Whether the teacher provides the screening inventory to parents of their students or parents bring the information to the teacher, it is the parents who complete the inventory.
Deborah Ruf, PhD Parent Early Childhood Report Form
Today’s Date __________________
Please complete this form as thoroughly as possible as it will help me to meet your child’s learning, social and emotional needs better in school when I know him or her better. The form expands as you write in your answers, so please do it online and return it to me by email, if possible.
Child’s Full Name: Birthdate:
Name of person(s) completing this form:
Does your child have any particular social or emotional issues you’d like me to know about? Please tell me if you already know that your child has any behavior or learning issues such as being very active, shy, anxious, or sensitive. Include, too, any concerns wishes, or hopes you have for this school year regarding these issues:
Does your child have any reading abilities yet? If so, please describe these in the items below.
1. About how old was your child when he or she started to recognize and name letters?
2. How old when he or she knew the whole alphabet, could sing or say?
3. How old when he or she could identify any letter, upper or lower case, and also knew how many of them sounded?
4. About how old was your child when he/she started to recognize or read store, street signs, or words in books or the paper?
5. If your child reads beginner books, how old was he/she when this started?
6. Does your child read to him or herself?
7. Does your child like to read out loud and what is the quality of that reading?
8. Name or describe the most recent books or types of reading that your child has read in the last few weeks.
9. How did your child learn to read?
10. If you have anything else you wish to include about your child’s reading abilities, please give a description of his or her earliest reading progress, interests, and habits concerning reading (try to give ages at which these things happened, too):
Does your child show any math abilities yet?
1. When did your child start to use numbers? Describe what you mean, give examples.
2. How old when recognized numbers on signs, in books, etc.?
3. How old was your child when he or she could count to 20? Can your child count to 100 yet?
4. If you give your child 10 objects, can he or she count how many are there?
5. If you give your child 8 objects and ask him or her to give you five, can he or she do it yet?
6. Can your child sort objects into groups yet? How old was he or she when this started?
7. If your child can easily sort objects by number, as when there are a dozen pieces of candy and your child could put them in two, three, or four even groupings of candy, when did he or she first show an ability to do this?
8. Put an X for each thing your child can do already. Can your child count by twos? Threes? Fours? Fives?
9. Has your child shown any “intuitive” math abilities such as any of the following:
a. Adds small numbers in head, such as, “If we already have 2 apples at home and we buy 2 more, we’ll have 4 altogether.”
b. Adds bigger numbers in head, such as, “If we already have 6 apples at home and we buy 8 more, we’ll have 14 altogether.”
c. Figures out a subtraction problem in his or her head such as “If we have five pieces and we only eat two, there will be three left for later.”
d. Figures out a subtraction problem in his or her head such as “If we have 12 pieces and we only eat 4, there will be 8 left for later.”
e. Figures out a multiplication problem in head, such as, “If 6 kids are coming to my birthday party and I want each kid to have 2 mini-cupcakes, that means we’ll need to make 12 of them.”
f. Figures out a division problem in head, such as, “If 6 kids are coming to the party and we make 12 mini-cupcakes, that means each kid will be able to have 2 of them.”
10. What else, if anything, can your child currently do mathematically, in his or head, in a computer program, or on paper?
11. Can your child be the scorekeeper or banker when playing different games yet? When did this start?
12. Tell me anything else that indicates advanced natural math abilities for your child.
Does your child have any handwriting abilities yet? If so, describe these abilities next.
1. At about what age did your child show an interest in writing letters and numbers down?
2. How much skill does your child appear to have in working with pencils, pens, paint brushes, etc. at this time? Put an X by each item that is true for your child.
a. My child loves to write. My child loves to paint. My child seeks out writing opportunities. My child seeks out painting or coloring opportunities. .
b. My child is a fluent writer already and enjoys the activity. My child draws or paints within the lines quite well. My child really doesn’t enjoy and of these activities at this point. Add anything else you believe might be helpful to understanding your child’s small muscle control and dexterity (not including puzzles, building materials or LEGOS).
Does your child enjoy jigsaw puzzles, LEGOS, or mazes? If your child has enjoyed — and still enjoys — either of these activities, describe your child’s interest in, ability with, and ages at which these started for both puzzles and mazes. Ideas to cover include:
1. Age at which your child could do a 12 piece jigsaw puzzle with some help and guidance.
2. Age at which your child could do 35 piece jigsaw puzzles with help and guidance.
3. Does your child do 12 piece 35 piece or what size puzzles for fun now without help? If so, tell more about that here.
4. Age at which your child showed interest and some ability at doing mazes. Describe your child’s interest and ability at ages 4, 5 and 6, too. (If no particular interest, just skip this).
5. Does your child have interest and ability in working with LEGOS or other building types of toys? If so, when did this start? If so, is your child still interested in this activity?
6. If your child likes playing with LEGOS, is he or she more likely to follow the directions or create his or her own creative, free-form design? Describe.
Tell me anything else you think would be helpful for me knowing your child better and making this school year a great experience for him or her and your entire family:
Do you have any special interests or skills you’d like to share or use in a volunteer role from time to time in our classroom?
On top of asking parents to give you information about their children, do your own additional, informal screenings. First, set up play and activity centers. Observe and record different children’s interests, any dexterity issues, who the children choose as playmates (people, including kids, have an inherent ability to gravitate toward “true” peers, people who are in their ability range), and their overall general development. Second, screen your students one at a time for reading and math knowledge and abilities. In reading, try them out with letters, letter sounds, words, and actual reading. For math, go through recognizing numbers, counting, grouping, skip counting, etc., much like the milestones items listed earlier. Finally, check pencil grip and the child’s ability — and willingness — to write anything, copy the examples you give him or her, and note how much resistance you get from the child. That information helps you to learn just how much each child is currently capable of working independently.
Meeting Their Needs
As both an experienced classroom teacher and the parent of three grown gifted children, I recommend that you allow children to read whatever they want to read (and don’t feel guilty if that’s sometimes all you can manage for their “differentiation”), invite parents to loan or contribute materials for your classroom use, use small groups so you can provide different assignments and activities based on readiness (this also sets up a nice social situation for the kids in the group), use volunteers (parents, grandparents — talk to your principal about how to arrange this), work on dexterity issues by making sure you have several short, regular times a day when kids write or copy using a pencil and paper, and finally, consider “sharing” students across classrooms and grade levels when you find you have one or two students who are so different from the rest of the class that the only way they can work with “true peers” is to have some of their instructional time with kids from other classrooms or grade levels.
Deborah Ruf, Ph.D., Minneapolis, served as a specialist in gifted assessment, test interpretation, and guidance for the gifted from the mid-1990s until 2017. She is now exclusively a writer and speaker.
[A 2007 recipient of the national Intellectual Benefits Award from the Mensa Education & Research Foundation, she was the National Gifted Children Program Coordinator for American Mensa from 2003 to 2008. Having been a parent, teacher, and administrator in elementary through graduate education, she writes and speaks about school issues and social and emotional adjustment of gifted children. Her award-winning book, 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005) (formerly titled Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind), summarizes “levels of intelligence” and highlights the spectrum of giftedness in children. She designed the Ruf Estimates Kids IQ Test as a culmination of her assessment experience. It was an online method that parents access to determine their child’s estimated IQ prior to — or replacing — formal testing. It may become available in the future, and for additional information see http://www.fivelevelsofgifted.com/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-ruf-ph-d-958b929/]
Leave a Reply