Gifted Children Assessment - Survey Results
- Parents are excellent identifiers of giftedness in their children and are very attentive, knowledgeable, and involved in their gifted child’s education.
- Parents found assessments helpful whenever they or the school needed learning data, information or program recommendations.
- The newer tests of intelligence do not do as well as expected identifying gifted children.
- The biggest problem for the gifted child is the lack of challenge and that was the major reason for assessment.
- Many parents were not fully satisfied with the school’s programming after the assessment. An advocate is sometimes needed to improve the child’s learning program.
- Learning styles of gifted children often differ from most teachers’ teaching styles.
- During the assessment some gifted children displayed problems that hindered their learning that were largely undetected prior to the assessment.
- Changes in schools and programs and/or rapid learning by the child resulted in parents requesting updated or additional assessments.
- For gifted students with disabilities, the school programming was complex but often successful by integrating special needs with gifted services.
- Some gifted students with handicaps, such as ADHD, Asperger’s, high anxiety, learning disabilities, etc., are difficult to diagnose because their giftedness masks their handicap and vice versa.
- There are effective teaching strategies and available material for the gifted that were generally unknown by parents, prior to the assessment.
- Gifted children generally are uneven in their abilities.
- Counseling including career counseling has been helpful for gifted children at several points throughout their school career
- The gifted child should have and deserves a comprehensive assessment and programming from a licensed professional just as they would receive if they had a suspected disability.