Exploring the Nature of Giftedness in Preschool Children

Abstract

Qualitative and quantitative measures were utilized to explore the abilities of 11 young children nominated by their parents as gifted. A part-time preschool enrichment program provided a naturalistic setting in which to investigate measures that might reflect potential giftedness, predict later achievement, and reveal individual profiles of development. The curriculum invited children to display any differences from typical preschoolers. Characteristics nominated by parents as indicators of their child's giftedness were consistent with indicators in the research literature and were generally supported by norm-referenced test results and teacher observations. In spite of test limitations, both quantitative and qualitative measures played a valuable role in revealing advanced abilities amidst diverse profiles of abilities, skills, and interests. Longitudinal data would help to confirm the potential apparent in some of these children as giftedness.

Recognition of Giftedness in the Early Years of School: Perspectives of Teachers, Parents, and Children

“…It is noteworthy that only 2 teachers identified strength in mathematics in a child in the first year of school (kindergarten for one child and grade 1 for the other). The absence of norm-referenced data on the children's mathematical skill in the first year of school makes judgment about teacher identification of mathematical skill in that year dubious, but there were children with preschool mathematics scores in the gifted range or just below (Hodge & Kemp, 2000) who were not identified in the first year as strong in mathematics. The proportion of teachers identifying strength in mathematics in the first year might have been different if teacher data had not been lacking for some of the highest scorers in mathematics before school entry.…”

“…Child participants were a convenience sample of 6 males and 8 females who had been identified by their parents or preschool teachers as potentially gifted prior to or during attendance at two preschool programs operating at the Special Education Centre at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Indicators of giftedness in the preschool years came from qualitative data (parent questionnaires and teacher observations) and quantitative data (tests of ability and academic achievement), which have been reported by Hodge and Kemp (2000). Nine children were among the 11 children enrolled in the Preschool Enrichment and Extension Class (PEEC), a 1-year parttime program for preschoolers nominated as potentially gifted by their parents.…”

“…While some teachers did appear to recognize and understand behaviors indicative of giftedness, as a group the teachers did not appear to be very familiar with behavioral indicators of giftedness, even though more than 70% reported having had professional development in gifted education. For example, it seems unlikely that the children's reasoning abilities observed by parents or the teacher/researcher before school entry in all 14 children (Hodge & Kemp, 2000) had disappeared. Yet, only 4 of the 26 teachers nominated logical thinking or problem solving as a strength.…”

Same Age, Different Page: Overcoming the Barriers to Catering for Young Gifted Children in Prior-to-School Settings

“…Scholars in gifted education acknowledge that formal assessment of young gifted children, using measures such as IQ tests, can be problematic (Hodge and Kemp 2000;Robinson and Robinson 1992;Roedell et al 1980). The attention span of young children may make them difficult to assess and means that underestimates of ability are more likely to occur due to test fatigue (Silverman 1998).…”

“…Likewise, those working in gifted education understand that the family environment can be a positive catalyst in the development and nurturing of talent (Gagné 2003). Families are an important source of information in the process of identifying young gifted children as they can often provide examples of advanced behaviours and have observed their children in a variety of settings and situations (Hodge and Kemp 2000). Finding ways to engage and collaborate with parents to enhance and support the prior-to-school experience for gifted children may assist in providing some of the additional support that these children require.…”