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Characteristic of Gifted ChildrenBy Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q: My 7-years old son is considered gifted by the child psychologist. Though he's very good in his studies it is quite difficult for us to get him to concentrate on everything he's in each time as he keeps on doing looking for more challenging activities. This includes his studies, where he finds it bored once he knows about it.
I enrolled him the the Japanese " Shichida Method" and at 6 years old his IQ was identified at 148 and he picks up all the lessons much faster than the rest of the children. Please let me know the characteristics of a gifted child and how can I counter his ever moving mind?
A: Please refer to my earlier article on the characteristics associated with giftedness.
In fact, you may find that there are a number of characteristics that may be familiar to you, especially since you have tested his IQ. From your description, you son is indeed very highly able and what you may need to know now is how to maintain and nurture that ability to greater heights.
As it is, I believe that you are already doing the right things. The first step is to be aware that your child may have increased capacity to absorb learning, thus, providing him with the right materials would help enhance his ability – which you have already done. Next is to look for more challenging material, of higher levels of difficulty to keep him challenged. If he does not show interest or gets frustrated with that level of work, chances are that the difficulty level is too high. The best is to allow your child to indulge in what he is interested in and slowly guide him towards more challenging work. What is important here is to maintain his level of interest.
Parents must, however, be cautious not to push the child too hard. Sometimes, in the midst of wanting the best for our children we may not pay attention to the child's needs and may even "over-feed" children with too much learning that overwhelms them. This is when children burn out and parent wonder why. Hence, guide your child to the best of your ability and at the same time don't forget to pay some attention to his/her socio-emotional and physical needs.
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