Should my child be nominated for GT?

The State Definition of Gifted and Talented Students …”gifted and talented student” means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who: Exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area; or Possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or Excels in a specific academic field. Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students Chapter 29.SubchapterD The program at Woolls Intermediate is a “general intellect” program.

When thinking about students’ general intellectual ability, keep this in mind… Imagine plotting every student’s intellectual ability on a bell curve….

About 70% of our students would fall between -1 and 1. About 90% would fall between -2 and 2. About 5% would fall between -3 and -2, and about 5% would fall between 2 & 3. If you feel your child’s intellectual ability would place him/her in the 2-3 range, they would be a good candidate for GT screening.

Of course, there is no magic formula we can use to plot our kids’ intellect on a bell curve. So we must look at other ways to determine the best program for our children. Let’s explore ways to get started on this task.

First of all, let’s look at the Screening Process for GT Students at Woolls Intermediate School Students are nominated. Students are tested. Students are given/denied admission to the program. This is where the process begins for us.

Parents are the primary source for recognizing giftedness in our students. For this reason it is important that parents know what traits to look for. See which of the following characteristics your child exhibits….

Bright child Gifted Learner Knows the answer. Is interested. Is attentive. Has good ideas. Answers the questions. Is in the “top group”. Listens with interest.. Learns with ease. Enjoys peers. Grasps the meaning. Is pleased with own learning. Is a good memorizer. Gifted Learner Asks the questions. Is highly curious. Is mentally and physically involved. Has wild, silly ideas. Discusses in detail, elaborates. Is beyond the group. Shows strong feelings and opinions. Already knows. May prefer adults. Draws inferences. Is highly self-critical. Is a good guesser. From Challenge, 1989 by Janice Szabos

General Intellectual Ability has been defined in lay terms as aptitudes or abilities to reason, perceive, and understand. Here are some typical behaviors exhibited by students who are gifted/talented in the area of general intellectual ability: prompt recall advanced vocabulary inquisitive mind extensive and detailed memory broad base of knowledge sound judgement keen observations analogical thinking or reasoning advanced concept formations

These are just some pointers to keep in mind as you are trying to determine whether to nominate your child for the Woolls GT program.

Here are a few sites to get you started. There are some great websites from all around the world on which you can learn much more about identifying gifted learners. Here are a few sites to get you started. http://www.txgifted.org/ Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html Characteristics and Behaviors of the Gifted from the Rhode Island Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/gifted-students The Brain Connection http://www.giftedservices.com.au/StartingPoints/GiftedChildren.html Gifted Services