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DIFFERENT FORMS OF INTELLIGENCE.
The child of high academic ability may be identified by Intelligence tests. He may, however, be gifted in areas in which intelligence tests are poor predictors. He may, for example, be:

• an imaginative or creative thinker
  
• socially, or ethically gifted, with a well-developed sense of the moral implications of actions or situations
  
• good at drawing, building or designing though poor at writing
  
• a well-developed "high achiever" who performs well in academic work but who scores poorly on intelligence tests because their relevance is not immediately apparent to him.
  
  

A child may fulfil many of the criteria of the checklist of characteristics of giftedness yet not perform well at school. His written work may be poor; he may be lazy and lethargic or daydream and appear inattentive; he may spend a great deal of time decorating his notebook; he may clown around and disrupt lessons; he may be uncooperative, difficult to motivate and critical of his teachers and of other children in his class. Sometimes such a child has frequent absences from his school.

Exceptionally bright children may also be well ahead in maths, particularly in problem solving. They may show a wide range of interests and an extended general knowledge. They often pursue hobbies with great enthusiasm which sometimes verges on obsessiveness. Many have great powers of concentration and an astonishing strength of will and purpose!

Gifted children usually show keen powers of observation and reasoning, of seeing relationships and of generalising from a few given facts. They often memorise quickly and show an unusual imagination which comes out in the way they respond to questions.
Children of high intelligence often want to spend time with older children as well as with adults. They often prefer games and hobbies which are usually associated with older children.
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WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW IF YOUR CHILD IS GIFTED?
All children, whether gifted, bright, average or below average, deserve the chance to lead a happy and satisfying life. Gifted children have a great thirst for knowledge and it is vital that this need is recognised as early as possible so that parents and teachers can give them plenty of opportunities to develop their talents. A good school will try to identify very able pupils and to meet their expectations and needs.
It is very easy to destroy the self-confidence of any child and this is particularly so when they are talented, gifted and able. Their experiences with their teachers, their peers and their parents are critical, and it is always important to look for the indicators which suggest that a difficult, unhappy or bored child has hidden talent.

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ARE GIFTED CHILDREN GOOD AT EVERYTHING?
Exceptionally bright children often show good hand eye co-ordination, though sometimes their handwriting lags behind their reading and other skills. A six year old with a mental age of ten may still write and draw like a six year old. Some children may refuse to produce any work on paper because of the frustration caused when they are unable to live up to their own impossibly high standards in handwriting and drawing.
Others are particularly skilful in playing with ideas, in using their imagination and in being creative. Such characteristics do not always show up on traditional intelligence tests, but parents who suspect their child may be gifted should not be afraid to talk things over with the teachers at his school.
There is a group of children who are better at seeing and doing than at talking and listening. These are sometimes referred to as visual-spatial children. They may find difficulty in expressing themselves in words, but often show outstanding mechanical and artistic ingenuity.
In school classes where adequate provision is not made for them, able pupils tend to become bored because not enough is being demanded of them. Among the consequences of this may be:

• switching off - e.g. day-dreaming
• avoiding school (by among other things imaginary ailments)
• disruptiveness, which may take the form of clowning or truculence.

• · Gifted children are not recognised when they deliberately respond to peer pressures by conforming to expectations, avoiding standing out from the crowd or avoiding bullying, instead of following their own aspirations. (Though a child may see himself as different, he finds it easier to keep quiet about it.)
• · When their real needs remain unrecognized they become to her teacher no more than the theoretical average child - and are challenged accordingly.
• · The gifted child may become invisible to avoid being squashed and constantly put down, rather than revealing potential in class when to do so might be seen as a threat ( unless the teacher is extremely understanding and aware), be discouraged for always knowing the answer, or be viewed as disruptive for perceiving inconsistencies or questioning the purpose of an activity. Talents, may then become hidden - hidden, that is, not from choice but as a response to the messagesof disapproval received from society.

THE GIFTED CHILD -INVISIBLE IN THE LAW.
He is invisible in terms of legislation. We glimpsed him in the 1944 Act (which spoke of children needing to reach their full potential); he faded in that of 1988 (which did not recognize him as having any particular needs), and in present legislation we can hunt for him in vain. (Amendments brought in both Houses of Parliament in 1993 would have aided his identification but were rejected).
It is a truism that what you expect is what you get. There is something of a self prophecy in expectancy, and when this is low, the child will almost certainly under perform and conform to what is required.

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