• Rapid learning
• Highly sensitive, with intense emotions and reactions
• High curiosity and desire for learning
• Develops reading abilities before entering school
• Capable of abstract reasoning and thinking more than their peers

• Strong sense of social justice
• Highly knowledgeable on topics they are passionate about
• Developed sense of humour
• Unique imagination
• Superior vocabulary

• Prefers individual work to group work
• Thrives on challenge
• Developed ability to work independently
• May develop single-mindedness in areas of interest that can be difficult to redirect
• Relates to older children and adults more than age peers

The following brief video from psychologist Dr. Dan Peters (2012) explores some of these traits a little further:

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a key component of intellectual giftedness. It is a measure of a range of areas including language, mathematics, reasoning, and more (Legg, 2020). Your IQ remains approximately consistent from childhood to adulthood, and as such it is intended as a measure of mental ability rather than knowledge. The average IQ is 100. The Davidson Institute (2021) explains that there are 4 levels of giftedness according to IQ.

Mildly Gifted: 115 – 130 IQ

Moderately Gifted: 130 – 145 IQ

Highly Gifted: 145 – 160 IQ

Profoundly Gifted: 160+ IQ

The IQ of children can be measured using an IQ test, of which there are several. According to the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented (n.d.-b), the Stanford-Binet V (age 2 – 85+), Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children WISC-V (age 6 – 16), and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence WPPSI-IV (age 2 – 7) are commonly used in Australia. These are psychological assessments that can be administered by a registered psychologist.

Factors in the Development of Giftedness

Intellectual giftedness is a complex phenomenon that is influenced my numerous factors. Genetics has a considerable impact on intelligence, although the exact percentage of this influence varies from study to study. According to the University of Edinburgh (2021), studies on twins have placed this influence between 50% – 80%, while studies on unrelated people suggest an influence closer to 30% resulting in the “mystery of the missing heritability”. Nevertheless, we know genetics does play a role.  We also know that the genetic influence on intelligence is actually weaker for children than adults.  One study of 11,000 pairs of twins by Haworth et al. (2009) found a linear increase of 41% genetic influence in childhood (9 years) to 55% in adolescence (12 years) and to 66% in young adulthood (17 years).

While genetic factors influence whether or not a child may be born gifted, many environmental and intrapersonal factors are critical in the development of giftedness as demonstrated by Gagné’s model. As a teacher, you have an invaluable role in the development of gifted students, as will be discussed further on the Teaching Gifted page.

A gifted child’s parents or caregivers play a major role in this. Gifted children with parents who are confident in them, supportive of their interests, and offer an appropriate level of autonomy are more likely to thrive than those with parents who do not respect their intelligence and/or force an overly authoritarian parenting style on the child (Yildiz and Altay, 2021).  Socioeconomic status also plays a part. Wealthier families have easier access to gifted programs and activities for their gifted children than poorer families who may not be able to afford these programs (Balam, 2009). Wealthier families may also have a better understanding of educational systems than poorer families, and as such can better advocate for their gifted child using this understanding (Grissom et al., 2019). Finally, like any child, gifted children can also have neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, dyslexia, and others. These gifted children are known as “twice-exceptional” (Arky, 2023). Without a developed understanding of giftedness, these disorders can cause twice-exceptional students to be overlooked by teachers because of their apparent learning difficulties. In order for these children to succeed, they need support for their learning difficulties as well as their giftedness (Laningham and Holman, 2023).  It’s important to note that some symptoms of giftedness may lead to misdiagnosis of disorders. For example, distractability in class may actually point to a gifted student not being challenged enough rather than a symptom of ADHD. The help of a psychologist where possible can be very useful in identifying those that are truly twice-exceptional and developing programs that can support those students, though even some psychologists may struggle to distinguish giftedness and twice-exceptionality due to the general lack of training and understanding around giftedness (Webb et al., 2019).

There are many other factors that might impact the development and manifestation of giftedness, though these are some key influences. For gifted students to successfully develop their gifts into talents, they rely on the people and environment around them to provide them with the opportunities and nurturing they need.