Characteristics of giftedness

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I was filing some paperwork and I found this list in a booklet from potential plus. Its a list of characteristics that gifted children typically have, as found in a study in 1984 by Dr Linda Silverman.

90% of parents reported these characteristics:-

learns rapidly
extensive vocabulary
excellent memory
reasons well
strong curiosity
mature for age
good sense of humour
keen observation
compassion for others
vivid imagination
long attention span
ability with numbers
concern with justice, fairness
sensitivity
wide range of interests

80% of parents reported these characteristics:-
ability with puzzles
high energy level
perfectionism
perseverance of interests
questions authority
avid reader
prefers older companions

How many of these characteristics do your children have?

Alternatives
90% of parents reported these characteristics:-

learns rapidly (to misbehaviour)
extensive vocabulary (to argue with)
excellent memory (to remind you to give them something)
reasons well (wears you down)
strong curiosity (in mud and dirt)
mature for age (argues with elder friends/siblings)
good sense of humour (okay that's as is)
keen observation (to blackmail parent with to get something)
compassion for others (getting a group together to set out their demands)
vivid imagination (to come up with ways to stretch the truth)
long attention span (for TV)
ability with numbers (for pocket money adding up)
concern with justice, fairness (as long as it is for them)
sensitivity (to an wrongs they think have been done towards them)
wide range of interests (including picking their nose)

AH there is the voice of sanity Iggyly2 - why does it matter anyway, so long as a child is happy and well cared for - a very recent study has proved that the best marker for a successful future life is for a child to experience good emotional care in his/her childhood. Far outweighs education and any other aspect of development. Can't believe it has taken so long for someone to work this out - has always seemed obvious to me and there was no such thing as "gifted and talented" when I was a kid growing up in the 50s - if you were "clever" you "jumped a class" and passed the 11 plus.........

Ah but DD - and I'm sure she's not the only one - was so miserable when she was bored at school. Sometimes these things aren't so easily separated out.

Looking at original the list DD had all of them, but I never really thought about it - other than the time a lady turned to me on the bus and told me what an amazing vocabulary DD had.

We decided DD was probably very very bright about 3 years after this when she started to correct her teachers and came home fulminating about the lady at the science museum not knowing all about spiders, and the cookery teacher not knowing the aubergine was a fruit....

I do think emotional security, ability to not keep wanting things and emotional resilience are far better life skills than a bunch of Maths and English test passes.

"I think Ruf's levels might be a scorecard for parents with amazing levels of recollection; who in the world can remember all that stuff so precisely?"

And for dc with particular facilities available to them - my dm is unquestionably gifted (scored 100% in the maths section of the 11+ despite no schooling til age 7 and only sporadic attendance thereafter). She certainly wouldn't have been turning the pages of books at 11 months, as there wouldn't have been any for her to turn!

My DS is just your average teenager except he comes out extraordinarily high on all IQ tests and maths tests.

I went to a G&T meeting at school recently and the talk was all about these hardworking, perfectionist, stressed out kids.
I felt like a fraud...

Iggly2,
Your alternative list is hilarious and absolutely spot on for my eldest 3 (and dc4 is rapidly getting there too)!

Ds1 actually did the number of kids/time zones etc Santa calculations at age 7 or 8, I'm pretty sure this was because if we though he knew it was all made up, he wouldn't get presents... So far, that's worked pretty well, he's 20 (and has just graduated with a 1st from Oxford, allow me a little brag ;)), and every year makes a point of tracking Santa across the world on satellite with his siblings - and the presents keep coming!!!

Kids who are well outside the "norm" are bloody difficult, very hard work, not that I'd change anything about mine, but they complicate my life no end .

I think the important point about these lists is it maybe allows parents to see that, while their little DC might stand out like a sore thumb in class (or maybe even in their whole school), actually they are completely normal for a child with a similar ability iykwim?

"long attention span (for TV)"

My keen observational powers led me straight to the TV indicators in the Ruf stuff: I think it was the most gifted level 5 who were good little couch potatoes at 6 months-old.

Well, neither of my children are g and t. But they both have all those characteristics- except in one case the numerical ability and in both the ability to do puzzles and, than heavens, the preferring older companions I can't believe there Te many parents who wouldn't tick most of the list........

I think though, that (as with most lists of attributes), people are answering with "compared to most other people I know" subconsciously added to each statement.

But my children ticked nearly all the boxes for "indigo children" too. Particularly the ones about having a massive send of entitlement and a problem with authority........

All three of them have all of them..not sure what that says about them. I am happy with how they are doing socially and academically whatever it means.

All of them. But also a high dose of anxiety, perfectionism and a general tendency towards being a neurotic mess of a child!