Begin by talking with the gifted representative at your child’s school. They will be able to answer your questions about the identification process. You can also review the identification pages on General and intellectual Ability, Academic, and Talent Identifications for additional information about the required data needed for gifted identification. The DPS identification process is open and accessible to all students. Families may have additional information about their child that may not be seen in a school setting. We encourage families to connect with their school’s GT representative to discuss the body of evidence toward identification and to determine which identification pathway is appropriate for the child. 

If you are transferring to DPS from out-of-district/state, please email us (giftedandtalented@dpsk12.org) to initiate a review of your child’s data and to discuss next steps.

Colorado's Exceptional Children’s Educational Act defines Gifted Children as: ”aptitude or competence in abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishment in one or more domains are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational programming needs. Gifted children are hereafter referred to as gifted students. Children under five who are gifted may also be provided with early childhood special educational services. Gifted students include gifted students with disabilities (i.e. twice exceptional) and students with exceptional abilities or potential from all socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural populations. Gifted students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas of giftedness: 

• General or Specific Intellectual Ability 

• Specific Academic Aptitude

• Creative or Productive Thinking, Leadership Abilities

• Visual Arts

• Performing Arts

• Musical, Dance, or Psychomotor Abilities”

Not all gifted children look or act alike. Gifted people make up around the top 5% of a population; the highly/profoundly gifted make up the top 1-3% of the population. Gifted and talented children are present in all student groups, regardless of gender, disability, English language proficiency, economic status, ethnic or cultural background. Gifted children are just as deserving as all children to have their academic and social emotional needs met at school in order to fully reach their potential.

In order to achieve their full potential, gifted students need the support of unique programming designed to meet their needs.  This programming may include a variety of different strategies designed to address both the academic and social/emotional needs of gifted students.

Students formally identified receive an Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) which is a legal document updated yearly to support individual goals and programming needs of that individual gifted child.

Because gifted children are so diverse, their characteristics may vary. Here are common characteristics that gifted individuals may show:

• Unusual alertness, even in infancy

• Rapid learner; puts thoughts together quickly

• Excellent memory

• Large vocabulary and can put together complex sentences

• Can understand metaphors and abstract ideas with words

• Enjoys solving problems, especially with numbers and puzzles

• Often self-taught reading and writing skills as preschooler

• Deep, intense feelings

• Highly sensitive (can be touch, noise, smell, and emotions)

• Thinking is abstract, complex, logical, and insightful

• Idealistic at early age

• Concern with social and political issues and injustices

• Long attention span and intense concentration (around things they are interested in)

• Preoccupied with own thoughts—daydreamer

• Learns basic skills quickly and with little practice

• Asks a lot of questions constantly

• Wide range of interests or extreme focus in one area

• Highly curious

• Interest in experimenting and doing things differently

• Puts idea or things together that are not typical

• Unusual sense of humor

• Desire to organize people/things through games or complex stories

• Vivid imaginations (and may have imaginary playmates)

• Prefers the company of older playmates or adults

Modified with permission from: Webb, J., Gore, J., Amend, E., DeVries, A. (2007). A parent’s guide to gifted children.  

• An extreme need for constant mental stimulation

• An ability to learn and process complex information rapidly

• Sees higher level structures and patterns

• A need to explore subjects in depth, to understand the why and how as well as the what

• Constant curiosity; endless questions about how things work

• An ability to focus intently on a subject of interest for long periods of time

• Need intellectual challenge or they get bored easily

• When not challenged, the highly gifted may underachieve

Students from diverse cultural or linguistic backgrounds may demonstrate some of the following characteristics with regularity:

• displays an eagerness to share about their native culture

• demonstrates strong desire to teach peers words from his/her native language

• shows strong sense of pride of their cultural heritage and ethnic background

• eager to translate for peers and adults

• cross-cultural flexibility-adequately navigates roles expected of the native culture and new culture

• advanced knowledge of idioms and native dialects with ability to translate and explain meanings in English

• ability to understand jokes and puns related to cultural differences

• able to read in native language two grades above his/her grade level

• functions at language proficiency level above that of their non-gifted peers

• code-switching ability (the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation)

• sense of global community and awareness of other cultures and languages

• learns a second or third language at an accelerated pace-formally taught or informally acquired

• excels in math achievement tests when language ability is not a factor

Characteristics based on study of students participating in Project GOTCHA, Galaxies of Gifted and Creative Heights of Achievements, Title VII, Academic Excellence Program (1987-1996). Compilation of data completed by Nilda M. Aguirre and Norma E. Hernandez, Consultants for Project GOTCHA under International Education Consultants, Inc. (1996-1999) Copyrighted 1999.

Gifted characteristics can often be seen at an early age and may include:

• use of advanced vocabulary and/or development of early reading skills

• crawl or walk early

• early development of speech

• highly observant

• extremely curious and alert

• unusual memory or ability to retain information

• periods of intense task persistence based on the child’s interest

• thinks abstractly

• early demonstration of talents in the arts

• understands complex concepts

Early Childhood Characteristics: (English) (Spanish) (Amharic) (Arabic) (Burmese) (French) (Nepali) (Russian) (Somali) (Vietnamese) 

Journal for the Education of the Gifted. Vol. 30, No. 3, 2007, pp. 372–394. Copyright ©2007 Prufrock Press Inc., http://www.prufrock.com

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