Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Can you be only partially gifted?

She might qualify anyway based on her composite score. I have always tested very well on verbal measures, but my math skills are pretty average (I was demoted from honors math to "regular" math in junior high) and my spatial skills are below average. (Actually, I think I have an unrecognized LD--I have no sense of direction, did not learn right from left till about age 10, and also am pretty "face blind.") I still tested into the gifted program.

I have read here and elsewhere that global giftedness is actually more rare than not, though my husband and daughter both seem to fall in that category.

Yes, you can be only "partially gifted".

I don't have any intellectual weaknesses (according to my IQ testing report), but my level of artistic talent/skill with respect to drawing things is approximately zero.

And I have no sense of direction, but I am extremely good at reading maps. Go figure.

I have been trying to urge DD (3y4m) to puzzle more. She still struggles with 24 piece wooden puzzles, and it is just odd how she goes about them.

I bought her a new puzzle where there is no wrong answer. It is a ring of children from around the world holding hands. SHe STILL has trouble getting that thing together, yet, after only playing with it for a few days she has memorized where each of the 32 kids are from. I don't know how. I really didn't think she was reading them.

I watched her yesterday calling out, "Estonia! Estonia! where are you? You are going to be late for the party." Then she found him. I was shocked. I did not even think there was an Estonia. (shows you how much I've looked at it.) I just thought that was weird.

My DD7 also has noticeably stronger language skills than math skills.

However, when she was tested in first grade, her scores in both subjects were high enough to qualify her for the gifted program.

In our district, if a child scores extremely high in one area but low enough in another area that the composite score makes the child ineligible for the gifted program, they still do "cluster grouping" in the regular classroom.

Right now, DD can do only a one day/week enrichment program. (The full-time program isn't available until third grade.) The other two kids who qualify for the gifted program are in her regular classroom with DD. Also in the classroom are a cluster of kids who were strong in language arts and a different cluster of kids who were strong in math -- but not strong enough overall to qualify for the gifted program.

The result is that DD is much more challenged in her regular classroom this year than she was previously.

Ellemenope - I am pretty sure that doing 24 piece puzzles at 3yrs 4months is about 2 yrs advanced. My kids are all puzzle doers and I only just learned recently how abnormal their puzzle skill is.

When I hear that someone has "more talent in his little finger" than someone else does in his whole body, I assume that all the talent is concentrated in that one finger.

Thanks everyone -- this is an interesting discussion. I do think (from what I've read) things are changing a bit maybe toward accepting a gift in one area as giftedness. I, too, am talented (some might say gifted) in art and creative things, but not so much in math, etc.

I did mention that DD is 6 -- she's in first grade. They are currently pulling her out of a class with a small group of first graders and assessing her trying to make a recommendation on whether or not they want to test her. They'll give her the WISC-IV (if they decide they think she'll test quite high -- she needs a 140 to get into the program, and that's on everything -- just one will not do the trick). When I ask her about the class she says that they "do puzzles" so I think they are really looking at this part closely. Her reading and writing abilities are more obvious.

Both my hubby and I work for magazines -- he in editorial and me in art -- so she obviously has that tendency as well as that exposure. She's not been exposed to math (except the very basics) but I think she'd like it!

So until we know if we're testing or not I guess I will continue to guess.

I know that there are different thought processing modes involved which can play to various strengths and weaknesses, but on this subject of different levels of giftedness, I wonder how much different levels of interest play into it. After all, isn't it the sharp levels of interest in different kinds of learning that drive gifted learners to their achievements in the first place?

A few years ago I'd have agreed with JonLaw, that there was no artistic ability in me whatsoever. Then came DD, and I'd sit and do different artsy things with her because that was what she was into. And while I wouldn't submit any of it for awards or anything, there were some things I created that made me say, "Huh. I didn't think I had that in me."

Then again, many of the works of art that win awards make me shake my head, which just goes to show how completely disinterested I am in the whole thing.

I've found this to be true as well. My daughters test gifted in writing, english, lit but not math, my son is stronger in all subjects, exceptionally strong in math. I've heard that is how it is most of the time. One subject peaks more than others.
There are also different levels. My daughters tested gifted but my son tested exceptionally gifted. I didn't know there were levels at first so it was surprising. My son is as far above his sisters as they are above the norm. They usually come from gifted parents as well but my husband and I are not gifted. So, you never know why or how it all happens. I've noticed my son is strong on whatever area he is into. Your children might pull a 180 on you half way through their schooling. That is always fun. You are convinced it's math until they get into history. Then pow, change of direction.
My son seems to exhaust areas and move on and my daughters seem to have leveled out in their teens to one subject area. So, you never really know.


DUDE:
I know that there are different thought processing modes involved which can play to various strengths and weaknesses, but on this subject of different levels of giftedness, I wonder how much different levels of interest play into it. After all, isn't it the sharp levels of interest in different kinds of learning that drive gifted learners to their achievements in the first place?
I agree, it seems to be true in my house.

WOW! This struck a chord with me. I'm the opposite -- highest scores in verbal, and "only" good scores in math. I absolutely felt (and sometimes still feel) like I was/am no good at math. I continue to be amazed at how much I learn about myself as I'm raising my son.

I've done a fair amount of reading on giftedness recently, as I suspect my son may be gifted. In that reading, I've found several mentions of children being gifted in a given area but being typical in another.

Separately -- I've read Thomas Sowell's book The Einstein Syndrome. It talks about the connections he's found in children of gifted parents who also happen to be late talkers. Stephen Camarata of Vanderbilt Univ has done research in this area as well.