After a few consultations with lists of gifted behaviors and characteristics, observant individuals can often spot certain "tells"... which hopefully would lead to testing to confirm giftedness.
While many people may be quite good at unofficially recognizing signs of giftedness, it takes an experienced professional to tease out characteristics that may mask giftedness, or learning disabilities which may make a student twice-exceptional... such as ADD/ADHD and/or
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
When unofficially recognizing gifted children by their traits, one may also wish to be cognizant of "false negatives"... the children who are gifted but not recognized as such by a casual observer.
Here's a
roundup of lists of behavioral characteristics:
-
Characteristics of intellectually advanced young people- NAGC's
list borrowed from the book
A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children,
((The first item on the NAGC list of Common Characteristics of Gifted Individuals is: Unusual alertness, even in infancy)).
-
Characteristics and Behaviors of the Gifted-
Characteristics checklist for gifted children (Austega
list, from WayBack Machine, internet archive)
-
Tips for Parents: Helping Parents Understand Their Profoundly Gifted Children-
Profiles of the gifted and talented which lists 6 different types, categorized by personality/temperament and achievement.
