Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Must giftedness be determined at a young age?

As a child, I was quite unusual, eccentric, and a little on the crazy side. I was a bad student, socially inept, and for the most part, lived in my own world/complex fantasy life. I did not display many of the characteristics of a typical gifted child, except for a few: I was always highly curious: I read extensively about topics I was particularly interested in, which were rather unusual in themselves (medieval history/other historical topics, linguistics, weather, time, cultural studies, map-making, among others). I studied the encyclopedia for fun, attempted to write a book and teach myself Danish, and went into a trance drawing maps. I was also a skilled artist. I learned to read early.

But at the same time, I was an idiot. I wasn't a good student, was completely socially inept, and nothing about me --at least that anyone could notice-- "stood out." I didn't really care about anything except what was going on inside my own head. My parents always knew I was smart, but I didn't apply myself and wasn't really "with the program." They tested me for the gifted program in 3rd grade, which was some achievement test (not I.Q. or anything of the sort) and apparently I didn't make the cut. But seeing as I was pretty apathetic about most everything and was a bad student to begin with, I'm sure I put no effort into the test. I have an exceptional long-term memory and I don't even remember taking the test, so it obviously didn't mean anything to me at the time.

When I was 14, though, everything changed for me. It's as if I awoke out of a coma. My parents bought me a piano that year, and it changed my life. I caught onto the piano very quickly, as I was playing the works of Bach and Chopin within the first few weeks. Like a light switch, that same year I went from being an average/bad student to becoming an exceptional writer and student. I taught myself Calculus at 15, and 10th grade English teacher said that my writing skills were at a college level. I am an extremely quick learner. I don�t really pay attention much in school, but still am able to maintain a 4.7 GPA in all honors/AP classes. I'm 17 now, and I have many of the characteristics of a gifted adult.

So my question is, does giftedness have to be determined as a child? Even though I didn't display many of the characteristics of a gifted CHILD, but display many of them as a gifted adult, can I still be gifted?


I have never taken an I.Q. test, although I've gone through many (legitimate) intelligence tests and do quite well on them. I'm great at figuring patterns, numerical sequences, etc.
Thank you for your input! Btw, excuse any typos/grammatical issues. I'm kind of in a hurry

Once you're an adult, it doesn't matter whether you're gifted - you can make your own choices about activities, environment and company, so you no longer need the crude label that is used to signal that the usual lock-step school environment won't be a good fit. Forget the label, nurture your talents, enjoy your life! And if you have children, come back if you need advice getting them a good environment and support, because yes, some children are gifted - e.g., need a fast pace of instruction - without necessarily doing well on school screening tests or making their needs obvious.

You would probably enjoy reading "Ungifted" by Scott Barrry Kaufman. It explores different conceptions of giftedness, and the author gives his own story, which in some way is similar to yours. And I wil also say this -- of course giftedness doesn't always show up as high achieving at a young age.