Gifted students may have different developmental patterns than their peers in the areas of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional areas. The physical and social domains may develop at a similar or slower pace than others, while the cognitive and emotional domains may develop faster.
Some common characteristics of gifted learners are:
- Learn faster with less repetition and practice
- Understand and make abstractions earlier; may ignore details
- Have specific interests
- Are curious and tend to ask complex questions; like to know "why?" and "how?" things happen
- Are quick to realize relationships, including cause-effect
- Are bored with routine tasks
- Have large vocabularies and express themselves well
- Evaluate facts, arguments, and people critically
- Are creative, inventive, and original
- Try to find answers to questions in unusual ways
- Have highly-developed sense of humor