Introduction
Many of us as parents to gifted children, notice or become aware of some 'personality' or personal characteristics that our gifted children seem to share with other gifted children. Some of these characteristics have become part of a 'loose definition' of giftedness for ourselves and others -- almost a "stereotype" of giftedness. These checklists can be a relief for parents eager to find commonalities between their child and others ('You mean there are other children out there who act like my child?), or these lists can be a bain for parents who find nothing but frustration inside when their child does not 'meet' the criteria that the list details.
When defining giftedness, sometimes a checklist of characteristics is used to help individuals decide whether or not the child in question is 'gifted'. When used this way, there are many factors which influence whether or not a characteristics is selected -- the biggest factor is the ability of the parent/educator/etc to judge the manifestation of the very subjective statements in the list. Consider for example that many parents of gifted children comment that their gifted child is 'intense', but it all depends on what your frame of reference is! If most of your children, or children that you know of are speaking well at the age of 1, it is unlikely that you would select your child to be an 'early talker' if she wasn't speaking in full sentences by their second birthday.
The following two lists are a collection of traits and characteristics that our members who post on the message board have noticed in their gifted children. In the first list, we have common 'gifted characteristics listed', in the second list we have characteristics that our gifted children have which are not often associated with giftedness (or are characteristics that are traditionally associated with gifted/bright children that our gifted children DO NOT display).