The Myth of Laziness: America’s Top Expert Shows How Kids—and Parents—Can Become More Productive

What are some indicators of giftedness in a very young child? What might parents or teachers observe that might lead them to wonder if a child is exceptional? Giftedness really refers to advanced development in any set of abilities or skills. For intellectually and academically gifted children, the earliest indicators will probably be unexpected glimmers of advanced understanding: a baby sorting plastic blocks alternately by color and shape; a 14-month-old “feeding” her doll from an empty animal cracker box; a 3-yearold, having been scolded, writing: “DEER DAD, I HATE YU, LOVE MARY”; a 4-year old, impatient with his mother’s explanations about where he “came from,” exclaiming, “I am, so I was. Where was I?” These events have to happen spontaneously. What is unusual about each is not the event but how early it occurred. One event does not prove anything, but early patterns are worth attending to. We do best at noticing advanced development when we are familiar with typical development and when the skill is just emerging. We have found that parents are quite good at spotting advanced language during toddlerhood. Most people have a pretty good sense of when children learn to read, when they can handle two-digit numbers, and when drawings should look more realistic. However, most parents don’t have norms in their heads about, say, puzzles or pretend play. Some parents fail to notice precocity until they see other children at the park, day care, or preschool. Parents shouldn’t conclude that their child is not gifted because their advancement isn’t even across domains. Asynchrony in development is very common among gifted children.