# Giftedness --- **Giftedness** is a marked above-average ability and [[life-span development|development]] a particular field in [[stage of development|children]]. There are a lot of different types of giftedness, for example in [[mathematics]], or verbal skills, or artistic skills. There are a lot of different ways of describing or defining giftedness, but lets focus on three aspects of giftedness: precocity, a rage to master, and "marching to their own drummer". **Precocity** is having skills or abilities at a younger age than is typical. This sign is pretty obvious even to a casual observer. A **rage to master** is seen in gifted children, where they are deeply, intensely, intrinsically motivated to master their domain. You *cannot* drag them away from their giftedness. How this looks varies by what domain they are gifted in. A child gifted in arts will just draw all the time, from the moment they wake up. If their friends come over they have them pose so they can draw them. A child gifted in verbal skills will read every chance they get, especially nonfiction. In math a child will mathematize the world, they'll just see everything differently. **"Marching to their own drummer"** refers to how gifted children learn about their field in their own way, and usually on their own as well. ## Nature Vs Nurture Unsurprisingly, we see that giftedness is a products of both [[nature verses nurture|nature and nurture]]. **Nature**: We can see signs of giftedness even as young as 1 or 2 years old. **Nurture**: Even with giftedness, it still takes *mountains* of practice to master a skill. Gifted children are naturally driven to practice this much (i.e. the "rage to master"). ## The Gifted Child's Bill of Rights You have a right to: - know about your giftedness. - learn something new everyday. - be passionate about your talent area without apologies. - have an identity beyond your talent area. - feel good about your accomplishments. - make mistakes. - seek guidance in the development of your talent. - have multiple peer groups and a variety of friends. - choose which of your talent areas you wish to pursue. - not to be gifted at everything. —The National Association of Gifted Children https://www.nagc.org/ ___