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Gifted children comprise approximately the top 2% of children, by strict definition of gifted. Many schools expand that to about the top 5% of children, to provide extra enrichment to more bright and motivated children.
The average number of children per family in the US is 2. Assuming a fairly even spread, that means approximately 4% to 10% of families, and therefore parents, have gifted children.
So I would not be surprised to see about 10% of parents who think their kid is gifted, and who are not exaggerating or boasting.
It all depends on how you define gifted. Gifted as in AG programs at school or gifted in general? I bet all parents would say their children are gifted in various ways but not all would be in AG at school.
I think it is rare for people to throw around the word gifted but I suspect most people think their kids, like themselves, are above average in intelligence.
Is it a common perception that parents of elementary students think they're child is gifted?
Is this sort of like drivers, where 80% of drivers believe they are above-average?
The only data I have seen on this is I noticed at the library that all of the gifted books were checked out, while many standard education books were available on shelves.
In the overall population I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure about 97% of kids who have parents online are gifted.
Agree with the posters that said all kids have their own "gifts".
I THINK that I've been pretty balanced regarding all my kids' individual strengths & weaknesses.
My twins have both consistently scored in the top of their class all the way through school & scored exactly the same on standardized tests. But only one of them was "identified" as GT in the 2nd grade.
I "get it" & understand why this happened. The one identified as GT "looks at" Math differently.
She sees patterns where most do not. Give her a math problem, ask her to "show her woork" & you will see a never been taught formula for the equation appear.
Her twin did end up being identified for GT in the 6th grade for other reasons but they both have their own individual struggles as well.
Additionally, as a parent I had to walk a fine line between encouraging the "identified" twin without letting it go to her head to the point where she would start to brag or compare herself to her siblings.
My 12 year old with Autism is in SPED & is considered non-verbal. He also beat Microsoft at Chess at age 4 ...has a bi-lingual comprehension of speech (also identified at age 4) & was identified during the 6th grade as having a "perfect sense of pitch".
"Gifted" does not translate as "Superior" but I would have to say that you see a lot of parents fall into this line of thinking.
I don't think it's all about "what you have " or even "what you do" ... more so maybe "what you do with what you have" & every child has that potential.
My older has been in "gifted and talented" classes every since he was in Kindergarden
Second one didn't make it because he missed one question
Third one is likely to go in, haven't got results yet.
Not very many really. Having spent a lot of time addressing that issue directly over 40 years, I have to tell you that the number of times I had a parent ask for an evaluation because they thought the child was gifted, and they weren't---I could count on one hand.
I would imagine all parents have high hopes for their kids and hope them to be "gifted". All children have their strengths.
I grew up in gifted programs. School was just always easy for me. Do I expect my children to follow suit? No. Would I like them to? Of course.
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