According to the Hollingsworth Center for Highly Gifted Children, the variety of definitions of giftedness offered by experts in the field and by laymen suggests that no one set of criteria exclusively defines giftedness. However, there does exist a common set of characteristics manifested by giftedness on which experts in gifted education do agree.

Few gifted children will display all of the characteristics in a given list; however, when clusters of these characteristics are present, they do serve as fairly reliable indicators of giftedness. Presence of these characteristics suggest that a child might warrant closer observation and could require specialized educational attention.

General Behavioral Characteristics of Gifted Children

Many typically learn to read earlier and with a better comprehension of the nuances of language.  As many as half of the identified gifted and talented population have learned to read before entering school. They often read widely, quickly, intensely, and have large vocabularies.

• They commonly learn basic skills better, more quickly and with less practice than their peers.
  
• They are better able to construct and handle abstractions than their age mates.
  
•  are frequently able to pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences which other children need to have spelled out for them.
  
• They take less for granted, seeking the "hows" and "whys."
  
• They can sustain longer periods of concentration and attention.
  
• They display a better ability to work independently at an earlier age and for longer periods of time than other children.
  
• Their interests are often both widely eclectic and intensely focused.
  
• They are usually able to respond and relate well to parents, teachers and other adults. They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers.
  
• They are willing to examine the unusual and are highly inquisitive.
  
• Their behavior is often well organized, goal directed and efficient with respect to tasks and problems.
  
• They may be very independent and are often very persistent. "I'd rather do it myself" is a common attitude.
  
• They get excitement and pleasure from intellectual challenge and show an alert and subtle sense of humor.
  
• They are often masters of observational humor.
  
• They enjoy learning new things and new ways of doing things.

Learning Characteristics of Gifted Children

They may show keen powers of observation, exhibit a sense of the significant and have an eye for important details.

• They have well developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization and synthesizing abilities.
  
• They generally have rapid insight into cause and effect relationships.
  
• They often display a questioning attitude and seek information for the sake of having it as much as for its instrumental value.
  
• They are often skeptical, critical and evaluative. They are quick to spot inconsistencies.
  
• They often have a large storehouse of information relating to a variety of topics which they can recall quickly.
  
• They show a ready grasp of underlying principles and can often make valid generalizations about events, people or objects.
  
• They readily perceive similarities, differences and anomalies.
• They often attack complicated material by separating it into its components and analyzing it systematically.

Creative Characteristics of Gifted Children

They are fluent thinkers, able to produce a large quantity of possibilities, consequences or related ideas.

• They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.
•  They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusual or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information.
  
• They also have an ability to see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas or facts.
  
• They are elaborative thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation or problem.
  
• They show a willingness to entertain complexity and seem to thrive in problem situations.
  
• They are good guessers and can construct hypotheses or "what if " questions readily.
  
• They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and the irrationality within themselves and show emotional sensitivity.
  
• They have a high level of curiosity about objects, ideas, situations or events.
  
• They often display intellectual playfulness, they fantasize and imagine readily.
  
• They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers in expressing opinions and ideas and often engage in spirited disagreement.
• They have a sensitivity to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic dimensions.

• 99% on the RAVEN Progressive Matrices or
  
• 97% or above on the RAVEN Progressive Matrices and
  
• score advanced on both the mathematics and language arts portion of the CST or
  
• score at least 500 on either the mathematics or language arts portion of the CST