The view that a child is very able or gifted can stem from a number of different sources:

• Parents may notice that their child ( 0-4yrs ) develops skills quickly as compared with peers
  
  
• Friends may draw attention to early speech and the use of a wide vocabulary ( 0-4yrs)
  
  
• Health visitors and doctors may notice rapid development ( 0-4yrs )
  
  
• Playgroup/Nursery teachers may find the new child able to do far more than usual ( 2-5yrs) for their age
  
  
• Primary and Secondary teachers may note tasks accomplished with ease, coupled with a demand for challenge, which if not satisfied, is rapidly replaced by boredom ( 4-adult )
  
  

Very able and gifted children need to be identified so that their intellectual and their social/emotional development can be well managed and not stifled. How this should be done, however, depends on the age of the child, and whether they are happy or presenting problems to parents and/or to school.

Two broad approaches are available

• observation of characteristics ( for and against )
  
  
• testing and assessment ( for and against )

Observation of characteristics

In favour	Against
The only possible strategy for under 4's	Parents need to assert their conclusions to others (sceptics?)
Parents need to assert their conclusions to others (sceptics?)	The outcome is open to challenge by professionals
Does not stress the child in any way	Parents may feel outcome lacks credibility
Carried out in unthreatening environment ( Home, playgroup, peer-group )

Testing and assessment

In favour	Against
Tests give a precise outcome, within known limits	Simple, off-the-shelf commercial tests can be extremely misleading with incorrect interpretation. It can also be an expensive process
Testing is carried-out by a qualified educational psychologist (EP)	The test selected must match with the problem presented, and the results need professional interpretation and explanation to parents and teachers
The results can be very useful in giving parents and teachers a view of ways forward	Testing can be a stressful process, particularly for younger children
	Testing is time-consuming for all involved

NAGC's Guidance

Intelligence Quotients (IQs)
Human ability is not something which can be described by a single measurement although much effort was put into the attempt to do this in the first half of the 20th Century. The more understanding of the brain's complexity we gain and the more we find out about how learning takes place, the less reliance we want to place on measures which claim to put groups of children in order - high to low.

Who should identify high ability pre-school children?
NAGC believes, in common with good practice world-wide, that parents are the best placed people to observe whether their offspring are developing skills and talents significantly in advance of their peers. These characteristics begin to become evident in the pre-school phase through activities such as early talking, unusual levels of concentration, creative connections of ideas and many more ( See the list of identifying characteristics ).

NAGC believes that in this pre-school phase formal assessment is not appropriate for the vast majority of very highly able children because the validity of the test is placed in doubt. We recommend that full assessments are done from the ages of 6-7 years.

Parents may find problems at toddler group, playgroup or pre-school nursery, because the staff do not accept that she/he can easily do the things that the other children are enjoying doing. Their child is quickly bored and becomes a problem This should best be managed by discussion between parents and staff as to how flexible the activities can be. If the pre-school group proves to be inflexible (all children must do the same thing at the same time) then parents might want to question the appropriateness of that group for their child.

The hope that an assessment which shows a high score will force the group to change their approach, is unlikely to succeed and often leads to confrontation and parents feeling that they have been labelled as "pushy" or "interfering".

Assessments at primary school?
Once at school some aspects change but others do not. It is still counter-productive to attempt to use an assessment as a battering ram to bring about special provision. If issues have developed, if the child does not want to go to school, is bored at school, is unhappy, has become withdrawn, then parents need to work in partnership with the school, the class teacher and the Head to expose the issues in a non-confrontational way. The merits of an assessment can be discussed.

When LA's can assess children
Children can be assessed through the Local Authority (LA) if they have learning or behaviour difficulties and the school must act on the findings of the assessment. There is, however, no legal basis for an LA to assess a child on the basis of giftedness or high ability.

If a parent is willing to have a private assessment undertaken then, in most cases, this is best done with the full knowledge of the school, and an understanding of what will happen in the school as a result of the findings. Sometimes private assessments are made but the school and LA educational psychologist do not accept the findings on the basis that the test was inappropriate, or there were unrealistic recommendations.

Independent assessment
If, after discussions with the school, a parent still feels that they need to know more about how they can manage their child, but the school is not willing to proceed, an independent assessment can be pursued. The parent is within their legal rights to do this. This will provide the parent with additional information about their child's intellectual ability and potential. Parents can then make an informed decision on the way forward, accepting that this may be limited by the school's position.

NAGC's Information & Advice Service on 0845 450 0295 or 01908 646433 can provide more information about independent educational psychology assessments.

Good school practice
It is good practice for schools to have a Gifted & Talented (G&T) register, written policy on how they manage their high ability children, a Lead Teacher (LT) in G&T and a programme. The school should identify the top 5-10% across the school and place them on the G&T register which should be a flexible fluid document used by all staff across the school and follow the child throughout their school life even through transition. The information on the school G&T register should then be fed back to the government in the schools annual census for inclusion in the National Register. The G&T policy should include how children are identified, the areas of identification and what measures are put in place to stretch and challenge them. The G&T register and policy should have the full support of the staff, the governors and parents. Parents are entitled to ask if such a G&T register and policy exists and if so to have a hard copy of the written G&T policy and a copy of the register if their child has been identified and included on it.
For further information:
http://www.standards.dfes.gov/giftedandtalented
http://www.cfbt.com/

Assessment at secondary school
Identifying older children as having unrecognised abilities, gifts and talents can be a sad occurrence, for it can represents a waste of earlier opportunities. If abilities are not recognised and encouraged early on then there is the risk that a child will become withdrawn, merge into the crowd, or even develop a disruptive pattern of behaviour - all of which detracts attention from their ability which then may go on undetected for many years. It is often only when schools undertake a formal educational psychologist assessment on the basis of poor behaviour that the truth regarding ability is revealed - the child is a high ability low performer!