How to Observe Talent in Children: Use Winner's Three Behavioral Markers

I began speculating about my son's strengths when he was still in utero. From the moment he was born, I kept an eagle eye on what he did well, and within a week of his sixteenth birthday, I whisked him off to Chicago for a formal aptitude assessment.

Fortunately, you don't have to be quite such a fanatic. You don't have to spend money, either. One free method for identifying strengths is to observe your child's behavior. In other words, pay attention to what she does better than most kids her age.

Ellen Winner, PhD, a psychology professor and researcher at Boston College, has developed three markers you can use to identify talent via observation. No testing required. Dr. Winner's research has been based on gifted children, but I believe her markers can also be used for the noticeable-if-you-look-for-it kind of talent that places a child or student in the high range of a specific ability. And high ability is plenty 'good enough' for learning quickly, getting a job, and advancing in a career.

Here are Winner's three behavioral markers:

1) Precocity (which means advanced in a specific area)

Let's begin with an extreme example. Carl Gauss, the eminent German mathematician, was a child prodigy. At age 3, he corrected, in his head, a mistake his father made in financial calculations. In grade school, his teacher asked him to add numbers from 1 to 100 in arithmetic progression—a feat he accomplished in mere seconds! At only 21, he wrote his magnum opus on number theory. Two centuries later, his brilliance continues to light the mathematical heavens.

In other words, the talented person often begins to learn about his special subject at a younger age than average. He learns faster and performs better than typical peers. As a result, his skills in his talent area are advanced, even when he's not a genius. For example, the one-year-old who speaks in full sentences, a feat not normally accomplished until the age of two (indicating talent in the area of language). Or the child who can successfully compete on sports teams with children a year or two older (indicating talent in athletics).

2) Rage to Master

Michelangelo, the great Italian artist, possessed an astounding visual-spatial talent that contributed to his success in painting, sculpture, and architecture. But on top of that he focused intensely and labored mightily with his visual gift, so dedicated to mastering his craft that he was willing to spend four years in awkward positions as paint from the Sistine Chapel dripped onto his face.

A rage to master refers to strong intrinsic motivation. The talented individual wants to learn, on his own, about how to win a chess game or play the harmonica. Without prodding, without an adult having to coax him with a carrot or strike him with a stick, the child strives to master the skills of his chosen domain. When adults spot such stellar achievement, they may assume there's a pushy parent behind the scenes, but the child with a rage to master actually pushes himself to study maps so he can learn geography.

3) March to their own Drummer

Living in isolation in northern England, in a world without MFA writing programs, the young Bronte sisters taught themselves to write poetry and fiction. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte created and acted out dramas as children, inventing and sharing personal worlds of fantasy. Later in their lives, when women were actively discouraged from writing books, each of the Bronte sisters adopted a male pen name and wrote one or more novels of unusual passion and lasting artistic merit (including the classics Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall).

The talented person does not sit idly by with the mass of her fellows nor rush with them like lemmings into the sea. Rather than follow someone else's set curriculum, she instead takes initiative with her own pet projects, maybe building a Lego construction from her imagination or studying all the different kinds of spider webs she can find in nature. She pursues her own goals in her own idiosyncratic ways.

To mentor talent, keep an eye out for these three markers. Be sure to ask others what they notice in your child. For example, at parent-teacher conferences, ask her teacher:

· "What are my daughter's strengths?"

· "What is she good at?"

· "Have you noticed any areas where she is ahead of other kids her age?"

· "Have you noticed any areas where she shows unusual motivation?

· "In what kind of activities does she march to her own drummer?"

Afterward, tell your child where he or she excels. Remember to remind them of their talents from time to time. Students who know their strengths possess an inner security that's both portable and permanent.