Ruf Estimates of Levels of Giftedness: Part II

… The actual milestones, interests and behaviors by Level of Giftedness

Early Milestones and Behaviors

Five Levels of Giftedness

The information that follows about Levels of Giftedness is gathered from my own personal experience with families whose gifted children I tested. The families completed a questionnaire asking them when their child reached various milestones like reading unassisted, or talking in sentences. From the responses of these families, and the corresponding test data, I was able to see a pattern of gifted behaviors for the various Levels of Giftedness. From this same sort of experience and public score reports, estimates of numbers of each Level of Giftedness in different schools were also made.

Level One Gifted

How many Level One children are there in our schools? The average ability level of different school districts and the schools within them can vary significantly. This will always affect how many gifted children are expected in any school and within any classroom. Children whose abilities are very low (IQs below about 60, in most cases) or mentally delayed are not placed in most classrooms, which raises the average within the school compared to…