RAVENA-COEYMANS-SELKIRK CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
INITIAL REFERRAL CHECKLIST
Student’s Name _____________________________ Teacher’s Name ____________________Grade_____
School: ________________________________________________________ Date____________________
Characteristic Behaviors of Gifted and Talented Students
Gifted students may exhibit many, but not all, of these characteristics. Please check the behaviors that the student being
referred consistently exhibits. Then, return this form to the classroom teacher.
General
___ 1) Advanced vocabulary for chronological age
___ 2) Outstanding memory; possesses lots of information
___ 3) Curious; asks endless questions (“Why?” and then “What?”)
___ 4) Has many interests, hobbies, and collections
___ 5) May have a “passionate interest” that has lasted for many years (ie., dinosaurs)
___ 6) Intense; gets totally absorbed in activities and thoughts
___ 7) Strongly motivated to do things that interest her; may be unwilling to work on other activities
___ 8) May be reluctant to move from one subject area to another
___ 9) Operates on higher levels of thinking than his age peers; is comfortable with abstract thinking
___10) Perceives subtle and cause-and-effect relationships
___11) Prefers complex and challenging tasks to “basic” work
___12) May be able to “track” two or more things simultaneously (i.e., her daydreams and your words)
___13) Catches on quickly, then resists doing work, or works in a sloppy, careless manner
___14) Comes up with “better ways” for doing things; suggests them to peers, teachers, and other adults
___15) Sensitive to beauty and other people’s feelings and emotions
___16) Advanced sense of justice and fairness
___17) Aware of global issues many age peers are uninterested in
___18) Sophisticated sense of humor; may be “class clown”
___19) Transfers concepts and learning to new situations
___20) Sees connections between apparently unconnected ideas and activities
___21) May prefer the company of older children or adults
___22) May prefer to work alone; resists cooperative learning
___23) Bossy in group situations
___24) Needs to constantly share all he knows; impatient when not called on to recite or respond
___25) May be “street smart” while not doing well on school tasks
continued on the back...
Page 2 of Teacher’s Checklist: Characteristic Behaviors of Gifted and Talented Students
Creative Thinking
___26) Displays original ideas
___27) Sees endless possibilities for various situations or uses for objects
___28) Says what she thinks without regard for consequences
___29) Brilliant thinker, but absentminded about details or where his work might be found
___30) Outstanding sense of humor; loves to play with words and ideas
___31) Passionately interested in some topic or field of endeavor
___32) May be talented in the fine arts
___33) Fluent in idea generation and development
___34) Able to elaborate on ideas
___35) Experiments with ideas and hunches
___36) Great imagination; frequent daydreamer
___37) Values nonconformity in appearance, thought, etc.
___38) Standardized test scores may be significantly better than performance
Perfectionism
___39) Believes he is valued for what he can do rather than who he is
___40) Has been praised consistently for her “greatness and exceptional ability”
___41) Fears he will lose the regard of others if he loses that exceptionality
___42) May cry easily in frustration that her work at school can never be perfect
___43) Works very slowly in hopes that his product will be perfect
___44) Discovers a mistake in her work; erases until there is a hole in the paper or crumples up paper and
throws it away
___45) Asks for lots of help and reassurance from the teacher. (“Is this all right?” “Is this what you want?”
“Please repeat the directions.”)
___46) Cannot take any criticism or suggestions for improvement without being defensive
___47) Expects other people to be perfect, too
___48) Resists challenging work for fear his struggle will be seen by others. (“If my teacher and peers see me
struggle, they will conclude I’m not so smart.”)
___49) Procrastinates to the point that work never even gets started
This checklist was composed using Susan Winebrenner’s list, “Characteristic Behaviors of Gifted and Talented Students,” from her book, Teaching
Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom; Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use to Meet the Academic Needs of the Gifted and
Talented.
Revised April 2013