Exceptionality in high ability

Those learners deemed to have exceptional abilities and talents deserve attention and consideration of their particular needs and how to meet them in school. Exceptionally able learners– whether younger or older – may be at risk of being neglected as they are such a diverse group.  So called exceptionality may go unrecognised, perhaps because too difficult to deal with, perhaps because schools have many other priorities or feel that the needs of the exceptionally able cannot be provided in a normal school setting. Moreover, exceptionality is by definition scarce, which may make it even less of a priority in a busy school. There may also be a perception that learners deemed to be exceptionally able are blessed with special qualities and advantages that will help them to succeed and thus don’t need additional consideration or provision. A lack of understanding and planning for this particular group of children however risks losing a precious resource and, more importantly leaving such children unfulfilled and their talents unrealised, storing up potential challenges for teachers, for the learners themselves both when they are in school and also for their future lives. 

There is however a growing recognition in a number of schools that learners with exceptional ability are just as much in need of support as their peers for their academic needs and for the social and emotional challenges exceptionality can bring with it.

Who are the exceptionally able and how do we know?

There is no universally agreed term for students whose ability exceeds that of even their ‘more able peers.’ Some descriptions include ‘genius, gifted, very bright, high flyer, very or highly able and talented.’ The term ‘exceptionally able’ is used to describe learners whose needs go beyond those already deemed to require opportunities for enrichment and extension in the normal curriculum.

There are different schools of thought about what characterises exceptional ability. For some it is characterised in young children by precocity in achievements, emphasising quantitative aspects of ability. It is certainly the case that many exceptional young children reach developmental milestones earlier than their peers, including those for reading, talking and writing. Some stress exceptional ability as developmental potential, with cognitive ability outstripping physical and emotional development i.e. a so-called ‘developmental asynchrony.’ The evidence suggests that exceptional ability may comprise quantitative and qualitative aspects, but will certainly include high abstract reasoning ability and complexity of thinking. Other observed characteristics are indicated below.

One picture of the exceptionally able student is of a hard-working student who diligently completes work and is perceived by peers as the best in the class. The student may achieve outstanding success, recognised perhaps by winning competitions or displaying his/her abilities in one or many arenas. In reality the picture is much more complex than that. Learners classified as exceptionally able belong on a continuum of learners with specific educational requirements. Many have the skills to adjust to their educational and social environment with relative ease, while others may manifest a range of emotional problems and adjustment issues. For example, an exceptionally able student may be aged seven chronologically but at the emotional age of five and be working intellectually at a post-primary level but without the life experiences to temper their thoughts.

Exceptional ability in a student may also go unnoticed because of an accompanying physical, intellectual, or learning disability. Within a cohort of exceptionally able learners are those who despite their exceptionality may persistently underachieve due to boredom, lack of interest, or extreme perfectionism. There are also students whose exceptional ability may be masked by the fact that they are not being educated in their first language. Some students from diverse backgrounds may not show ‘traditional’ signs of exceptionality, as different values and skills are prized differently in different cultures, and teachers may not be attuned to signs of exceptionality beyond the cultural norm. Schools should also take into account that exceptionality may emerge later in an individual’s school career or that the simply be spotted later. No wonder that it is not uncommon for the exceptionally able to go unrecognised in school.

Assessment and Identification

Early identification of exceptionally able learners is important. However, assessment and identification procedures for the exceptionally able are not as clearly delineated as in other areas of education.  While there are many different approaches to the identification and assessment of exceptionally able, it is important to note that the most holistic approach is the best one, using a combination of methods. A multi-level definition recognises the frequent centrality of atypical development in exceptionally able learners and implies the need to go beyond traditional, psychometrically-based findings to explore their educational, emotional and psychological needs.

The following checklist is indicative of some of the characteristics but should be used critically and carefully, taking particular account of age, developmental milestones and the wider profile of the individual pupil.

Exceptionally able learners may:

• possess extensive general knowledge, often knowing more than the teacher in particular areas
• show good insight into cause-effect relationships
• easily grasp underlying principles and need the minimum of explanation
• quickly make generalisations and extract the relevant points from complex material
• have mental speeds faster than physical capabilities
• show exceptional short and long term memory
• have reading ability well beyond their chronological age.

Some of the most observed characteristics of exceptionally able individuals, taken from the literature, also include the following:

• rapid and thorough comprehension of the whole idea or concept

• unusual ability to perceive essential elements and underlying structures and patterns in relationships and ideas

• need for precision in thinking and expression, resulting in need to correct errors and argue extensively

• ability to relate a broad range of ideas and synthesize commonalities among them

• a high degree of ability to think abstractly that develops early

• appreciation of complexity; finding myriad alternative meanings in even the simplest issues or problems

• ability to learn in an integrative, intuitively non-linear manner

• extraordinary degree of intellectual curiosity

• argumentativeness

• ability from an early age to think in metaphors and symbols and a preference for doing so

• ability to learn in great intuitive leaps

• awareness of detail

• unusual intensity and depth of feeling

• extraordinarily high energy level

• need for the world to be logical and fair

• conviction of correctness of personal ideas and belief

The implications of some of these characteristics do not necessarily make for an easy time for teachers or parents so schools should consider how to work with and mitigate some of the more challenging aspects of exceptional abilities.

The phenomenon of exceptional ability is usually associated with high-level outcomes, whether on a measure of general ability, responses to achievement task, a performance or a production. Important though to recognising and providing for exceptionally able students is the thinking and learning–teaching interactions that lead to these high level outcomes.

During teaching episodes exceptionally able learners differ in the extent of elaboration and differentiation of the meaning networks they form. They also differ in the quality of the links, amount of knowledge they can think about at once and extent of their inferences or extensions and syntheses. There are several other ways in which the thinking of highly able students differs. These include their attitudes and dispositions towards particular topics and to themselves as learners and thinkers, their motivation orientation, the influence of cultures to which they belong on their thinking, their concept of being a learner and their self and social identities (for example, Munro, 2013a).

It is often in particular disciplinary contexts and engagement in high level cognitive tasks that we observe how exceptionality is manifested.  Observations of young highly able mathematicians conclude that such children often:

• have a liking for numbers and use them in stories and rhymes
• have an ability to argue, question and reason using logical connectives
• like pattern-making, revealing balance or symmetry
• set out their toys with precision
• use sophisticated criteria for sorting
• take pleasure in jigsaws and other constructional toys.

Observations of older students working on problem solving noted their ability to:

• grasp the structure of a problem
• generalise
• develop chains of reasoning
• use symbols and language accurately and effectively
• think flexibly - backwards and forwards and switching strategies
• leave out steps and thinking in abbreviated mathematical forms
• remember generalised relationships, problem types, ways of approaching problems, and patterns of reasoning
• persevere in problem solving.

The message here then is that in order to discover or confirm that a student is highly able we need to offer opportunities for that student to grasp the structure of a problem, generalise, develop chains of reasoning ... and so on.

Why we may miss some exceptionally able children

Work reported by the organisation Profound and Exceptionally Gifted Youth (PEGY) suggests that the following features may hinder easy identification of exceptional ability.

Speed of learning

A child who is truly exceptional is likely to be invisible to teachers if they are never given material from the curriculum with which to demonstrate their speed of learning.

A very few such children will seek out opportunities on their own, but many more will not, and will not have the facilities to do so. Such a child may race through material at a high speed if permitted and motivated to do so, but if kept to the pace of a typical class is very likely to become alienated and disengaged.

When the child learns extremely quickly, she may find it hard to pay attention when the teacher goes over and over the same concept and may miss instructions on a set task, leading to mistakes. These mistakes may make the teacher think that the child does not know how to do the task.

Intellectual opportunity

Some exceptionally gifted children should be easy to spot. For example, how could you miss the 7 year old who, at home, enjoys Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time" and analyses the evolution of the steam engine and its impact on industrial development? He or she should be very obvious - or so you might think.

But schools do not present this level of intellectual activity to a 7 year old, nor do teachers have the time to develop a relationship with each pupil that would enable them to discover each child’s true potential.

Culture and socio-economic group

A child not given access to books and resources, or whose culture values different kinds of knowledge, is likely to be even less visible to teachers than the example above. If such a child comes from a lower socio-economic group or a minority culture they may also be adversely affected by preconceived ideas of their ability level.

Disability / Special Needs / Specific Learning Difficulties

A "twice exceptional" or 2E child is one who is intellectually very able, but also has difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, dyspraxia, hearing (especially auditory processing disorder) or vision problems or other difficulties which prevent them from demonstrating what they know.

Blending in

On beginning pre-school or Reception the exceptionally able child will notice the behaviour of the other children and may very quickly start to act and perform as they do so as to fit in. An exceptionally socially aware child will even alter their language to speak like the other children in preschool. This extreme ‘blending in’ is more common in girls, but can affect boys too, and the urge to blend in can strike at any age. A child who is proficient at blending in is unlikely to be recognised as highly able by his teachers.

Full marks

Identification is made more contentious because adults often believe the exceptionally able child should always be getting 100% on school tasks which are well within their capabilities. However, they may not achieve to this standard. This may be explained by e.g.:

- inability to comply correctly with instructions

The child’s idea is too big for the task.

For example, an eight year old who reads complex fiction at home is asked to write a story about “Going to the moon,” but simply cannot condense the novel he can imagine into the page of writing the teacher requires. He may end up refusing to write anything, or turning out a meagre paragraph.

- creativity with non-challenging tasks.

For example, doodling on a reception class worksheet which requires the drawing of two objects. The worksheet ends up with two objects, and then many more! The teacher believes that the child doodled because she didn’t understand the task and so was unable to comply, not that the task was so well within her capabilities and completed so quickly that she sought to entertain herself with extra activity.

- lack of co-operation

Unwillingness to complete tasks which were well within his capability several years ago and which teach him nothing day after day after month after year.

- “I don’t know”

 An inability to answer the question with the correct amount of detail because the child has already gone beyond the level currently being taught and sees connections, relationships and depths which make it very difficult to give the answer the teacher is expecting.  

For instance, the teacher asks, “What makes leaves green?,” expecting the answer ‘chlorophyll’, but the child has known for years that it’s chlorophyll. She assumes everyone else in the class also knows, and that the teacher is asking ‘how does a leaf absorb a full spectrum of sunlight and reflect only green, and why?’ She knows that this is something to do with how the chlorophyll molecule within a plant cell absorbs light but doesn’t know the details of exactly how this happens – which chemical bond or combination of atoms is responsible – so when called on by the teacher answers “I don’t know.”

- inability to control his attention sufficiently to complete tasks he finds simple and repetitive.

Thus it may be impossible for an exceptionally able child to achieve full marks on tests of material which is too simple for them. For an accurate assessment of the child’s level of knowledge and ability, more advanced material must be presented, and knowledge of simple concepts either incorporated within it, or tested in a complex way.   

In summary, teachers need to have a holistic picture of a child thought to have exceptional ability. Such a picture may comprise:

• Outcomes e.g. performance on tests and tasks
• Cognitive Ability Tests
• Personal profile of interests and strengths, including outside school
• Independent learning behaviours
• Learning and thinking interactions in the classroom and in other learning contexts.

For the very reason that these pupils are exceptional, teachers need to be alert to the exceptional response, the unusual, the unorthodox and the unexpected.

The needs of the exceptionally able

Exceptionally able pupils are first and foremost children, young adults and individuals. They will therefore bring to school and to learning their own personality, background, interests - and sometimes areas of challenge/barriers to learning.  These may include additional learning needs, issues of motivation and engagement, an uneven profile of ability.  A frequent characteristic of an exceptionally able pupil – and often with younger ones - is the ‘gap’ between their exceptional abilities and other abilities, the gap between their social and emotional development and their intellectual maturity and prowess.  At times other gaps may also be at play, for example between self-image and the perceptions and expectations of others, especially teachers and family.

The needs of exceptionally able pupils are therefore by definition complex and sometimes challenging. They include:

• Having their abilities and talents recognised and valued
• Understanding of them as individuals
• Access to and mastery of broad and balanced learning opportunities as well as specialist support where needed
• Well planned and differentiated learning in the everyday classroom complemented by enrichment and experiences beyond
• Longer term planning for their needs in areas of the curriculum where they excel.

It is of course essential that opportunities in school and beyond allow such abilities to be displayed – and that teachers are also in touch with information about children’s strengths and passions from a variety of sources, including parents and children themselves. Strong communication between all involved in the child’s education is key to successful provision and support for exceptionally able children.

What should teachers and schools do?

Within the more able group there may be only one exceptionally able pupil in a subject or talent area, so personalising learning needs to be at an individual level. An individual learning plan, drawn up and reviewed jointly by pupils, their parents and teachers, can be used to give a clear direction and structure to the provision for each exceptionally able pupil. The focus of this plan should be to identify opportunities when exceptional abilities can be expressed and developed. This would include provision not only from within the school but also from beyond the school, and include ways of ensuring that the social and emotional needs of the exceptionally able pupil are met. Alongside wider school arrangements it is the learning opportunities provided in everyday classrooms which can make the most difference to exceptionally able pupils.

Approaches to teaching and learning for these learners often resembles those used with the broader range of very able learners, the major differences typically being the extent of complexity and pace and greater personalisation.

The strategies cited by many schools making good provision for the exceptionally able include:

• setting high-challenge independent research tasks
• higher-order questioning, dialogue and technical/disciplinary language
• giving pupils information about additional study materials and guidance on how to use them
• providing more challenging homework and independent learning assignments
• giving differentiated success criteria
• setting creative open-ended tasks
• incorporating e.g. AS level units into GCSE
• using feedback and marking to allow for progress in accordance with ability.

Teaching strategies should take account of the need for:

• Pace of learning commensurate with rapidity of learning in some areas (with implications for classroom management and learning focus in class)
• Conceptual learning to feature highly, with tasks which prioritise problem solving, enquiry, high level analysis, application and synthesising of learning; bigger picture  thinking
• Advanced material and resources; sources taken from contemporary developments and research
• Cross-curricular links (‘interconnectedness’) and real life exemplification
• Development of independent learning and research
• Flexibility to allow for the pursuit of individual interests and aptitudes.

Effective approaches to managing differentiation often cited may include e.g.:

• giving challenging (in depth/beyond mastery) tasks that are related to the class activity - this is a good option as it keeps the pupil working in the same context as the rest of the class and supports the classroom community.
• giving material from later in the key stage - usually done alone and with little support as the teacher has the rest of the class to cope with. Able students are entitled to teaching as much as all the others so use this selectively.
• organising for the pupil to move to work with older students – different forms of acceleration, organised properly, can be an effective way of meeting highly able students' needs. The conditions for this to happen are that:

a) the student should have absolute mastery of the current content and capable of getting a top grade in any assessment at the level (i.e. in the English system should be capable of getting an A* or equivalent in any assessment in KS4)

b) that they are emotionally and socially able to cope with working with older students and

c) most importantly - that there is a long term plan for the child's education. In the English system, it is no use accelerating a 14 year old if, once they have have got their GCSE top grade, they have to tread water for a year or so before pursuing more maths.  Or making a 9 year old work though the Key Stage 3 material if, when they get to secondary school, they have to do it all over again.

Table 1. Examples of school wide provision for the highly able

School wide provision	Examples
Ethos and culture	Acceptance of difference; flexibility; celebration of high achievement; willingness to work in partnership; high aspirations for all pupils
Policy, organisation, systems, structures	Exceptionally able policy and guidance; flexible timetable, curriculum and groupings; secure transition arrangements; excellent communication systems
Professional development /recruitment	Staff specialisms; dedicated professional development; named teacher with more able responsibility
IAG	Personalised & appropriate to ability; access to HE advice; exposure to high level careers
Support/mentoring	Focussed on socio-emotional needs; ‘expert’ mentoring/tutoring
Enrichment	Enrichment in class and beyond subjects; experience with exceptionally able peers
Networks, partners	Other schools, HEIs,  specialist organisations (eg STEM focus)
Resources	Teaching/learning resource; online sources; appropriate reading age materials

Recommendations

The key to meeting the needs of exceptionally able pupils is through school and classroom flexibility and attention to planning and practice which reflects the individual profile of the student.  It is important to have a shared view about this across a school, enshrined in  policy and guidance but also to recognise that how the school shapes provision may change from year to year according to the needs of the child and the make-up of the wider school population.   

Providing an engaging and challenging curriculum and other opportunities for learning and personal development are central but these should sit alongside ensuring that a highly able child feels acceptance and belonging, enjoys the normal and joyful experiences of childhood and growing up and has opportunities for autonomy as well as at times the company of their intellectual peers.

References and Resources

Barbara Clark, Growing Up Gifted: Developing the Potential of Children at Home and at School, 2007, Prentice Hall

Miraca Gross, Exceptionally Gifted Children, 2003, Routledge

Hilary Lowe, Identifying and Responding to the Needs of Exceptionally Able Learners,  NACE Essential

John Munro, High-Ability Learning and Brain Processes: How Neuroscience Can Help us to Understand How Gifted and Talented Students Learn and the Implications for Teaching, 2013, Australian Council for Educational Research Conference

Joseph M. Renzulli and Sally M. Reis, The Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A How-to Guide for Talent Development(3rd ed.), 2014, Prufrock Press

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Gifted and Talented Education Guidance on Preventing Underachievement: A Focus on Exceptionally Able Pupils, 2008

Nrich

PEGY

NACE CPD and resources and NACE Challenge Award