Talent Identification

Abstract

A considerable part of mental competencies is developed during the early years of life, essentially through sensorial and physical interactions that build up reference points for thinking and acting. However psychometric measures to evaluate babies and infants, up to age 5 or 6, are usually charged with ample margin of random error, generally explained by the diversity of individual differences in developmental rhythms; the same is verified with data collected by direct observation. To search for precocious children at the kindergarten level requires extra caution, because early signs of high ability can be only effects of precocity, that is, a rapid rhythm of neurophysiologic development. A possible exception could be the Intellectual Domain, where behavior expressing signs of General Intelligence (G Domain) and linear thinking preference (GV) can be observed in association with language development. The present study was designed upon such basis, aiming at validating observable clues and signs of ability and readiness for school learning in Kindergarten children; in the long run it expects to establish the proportion of false positive identification, (children identified for high performance at early ages, who later shows normal ability), and to examine the possibility of effective identification of intellectual giftedness at this age bracket, aiming at developing their potential into academic talent.

Keywords

• talento acadêmico
• educação infantil
• identificação
• potencial
• inteligência