Poverty and Low-Income Gifted

Identification of Gifted

This begs the question of whether the initial identification of giftedness and talent is related to family income. With such staggering numbers of children and adolescents living in poverty or below the median income level in the United States, it is important that educators look beyond the outward manifestations of income when identifying these special children. These outward manifestations may be related to poor hygiene, noncompletion of homework, and even acting-out behaviors that draw attention away from the [Page 692]child's or adolescent's unique talents and abilities. For example, Barbara Kerr and Robinson Kurpius found that when asked to identify adolescent girls who were at risk in some way and also talented/gifted, schools focused primarily on at-risk issues and were concerned with giftedness and talent second. Furthermore, the vast majority of these girls were living in what could be labeled poverty or low-income conditions. Family income influences teachers' perceptions of children and, therefore, may well influence their accurately placing these children in classes and other activities that would foster their creativity, talent, and/or giftedness.

Proper and equitable identification of persons chosen to participate in gifted and talented programs continues to be a problem. Under-representation of the poor, of minorities, and of the handicapped is particularly concerning. Perhaps this discrepancy is also related to the measurements currently in use. Typically, children are assessed using scales that address academic achievement and require a certain knowledge base. Children living in poverty or even in low-income families have many challenges just with basic survival. For example, according to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy, safety and security needs (food, clothing, shelter, safety) must be met before higher-level needs can be considered. Parents who make up “the working poor” may be so busy just trying to put food on the table that they don't have time to read to their small children; attend school events, which is often interpreted as parental support and concern; and may need to have older children miss school in order to care for younger siblings when the sibling is sick and the parent has to work. This certainly may hinder the academic achievement of gifted children if they are not in school where they can learn and expand what they know or if they are in families where books are not available nor is there time or support for them to visit local libraries. Even if these students check out books from the school library, expectation for helping at home may leave them little or no time to do homework, much less time to read extra books to expand their knowledge base and broaden their worlds. Although intellectual giftedness may be innate, it still needs to be nurtured and fostered so that it expands and develops as the child matures.

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