Talented Readers

Identifying the characteristics of and defining talented readers is challenging because no consensus exists. Research indicates that not all academically gifted students are talented readers, and not all talented readers are identified as academically gifted perhaps because of the wide variation of abilities in this population. This widely known research has had the result of precocious reading not being taken seriously by educators, who often believe that early reading is just decoding without comprehension. Many of these early readers are likely gifted but are overlooked for gifted education programs. Most current research suggests that gifted students' general learning characteristics differ from average learners in several ways: They usually learn faster than others; have the capacity to find, solve, and act on problems more readily; have a developed use of thinking skills; and understand and make connections about abstract concepts ideas more easily. Less is known about the characteristics of talented readers. This entry describes issues relating to talented readers.

Characteristics of talented readers have been described anecdotally, but little research has focused on these populations. They have been described as having exceptional reading ability and the capacity [Page 871]to understand textual information well above what would be expected of other students in their age group. Talented readers are often defined as reading approximately 2 or more years above grade level as measured by some reading assessment. Work in the last two decades has focused on identifying some of the characteristics of this group, although no common list of research-based characteristics exists. Sally Reis and a team of researchers at the University of Connecticut reviewed recent work that suggests that many talented readers read earlier than their peers, read at least two grade levels above their chronological grade placement, begin to read early and may be self-taught. It also suggests that some of these students are avid, enthusiastic, voracious readers who use reading differently for different purposes, spend more time reading than their peers, and read a greater variety of literature into adulthood. In addition, it has been suggested that they automatically integrate prior knowledge and experience into their reading; use higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation; and communicate these ideas. Several researchers indicate that talented readers display verbal ability in self-expression, use colorful and descriptive phrasing, demonstrate advanced understanding of language, have an expansive vocabulary, perceive relationships between and among characters, and grasp complex ideas.

Other anecdotal information suggests that talented readers possess an unusual capacity to process information as well as an ability to process thoughts at an accelerated pace, synthesize ideas in a comprehensive way, perceive unusual relationships and integrate ideas. Some may display an advanced ability to understand a variety of texts and have other language-related abilities, such as the ability to retain a large quantity of information, as well as advanced comprehension, varied interests and curiosity in texts, and high level language development and verbal ability. Talented readers understand that books can help them acquire information, clarify ideas, stimulate the imagination, and deepen understanding, and many highly able readers often have preferences for science, history, biography, travel, poetry, and informational texts such as atlases, encyclopedias, and how-to books. Advanced reading is a complex process made up of many subskills that vary within the advanced-reader population. Talented readers' skills are usually considered advanced only as relative to their peers and a common definition is challenging as peer groups vary. Judith Wynn Halsted identified a pattern for young talented readers that may change throughout their academic lives, finding that they initially teach themselves how to read before they start school, are independent readers by second grade, know their favorite authors by third grade, and have well-established reading patterns by fifth grade. Unfortunately, their reading level may drop off by the time they reach middle school as a result of increased participation in extracurricular activities or an absence of challenge in reading in school.

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