Additionally, the necessity of finding gifted girls early in life is underscored by the fact that their advanced abilities, observable before they enter school, may be diminishing as a consequence to the educational process. Terman (1925) found that gifted girls talk approximately three weeks earlier than gifted boys. In an earlier study, Terman (1916) also found that girls surpassed boys in intelligence at all age levels up to age 14.

The use (and reuse) of intelligence testing requires careful scrutiny especially in the case of gifted girls. Several assumptions arise:First, that the most recent test in the most accurate assessment of ability;Second, that IQ scores of preschool children are less valid indicators of ability than scores of older students; Third, that males and females have equal opportunity to succeed on tests at all age levels.

The danger in the first assumption is particularly pertinent to gifted girls where the educational process may affect their responses in testing at later stages of schooling. A girl, who is tested in preschool and is identified as gifted, may then be tested again in late primary school and subsequently score a lower result for a variety of reasons including test anxiety and poor self-esteem. The earlier score must be seen as more accurate in this type of case (Silverman, 1986).

The second assumption does not hold for gifted students. The younger the child, the more opportunity she has to demonstrate the full range of her developmental advancement. At the preschool level, tests truly differentiate advanced development from normal developmental patterns. Differences in the cognitive abilities of five-year-olds and seven-year-olds are real and observable. However, by the late primary grades, the IQ tests tend to assess learning, which is more affected by socialisation than is development.

Finally, many of the social-emotional characteristics of gifted girls may affect their results far more than those of the gifted boys. Girls requiring precision and exactness are affected by timed tests. Their fear of making a mistake and lack of risk-taking often prevent them from guessing when they are uncertain. Their low expectations of success adversely affect their test performance.

It is important that gifted programs identify giftedness in the preschool and early primary grades - when gifted girls have their greatest opportunity to demonstrate advancement - and to mandate that the highest IQ score obtained on a child at any time be used to determine placement (Silverman, Chitwood and Waters, 1986).

Ref List
Silverman, L. K., Chitwood, D. G., & Waters, J. L. (1986). Young gifted children: Can parents identify giftedness? Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 6(1), 23-38.

Silverman, L.K. (1986). Whatever happened to the gifted girl? In J. Maker (Ed.), Critical issues in gifted education (pp43 - 89). Rockville, MD: Aspen Systems.

Terman, L.M. (1916). Measurement of intelligence: An explanation of and a complete guide for the use of the Stanford revision and extension of the Binet-Simon intelligence scale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Terman, L. M. (1925). Genetic studies of genius: Vol. 1. Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press

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