SOME KINDS OF INTELLECTUAL GIFTEDNESS RELATE STRONGLY TO ACADEMICS, OTHERS TO LEADERSHIP, AND STILL OTHERS TO THE CREATIVITY & WRITING.
The Creativity Short Form profiles the creativity areas in which the student is gifted, near-gifted, above average, average, or below average. This test is often used by schools for highly capable programs, as well as gifted and talented programs.
CREATIVITY SHORT FORM SUBTESTS
DFU: CREATIVITY USING FIGURAL UNITS
Academic Skill: creativity with things
Curricular Area: spatial/graphic arts
Strength if well-developed: good fluency and confidence with ideas
Consequences if not well-developed: will be inhibited in tasks without explicit instructions
DMU: CREATIVITY USING SEMANTIC UNITS
Academic Skill: creativity with words and ideas
Curricular Area: creative writing
Strength if well-developed: ability to produce ideas and put them together
Consequences if not well-developed: will be slow and/or vague in writing; probably poor in composition
DSR: CREATIVITY WITH RELATIONAL SYMBOLS
Academic Skill: creativity with math and symbols
Curricular Area: mathematics
Strength if well-developed: confidence and willingness to explore new math concepts
Consequences if not well-developed: difficulty understanding new math concepts; timid in exploring solutions
After reviewing the test results, if a student just misses your cut-off criteria, SOI has materials that can improve the student’s creative abilities.
It is important to remember two things:
- Intelligence can be taught. So, the near-gifted can be become gifted if they are given materials to match their needs.
- Conferences with parents of the near-gifted can be made positive. You can say, “Your child can become gifted,” rather than, “I’m sorry, your child missed the cut off by three points.”
SOI helps students who are not selected for the gifted program. When you test children to screen for gifted programs, the expectation is that 3% to 10% of the students will be selected.
What about the 90% who aren’t selected? The profiles for these students are just as valid diagnostically; they tell you where the students have strengths and where they need help to become better learners.
Whether your students are gifted, near-gifted, average, or below average, SOI has materials that can improve their learning abilities to make them a better learner!
