What is the difference between smart or knowledgeable children and gifted children?
In the Spring 2010 Waldorf Research Bulletin, Volume 15, Ellen Fjeld Kottker and Balaz Tarnai write a compelling article called, “Educating Gifted Students in Waldorf Schools.” They explain that in the past giftedness was linked with the concept of genius. “The sole use of intelligence tests are considered insufficient because they do not account for ethnic origin, language, schooling and acculturation.” A table is provided from the Danish Association for Gifted Children that distinguishes the difference between smart or knowledgeable children and truly gifted children. For example a smart child knows the answers, learns easily but a gifted child may have wild ideas, knows it already, and may be intense. ( There are many more examples listed than mentioned here.)

Kootker and Tarnai explain that ‘Giftedness’ is more than intellectual talent; it is creativity, memory, motivation, physical or manual dexterity, social skills and artistic sensitivity. Further studies have revealed that as many as half of all children with IQ scores above 130 receive below average grades and 13% of highschool drop outs could be labeled as gifted.

So how do Waldorf Schools educate the gifted child?
Sir Ken Robinson champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence in a 20 minute piece on TED called, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" However, this is not a new concept for Waldorf Schools but a reaffirmation of what we have been doing since 1919!
Kootker and Tarnai explain that although there are many approaches an individual teacher may take according to the dynamics of their class they will be guided based on the two principles of Waldorf education ; educating the child based on our profound understanding of child development and educating the child according to their individual needs.
“Intelligence, creativity, and other forms of giftedness are gifts of destiny that should be respected, enhanced and helped to grow. Intellectuality, in itself, is not a goal. Many of our brightest and most creative minds may be unrecognized and even falsely pathologized because of a lack of understanding. At Waldorf we will not ignore or misunderstand such a student, nor will we focus soley on that child’s gifts or immature accomplishments.”

A happy gifted child who enjoys his/her childhood is more important to most parents in the end than their talents alone and one can never lose sight of a student’s social-emotional health.
To read more you can purchase the Spring 2010 Research Bulletin, Volume 15 online Waldorf Library