Olivia Nattey was just two years old when a child psychiatrist friend happened to suggest to her mother, Sarah, that the toddler's communication skills were a little out of the ordinary.
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Olivia was what they termed "verbally precocious" – but since she was Ms Nattey's first child, she hadn't recognised the advanced level of her language skills.
"It was a friend of mine's parents … who asked 'do you think maybe there's something slightly different about Olivia?' and I said 'no – she just likes to talk a lot'," Ms Nattey recalled.
The conversation was a typical one for parents of gifted children but set Ms Nattey on a path of researching the needs of her bright child.
"I think it's commonplace for parents to not want to make a big deal out of it – say 'oh they couldn't possibly be bright – where could they have got those genes from' – that sort of response," she said.
But gifted children need to be identified. Underachievement or behavioural issues can crop up if parents and teachers are not keeping them challenged and engaged in learning.
The ACT Department of Education has launched a series of fact sheets to help parents recognise whether their child is gifted, and advise them what to consider when making decisions for their education.
"The [ACT] policy is based on Gange's theory of giftedness and he advocates that about 10 per cent of every school population would have a gift," Jeni Page, principal of Arawang Primary School said.
"Some of the characteristic features you see … they are often reading books at a higher level, you find that they are very quick at picking up concepts, they think more deeply or they can problem solve really well.
"The best thing about these fact sheets is they will just help parents think through some of the things that confirm their own views of what's actually happening and take it further."
The fact sheets include guides of what to consider regarding when to start school, whether to skip ahead grades, and how to meet the emotional needs of a gifted child.
Olivia Nattey, now 10 and in year 5 at Arawang Primary, has an individual learning plan designed to keep her challenged and engaged with her schooling, particularly in her strengths of science, maths and English.
"Just because you're gifted and talented doesn't mean you're good at everything," Ms Nattey said. "It means you're good at a couple of things – probably really good at a couple of things – but you can still forget your hat or still forget your lunch on the kitchen bench."
