The role of cognitive style in transforming preschoolers’ gifted potential

Emerging, persistent cognitive style in young children is explored to better understand how gifted potential may be transformed or obscured as the child applies his or her abilities to tasks. During screening for MINDS ALIVE¹, a summer program for intellectually advanced 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds, detailed observations were recorded regarding individual response patterns in the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM), an academic skills readiness test (PIAT‐R), assessment session dialogue, and an individual parent questionnaire (SPPQ). Remarkable style consistencies between the screening analysis, summer program behaviors, and later reports of ability and styles at K and first grade were observed. This article presents findings on patterns and consistencies in children's attention to specific stimuli, solution paths taken, verbal or figural explanations for solutions, and types of responses and errors, suggesting relationships between individual cognitive style and observable manifestation of ability.