Adaptation and content validity of instruments for precocity and giftedness identification in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The precocious child expresses advanced abilities and knowledge for his or her age, without having received formal instruction that justifies it. The earlier the precociousness is identified, the greater are its chances of optimization and attention to the needs from fast rhythm of development. Precociousness may be indicative of giftedness and there is a lack of validated instruments for its identification. The aim of this study was to adapt an instrument for the identification of precociousness and indicators of giftedness in order to use in early childhood education and to analyze its content effectiveness. The Checklist has been analysed for the Identification of Precocity and Indicators of Giftedness by a Committee of Experts, which evaluated the characteristics that can be verified in the preschool context. The items were submitted to the calculation of the Content Validity Index and those that did not reach the minimum 70% agreement between the evaluators were excluded. In addition, the qualitative analysis of the items resulted in a rate of 63 items that received frequency markers on a three-point Likert scale, and the instrument was named Escala de Identificação de Precocidade e Indicadores de Altas habilidades/Superdotação, versão Educação Infantil (EIPIAHS-EI) - (Identification Scale of Precocity and Giftedness Indicators, Early Childhood Education version ).