Senses of seriousness and of fantasy

A child must learn to develop a sense of seriousness, an ability to distinguish degrees of seriousness as it relates to transgressions and expenditure of time; for example, a child must learn to distinguish between levels of seriousness in admonitions such as between "don't fidget" and "don't forget to look both ways when crossing the street", which have the same linguistic and normative structure, but different levels of seriousness.^[6][7]

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Individual differences and disabilities

An example of an item from a cognitive abilities test

Each person has an individual profile of characteristics, abilities and challenges that result from predisposition, learning and development. These manifest as individual differences inintelligence, creativity, cognitive style, motivation and the capacity to process information, communicate, and relate to others. The most prevalent disabilities found among school age children are attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability, dyslexia, andspeech disorder. Less common disabilities include mental retardation, hearing impairment,cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and blindness.^[2]

Although theories of intelligence have been discussed by philosophers since Plato, intelligence testing is an invention of educational psychology, and is coincident with the development of that discipline. Continuing debates about the nature of intelligence revolve on whether intelligence can be characterized by a single factor known as general intelligence,^[8] multiple factors (e.g., Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences^[9]), or whether it can be measured at all. In practice, standardized instruments such as the Stanford-Binet IQ test and the WISC^[10] are widely used in economically-developed countries to identify children in need of individualized educational treatment. Children classified as gifted are often provided with accelerated or enriched programs. Children with identified deficits may be provided with enhanced education in specific skills such as phonological awareness. In addition to basic abilities, the individual's personality traits are also important, with people higher in conscientiousness and hope attaining superior academic achievements, even after controlling for intelligence and past performance.^[11]