GARDNER'S MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Over recent years there has been a shift from narrow definitions of giftedness to broader, more inclusive ones. One reason for this has been the work of Gardner who maintains that we all have not one but seven intelligences, which interact to give us our individual patterns of abilities. His seven intelligences are quite separate in that a person may have high ability (or potential) in any one, or more, of them without necessarily being good in other areas. Gardner's proposed intelligences are: • verbal/linguistic • logical/mathematical • visual/spatial • bodily/kinaesthetic • musical/rhythmic • interpersonal • intrapersonal. According to Gardner we should be more interested in knowing how our children are smart and how we might encourage and develop their abilities. This does not mean that all children are gifted, but it does suggest that many more children have the potential to develop a talent than we have recognized previously. By providing variety with a choice of activities from all seven intelligences, parents or teachers are giving children a greater opportunity to experience success. Furthermore, a child's strength in one intelligence can be used to help her/him develop skills in weaker areas. For example, a child may learn spelling better by visualizing words as a whole (visual/spatial) rather than by sounding them out letter by letter (verbal/linguistic). .