Gifted

Gifted children are those considered by educational systems to have significantly higher than normal levels of one or more forms of intelligence. During the 20th century these children were often classified by the use of IQ tests, but recent developments in theories of intelligence have raised serious questions about the appropriate uses and limits of such testing. The fact remains that there are those children who are beyond their peers and often feel either alienated or limited by those about them. Towards this end, many schools in both North America and Europe attempt to identify and to offer additional or specialized education for these students, in hopes of nurturing their talents. The general cutoff for such programs occurs around the sigma 2 level on a standardized intelligence test, children above this level being labelled 'gifted'.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Generally, these students learn more quickly, deeply, and broadly than most of the population; and generally operate at the same level as normal children who are significantly older. Many schools offer gifted education programs: however, many of these programs (by nature only targeting a portion of the population) are often cut back due to budget restrictions. For some children, the only educationally available options are homeschooling, grade acceleration, or early college. However, gifted children and their parents say that grade acceleration is not a very good solution, especially radical acceleration (more than 2 grades), since before long the child is ahead again. Also, the teaching style used for normal children is often boring for gifted children even if the concepts are new. For example, teachers tend to redefine a new concept several times and then give a number of examples, then let the child do yet more examples on their own. Most gifted children would understand the concept early on in this process and get bored.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These children are characterized by high reasoning ability, creativity, curiosity, a large vocabulary, and an excellent memory. They often learn to read early and can master a subject with few repetitions. They are also often very physically and emotionally sensitive, perfectionistic, and frequently question authority. They often perceive their teachers as their peers or even as inferior to themselves. Some have trouble relating to their age peers because of differences in vocabulary size (especially in the early years), personality, and interests, and so they prefer the company of older children or adults. Gifted children, especially gifted boys, are also more likely to have autistic tendencies or even Asperger's syndrome (a form of autism with good language skills). This may develop into High-Functioning Autism (HFA) later in life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Introversion is more common in gifted children. Gifted girls are more likely to conform and hide their abilities. One gifted six year old girl was described as reading quite well at home, yet at school her reading ability appeared average. It's possible there are different types of giftedness with their own unique features, just as there are for developmentally delayed people.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Giftedness is frequently not evenly distributed throughout all intellectual spheres: a child may excel in solving logic problems and yet be a poor speller; another child may be able to read and write far above grade level, and yet have trouble with calculations. It is very important for adults (parents, educators) to remember that this may be due to uneven skills rather than lack of effort.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is common for a gifted child to be picked on at school, as they are usually socially retiring. Though some suspect a correlation between giftedness and Social Anxiety Disorder, there is no research basis for this suspicion. The causality of such a suspicion (whether giftedness and a socially retiring nature causes SAD, or vice versa, or whether there is just a high "co-morbidity") is also unclear. Many gifted children turn out to be the computer geeks (a compliment) and scientists of society, as well as talented engineers, mathematicians, musicians and just about anything else they decide to turn their hand to — they can succeed extremely well at whatever they are actually interested in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some gifted children with heightened sensory awareness may seem overly sensitive to sight, sound, smell and touch — they may be extremely uncomfortable when they have a wrinkle in their sock, or unable to concentrate because of the sound of a clock ticking on the other side of the room. Gifted children are often bothered by the seams in socks and tags on clothes, which is a part of the heightened sensory awareness. Hypersensitivity to external stimuli can be said to resemble a proneness to "sensory overload," which can cause persons to avoid chaotic and crowded environments.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Others, however, are able to tune out any unwanted distractions as they focus on a task or on their own thoughts, and seem to seek and thrive on being in the midst of lots of activity and stimulation. In many cases, activities awareness may fluctuate between conditions of hyperstimulation and conditions of withdrawal.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some may find these conditions similar to symptoms of hyperactivity, bipolar disorder, conditions in the Autistic Spectrum, etc.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gifted children often perceive "average" tasks as mundane or mediocre, and are extremely unmotivated to work on them. Many teachers do not realize that it is more difficult to get gifted children to complete easy work than more challenging work. Gifted children are also smart enough to see when a teacher is giving them work that requires more effort, and some resist being pushed into doing more work than their peers. Therefore, they are often labeled as procrastinators, lazy, underperforming, and even unintelligent by teachers, who do not appreciate their giftedness and are not able or willing to help such children to make use of their gifts. The exact opposite is found to be true when a teacher finds a way to reach the children at their level. Sometimes that involves unlocking the children's talents in an unrelated medium, for example teaching them that the social labels that have been applied to them for years do not apply. In a real-life example, a student had been labeled as a poor performer for many years. The teacher that "changed his life" showed him that he had the ability to succeed in an area he had never before tried: the child was gifted in mathematics, but the teacher showed the child he also had the ability to write emotive, deep poetry. This helped the child realize that some subjects other than mathematics could be far from mundane, and that he could succeed in those areas too. Sometimes breaking the labels that have been applied to the student their whole lives of, "You're different" / "You are a procrastinator" / "You never turn in your homework" / "You can't do this" is the first step in helping the student, because it allows them to actually believe in themselves, and they begin to apply their talents to areas other than their core interests.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Columbus Group (1991) offers this definition: "Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many people believe giftedness is a quantitative difference, as measured by IQ tests, but a number of people have described giftedness as a fundamentally different way of perceiving the world, which affects every experience of the child. As one 'gifted' child said: "giftedness is not something one can turn on when needed; it is there 24/7".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These differences do not disappear when children become adults or leave school. Gifted adults are seldom recognized as a special population, but they still have unique psychological, social, and emotional issues related to their high intelligence, as illustrated by one woman's story.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A number of gifted children develop the INTP personality profile of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): description 1, description 2. The characteristics of this profile include the tendency towards social rebellion, the intense ability to focus etc.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of a gifted child is that whatever they do, they do to extremes. This explains the perfectionism, the performance, the focus, the level of achievement when they apply themselves, and even the complete and perpetual procrastination of what is perceived to be mundane!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Intelligence: Intelligence has several different meanings:...

20th century: The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. Common usage sometimes regards it as lasting from 1900 to 1999, but this is often considered incorrect due to the nonexistence of a "Year Zero" before AD 1. The 20th century is also sometimes known as the nineteen hundreds (1900s)...

IQ: redirect Intelligence quotient...

Gifted related Images and Photos (experimental)

Gifted Hands The Ben Carson Story (Paperback) Book

Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie - The Gifted Ones