Giftedness

Giftedness is a combination of exceptional intelligence, creativity and persistence. The IQ is often taken as a measure. People usually refer to giftedness at an IQ from 130 and up (tested by means of the WISC). This means that people with scores in the top two percentiles are perceived as gifted. 

You are not necessarily gifted when you achieve high grades in school, or if you have a photographic memory. Being gifted is more than just school achievements and being ‘smart’. Giftedness means, among other things, thinking differently from non-gifted people.  

Symptoms of gifted children can be (but doesn’t necessarily apply to all gifted children):

• Great curiosity and eagerness to learn.

• Lots of energy.

• Excellent concentration, meaning that the child can manage several tasks at the same time. 

• Well-developed memory

• A special sense of humor and/or a feel for play of words. 

• High levels of empathy and commitment. 

• Thinking about the meaning of life at an extraordinarily young age (toddler for example). 

• Does lots of reading and information gathering. 

• Has lots of factual knowledge, a great general development, and an interest in complex subjects from an early age on.

• A rapid language development that is noticeable at a young age. In addition, striking language use (use of difficult words, large vocabulary). 

• Mathematical insight that is noticeable at an early age (kindergarten or primary school). 

• Perfectionism and (being able to) set high expectations for themselves. This doesn’t mean that gifted individuals are perfect students, but rather that they (can) set high expectations and goals for what they consider as important. This can lead to great fear of failure when they cannot meet the demands they set for themselves. 

• A critical attitude towards adults (and teachers). Gifted children often struggle to ‘properly’ express their criticism, which could make them come across as being cheeky or disobedient.

Heredity is a meaningful component of giftedness. The social environment has a major influence on its development, both positively and negatively. 

A big consequence of not recognizing giftedness is underachievement. Gifted children who are not - or incorrectly - stimulated in their development, sometimes underperform. This means that the gifted child performs worse than you would expect from their capabilities. A common cause of underperformance is lack of challenge (it is too easy). This can result in boredom, which could lead to a serious lack of motivation, causing the gifted person to underperform. Another complication caused by lack of challenge is that gifted kids often develop poor learning strategies and study methods. Gifted kids encounter less difficulties in primary school, meaning they can easily get by with just their strong memory. This works fine for a while, until they start high school or higher education when they all of the sudden problems with studying arise: they didn’t develop proper study methods.

We have developed Leren Leren (learning to learn) especially for these children. 

Underachievement can have other causes, like emotional problems or lack of motivation. This can also happen because the child does not want to stand out among peers. At home, the child can already read fluently, for example, but at school the child pretends that it has to make as much effort to learn to read as the peers. 

Underachievement always has negative consequences for the child. For example, underachievers can develop a low or false self-esteem. Some get depressed (and even show suicidal behavior), or are perfectionists. Others develop anxiety (for bacteria for example) and get stomache aches (school sick). It also happens that they end up in social isolation. 

At the Kinderpraktijk, in order to determine giftedness, we test children based on Heller’s model. This model presumes that humans are composed of twenty-five parts. This means that – even with a IQ score lower than expected – a statement can still be made about the level of giftedness of the child. Giftedness is not a DSM-related disorder. 

After giftedness has been diagnosed, children still get stuck regularly. The Kinderpraktijk offers training that explains to these children what exactly is going on and how they can deal with the feelings of being different. Topics covered are: underachievement, boredom, feeling lonely, learning styles. Of course, we will also provide many tips on how to deal with the struggles they might encounter.