What is Giftedness?

Gifted Children are those who have a demonstrably heightened ability or potential in one or many areas. These aren’t necessarily academic areas: gifted children often demonstrate heightened emotional intelligence and deep thinking. A common misconception is that gifted children demonstrate their abilities fully and get perfect grades. Many such children are bright but are grouped under different criteria.

These individuals excel in their ability to think, reason and judge, and often need specialized education courses for their highly developed curiosity, comprehension, and self-awareness. A person’s giftedness cannot be defined nor quantified. No gifted individual is the same as any other, and it is important for educators and guardians to understand this and treat them accordingly. There are six main types of gifted people. Often, the more expected version of an intelligent child is the only one attended to, whereas this is only one of the six types.

In different places around the world, giftedness is measured with different categories. For example, in Illinois, you are classified as gifted if you reach the top 5% of Aptitude in America. However, many gifted children who do not fall under the categories of bright or successful, are overlooked. This is because giftedness is a separate notion. Although giftedness cannot be based solely on IQ, most people agree that we can loosely categorize IQ. The IQ range of the general population comes between 85 –115. Gifted children fall between:

• 115 to 130: Mildly gifted

• 130 to 145: Moderately gifted

• 145 to 160: Highly gifted

• 160 or higher: Profoundly gifted

However, it needs to be more widely understood that giftedness is not marked solely by IQ. Exceptionality can be found across a range of domains, including but not limited to deepened thinking.

Giftedness tends to make your brain work differently from the norm, and not all these tendencies are positive. Giftedness is not considered a disability or disorder; however, some gifted people are on the Autism Spectrum or have ADHD, ADD, OCD, or like conditions. These people fall into one of 6 types of giftedness called ‘Twice Exceptional’.

A Gifted Brain

• Only 3 – 5% of children worldwide are considered gifted, however, only 1 – 3% are considered highly gifted.

• The top 2% of IQ in the world is 132 and above.

• Giftedness is partially genetic, therefore some are not identified, as they are considered normal in their family.

• Gifted children are born with their abilities, whereas bright children work hard for them.

• 90% of identified gifted children are type 1, the successful.

• It is estimated that 40,000 students across NZ are gifted.

• Approximately 50% of gifted students are unidentified.

• Research shows that between 1 in 50 and 1 in 200 high school dropouts were gifted.

Giftedness does not go away. However, some gifted children’s abilities can be suppressed or overlooked, whether purposely by the child or not. This can be because of a lack of awareness of different types of giftedness, or because of the child’s will to fit in. If this masking is done on purpose, the child may fit into another one of the 6 main types called the ‘Underground’ gifted

It is important to remember that a child who does not exhibit perfect behaviour is not automatically ruled out from the possibility of being gifted. It is often the opposite, in fact. Gifted children can be tantrumatic, high maintenance, or moody.

Asynchronous development, a term often applied to gifted children, refers to uneven development. Gifted children may perform at a very high ability in one or more academic areas, but poorly in social and emotional contexts. Such children could act either extremely maturely or immaturely. Gifted children often lack studying skills, and they may procrastinate. This is because, throughout most of their schooling, they have been able to pass effortlessly through school without trying. They could also be underachieving. Reasons for this could be:

• Special needs or ‘Twice Exceptionality’

• Lack of motivation

• Psychological issues such as perfectionism and anxiety

• Depression

Intervention is often required for these common behaviours. Though gifted, children can’t get over the mental mountains that the double-edged sword of giftedness brings on its own. Open talks and counsellors are often helpful.