Is it a problem to be gifted? – Online Psychologists

It is called intellectual giftedness having an IQ that is much higher than average. Unlike having a specific ability or skill, which can be obtained through learning or acquired behaviors, giftedness, Normally, it is an innate ability for intellectual activity that cannot be acquired through personal effort.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a gifted person as someone with an IQ of over 130. It is estimated that 2 percent of the population is gifted, but more than 98 percent of cases are undiagnosed. Parents are usually the first to notice their children's intellectual superiority, although diagnosis often takes time.

Gifted people develop skills unusual for their age, which if not identified in due time and not enhanced, can lead to a delay in the child's intellectual development, as well as a maladjustment between this sphere and the other facets of personality due to an accelerated process of mental maturity, which implies that their emotional and social development will not be like that of other children.

It is obvious that the educational needs of these children are not those that correspond to those of their age. If they do not develop their full potential, a feeling of frustration which entails school failure. The former president of the Spanish Association of Giftedness and High Abilities (AESAC), José Antonio Montes, believes that a early diagnosisbetween two or three years of age, is the most appropriate time to ensure that this intellectual ability does not become a problem. Other experts agree with him that at these ages it is easier to identify high abilities, but they believe that it should be waited until five or six years of age to ensure that the child is gifted.

According to data from a report prepared by the Educational Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Education and Culture, there are around 300,000 gifted students in Spain, a term that was replaced by the term “Highly Able” students in the 2006 Organic Law on Education.

Pediatricians from the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) emphasize the importance of taking the necessary educational measures and informing parents on how to collaborate, since these gifted children improve quickly if the appropriate guidelines are followed.

According to Amparo Acereda, associate professor of the Department of Psychology at the Rovira i Virgili University, when a gifted child is not identified as such or is not intellectually stimulated, they may develop behavioral disorders which can be of two types:

Analyzing the problems associated with the intellectual growth of gifted children, several stages can be distinguished:

Gifted children find it difficult to make friends because their interests do not match with their peers of the same chronological age. For this reason, they tend to associate with children older than them.

Moreover, these children are raised very prematurely and intensely «the problem of limits«, limits of life (birth, death, the existence of God…), of time (prehistory, origin of the world…) and of the universe. This is a very complicated issue for parents who must face the question of a three or four year old child transcendence of the universe, life and the self, engaging in a dialogue that is in line with the child's intellectual and cognitive level, which has nothing to do with their chronological age. A dialogue that surprises them and for which they may not yet be prepared.

At this age, these children may experience two types of situations: isolate oneself from the group of friends or being the leaders of the class.

The common characteristic in this type of boys/girls is that they do not find friends with whom to share experiences since their intellectual maturity prevents them from meeting people with the same concerns.

On the other hand, gifted girls are shy and withdrawn, with a very strong sense of ridicule, they understand social relationships, abide by rules and at home they tend to show an aggressive or sad attitude.

These types of children are aware that they are different to other children of their age and therefore, they feel alone and do not show a predisposition to make friends with other classmates since they have fear to be rejected.

This affects their academic work because they perform below their potential, some even suffer psychological disorders because they do not manage to adapt at school and others fail at school. When this happens, they appear common factors among the gifted (anxiety, insecurity, isolation, feeling of manual and physical clumsiness, suffering from feeling that their interests are very different from those of their peers, incessant desire to read…). These traits are accentuated in proportion to their degree of intellectual abilities.

The most serious problems usually appear from this age onwards. At this stage, the most obvious symptoms are:

Teachers of this type of children/adolescents feel threatened because they have high critical observationa high analytical capacity and a marked one disbelief which forces them to question everything. In addition, they often go ahead of the teacher's explanations because they need a faster pace of work than the one set for them. Their hyperactivity is a nuisance in the classroom and the teacher does not know how to deal with the concerns that these children show. attention span is limited and this makes them inconsistent in completing activities. They feel permanently bored and need to be constantly encouraged.

They have a marked leadership ability and their reactions are usually very energetic, which sometimes causes a chilling effect. domain over others. They tend towards the search for freedom and feel a great tendency towards individuality since they are not bothered by loneliness and are very combative in any situation that they do not accept. All these problems are the result of a maladjustment between society and education. Therefore, a gifted child, in addition to the difficulties that any child of his age has, must also face those that arise from his intellectual giftedness.

These students are out of the ordinary and, if not treated appropriately, may suffer serious cognitive and emotional imbalances. Dysynchrony is the phenomenon in which the chronological, emotional and intellectual ages of some gifted students do not coincide. In order for them to develop harmoniously, acceleration – skipping a grade – and curricular adaptation can be used.

The problem that can arise in a gifted child is that he or she is simply above what they are taught in class; the same occurs with his or her comprehension and memorization, so that if the child already knows what they are trying to explain to him or her day after day, he or she tends not to pay attention, gets bored, and in the long run, loses the rhythm of the class, which can lead to academic failure.

A child with these characteristics who is not sufficiently motivated may have behavioural problems that are a response to the great frustration he feels. They may be aggressive, verbally and physically rebellious children, systematically denying authority. Or they may also be passive children, living in a fantasy world, avoiding contact with children and not defending themselves when they are attacked.

It seems paradoxical that gifted children can have learning problems. However, in 70 percent of cases, gifted children have poor academic performance and between 35 and 50 percent suffer from academic failure.

The lack of motivation This is often one of the causes of poor academic performance. Although gifted children learn easily, if the teaching plan is not appropriate, they may fail and have poor academic performance. Likewise, problems with sociability often appear, especially due to the lack of social role models with which the child can identify.