6 false myths about gifted children
We have a very stereotypical idea of what a gifted child is, however, we must know what reality is like so as not to harm their development and socialization.
For many parents the word ” gifted ” has the wrong meanings because it is a term about which many myths have been created. Movies, books and television series have drawn an image of the gifted that is fictional, not real. The first thing you think of when you hear the word is the typical eccentric lonely scientist who is brilliant in the field of science but who is very bad at social relationships. Nothing is further from reality. To demystify this idea we first have to explain that he is gifted.
Being the mean score of the population of 100 points, we say that a person has giftedness when he obtains an IQ (intelligence quotient) higher than 130 in an intelligence test. Perhaps the best known is the Wechsler scale or the Raven test of progressive matrices that gives us a measure of intelligence without the influence of the person’s culture.
On the other hand, we should not confuse the terms gifted, prodigy, talented and genius, since they are not the same but many are wrong.
-Outstanding is the one that obtains more than 130 in all areas of intelligence and it is believed that approximately 2% of the population corresponds to these levels.
-Talentous : is the one that stands out in a specific capacity, but not precisely in all. A person may be talented in mathematics but not in the verbal area.
-Prodigy: a child prodigy is one who stands out remarkably in an area before the age of 10, surpassing adults. For example, Mozart.
-Genio: not only does he get more than 130 in an intelligence test, he also innovates, creates, invents.
Index
1. THEY ALWAYS HAVE VERY GOOD SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
Thanks to new technologies and the rapid dissemination of information, this myth is no longer so believed, however, until a few years ago it was thought this way. Gifted children don’t always get good grades. What’s more, the opposite is usually the case. Children with high intelligence that is not diagnosed on time cause problems in the classroom. They are contested, restless, rowdy, and their grades are rather mediocre. It is the result of a poor educational system that does not provide the specific needs that each child needs.
Gifted children get bored in class, tune out, and get lost. They try to do other things in order to be distracted and they totally lose interest in academic activities, for them homework is a martyrdom, especially those that are mechanical. This situation is quite frustrating because you don’t need to repeat things as much to learn them. Unfortunately, this is something that many teachers and parents do not know and get frustrated when their children refuse to do their homework. How would you feel if you had to do one-digit additions for an hour every day?
2. THEY HAVE TROUBLE SOCIALIZING.
It is another false myth. A gifted child does not have problems to socialize, rather the opposite happens, they tend to have empathy and a lot of talk, therefore, social relationships take them well. Eye! It also depends on the child’s IQ, up to 150 there is no problem, however, above all, they are usually children (and adults) who prefer solitude and tend to isolate themselves, not showing much interest in other people, probably because don’t stimulate them enough. This is the case of the most intelligent known man in the world, William James Sidis, with an IQ between 255-300. He knew more than 40 languages and yet he did not like to interact …
3. THEY ARE ABLE TO LEARN EVERYTHING ON THEIR OWN
It is another myth. To begin with, gifted children are very different from each other, not only in terms of intelligence but also in terms of curiosity and motivation. Even with the same IQ, you cannot compare the performance of a gifted child motivated to learn with another who shows disinterest. For this reason, although they have a great facility for learning, it is vital that there is an adult to guide them throughout the process.
The problem is not solved by leaving the child with books and exercises from higher courses while the teacher focuses on the rest … That they learn at a high speed does not mean that they are fortune tellers , they need a teacher to teach them to do things and a Once they know they can be given more independence. In turn, the teacher is also in charge of motivating him and proposing extension projects so that he can satisfy his curiosity while advancing the syllabus with the rest of the class.
4. GIFTED CHILDREN ARE ECCENTRIC AND WILL REMAIN SO AS ADULTS.
Gifted people are neither eccentric nor more likely to have a mental disorder than the rest of the population. However, it is true that in general they are more sensitive to the environment. Let’s say that one of the reasons is that your brain has more interneuronal connections than the rest (it is better connected, works better and faster), however it is a double-edged sword because your neurons are also capable of capturing more stimuli from the environment and they are affected more intensely by the things that happen around them.
5. THEY ARE ALL PRECOCIOUS
Is a half-truth. Most of them are, but not all, as we said before, it depends on motivation, how curious the child is and the family environment at home , these factors could slow down the acquisition of skills such as reading or writing.
6. NOT JUST 2%?
Last but not least, it has always been thought that 2% of the population have giftedness, but lately people are beginning to doubt. A ome scholars claim that it is actually even that could be 1 per 25 (often confused with unsuspecting children with ADHD or Asperger). It is not clear why not all children are evaluated at school. Moreover, it is only done to those who really have problems in class, priority is given to them, to those who “are not doing so badly” and they neglect the rest in that sense, because in most cases the school does not It can cope with so many students and it can take years for them to receive the attention they need. Therefore, if you suspect that your child is living in the same situation, put pressure on the school (or see a private person) so that they can give him an education according to his mental age.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.