The Gifted Child
Michele Rock
I. Description of the issue. How “giftedness” is defined continues to be debated. Some suggest that it is primarily determined by an individual’s intelligence quotient based on standardized testing. Given this more restrictive definition, the “cut off point” for giftedness may still vary. However, usually a child with an IQ 2.0 standard deviations or more above the mean (i.e., IQ 130) would be considered gifted. At some point, parents of gifted children will likely need to understand how the U.S. Department of Education defines giftedness: “… students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities.” In 1993, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) revised this definition and stated that “outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor.”
Giftedness determined solely on standardized IQ tests may exclude children from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Children with diverse cultural backgrounds or those with learning or physical disabilities are also less likely to be identified as gifted. Given the diversity of children, schools, and communities, a “local” definition of giftedness is often proposed.
II. Epidemiology. The number of children in the United States identified as gifted depends on the definition applied and methods employed to screen and assess gifted children. The most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics in 2006, estimates approximately 3 million U.S. children are considered gifted. This is likely an underestimate as many children go unrecognized and there are no systematic assessments for children for creative/artistic gifts.
III. Making the diagnosis. Parents may first raise the question of their child being gifted at routine healthcare maintenance while discussing developmental milestones. When children master developmental milestones early, parents may begin to wonder if their child will continue to exhibit early acquisition of skills or “giftedness.” For the school-aged child, parents may present to primary care clinicians after the school raises the idea of giftedness or if their child is having difficulties at school that the parent feels is attributable to a curriculum that is not challenging enough for their child.
A. Signs/characteristics (see Table 48-1). In addition to early acquisition of developmental milestones, parents of gifted children may describe their child as having an excellent memory, imagination, and curiosity. Parents may also report that their child has a large vocabulary, strong phonemic awareness, and reading skills and exhibits other preacademic skills ahead of expectations. Precocious infants do not necessarily become precocious children. No single characteristic or group of characteristics is considered pathognomonic for “giftedness.”
B. Assessment. Prior to school age, assessments will often require advocacy on the part of the parent and clinician to find a psychologist in their community; it may be especially difficult to find one with training and/or experience in evaluating gifted children. For the school-aged child, parents may find it helpful to access general information on their state and local policies on gifted and talented educational programming, available funding, and resources prior to requesting the school evaluation. It is important before any formal assessment to explore with parents what “giftedness” means to them. Early high performance on psychological and/or academic achievement testing is not necessarily predictive of future performance.
IV. Management.
A. Home. Although some literature has endorsed an increased occurrence of emotional and behavioral difficulties in gifted children, other research reports no increased risk. Regardless, parents may seek support and benefit from guidance in the following areas:
1. Parental expectations. Exceptionality in one or more areas does not mean a child may not have difficulties in other areas. Asynchronous development is common for gifted
children, and parents may find it challenging if their child seems to struggle in other areas of their development. Parents may set too high expectations and pressure their child to demonstrate “exceptionality” in all areas. There may also be a tendency to “over schedule” a child rather than nurture specific interests that the child would like to explore. Remind parents to praise and help their gifted child focus on “process” over performance and outcomes.Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
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