Could My Child Be Gifted?

If you spend any amount of time with a gifted child, you will notice gifted children are not like typical children. The minds of gifted children progress much faster than their bodies and you will feel like you are talking to a very short, underdeveloped adult. Gifted children are, in fact, very different than their typical peers. Gifted children experience the world differently than a typical child will and will form different conclusions from the same experiences.

Developmental psychologists believe that gifted children progress through life stages faster than typical children. Since their minds are progressing so much faster than their bodies, they become out of sync. Gifted children also have a heightened awareness of their environment and can find it hard to regulate all of the stimuli coming at them. Kazimierz Dabrowski, a Polish psychiatrist, theorized that gifted children have more emotional, imaginitive and intellectual overexcitabilites.

IQ tests used to be the standard for identifying gifted children. Now, it's thought that IQ alone can't label a child as gifted. Other factors responsible for a gifted label include creativity, motivation and high self concept. Self concept is how a person perception of themselves in regards to their gender, race, or even in academics. Gifted children show a high level of potential acheivement in academics.

There are five different degrees of giftedness. One in six people are considered bright with an IQ of 115-129. An IQ of 130-144 is moderately gifted and is approximately one in fifty people. Highly gifted accounts for one in one thousand at an IQ of 145-159. And IQ of 160-174 is excepetionally gifted and is only one in thirty thousand. At the highest level is profoundly gifted with an IQ over 175. Only one in three million have an IQ this high. Most IQ tests aren't accurate for children with regards as to how gifted they truly are. Children who are gifted in arts and literature tend not to score as high on traditional IQ tests as they are verbal and mathematical in nature.

Gifted children tend to learn quickly and memorize fast with little repetition. They are very curious and have a vast imagination. Most have a high vocabulary due to their great memory and probably due to reading at high levels. Gifted children are great at reasoning ability. Gifted children can also be very emotionally sensitive and perfectionists. Some find it difficult to relate to their peers because of the differences in vocabulary and motivation. Most gifted children prefer to spend time with older children or adults.

Some gifted children have such a heightened sense of awareness that it may be confused with Sensory Processing Disorder. Gifted children might be overly sensitive to sights, sounds, touch, and smell. This sensitivity many cause a gifted child to avoid situations where these stimuli might be present. Other gifted children thrive in a sensory stimulating environlemnt.

Raising a gifted child can be overwheling for any parent. The child is on a constant quest for more knowledge. Some fear that parents of gifted children are pushing the children too much, but often we find ourselves running to catch up. It can be especially difficult if your gifted child is overly sensitive to external stimuli and is diagnosed with or behaves as though he has Sensory Processing Disorder. Work with your child's teacher to keep your child stimulated and learning appropriate materials at home and at school. Don' forget it's also important to let your child just be a child once in a while. Though your child may act like an adult, remember he's still a child and will act like one at times.