While an average intelligence score is 90-110, gifted kids will typically score well above this. Giftedness may also be somewhat hereditary and a child may score within 10 points of a sibling or parent.
Most gifted kids can learn and process information faster than kids their age and comprehend material several grade levels above their peers. But they are not always well-behaved, high-achieving students. In fact, neuroscience experts say that giftedness looks different in each child.
Although IQ represents only a partial expression of giftedness, according to a purely psychometric view, giftedness is defined by an IQ of 130 or higher, placing gifted individuals at least two standard deviations above the population mean.
Memory Retention
The gifted child can often recall information more quickly than other peers. Typically, there are three types of memory: long-term memory, short-term memory and working memory. Long-term memory is the ability to recall facts or information presented from a time more than a few minutes in the past.
Gifted students learn differently than their peers. They master new material and remember it more easily, understand relationships between abstract and concrete concepts, and tend to be more focused and passionate about topics of interest.
Without understanding and support, gifted kids face an increased risk of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, along with social and academic problems.
A gifted child can lose interest because she is not challenged or motivated. Gifted children can be difficult to match with an appropriate class because, although they are cognitively ahead, they may be socially younger than their age peers, which can result in behavior problems.
The research shows that while children are born with the potential to be gifted, the environment and nurture plays an important role in developing those innate abilities. In fact, researchers estimate conservatively that environmental influences can add 20-40 points on measured intelligence.
Gifted children commonly learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice. They are better able to construct and handle abstractions. They often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences that other children need to have spelled out for them.
Early reading children need grown-ups to read to them and show them the joys of reading for pleasure and information. When this happens, most highly gifted children will recognize the letters by age three, and recognize their names in print, know the alphabet, and “read” familiar signs by the time they are four.
Gifted students also tend to demonstrate high reasoning ability, creativity, curiosity, a large vocabulary, and an excellent memory. They can often master concepts with few repetitions. They may also be perfectionistic, and frequently question authority.
Gifted children are more prone to depression, self-harm, overexcitability, and learning deficits. A gifted student might be so paralyzed by her own perfectionism, say, that she refuses to hand in any assignments.
Many gifted children are strong-willed and, as gifted children perceive the world very differently than their parents, it often leads to confrontations.
Research reflects that giftedness does “run in families”: for a gifted child, their genetically-related relatives — siblings and/or parents — are likely to also be gifted, though there are plenty of exceptions.
Genetics do play a large part in being gifted, definitely. It has been thought that the brain of a gifted person can actually process information faster. However, one's surroundings are equally important. Nature and nurture are at work as some traits are genetic and others are learned.
While an average intelligence score is 90-110, gifted kids will typically score well above this. Giftedness may also be somewhat hereditary and a child may score within 10 points of a sibling or parent. The earlier giftedness is identified, the sooner exceptional talents can be nurtured.
Gifted children are challenging to parent in many ways. The more gifted the child, the more often it seems the more the parent is frustrated with the discrepancy of someone able to do school several levels above age level but unable to remember to take their finished work to school.
Common Characteristics of Gifted Children:
Enthusiastic about unique interests and topics. Quirky or mature sense of humor. Creative problem solving and imaginative expression. Absorbs information quickly with few repetitions needed.
Ability to see things from a variety of perspectives
Gifted students often find unique ways to view a situation or problem. They use their creativity and abstract thinking skills to find unique perspectives and solutions to problems, even when there is an easier way to go about solving.
Both gifted children and adults often have atypical ideas or ways of doing things. They tend to be highly passionate, very intense and extremely sensitive. At TheraThrive, we offer specialized counseling support for gifted children, teens, adults, couples, and families.
If you were a gifted child, chances are you've had some serious mental health struggles now that you're a gifted adult. Many of them may have stemmed from gift-specific traumas in your childhood, or even some that you're experiencing in your adult life.
Heightened Sensory Processing
Their “hyper-awareness” of the world around them may increase their physical discomfort to loud noises, scratchy fabrics, or pungent smells, creating anxiety around certain physical stimuli.
In addition to pressures from academic and family expectations, students who are gifted may struggle in school because of social issues. Some of the issues these students can face in school include: Embarrassment for being different or standing out. Bullying from peers due to their intelligence or differences.