Another thing about gifted children

Gifted children are more advanced intellectually than their age peers. They can reason more rapidly and accurately with complex abstract material and this exceptional reasoning ability enables them to be more perceptive and insightful; grasping the essential elements of situations. Insightfulness leads to unusual approaches to problem finding, problem solving
and unusual solutions that are often not appreciated by others. Their rapid learning rate is associated with an unusual memory and excellent retention of facts.

This means there is a need for constant mental stimulation and if this need is not met, problems with boredom can result Intellectual complexity means being able to perceive multitudinous relationships in all things and this leads to a need for precise facts and exactitude. Demand for accuracy, exactness, precision of thought and expression leads them to be argumentative and can be a social liability.

For gifted children, nothing is as simple as it seems and so precision is needed to help sort out relationships and to enable decision making. True/false and multiple choice questions are extremely difficult for gifted children who see clearly that the answer depends on the context - they see endless shades of grey, not black and white. Seeing many layers of meaning in each situation, they quickly pick up mixed messages in social situations that leaves them very confused and embarrassed.

Gifted children have more intellectual curiosity and their need to understand drives them to seek knowledge. They need to make sense of the world, to understand the world, to create their own world. They also have a need to understand themselves, who they are, what makes them who they are, how they work.

As analytical thinkers, gifted children excel at critical examination: they can take things apart in their minds and see all the intricate ways that things could be improved. Acute self-awareness results when this critical examination is turned inward and focussed on themselves and they will be inclined to worry a great deal and be very critical of themselves. Intellectual complexity that is different from age peers can create great inner tension for gifted children. They can feel “different”, “out of place” “don’t fit in” “an alien”. They can experience feelings of isolation and aloneness. This internal tension is mirrored in external adjustment difficulties such as a lack of conformity to cultural expectations based on chronological age, problems in relating to age peers, and preference for older companions. (Silverman 1993)

Lack of understanding of the nature and significance of gifted childrens’ intellectual differences can result in their being seen as “weird” or “bad”. Without understanding, gifted children may try to ignore or deny their differences and this can lead to social isolation and emotional problems. If they do not understand their intellectual differences they will have difficulty in seeing them as positive and can develop low self esteem. Discussion of individual difference can promote valuing of their differences as a positive resource in gifted childrens' lives. Discussing difference to help gifted children better understand giftedness focuses less on the label and more on the accompanying behaviours e.g. quick learning ability; sensitivity to others' problems. It also prevents the child from equating better learner with better person.

Teachers and parents can use gifted childrens’ insightfulness by talking to the exceptional reasoning part of gifted children, asking them to solve their own problems and encouraging them to use insight into problems to promote change. This develops the inner resources for problem resolution and builds self confidence.

Of course, it is vitally important that gifted children be helped to find intellectual peers; others who share their curiosity, interests and values.