Identifying the Gifted - Who is Gifted ?
A Response to the "All Children are Gifted" Comment
Gifted Adults -Can you hear the flowers sing? Issues for gifted adults
How to Charm Gifted Adults into Admitting Giftedness: Their Own and Somebody Else’s
Social & Emotional Issues: What Gifted Adults Say About Their Childhoods
Working with the Gifted
Successful strategies for teaching gifted learners
Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom
Characteristics of Gifted Children and Adults
There are some traits of introvert people that can contribute to the feeling that most gifted people have of being different from the rest.The extroverted is easily accepted in society because his tendency to share his emotions make the others feel comfortably with him. If he is gifted, he may use his intelligence to assume a leader position. An introverted gifted person has a double challenge in his attempts to socialize. The distrust that inspires an intelligent person in those of lesser intelligence is aggravated because the introvert is reluctant to open himself emotionally. The feeling of insecurity that most gifted people experiment can also be made greater for the introvert’s tendency to think before acting, contrasting with the normal behavior of acting first and then think.
According to K. Dabrowski’s, gifted people are over-excitable–they have a higher than average responsiveness to stimuli. Stimuli may affect one of the psychomotor, sensual, emotional, imaginative, or intellectual areas, or a combination of them. Over-excitability in the emotional area of the personality can be matched with the emotional intensity and sensitivity already mentioned.
An independent behavior that is not restricted by social rules is a characteristic of gifted people. They do not mind acting in a way that may be disapproved by society. In addition, an independent thinking is observed, which is not guided by common prejudices.
Divergency is a modality of mental processing in which the mind, faced up with a problem, seeks non-conventional responses. The divergent thinker is able to provide creative solutions.
A ‘weird’ sense of humor is usually present in gifted people. Things that make them laugh are not the same that make the rest laugh. This type of humor is produced by a philosophical point of view that leads to perceive the incongruity of many everyday situations and even to laugh at oneself, which is not comprehended by the majority.
The gifted person strives to maintain consistency between actions and values. This is related with the moral concern already mentioned–a part of morality consists in keeping parallel what one says and what one does.
A sense of purpose is innate in gifted people. Sometimes called ‘entelechy,’ it means that life must have a goal for the person, that something must be actualized and must not remain as a mere potentiality. If the accomplishment of this purpose is thwarted by circumstances, the person may be led to a life of mere subsistence.
Other traits that have been mentioned as appropriate to gifted people are: creativity, imagination, insight, intuition, openness, impulsiveness, curiosity, high energy level, perceptivity, low tolerance for frustration, easiness in getting overextended, reluctance to delegate, projection of exorbitant standards onto others, persistence, resilience, risk-taking, self-discipline, self-efficacy, tolerance for ambiguity.
Differentiating characteristics of the Gifted - Possible problems
Huge store of facts. Superb long term memory. - Boredom and impatience in class or meetings.
Very fast thinker. - May get frustrated with others who think slowly in comparison
Very advanced comprehension - Hates rote-learning. Gets called "Smart- Alec" or similar. Irritated by the level of presentation of school work or meetings.
Creative thinker. - May be seen as disruptive.
Long attention span on things of interest. - Resents being interrupted. May not even listen.
Highly curious. Many interests. - Starts many projects - perhaps does not finish them when the concepts have been drained and the work becomes tedious. May not work well in a group
A high degree of Norm-referencing. That is the act of comparison of oneself to others. - May become arrogant or élitist if not given the opportunity to mix with intellectual peers. Over inflated self esteem. May be intolerant of others and call them stupid. Alternatively, may down-grade performance in order to fit in or simply hide abilities.
Great verbal ability. -Dominates discussions. Uses this skill to avoid doing difficult tasks.
Advanced use of language. - This may alienate the child from age peers.
Generates original thought. - May be argumentative, oppositional to others set ways of thinking. Resents conformity.
Sees off-beat solutions and has wild opinions. - Frustrated at not being understood. Others might consider the person odd or weird.
Persistent and goal-directed - Others may view this as stubborn and uncooperative.
Thinks in abstract terms very early in life. -May be preoccupied with death or the meaning of life. Might reject detail in favor of concepts which may be seen as disrespectful by others - e.g. atheist belief.
Deep thinker - Hates deadlines and therefore might avoid doing work at all rather than do half a job.