Ophelia is a three-year-old British girl, whose IQ exceeds that of geniuses like Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawkings. Her parents realized that her daughter had great potential when she was only eight months old, but it wasn't until the daycare began when a psychologist specializing in gifted children confirmed it.
The little girl has a CI of 171, and as we can read in La Vanguardia, she is able to remember events that happened before her first year. Given this news we wanted to know more details about the IQ and gifted children: How do you get it and how important is it?
How is the IQ measured?
There are several tests to assess the intelligence of people, and the result of these tests will give us the intellectual quotient, which is the relationship between the mental age of the person and their chronological age.
As we can see on the AESI Association website, the majority of the population has an IQ between 85 and 115. As we move away from these extremes, the number of people is decreasing, and from 130 we only find two percent of the population.
As we read in the "National Report on the education of the gifted 2017," the definition of gifted is directly related to the intellectual quotient, and although there is no general consensus, the gifted tend to be identified with an IQ of 130 or higher.
In our country, the Ministry of Education estimates that around three percent of children have a higher than average IQ, although only one in 38 has been valued by qualified professionals.
In intelligence there is an important genetic component, but it also influences the environment and stimulation. That is, the person is born with a potential that will develop (or not) over time.Therefore, a child with a natural capacity above the average that does not obtain the necessary environmental stimuli (through family, school, environment ...) will not finish developing his full potential, even being able to reach school failure if Your needs are not properly met.
But the IC is not everything
But the human mind is too complex to reduce it to a figure of CI. In fact, WHO itself warns that this data cannot be used exclusively to determine people's intelligence.
Thanks to Howard Gardner, today we know that intelligence is multiple, and that there are different potentials, abilities and skills that are not quantified in the traditional tests for measuring IQ. In this way, we would talk about linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalistic intelligence.
The importance of emotions
On the other hand, and as they explain to us from the Spanish Association of Gifted and High Capabilities (AESAC), intelligence cannot be understood without the emotional part, hence the importance of psychologically supporting gifted children.
Olga Carmona, a psychologist specializing in high skills and giftedness, explained it this way in an article in El País:
"A gifted person who is not adequately managed emotionally is bound to fail cognitively. The risk is significantly higher than in the normal population, because they are more emotionally vulnerable."
It's not just a matter of intelligence
In the aforementioned, "National Report on the education of the gifted", it is explained that intelligence is a very general mental capacity which, among other things, implies the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, understand complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. When we talk about gifted people, we are talking about children with extraordinary intelligence that can be detected from very early ages.
But the extraordinary intelligence presented by gifted children does not allow them, per se, to face any academic or psychological situation, as is mistakenly believed.And it is that a gifted child not only has a much higher than average intelligence, but a personality, creativity, sensitivity and temperament that they develop differently from other children their age. If these specific needs, both emotional and educational, are not properly identified or addressed, the child may have emotional imbalances, stress, sadness and even depression.
That is, and in short, having an IQ above the average is not always a guarantee of academic or emotional success if you do not work properly, nor do you get adequate support.
What to do if I think my son is gifted?
As a general rule, parents are the first to detect that their child's development is different from that of other children of his age, something that teachers often confirm when the child starts school.
We have already talked on occasion about the characteristics that gifted children have, so, in case of any suspicion it is essential put as soon as possible in the hands of specialized professionals To make a complete diagnosis and offer parents and educators a series of guidelines to understand and support the child in their behaviors, their way of thinking, acting, seeing life ...
It is also important talk about giftedness naturally and not hide it. Treating it as a taboo subject or not acting so that "the child normalizes over time" is, according to experts, a mistake that could lead to school failure and serious emotional problems.
If you find yourself in this situation and are looking for support and guidance, we recommend you check with the Spanish Association of Gifted and Talented (AEST), the Spanish Association of Gifted and High Capabilities (AESAC), or the Association for Emotional Support for Gifted Child-Youth (AAESI).
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