According to the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), children and adolescents with high capacities or gifted they are those that show a high performance capacity in the intellectual, creative and / or artistic areas; possess leadership capacity or excel in specific academic areas.
According to the Educational Research and Documentation Center of the Ministry of Education and Science, the number of gifted in Spain is 300,000, of which only about 1% of students are identified. What are the signs that could indicate that we are facing a child with high capacities?
Some data to consider
First, it is important to indicate that according to the AEP, high intellectual capacity can be expressed in three different ways:
Excelling in all areas of intelligence (75th percentile), which would indicate a giftedness.
High score in one or several intellectual aptitutes, but not in all (90th percentile), what would be called talent
High intellectual capacity (gifted or talented) that also shows high creativity and productivity, which is considered a genius.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a gifted person as “one that has an intellectual quotient greater than 130" However, according to the Spanish Association of Gifted and Talented (AEST) the measurement of giftedness based on IQ is archaic Because high intellectual abilities are not homogeneous, there are talents of many types and each case is unique.
Steven I. Pfeiffer, a professor at the university in Florida and a psychologist specializing in high skills, explains on the AEST website:
“A child's ability can only take him away because of practice hours, training, feedback, parental support… All this is what determines whether a child with high abilities will end up being an adult with high capacities or not, and all those personal, family and psychosocial factors are as important as the abilities God has given us. ”
That is, that the stimulation that the child with high capacities has the environment in which he grows up, will favor that he develops his full potential and excels in his adult stage or that, on the contrary, he stabilizes or even tends to fail at school if his needs are not correctly taken care of.
Signs that may indicate high capacities
There are some traits that come to be common to children with high intellectual abilities and that both the family and the school usually perceive early. Although they do not have to occur all as a whole, if most of them usually converge.
Divided by age groups, these features would be:
From birth to two years
They raise their heads before the first month of life.
They say their first word around five months of age and recognize their name by 6 months.
They are able to hold a conversation at two years and their vocabulary is extensive and fluid for their age.
Memorize stories, sayings or songs towards two and a half years.
They control sphincters at two years.
They are able to draw the human figure around two and a half years.
They make 20-piece puzzles when they are two years old or two and a half years old.
Preschool stage: between three and six years old
They learn to read and write spontaneously between the ages of three and four and enjoy reading.
They have great imagination and creativity. They enjoy creating stories, stories, drawings ...
They show a privileged memory from a very young age and tend to be very perfectionist.
Sensory hypersensitivity, that is, they overreact to anything that alters any of the five senses such as excessive light, noise, a stinging tag or a strong smell, for example.
They tend to be very emotionally intense and also tend to worry and identify the emotions of others.
They usually show a very early interest in certain existential issues such as religion, morality, the universe or death. The interest in these issues can generate a state of anxiety that is difficult to handle, since they are not emotionally prepared to think about these kinds of things and that can cause them fear and insecurity.
They have an insatiable curiosity and understand the explanations very quickly.
They often mislead when something does not capture their interest. His brain is going so fast that everything that is not a priority for them stops in the background.
From the age of six
Being children with great creativity and imagination, they usually enjoy very specific and unusual activities for other children their age. They often like chess, which encourages their logical thinking and stimulates them by continually facing other children, calculus, which is a challenge and mental speed, or painting and music because it fosters their creative side.
They do not usually show interest in sports and this leads them to have poorer social relationships. They do not find hobbies or points in common with other children of their age (sports, cartoons ...), so they feel more comfortable interacting with adults with whom they usually share more interests.
They are very independent and competitive and do not like to lose, so sometimes they have tantrums or behaviors that could be considered below the emotional maturity that is presupposed by age.
They show a great sense of justice and an advanced sense of humor, great sensitivity, perfectionism, strong feelings and emotions.
They question any authority that makes no sense to them, so they cannot be set rules if they are not very well argued because they will not accept them.
They have a critical and divergent thinking, that is, they like to look for possible solutions to a single problem and they are very creative in addressing different issues.
Presence of leadership skills.
Giftedness, ADHD and school failure
Often, children with high capacities are misdiagnosed of ADHD (although in some cases they can converge both conditions) because they show great energy and enthusiasm for everything that interests them, and a boredom for what does not arouse their interest. However, the differences between the two are notable:
Photo via Spanish Association of Pediatrics This can lead them to get bored in class, to be demotivated if what they are teaching already dominates it, or even to get bad grades in certain subjects that are not of their interest. And it is that according to the Ministry of Education and Science 70% of gifted students have low school performance and between 30-50% school failure.
Therefore, and as indicated by the AEP, it is essential to identify early the high capacities to anticipate psychoeducational measures and avoid possible problems in the personal, social and academic fields.
If you suspect that your child may be a child with high capacities, it is best to go to a qualified professional to assess it, and also take into account that the legislation recognizes the special educational needs of these children.
Via AEP, Association of High Capabilities and Talents
In Babies and More Gifted Children
