Let’s Talk Gifted Kids.

Are there downsides?

Let’s start with some facts about gifted individuals. Being gifted and talented is more than just IQ- it can be exceptional talents, creativity, arts, academic skills etc. A gifted child may present as precocious, curious, motivated, and creative. They make up less than 2% of population, and are often first-born or only children. Being gifted, likely many things, results from a combination of biological make-up (i.e., highly heritable; twin studies) and some environmental role for particular skills nurtured. My feeling is that gifted intellect should be a formal “disorder”, given the significant aberration from mean in abilities, as these children require specific supports- in addition to their strengths.

Neurobiologically, gifted children tend to have longer neuron dendrites and complex connections within the brain and increased coordination between different parts of the brain. On formal IQ testing, this often is portrayed as a split between verbal and nonverbal IQ, with generally higher nonverbal nonverbal than verbal. As such, these children experience synchronous development between academic and social-emotional/executive functioning skills, which may look like: advanced moral reasoning, questioning things often, focusing on big picture vs. details, a tendency toward fixation and hyper-focusing, and thinking differently and learning quickly.

From an emotional and behavioral perspective, often, the higher the IQ, the more they struggle socially and emotionally, as they tend to experience anxiety and other emotions more intensely. Many will prefer interactions with older children and more often engage in solitary play, often have different values, interests and feelings, intellectual similarities more important than age, Gifted children are often physically and emotionally sensitive (sensory sensitive, sensory seeking, physiological anxiety), perfectionistic, leaders and non-conformists, and tend to have high academic self-esteem and low social self-esteem.

From an academic perspective, it is typical for gifted children to demonstrate boredom and hyperactivity in the classroom, writing can be frustrating because motor output cannot keep up with mind, and group work only beneficial if other students have similar academic levels and motivation. Disengagement in school is a high risk for gifted students because of social isolation and lack of engagement/interest, and they sometimes burn out if internal or external pressures are too high. Some gifted learners enjoy and benefit from virtual learning, especially those who are introverted or learn at a different pace. Gifted children require teachers that can demonstrate connection and support their questioning and critical thinking, open-ended assignments, challenging and complex learning experiences. Gifted children often do best with teachers who have similar intellectual and academic profiles to them who feel confident in this domain; It is also important not to skip basic and foundational skills, even if advanced.

Now, there is a difference between enrichment (better for more profoundly gifted) and acceleration (maybe better for mild to mod gifted). Per the research, positive effects demonstrated by gifted programs nationally and internationally. These days, most public school gifted programs are “pull-out” and only a couple of hours per week, The research also shows that many public school-based gifted program are only beneficial for “mild or moderate” giftedness (1-2 grades ahead), while for more significant and profound giftedness (4-6 grades ahead), they likely cannot be served by traditional education and often require outplacement. Overall, it has been shown that gifted children tend to perform better when they are match in their ability group vs. age.

It is important to note, that removal of public gifted programs have the greatest impact on minority populations and smaller/less funded school districts, as gifted programs can supplement lower-quality or less-challenging academic instruction, further exacerbating the lack of equal services and programs for gifted children of color or lower SES. Shockingly, white and affluent students are 6 times more likely to be labeled as gifted.

In terms of parenting and the specific challenges of raising gifted children, we know that parents are a huge influence on long-term outcomes (in terms of drive, motivation, opportunity, and personality traits all big factors). The child’s awareness of a “gifted” label is not always beneficial for the child (elitism, self-fulfilling prophecies). It may cause conflict when the child’s intellect/talents are very different from parents due to lack of understanding on both sides. Parents sometimes have unreasonable expectations and may unintentional put forth pressure for fame, success, scholarship, etc. It is important to identity true motivations and interests, as gifted children are sometimes threatened by rewards and competition.

It is essential for parents to listen, accept, and affirm children’s needs and interests, allow for mistakes, encourage taking risks, and to promote autonomy and flexibility. Research has shown that an authoritative (balance between permissive and overly strict structured) parenting style is most effective, in combination with frequent discussions and explanations whereas an authoritarian (strict/structured) is associated with increased perfectionism and low self-esteem. Moreover, finding appropriate schooling can be stressful and feel like a burden secondary to limited options, difficulty finding the right balance academically and emotionally, and high costs of private schooling. Many gifted children benefit from clubs and extracurriculars, as cohesion and bonding have been shown to be very important for these children.