Tip: Pay attention to gifted children ✨
As adults, we tend to assume that “gifted children” have got it all figured out. Teachers mostly ignore gifted children to focus on children falling behind. Parents tend to focus on helping the “normal” or “behind” sibling too. This happens despite research showing that gifted children need adult guidance too. So the next time you’re around a gifted child, make sure you don’t ignore them :)
Insight #1: Gifted children have 7 traits 😲
The Indian National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) observed gifted children for a year and identified 7 traits that most of them had:
Lower Cognition: Acquire, recall, and perform relevant information efficiently
Cognition and Meta Cognition: Reason, think critically, solve novel problems; and control, modulate, and reflect on one’s cognition
Curiosity: Be inquisitive to understand and fill specific knowledge gaps
Language: Acquire language and to use it expressively, flexibly, and appropriately
Task Commitment: Turn motivation into action (e.g. hard work, endurance)
Creativity: Generate novel yet appropriate responses from unusual associations
Ethical and Socio-emotional Maturity: Understand and manage emotions, cultural values and ethics
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Insight #2: There are 6 types of gifted children 😲
The NIAS also divided the gifted children into 6 categories:
Successful: Obedient high achievers who get bored easily, especially because they learn systems fast and use minimum effort to get by. Dependent on the system, so lack creativity and autonomy
Challenging: Divergently gifted, with high levels of creativity. Do not conform to the system, often fight teachers and parents. Schools don’t typically recognize their abilities, which upsets them. High risk of drugs and delinquent behavior
Underground: Generally girls who deny their talents to fit in with a non-gifted peer group
Dropouts: Frustrated children with low self-esteem and chronically unmet needs. Express themselves by being depressed or withdrawn. Counseling is highly recommended
Double labeled: Gifted children who are physically or emotionally handicapped in some way, or have a learning disability. Systems over-index on their weaknesses
Autonomous Learner: Children who make the system work for them. High self-concept, self-acceptance, self expression, and risk-taking ability
Insight #3: Most gifted children become professors 😲
One of our favorite studies with gifted children is Vanderbilt University’s Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY). It’s been following the same set of gifted children for over 50 years. Here’s what they found about the jobs gifted children tend to take up:
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You can see more of their results, like what gifted children are interested in, and how their priorities shift as they age, here.
Resource: 5 tips to connect with gifted children 😍
According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, here are 5 tips to connect with gifted children:
Advocate for them: Listen to them (especially when they say their needs aren’t being met), and safeguard their curiosity
Follow their lead: Give them opportunities to explore different things but don’t push
Let them do hard things: Let them fail, and teach them resilience
Don’t forget about the whole kid: These children don’t know when they burn out, so watch out for their happiness and physical health
Put the pedestal away: Praise their effort, not their achievement. Their work should be praised, so their outcomes don’t receive too much unhealthy attention
To recap: gifted children can be very successful, especially when supported properly. There are different kinds of gifted children, and they deserve your attention as much as other children :)
We hope you learnt as much as we did this week!
Until next time,
With love and bear hugs,
Koa & Shriya 🥰✨