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Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability higher than the average. It starts at the birth of a child and continues throughout the life-span. People often interpret that a child id born with giftedness, which is not true. Many children are born with the potential of giftedness but very few actually grow up in a way that they become intellectually gifted, for their entire lives.
It increases a person’s ability to learn and makes him or her more emotional, sensual, imaginative, etc. Intellectually gifted people usually have an IQ level of 150 or above.
How is it identified?
Identifying intellectual giftedness is something that can be identified at a very early age- in pre-school. Teachers observe the students based on their academic performance, co-curricular participation, achievements, etc. there are various behavioral traits-both positive and negative, that make it easier to identify someone gifted. They are as follows:
Positive Traits-
1. Curiosity
A gifted person would be extremely curious about everything. This will often lead to inquisitiveness which can easily be seen in any situation. Inquisitiveness can be regarding certain facts, studies, rather anything and everything around the person.
2. Good memory
The memory power i.e. the ability to remember things easily and a long period will be seen in a gifted person. It will be very easy for him or her to read certain things and remember them for quite a long time. good memory can also be seen if a person identifies another person who was seen by him a few months or even years ago.
3. Strong math skills
Usually, most of the people we know do not like math. Even if they do, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are extremely good at it. Gifted people often demonstrate high order thinking skills when it comes to math.
4. Unique thoughts
Gifted people often show uniqueness when it comes to ideas or solutions to various things. the idea of a gifted person might be different from the general idea suggested by around 50 people when asked the same question.
5. Great reading skills
A gifted person often reads any content provided to him or her very quickly and efficiently with no chance of making a mistake in any word. This shows how fast his or her brain works.
Negative traits:
1. Can not work in groups
Since the IQ level of a gifted person is higher than the average, it becomes very difficult for him or her to work in a group with other people where integrated and common ideas have to be adopted to achieve specific goals in a certain direction.
2. Impatient when not given attention
Such people often become impatient and restless if they are not given adequate attention in any situation, be it at home, at school, or in a professional body.
3. Easily bored
If a job is required to be repeated again and again to achieve the desired goal, a gifted person will not be able to do so since it will be very difficult for him or her to perform the task repeatedly. He or she will get bored very quickly.
4. Critical of themselves or others
These people are often critical of themselves or others., they tend to judge themselves on others too soon and it might not turn out to be a true image of the person they judge. They also might be too harsh too on themselves based on the judgment they have passed on something they did.
5. Can not focus well
They often tend to diverge their attention from one thing o another while performing it. This is because they get bored very easily and tend to get off their initial task.
Types of giftedness
There are 5 types of giftedness that are mainly divided into the following categories-
1. The Dropouts
These people are the ones who are not identified as gifted ones in society at an early age. their high intellectual ability at an early age might lead to some negative feelings in their peers towards them since they are the ‘know-it-all’. This, in turn, leads to them being left out in many situations. They might feel neglected and as a result, feelings of frustration and anger may reside in them. Once identified, they are highly recommended to see a counselor.
2. Autonomous learners
They do not fit in the pre-developed society with specific ways to be followed for pre-determined work. These people usually become so successful in lives that people work under them and follow their ways of performing their work such as un multinational companies, etc.
3. The Underground ones
Such people are often seen hiding their giftedness and withdrawing themselves from situations that will prove their intellectual ability to be very high. They do so to fit well among their group which consists of the non-gifted peers.
4. The Challenging type
These gifted people are extremely very creative and intelligent which leads to fights between them and their parents or teachers or peers. These fights take place because their abilities are not recognized by society. Unfortunately, this group of gifted people often indulge in self-destructive activities such as drug and alcohol use, etc. This also means that in a way their giftedness goes waste to some extent since it is not used up to its full potential, or even near to it.
5. The Successful Ones
This group mostly consists of children who are identified as gifted ones at an early age, usually schools. Therefore, they learn how to fit well in society with their extraordinary intellectual ability. Furthermore, they are also loved by parents and teachers. Although, they can easily get bored at school while doing what the other students are doing simply because their minds work faster and on a higher level.
Written by - Hunnar Kaushal
Edited by - Chhavi Gupta
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