When identifying a gifted child who is very young, there is a group of signs to look for, even before the child is able to speak and read. See the article, Identifying a Gifted Toddler for more detail on what characteristics signify giftedness in a child. Children and adults will exhibit many of the following traits, which can be used to identify giftedness at any age.
In the most recent four or five decades, the concept of giftedness has evolved into a more concrete state. As it so happens, many older children and adults, particularly those that were raised in rural environments or home schooled, may never have been given the gifted label, even if they are in that population.
Identifying Gifted People by Behavior Cues
Evaluating these elements may help determine a previously unidentified gifted person:
- Feelings of being misunderstood by others or feeling like an outsider
- Craving solitude and time for thinking
- Readily identifying patterns and trends in behaviors or events
- Feeling a very strong and demanding creative impulse
- Tendency to be superior in many fields so it is difficult to choose a career
- Tendency toward a perfectionist perspective.
Common Emotional Elements of Gifted Persons
There are similar emotional development tendencies in gifted people including the following:
- Tendency to retain a childlike quality to their lives and emotions
- Frustrations with the shortsightedness of others
- Exhibiting risk avoidance because they understand more about what is at stake
- Tendency to develop more emotional problems but also can deal with them better
- Tendency to question authority and authority figures
- Very well developed sense of humor and irony. They "get it".
Intensely perfectionistic, some gifted people develop neurotic tendencies like obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fortunately, they can be successfully treated for anxiety disorders and are more likely to seek treatment than normal people. The gift of superior reasoning and rationality are part of the gifted person's inner domain.
There are very limited studies available on the gifted population and the tendency toward drug abuse and clinical depression, as well as other types of mental illnesses. Though the facts are not scientifically conclusive, it seems likely that the gifted suffer from such issues as much as other people.
In summary, there are certain emotional and behavioral attributes that can be commonly associated with gifted children and adults. Many older adults may be gifted, but may not have been identified as such as children, as the definition of giftedness has evolved over the last few decades.
Giftedness is associated with perfectionism, superior conceptual thinking and the need for isolation for thinking and creativity. Though gifted people are at least as prone to mental illnesses as others, they are more likely to identify a problem and seek appropriate treatment for it.
Was this helpful? Read also For more information on emotional needs of the gifted, read Emotional Health and the Gifted Child.
Source:
Delisle, James R., Parenting Gifted Kids, TX: Prufrock Press, 2006.
Therese Haberman - With a MS degree and 25 years in HR mgmt, in 2005, Ms.Therese began a writing career specializing in children and HR.
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