FROM: Terry James Mohaupt Chairman,
Parent Affiliates tmohaupt@chicago.us.mensa.org
=================================
New York Times,
"Education Life", p. 10
July 31, 2005
How to ... Identify a Gifted
Child
By ABIGAIL SULLIVAN MOORE
DISCERNING gifted children,
long an imperfect science, is even tougher in today's
label-prone culture. James T. Webb, a clinical psychologist and author of
"Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults,"
explains what can go wrong.
Q. Parents throw the word
"gifted" around. What does it mean, really?
A. Gifted comes in different
forms and degrees. Gifted children excel in such areas as general intellectual
ability, specific aptitudes like math, creative thinking, visual or performing
arts. Most have I.Q. scores between 130 and 155. Above that range are the
profoundly gifted - a tiny fraction of the group. Over all, the gifted
represent about 3 percent of our population.
Q. Why would gifted children
be tagged as having psychological disorders?
A. Behaviors of many gifted
children can resemble those of, say, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Most teachers, pediatricians and psychologists aren't trained to distinguish
between the two. Most gifted kids are very intense, pursuing interests
excessively. This often leads to power struggles, perfectionism, impatience,
fierce emotions and trouble with peers. Many gifted kids have varied interests,
skipping from one to the other - a trait often misinterpreted as A.D.H.D.
Q. You write that these
misdiagnoses are common.
A. About a quarter of gifted
children have their giftedness misinterpreted as a disorder and aren't
recognized as gifted. Even when flagged as gifted, another 20 percent are
misdiagnosed. Among children referred to me with a bipolar diagnosis, almost
100 percent have been misdiagnosed, as are 70 percent of those with
obsessive-compulsive diagnoses and 55 percent of those with A.D.H.D.
Q. What's a parent to do?
A. Parents should educate
themselves about the characteristics of gifted children: intense curiosity,
unusually good memory, a remarkable sense of humor, exquisite sensitivity to
others and extensive vocabularies. And identify them early. Children's
attitudes toward learning get set before age 10. Preschool and the early grades
generally turn off gifted kids: they are told to stop asking so many questions
and wait their turn. They need an appropriate learning environment. If not,
seeds for underachievement are sown.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/education/edlife/howto.html?