A Conversation with Dr. Cheryl Blau

UNDERSTANDING GIFTEDNESS
Cheryl Blau, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D.
Giftedness Programming Coordinator and Teacher at the Grosse Pointe Academy

Q.  What does giftedness look like and how is it different from being very smart?
A.   While the research offers no single agreed-upon definition of giftedness, there is widespread agreement regarding the qualities characteristic of gifted learners, qualities that differentiate them from learners who are very smart and/or high achievers.  Gifted learners experience and display great intensity in their thinking, feeling, manner of conversation, and pursuit of interests.  They are insatiably inquisitive and typically ask profound, thought-provoking, sometimes unusual questions beginning at a very young age and throughout their lives which can pose problems for their teachers and peers.  They are keen observers of the world around them and enjoy noticing novel patterns, relationships, and connections among seemingly unrelated facts, events, and ideas.  They tend to be highly sensitive both emotionally and physically, perfectionistic, and extremely self-critical.  They learn and master new skills and concepts rapidly and easily and love to learn but often find school boring and academically unchallenging.  They display a clever and sophisticated sense of humor, enjoy engaging in deep, lengthy discussions on complex topics, and demonstrate creative, out-of-the-box thinking and problem-solving.  Gifted learners are often disorganized and may not be high achievers.  Additionally, many gifted learners are twice exceptional – that is, gifted and also dyslexic, gifted and also dysgraphic, gifted and also ADD or ADHD, or gifted and also struggling with a sensory integration disorder.

Q.  Why do gifted students need special academic programs?
A.  Gifted learners experience – or one might say, suffer from – asynchronous development. While significantly advanced in their cognitive development and abilities beginning even before they can talk, these children still have the emotional development, motor skills, and behaviors typical of their same-age peers.  Meanwhile, they are interested in topics and pursue an intensity of discussion about those topics that set them apart from their same-age peers, often resulting in difficulty interacting with their same-age peers and their teachers.  Gifted services and programs enable teachers to provide gifted learners opportunities to interact with like-minded peers, develop appropriate social skills, and learn to manage their emotional and sensory sensitivities while also learning skills and concepts at a pace and depth best suited to gifted learners’ complex and rapid cognitive processes.  While gifted learners might be able to survive without special programs and services, like other special populations of students, gifted learners deserve to have the opportunity to thrive in school, not merely survive it.  Gifted programs and services also enable teachers to better meet the needs of those students who are twice exceptional, such as those who are gifted and also dyslexic or ADHD.

Q.  How do schools typically identify which students are gifted?
A.  Public and private schools alike tend to rely largely upon student IQ test results to identify gifted students.  A minimum full scale (overall) IQ score of 130 is typically required for students to qualify for participation in giftedness services and/or programs.  However, students with a lower full scale IQ score who score at or above 130 on one or some of the individual IQ subtests may qualify for giftedness services in those areas.

Concluding Comments

Gifted learners are among the most underserved population of students in American schools.  This has always been the case and it remains so today.  Furthermore, although legislation exists at both the federal and state levels mandating that schools provide special services for those students in need of remediation, no such legislation exists mandating appropriate accommodations for gifted learners.  It falls then to parents and teachers to advocate for and meet the unique needs of gifted learners.