Giftedness is often misunderstood as only referring to extreme intelligence or achievement, but it can also include above-average empathy and creativity. Gifted children may exhibit curiosity, attention to detail, and abstract thinking, but may also be misdiagnosed with behavioral or mental health issues. Intelligence and talent are different, with gifted individuals often having wild and creative ideas and intuition, while intelligence excels at education and knowing answers.
Giftedness is a term that is often encountered with much confusion by the public, as well as by education and mental health professionals. A widely accepted, though broad, definition denotes a person who excels or has the potential to excel in critical or creative thinking, or in athletic or artistic endeavors. The term can also refer to a person who possesses an above-average capacity for empathy, which is also called emotional talent.
Most people assume that this term describes an extremely intelligent person, such as a genius or prodigy in some area of the arts, such as a gifted pianist. This hypothesis fails to recognize gifted people who have not shown great or unusual achievements. In fact, many of these people are labeled as lazy, underachieving, and unsuccessful. This is often due to the person’s confusion regarding their above-average abilities. Intake also tends to include highly intelligent people who, however, fall outside the definition.
There is a clear difference between intelligence and talent. An intelligent person excels at education and knows the answers to questions, compared to a gifted person who asks the questions. A person with high intelligence has great ideas, while a gifted person has crazy and wild ideas. One is alert, while the other is keenly alert. One intelligent person learns easily and the other already knows based on her intuition. IQ tests can indicate a very intelligent person, while gifted people can do poorly.
Gift is an innate trait that can be recognized in early childhood. Aside from its obvious cues, as in a musical prodigy, a gifted child can also grasp abstract concepts at an early age; have fun collecting peculiar things, like rocks, bugs and bottle caps; be intensely curious and attentive to detail; make connections between seemingly obscure things; and exhibit high creativity. These children also tend to prefer older peers, question authority, and appear mature for their age.
This trait is often not recognized in childhood. Sadly, gifted children are sometimes misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), or other behavioral problems and mental illnesses. Depression, anxiety disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are also often present. When these difficulties are not recognized as coexisting with giftgiving, the result is sometimes unnecessary or inappropriate medical interventions, as well as the pain and insecurity of being misunderstood by others.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
