My child is gifted

When a child scores 130 or higher on intelligence tests (falling in the top two percentiles) he or she is often considered gifted. However, it is about more than an extraordinary intelligence, because creativity and persistence also play a role. It's about a child achieving remarkably high scores in certain areas, from music to mathematics to art.

What is intelligence?

In principle, intelligence levels are often measured using intelligence tests, which then determine an IQ. Intelligence itself is difficult to define without sticking to the tests, as it is a term that originated from these tests.

David Wechsler (American psychologist): Intelligence is the ability to act with purpose, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment. Wilma Resing and Pieter Drenth (Dutch researchers): Abstract, logical and consistent reasoning; discovering, establishing, seeing through relationships; Troubleshooting; flexibility; independence; being able to solve new tasks with existing knowledge; discovering rules in seemingly disordered material. Robert Sternberg (American psychologist): Intelligence consists of a contextual aspect, an experience aspect and a component side. There is also a role for social cognition. David Goleman (psychologist): Besides intelligence, there is also emotional intelligence (EQ) Raymond B. Cattell (psychologist): Intelligence can be divided into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Howard Gardner (American psychologist): Intelligence consists of multiple aspects, such as verbal, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, physical, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Initially, giftedness was measured with the IQ, whereby the scores of the gifted would fall into scores higher than two standard deviations of the mean scores. This cannot necessarily be determined with an absolute IQ score, because the scores on different tests differ from each other and are therefore difficult to compare.

Features mentioned by Prof. Dr. Franz Mönks (see below): Extraordinarily good memory (if interested) Good at multitasking Great curiosity Great eagerness to learn Striking use of language Great knowledge of facts Great overall development Philosophical thinking (thinking about the meaning of life) at a young age Read a lot, collect a lot of information (broad interest) Often high sensitivity

High sensitivity Perfectionism Critical of adults Interest in complex topics (at a young age) Well-developed memory Mathematical insight Rapid language development Strong ability to concentrate

Black Americans have been found to score an average of 15 points lower on the intelligence tests that measure IQ. The question is, however, whether this has to do with race, or whether the tests measure something that is known to the Western and white population. In addition, it could also have to do with the (negative) expectation that the black population will work less well, which then works as a "self-fulfilling prophecy", in which people behave according to a certain expectation because this expectation exists. Likewise, it is often found that black people score better on fitness and sports tests than white people.

The CBO, as part of the Academic Center of Social Sciences of Radboud University Nijmegen, was founded as an initiative of Prof. Dr. Franz Mönks, who focused on the development of the gifted child. The CBO was part of developmental psychology for about nine years (from 1988 to 1997), but then it became part of remedial education. Today the Center for Giftedness Research is an independent department.

Although there is usually more attention for children with a (learning) disability, nowadays more and more education is being developed for children who need something extra.