How do YOU define “Giftedness”?

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Oh yeah and I have a little trick where I can make people do things from across the other side of the room. They don't even know.

I call this "My Delusion of Grandeur". My daughter loves it. It's quite entertaining if you're waiting for a train or the pub is a bit boring or you're having a particularly rubbish day at work.

If you are talking about school in the USA…

It varies by state. A Gifted program means (usually) anywhere from 80 to 90 percentile in your IQ scores and/or standardized test. This is usually written into law, and all the public schools in that state will stay close to that. If they are going by IQ test then you also have to address “what does IQ mean?”.

Some people want to say “well everyone is gifted in some way, we all have gifts of one kind or another”. But if you were evaluated by a psychologist and he or she said “gifted” they were probably talking about IQ.

Context matters in this kind of thing.

So if someone told you that you were gifted that person is the best one to clarify the meaning. If you were given a written eval, read it carefully and ask questions.

Here is a good link to the standard and usual definition of “gifted” with regard to IQ.

https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm

https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/

https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/testing.htm



In the context of public school and a formal psycho-educational evaluation the dictionary definition may not be the way to go. Some fields have specific definitions for specific words. When there is a definition written into the law that is the definition that matters in some cases. Public schools and special education are bound by law.

Also:

Twice Exceptional:

https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/twice_exceptional.htm

I had a good chat with my daughter about this thread and asked her opinion, seeing as she was ID Gifted at age 10. In her opinion "Gifted" is a label they stick on High Functioning autistic kids (diagnosed or not), who get bored in their regular classrooms because they finish their work too quickly because of high intelligence and strong focus. It gives them an outlet to keep busy with self-directed work in another room (or sometimes integrated) so they aren't bugging their teachers for something more neurodivergent to do. She said everyone she used to know in her Gifted program went into the arts and/or ended up being ID HFA.

That sounds about right to me.

She also agrees it's kind of useless because everyone ends up in Uni with no distinctions such as "Gifted", and of course employers don't give a rat's ass what anyone's IQ or intelligence designation is, so long as they can do the job and have relevant work experience.

There was one idea I quite liked - to get the hyper-able one to help teach the others when they'd completed their own work. That way, the "gifted" one had something to do that didn't pull them away from their classmates. I suppose the downside is that their classmates might start resenting them if they're not used to it from an early age. There was quite a bit of disdain for the high fliers at my grammar school. They used to call them poofs.

I was deemed somewhat gifted myself when I was about 7 years old. There was one other kid who they also thought was gifted. They gave us something called a workbook which was full of questions that were a bit more advanced, for when we finished the ordinary work early. I loved it. They also got me to read a story to the rest of the class but that didn't work because I went and picked a cowboy story with cowboy drawl which I couldn't pronounce properly. So they stopped me before the story ended and before the other kids had torn all their hair out.

Later on I was the only one in the class who they didn't make write out essays in rough to be checked before doing it properly, because they reckoned I didn't need that step. But as the years went by I fell further and further behind, then pulled out of the tailspin just enough to scrape through my A levels. So I think giftedness is a product of the environment as well as the person. It's surprising how many things that look absolute are relative.

I believe it, bee. ^ ^

Unless you're applying for research grants or you're on tenure track, few employers will care about your academic achievements or general intelligence. Listing you education, qualifications, skills and work experience is preferred. If they want to know more they'll ask.

I think it is too easy to say IQ is meaningless. For me, one way it matters is that it helps me to explain to my two sons who struggle with school that they are not “dumb” or “stupid”. In fact they have above average intelligence but also have specific areas of challenge. (One is diagnosed ADHD and the other ADHD and Autism). Both have IQ scores that put them easily in the Gifted program in the public school. I don’t want anyone telling them they have flaws but no strengths. It is all too easy for a kid to see himself as “all flaws”.

Here is a good article on IQ:

https://www.mensa.org/iq/what-iq

This is a link to the page about Gifted education in our area in Pennsylvania in the USA.

https://www.pasd.com/academics/gifted_education

As I said, since this is a public school the Gifted program is related to the Law

“The term mentally gifted includes a person who has an IQ of 130 or higher or other factors (listed below) that indicate gifted ability. Gifted ability cannot be based on IQ score alone. If the IQ score is lower than 130, a child may be admitted to gifted programs when other conditions strongly indicate gifted ability.

The other factors to be considered include:
Achievement test scores that are a year or more above level
Observed or measured acquisition/retention rates that reflect gifted ability (how quickly a child learns new concepts or information, and how long he or she remembers it)
Achievement, performance, or expertise in one or more academic areas that demonstrates a high level of accomplishment
Higher level thinking skills
Documented evidence that intervening factors are masking gifted ability”

This is a link to a document about “Parents’ Rights”

https://cdnsm5-ss8.sharpschool.com/User ... udents.pdf

Here is a link that goes into more about the law:

https://www.ed-law.com/gifted-education-pennsylvania/

“Gifted education in Pennsylvania is governed by Pennsylvania law under 22 Pa. Code §§16.1 – 16.65. The purpose of this law, “Chapter 16,” is to provide an education to each identified student that is based upon the unique needs of that student. The district is required to identify eligible students.”