Precocious children
What is a precocious child?
«Super gifted», «awake», «high potential», «intellectually precocious» ... The definitions are wasted to indicate those children who have an intellectual development above the norm. Their initial peculiarity: an IQ (intelligence quotient) greater than or equal to 125, but not only ...
How to recognize a gifted child?
- From the very young age of the child, some clues can put the flea in the ear of the parents. First, before he is precocious, the baby is very awake. He often walks at 12 months instead of 14, speaks at 2 instead of 3 and can read before entering elementary school.
- From a certain age, seek the company of older children and try to increase their knowledge by asking many questions related to human existence, the universe ... A precocious child is often a perfectionist, anxious, and expresses himself with a fairly elaborate vocabulary for his age. He is friendly, he likes to joke and he always discovers new passions, even if routine tends to tire him.
- Is a precocious child very good at school? It should be known that precocity does not always mean good results in school, on the contrary. Since, even if they learn to read early and quickly, precocious children often have problems writing (dysgraphia). This paradox is due to the gap between intellectual and psychomotor development (dysynchrony). But the real school difficulties are felt above all at the beginning of middle school. Highly gifted children often tend to get bored in class, which often results in restless behavior or, conversely, absences and a tendency to be distracted. It therefore often happens that they have bad grades, are rejected, or are prone to dyslexia ...
- It should also be noted that precocious children are even more exposed to behavioral disorders. In addition to exacerbated sensitivity, psychosomatic disorders (headache, stomach pain, eczema) and sleep, they often suffer from anxiety, hyperactivity, tics, stuttering and more.
See also
Methods for detecting earliness
In addition to the child's behaviors and school results, there are two techniques that allow for the exclusion or confirmation of precocity.
- The IQ test: it is carried out by a psychologist and measures the IQ thanks to psychometric tests and reference values, called "Wechsler" (one test for children between 3 and 6 years, one for those between 6- 17 and another for adults), consisting mainly of an analysis of the reading level, a personality test and the creation of a drawing.
- Identification questionnaires: they consist of assessment schemes and serve to distinguish precocious children from the rest of the class. They are especially useful for teachers who are wondering about a child's abilities.
- In any case, it must be taken into account that a precocious child will not necessarily have an advantage in everything. For example, if he's very good at math, he won't necessarily be good at art too.
Adequate school and psychological support
Once the diagnosis of precocity has been issued, it is essential that parents become aware of the particularity of their little one (on an intellectual but also emotional level) and inform the teachers. There are several solutions that arise.
- As for the more sociable children, it is possible to leave them in the traditional school circuit, albeit with specific accompaniment.
- If the child feels out of phase with the children of his age, he can be integrated into a specific class, with more consistent programs and followed by specialized personnel.
- Another solution: study holidays for precocious children. The aim is for them to meet and do stimulating activities together (science, computer science, design ...), which will stave off boredom.
- Psychological support may be necessary to help the gifted child to express themselves and live well in everyday life.
- Finally, to allow parents to face the situation serenely and to better promote their child's development, there are various associations that can be of invaluable help (for more information, you can contact the Eurotalent association, (www .eurotalent.it)
