{"id":345697,"date":"2020-02-17T16:49:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T16:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/are-gifted-children-at-high-risk-of-school-failure\/"},"modified":"2020-02-17T16:49:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T16:49:32","slug":"are-gifted-children-at-high-risk-of-school-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/are-gifted-children-at-high-risk-of-school-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Are gifted children at high risk of school failure?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having a gifted child (HP, “haut potentiel”), also called an EIP (intellectually precocious child) or “surdou\u00e9,” is without doubt a wonderful thing. But this difference needs to be spotted as early as possible, before it turns into difficulty. Against all expectations, a high intellectual potential can sometimes come with learning disorders, relational difficulties and anxiety. Why is the gifted child more exposed to these risks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No classroom without a gifted child!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are more and more of them. Who doesn’t know a child described as gifted or precocious among family or friends? Saying your child is precocious does seem to have become fashionable. Why? Diagnosis has become increasingly systematic. Paradoxically, it isn’t so much the intelligence and achievements of these particular children that push parents and school psychologists to have them tested. It’s more often the relational difficulties or learning disorders that lead families to question the possible causes of these issues.<\/p>\n

“Giftedness is a difference, not a superiority.”<\/p>\n

Nicolas Guberan, psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Mont-sur-Lausanne<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The image of the brilliant gifted child seems to have given way to that of the child struggling at school. Against all expectations, behind a restless child with learning disorders may hide a very high potential! A child who spoke very early, walked before children their age, and learned to read before turning 6 has a 1-in-2 chance of school failure and a 1-in-3 chance of never reaching secondary school (lyc\u00e9e). In physical education, the picture is unambiguous. The ball keeps slipping away, coordination is far from optimal due to lack of practice, and the child rightly feels different and isolated.<\/p>\n

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Why does giftedness expose children to more difficulties?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Boredom, the enemy!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

How can a child stay focused in class when the teacher offers limited activities, questions that are too obvious, or exercises that are too easy? The gifted child understands most lessons before their classmates. They finish classwork before everyone else and end up losing motivation to do it at all. Uninterested, the precocious student looks for other ways to occupy themselves: fidgeting, chatting, developing anxiety. Generally, as soon as the teacher gives them more intellectual stimulation, all these disruptive behaviours disappear.<\/p>\n

Blending into the crowd<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For some EIP children, fitting into class takes the form of intellectual regression. In other words, to live happily, live hidden! These precocious pupils pretend not to know, just to be like everyone else. By only doing what’s asked of them, they set aside their potential and abilities to make friends or to be called on again by the teacher. Indeed, it isn’t rare for a teacher to stop asking a child who already knows all the answers. In the worst cases, the pupil may even lose all interest in school and its lessons.<\/p>\n

The trap of easy success<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Studies of the gifted child’s brain have shed light on their way of thinking. Simply put, the EIP’s brain draws on a wider network of neurons and can activate other areas as a result. As a result, to answer a question, the child tends to proceed by analogy with situations they’ve already encountered, by intuition. They manage to synthesise and process all the information available to them in a global way. This ability can lead to learning disorders, particularly an inability to perform routine tasks (copying, reciting\u2026), avoidance of effort, and a lack of learning strategy. Indeed, their high capacity to find an answer without effort spares them from having to learn a method or make a real effort to understand. For this intellectually precocious pupil, justifying a correct answer to a maths problem is often impossible. In secondary school (coll\u00e8ge), the difficulties intensify. While they coasted on their verbal ease in primary school, the gifted teenager becomes overwhelmed by their overflow of ideas, their bursting creativity, and their slowness in writing. With results that reflect none of their potential, they can drift dangerously away from their schooling!<\/p>\n

Writing is no ally<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Writing difficulties are almost systematic in HP children. Clumsy, slow handwriting often leads the pupil to refuse to write. Dysorthographia<\/u><\/a> is a DYS disorder that frequently accompanies HP and EIP profiles. Unfortunately, since writing is a cross-cutting skill, all subjects are affected by this weakness and school results decline.<\/p>\n

Hypersensitivity and anxiety on the agenda<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Held back in their creativity and in expressing their talent, gifted children are often unhappy at school, where the system tries to normalise them. These pupils are very often hypersensitive. Endowed with extraordinary empathy, they often tend to take on their classmates’ burdens, at the risk of emotional overload. This hypersensitivity also shows up on a sensory level. This heightened acuity of one or more of the five senses allows HP children to perceive sounds, smells and all kinds of sensations more intensely. Perfectionist and uncompromising in the face of injustice, these little EIPs also have a sharp sense of logic and precision. These profiles more easily develop OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), which is harmful to learning. Being anxious, they perceive danger with greater intensity. They can spend a lot of time recopying their notes out of a concern for perfection, or laying out their school supplies meticulously on their desk. All signs to take seriously!<\/p>\n

DYS disorders muddying the picture<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When a child has one or more learning disorders (dyslexia<\/u><\/a>, dysphasia<\/u><\/a>, dyscalculia<\/u><\/a>, dysorthographia<\/u><\/a>\u2026), the HP diagnosis is extremely difficult to establish, because the disorder delays the suspicion of intellectual precocity. A DYS and HP child will be seen as “average,” because the disorder will get in the way of detecting their potential. Having difficulty reading and writing while paradoxically finding school too easy and boring is frankly more than confusing! A feeling of incomprehension, of not fitting in, and of being out of step should lead parents to have a precocity diagnosis carried out. Cases of HP children also carrying ADHD<\/a> (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are also very common. Yet the diagnosis is very hard to make, since the attention deficit reduces the relevance of the results.<\/p>\n

“When a sharp, intelligent child is failing at school, it’s worth asking whether their giftedness is combined with one or more learning disorders.”<\/p>\n

http:\/\/cerene-education.fr<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The importance of diagnosis<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although difficult to establish, identifying these pupils’ intellectual precocity makes it possible to put in place teaching methods suited to their potential and to any disorder involved. Putting words to the difficulties, but also to the opportunities the HP child can draw on, is a real lifeline for those who saw themselves as different, who couldn’t find their place, and who suffered a constant sense of being out of step. Ignoring these children’s particular way of thinking also represents an increased risk of school failure. The teaching staff, health professionals and family must move forward together so that these gifted pupils’ creative abilities and originality can come through in the best possible conditions. To support parents in this process, ORA has designed speech therapy<\/a> and psychology<\/a> follow-up solutions with health professionals and private tutors available online, anywhere in France and around the world. A practical, effective solution that eases the logistical burden of appointments and regular trips to a practice. An HP child remains a gift, one that simply needs to be spotted so its finest resources can be drawn out, and the sooner the better!<\/p>\n

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