understanding gifted children
DESCRIPTION
Slides of our talk to the Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted or WAETAG. The talk includes gifted learning differences, intensity, perfectionism, sensitivities, twice exceptional diagnoses, motivation, temperament, brain research.TRANSCRIPT
Brock Eide M.D. M.A. and Fernette Eide M.D.
Slideshare.net/drseide
A DyNaMITE Perspective on Learning and Development in Gifted Children
Understanding Gifted Children
Abnormal versus Pathological
• Gifted children really are “abnormal” in a statistical sense, which sometimes leads to the suspicion of disorder.
• Most parents of gifted children have “moments of doubt.”
• Behavioral rating scales may lend credence to concerns
DSM UsesA Single Perspective...
ObservableBehavior…
Doesn’tconsidercontext.
Inattention• Careless mistakes• Difficulty sustaining attention• Does not seem to listen• Does not follow through on instructions, fails to finish work• Difficulty organizing tasks• Avoids, dislikes, activities requiring sustained mental effort• Often loses things • Often distracted• Often forgetful
Hyperactivity• Fidgets, Squirms• Often leaves seat• Runs about, climbs• Difficulty playing quietly• Often “on the go”• Talks excessively
ADHD (DSM-IV-TR)
Impulsivity• Blurts answers• Difficulty waiting turn• Interrupts or intrudes on others
Either 6 or more of first or second column
Aspergers Syndrome (DSM-IV-TR)
Impairment in Social Interaction: 2 of the following:• Impairment in eye contact, facial expression, gestures• Failure at developmentally appropriate peer relationships• Lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment• Lack of social or emotional reciprocity
Stereotyped Patterns of Behavior: 1 of the following:• Interest – abnormal in intensity or focus• Inflexible adherence to routines or rituals• Stereotyped mannerisms• Preoccupation with parts of objects
Disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or otherNo delay in language, cognitive development, self-help not PDD or schizophrenia
Gifted Traits: A Two-Edged SwordGDC Characteristics of Giftedness
• Reasons Well• Learns Rapidly• Extensive Vocabulary• Long Attention Span (If Interested)• Sensitive• Shows Compassion• Perfectionistic• Intense• Morally Sensitive• Strong Curiosity• Perseverant Own Interests• High Degree of Energy• Prefers Older or Adults• Wide Range of Interests• Questions Authority• Vivid Imagination
Result: Diagnostic “Mission Creep”
• Edward Hallowell, Driven to Distraction
“Once you understand what it’s [ADHD] about, you’ll see it everywhere.”
Aura of tidiness and simplicity creates: soccer field diagnoses
Simple, or Simplistic
“Probably justPDD-NOS”
“Do you think Jennyhas Asperger’s?”
“Rachel, stopPicking flowers And watch the ball!” “She’s inattentive”
“Or maybe hyperfocused”
Gifted Children are Complex and Chaotic…
• Can’t completely plan and control.• Must observe and respond.
If observable behavior is too narrow, What’s a better
perspective from which to view these children?
Key Question
Understanding the Gifted Child:The Five “DYNAMITE”
Perspectives
1. Development 2. Neurobiology (“wiring”)3. Motivation/Interest4. Temperament5. Experience
Gifted Development Is Often Uneven
WISC-III VIQ (VRI) / PIQ (PRI) Discrepancies – 18 Points or MoreControl Sample 17.0 %Gifted Sample 54.7 %
Sweetland, Port Washington School District
Development
Favored Routes of Processing May Change at Different Ages
Development
When performing similar tasks,children use more visual images,
and adults use more precise verbal terms.
Schlagger, WUSTL
Age
Developmental Patterns Differ By SexAuditory and Visual Attention Improve With Time
And Differ by Sex.
Boys Poorer Auditory Attention in Elementary SchoolBehavioral Checklists Don’t Consider Developmental or Gender Differences
Development
Vuontela U Helsinki
Disorders with time frames:• Dyslexia/Dysgraphia• Autism Spectrum Disorders• ADHD • Birth Injury/Sensory Processing Disorder
Development
Different Learning Challenges ProduceDifferent Time Courses for Development
Catts U Kansas
Young GiftedChildren Have
Thinner CorticesBefore the Age of 10
Then Thicker BrainCortices in the Teen
Years
Gifted Attention Matures LaterThe Higher the IQ, the More Delayed
Executive Function (Prefrontal) Maturation
Delays may be especially pronounced for children with sensory processing and motor coordination deficits.
Shaw, NIMH
•Working memory and executive control•Self-knowledge and self-regulation•Experience•Speed and fidelity of connections in the brain
These changes are produced by growth in:
The child of today is not the same as the child of last week or month or year.
Development
Understanding Family PatternsIs Critical Because
Atypical Developers Run in Packs
You’ll never really understand the Beav until you also know Ward, June, and Wally.
Development
Understanding the Gifted Child:The Five “DYNAMITE”
Perspectives
1. Development 2. Neurobiology (“wiring”)3. Motivation/Interest4. Temperament5. Experience
1. Enhanced Sensitivity to Sensory Patterns2. Enhanced Memory Efficiency and Capacity3. Greater Potential for “Creative-Corporate Thinking”4. Enhanced Capacity for Detecting Associations/Analogies
Visual ImaginationfMRI
Hirsch, Sloan Kettering
Neurobiology:Four Common
Characteristics of Gifted Thinkers
Gifted Characteristic 1:Enhanced Sensitivity
More information can filter through the system.
The Upside:
More Vivid Sensing (and Emotion)Results in Better Memory
Buckner, WUSTL
Pictures
Pictures
Sounds
Active Recall
‘Memory’s Echo’
Gifted Brains May Overload
Just, Carnegie MellonReiss, StanfordWilliams, U S Wales
Performing MostDifficult Tower of
London Task
PediatricBipolar
Post-TraumaticStress
Pesenti, Caen
Math ProdigyGreen + Red
Brains on Fire
Downside of Extra SensitivityNeurobiology
• Watch for signs of OVERLOAD• Gifted children are often introverts, allow recharging• Limit environmental distractions and triggers• Frequent high proteins or complex carbs• Provide lots of support and encouragement• Look for the positives: alertness and awareness• Time to develop: Persistence and focus are skills, not chemicals
Implications of Enhanced Sensitivity
Children Often Differ DramaticallyIn Their Preferred Form of
Working and Long Term Memory
Gifted Characteristic 2: Enhanced Memory Efficiency and Capacity
Learning Word ListGazzaniga, Dartmouth
BestMemory
Encoding Efficiency:More Brain Areas Used For Initial
Encoding Means Better MemoryGifted children often skilled in use of encoding strategies.
Strong Working Memory and Attention To Solve Complex Problems
Tower of London Task
Just, Carnegie Mellon
Working Memory and Attention Help Keep Information ‘In Mind’
Attention
Imagery
Downside: DisorganizationThe Highly Active Mind
Is Often…Distracted and Disorganized“Constantly late for school, losing his books, and papers and various other things into which I need not enter– he is so regular in his irregularity in every way that I don’t know what to do.”
--Winston Churchill’s Principal
Einstein’s Office
With Better Memory, MoreLikely to Choke Under Stress
Enhanced Memory + Emotional Sensitivity =Fragile Egos!
Low Pressure High Pressure
High Memory Demand
Low Memory Group High Memory Group
“Choke”
The Bigger They Are, The Harder They’ll Fall
Beilock and CarrMichigan State U
Increased Sensitivity + Enhanced Memory = Cognitive Flypaper
• Gifted education should consist less of “filling up their brains” (AP fallacy) than with linking or organizing what they know...
‘Everything Sticks’
As a Consequence…
The Successful Gifted Creative Corporation
Gifted Characteristic 3:
Greater Potential for Well Balanced
“Creative Corporate” Attention
• Combines Ideas, Sensations, Images• Generates Alternative Approaches• Expands Possibilities and Associations• Prefers ‘The Big Picture’
Chief Creativity Officer – Right Brain
Chief Operations Officer – Left Brain• Oriented to the ‘Bottom Line’• Focusing & Prioritizing Goals• Deals with Detailed Planning and Implementation
Rypma, Rutgers
The Executive “Corporation”Training Creativity & Operations
(Gifted Children Mislabeled with ADD)
If P, then Q.P, therefore Q.
Noveck, Lyon
Novelty
Davis, U Toronto
The Creative Corporation in Our Brains
“Just Left” “Just Right”
What the Right and Left Brains
Think When They See Words
In a partially split brain patient, the printed word “knight” was flashed in such a way that only one hemisphere at a time could see it. • When the word flashed only to the left hemisphere, the patient responded, “It says ‘knight’.”• When the word was flashed only to the right hemisphere, he said, “I have a picture in my mind but I can’t say it… Two fighters in a ring. Ancient wearing uniforms and helmets… on horses trying to knock each other off… Knights?”
Pitfalls of Chief Operation Officers
• “Oh no, I have to think?”• Fails to Consider Alternatives• Misses the Forest for the Trees• Derivative More Than Innovative
Pitfalls of Creativity Directors
• Disorganization• No Priority, No Plan• Unfinished Work• Poor Verbal Communication
Development of the Creative Corporation
Brainstorm with Creativity Director, Plan, Implement, and Monitor Output
with Operations Director
Fluid Reasoning task
Wright et al, March 2008 | Volume 1 | Article 8 | www.frontiersin.org
Number Crunching Math Genius Uses Whole Brain for
‘Frontal Sequential’ Task
Brain Processing of Math Calculating Prodigy
Green: Shared By Math Genius and Non-ExpertsRed: Only Math Genius
Genius used personal memory areas to store tables of squares, cubes, roots,and procedural short cuts to solve problems quickly
* Rules * Personal Memory * Unconscious *
Pesenti, Caen, Belgium
Examples of Successful Corporate Brains
Gifted Thinkers Often Use More Types Of Brain Regions For Particular Tasks
Pesenti, Caen, Belgium
Math Genius Performing Complex Math
Red: Additional AreasIn Math Prodigy
Gifted Characteristic 4: Enhanced Associations
Downside: Too Many Associations• More Associations May Result in Slowed Processing, and delayed recall: more possibilities to choose from.
• Tendency to see problems where others don’t (may see “more connections” to a single link. Tendency to focus on gaps (or potential gaps) in knowledge.
Simple Many Associations
“The servants all thought that young Isaac was foolish,and his mother did not know what to do with him…” From Isaac Newton, The Greatest Scientist of All Time
“I used to take these maths tests which were supposed to be donein one period and it took me not just that period but the next onewhich was a play period and sometimes the one beyond that…”
Roger Penrose, Cambridge Math Professor
The Gifted-Backward Paradox
“My teachers saw me at once backward and precocious, reading books beyond my years and yet at the bottom of the Form. They were offended. They had large resources of compulsion at their disposal, but I was stubborn.” Winston Churchill
Magritte, Picasso, and Bosch – Age 7
Idiosyncratic--Distinctive Vision/Interests
Drawbacks of Enhanced Synthesis/Associations
On Affect and Relationships
Child age 6 who insists on writing “in cursive” though he doesn’t know how
• May result in a highly individualistic and fiercely independent approach and personality
Signature on routine assignment, written in Mayan glyphs – age 10
Desire to find a new and better way to do everything
Drawbacks of Enhanced Synthesis/AssociationsOn Affect and Relationships
• May result in isolation due to difficulty finding someone who “shares the vision”
• May become agitated or depressed when unable to share or communicate their vision
Faust in despair in his lab Eureka!
• Tendency to view knowledge and learning personally• Benefit of the added “oomph” of personal memory and intrinsic motivation, but risk of defensiveness, despair, irritability, offended dignity
On Learning Style and Preferences
Implications of Enhanced Capacity for Associations
Understanding the Gifted Child:The Five “DYNAMITE”
Perspectives
1. Development 2. Neurobiology (“wiring”)3. Motivation/Interest4. Temperament5. Experience
Perspective 3: Motivation and Interest
Motivation is especially important to consider in gifted children, whose interests and self-direction may be especially strong.
“Where my reason, imagination, or interest were not engaged, I would not or I could not learn.”
- Winston Churchill
Motivation
Gifted Interests
• Interest may be unusual in its focus, intensity, or exclusivity for age• May promote independence and/or isolation• May show unusual hunger for depth or novelty• May find repetition unusually excruciating• May be hard to engage outside of area of personal interest• May be very sensitive to the notion that they're not already perfect• Especially likely to promote concerns about “disease”
“I’m going to measure polar icecap thickness myself!”
Motivating Power of Novelty and Puzzles‘The thing that doesn’t fit is the thing that’s most interesting…’ - Richard Feynman
Motivation
Novelty-SeekingIs Not necessarilya Negative Trait:
Gifted Children OftenPractice Serial Expertise
Esthetic/Metaphysical/Spiritual Interests
Sense of beauty, wonder, mystery, or awe: dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, mythology, biology (flowers, shells, animals, marine biology), physics/astronomy, robotics, building/engineering, mineralogy, fantasy literature, fantasy games or role play, medievalism, creative writing, drama, art, sailing, military history, politics…
M & I
“To really understand animals and their behavior youmust have an aesthetic appreciation of an animal’sbeauty. This endows you with the patience to look atthem long enough to see something.”
- Konrad Lorenz, Nobel Laureate
MotivationEnjoyment of Beauty Drives Persistence
Narrow orIntense Interests
• Tendency to view all narrow or intense interests as signs autism spectrum disorders or OCD, even when the interest itself not especially unusual or destructive.
• Careful understanding of motivations and interests especially important for gifted children, whose interests are often more narrow, focused, and intense than peers
Motivation and Interest
Unhealthy Interests
• Addiction, compulsion, barriers to other goods such as sleep, supper, relationships, or learning.
• vast majority of cases, child simply pursuing an interest with a depth or intensity not usually seen among similarly-aged children.
Motivation and Interest
Why Children Give Up
• Struggling children often asked for unmakeable leaps.• When children fail to achieve a critical ratio of success,
motivation plummets and they simply stop trying. Huge problem for handwriting, math, reading, sports…
Motivation and Interest
Understanding the Gifted Child:The Five “DYNAMITE”
Perspectives
1. Development 2. Neurobiology (“wiring”)3. Motivation/Interest4. Temperament5. Experience
Perspective 4: Temperament
• Temperament is a child’s “emotional disposition”; style, manner, or “flavor” of responding behaviorally and emotionally to the world.
• Temperament is part of a child’s personality, which also includes humor, intelligence, interests, and talents.
Particular “Gifted” Traits• Intensity• Sensitivity• Introversion• DistractibilitySecondary Profiles• Fierce Independence• Highly personal approach/attitude to learning• Auto-didacticism• Long span, “hyperfocus”, • Multi-task with novelty• Sensitivity to criticism• Perfectionism (sensitivity, intensity, negativity)
Temperament
“Difficult” Temperamental Traits
• Negative withdrawal reactions to new people and situations• Slow adaptability to change• Intensity • Negative mood• Especially high or low physical activity/energy• Irregular biological functions• Sensitivity (sensory and emotional)• Low task persistence, Distractibility• The more of these characteristics a child has, and the more
strongly they are expressed, the more likely the child will have behavioral or emotional problems.
Temperament
Intense and Independent
• Cato the Younger was one of the great heroes of the Roman Republic, renowned for courage stubbornness, tenacity, and moral virtue.• When a visiting friend of his father’s (Pompaedius) playfully asked the young Cato what he thought of his latest political plans, Cato refused to praise them, even when Pompaedius hung him out a window by his heels and threatened to drop him.
Intensity: Special Risks• Anxiety• Depression• OCD
Temperament
What Adds Up to Trouble
• Not simply traits, but how traits interact with environment:
•
Temperament
Predisposition + Provocation (+/- “Factor X”) = Response
“Factor X”Self-Control: Part of Growing Up
• Normal part of maturation and character development.• Children with similar natural temperaments can behave
in remarkably different ways due to differences in self-control.
• If you can train a sea slug, you can train a child.
• Predisposition + Provocation + Self-Control • = Response
Temperament
Warning!
• Prolonged mismatches between child’s temperament and environment (including academic demands and the expectations of parents, teachers, or the child him- or herself) can cause behavioral adjustment reactions, such as fall in self-esteem, aggression, oppositional behaviors, underachievement, anxiety, depression, etc.
• Different temperaments have different risks and susceptibilities.
Temperament
Further Reading on
Temperament
Temperament
Understanding the Gifted Child:The Five “DYNAMITE”
Perspectives
1. Development 2. Neurobiology (“wiring”)3. Motivation/Interest4. Temperament5. Experience
Perspective 5: Experience—The “Art of
Autobiography”
• Not simply biographical, but autobiographical. • i.e., Not simply an objective record of past events, but
the child’s interpretation of and responses to those events.
• interpretive style means autobiographical narrative may or may not be dominated by events that seem important to others.
Martin Seligman: • Pessimistic style: attributes failure to permanent, pervasive, personal factors, powerless to change, see failure as inevitable and deserved punishment.• Optimistic style: attributes failure to temporary factors, specific to particular event rather than permanent or universal, and care can be avoided in the future.
Two Key Contrasting FrameworksFor Interpreting Failure
Experience
Altering Experience by Altering Interpretations
• Overly negative interpretive framework: risk for a “cycle of failure”
• Need to understand self-defeating behavior, and learn new ways of responding and interpreting experience
Experience
Although temperament heritable, optimism can be learnedOptimism is an issue of mental and physical health.Cognitive behavioral therapy.Negative style of interpretation correlated with shorter life, less resiliency, less productivity.Positive style associated with longer life, greater productivity, and greater personal satisfaction.
The Pluses of A Positive OutlookExperience
• Perfectionism is an interpretive stance or posture.• Common among gifted children.• Sensitivity, intensity, and negativity.
Sensitivity and Perfectionism
• Drive for improvement valuable.• Self-loathing, extreme defensiveness, and pessimism are not.
“Practically perfect in every way.”
• Danger of viewing education as the process of learning never to be wrong, versus learning from experience.
Dealing Productively With Failure
•Edison: “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt started is a step forward.”
Dealing Productively With Failure
• The importance of roadblocks for the gifted student.
• Learn to juggle with bean bags, not machetes. Lower the cost of failure. Chances to experiment on pass/fail projects.
Understanding the Gifted Child:The Five Perspectives
1. Development 2. Brain Basics (Neurological “wiring”)3. Temperament4. Experience5. Motivation/Interest
-or –Viewing the Gifted Child As a Promise,
Not a Disease
Brock Eide M.D. M.A. and Fernette Eide M.D.
Neurolearning.com
A DyNaMITE Perspective on Learning and Development in Gifted Children
Understanding Gifted Students