Transcript Understanding Intensities in Gifted Children

Welcome!
We will begin in a moment.
Please be ready to share about
something positive happening in
your child’s classroom/school.
Quality Teaching and Learning for All… Equity in All We Do
Gifted children and adults are often misunderstood.
Their excitement is viewed as excessive,
their high energy as hyperactivity,
their persistence as nagging,
their imagination as not paying attention,
their passion as being disruptive,
their strong emotions and sensitivity as immaturity,
their creativity and self-directedness as oppositional.
Many Needs of the Gifted…
 Intellectual
 Academic
 Artistic
 Creative
 Social-Emotional
Goals for Tonight
 Understand the assumptions of gifted children
 Discuss the personal factors affecting students
and parents
 Time to reflect and connect with other families who
may have intense children
Assumptions
 School is easy for gifted learners
 Raising a gifted child is easy
 Teaching gifted children is a dream job
 Gifted children are gifted in all ways –
intellectually, academically, creatively,
artistically, socially and emotionally
Personal Factors
It is estimated that 20 to 25% of
gifted children have social and
emotional difficulties, about
twice as many as in the general
population of students. Gifted
children possess more and
stronger intensities as well.
What are heightened sensitivities
and how should parents and
educators help students
understand and nurture their
intensities?
Dabrowski’s Overexcitabilities
 Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980) was a psychiatrist,
psychologist and educator who developed the Theory of
Positive Disintegration.
 Personality development
 Life conditions support or block potential
 Multi-levelness of emotions and behaviors
 Low emotional level (self-serving, power-seeking, etc.)
 High emotional level (caring, empathy, pos. self-concept, etc.)
 Overexcitabilities (OE)
 “spirited” = more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent and
energetic
 Deeper, stronger, longer-lasting reactions to stimuli that is more
acutely sensed.
How OE relates to GT
“Please keep in mind that a child may exhibit heightened
experience of one, several, or all of the OEs, and that each OE
may imbue both advantages and challenges for the child.
Generally, the brighter, more inquisitive, and more
creative the child, the more likely the child’s OEs and
related behaviors and needs will permeate and influence
daily activities. It is helpful to remember that each OE, in
some way, provides the energy or fuel that contributes to the
development of a young person’s talent along with the
advantages and challenges that fundamentally shape their
ultimate development.”
(Daniels & Meckstroth, 2008)
Five Overexcitabilities
 Psychomotor
 High energy
 Psychomotor response to
emotional tension
 Sensual
 Enhanced sensual / aesthetic
pleasure
 Sensual response to emotional
tension
 Imaginational
 Fantasy and drama
 Imaginational response to
emotional tension
 Intellectual
 Intense curiosity
 “Thirst and search”
 Metacognition
 Emotional
 Intense and sometimes extreme
feelings
 Forms deep relationships
 Strong affective expressions
 Strong somatic expressions
 Strong self-judgment
Psychomotor Intensity
 Organic surplus of energy (can be misdiagnosis as
ADHD)
 Augmented capacity for being active and energetic, love
of movement
 Heightened excitability of the neuromuscular system,
expressed as movement
 Restlessness and nervous habits
(tics, nail biting)
 Compulsive talking and chattering
 Pressure for action
 Rapid speech
Accommodating for
Psychomotor Intensities
“Your enthusiasm and energy can
help you do many things!”
 Allow for movement/standing/pacing during school and
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activities, especially during extended sitting times
Exercise every day
Wiggle seats, stability balls, etc. help
Development of space that works to ‘stretch out the kinks’
Do not remove time to play outside for any reason!
Encourage exercise at home before coming to school for the
day
Fidgets (like silly putty) and chewing help some children
Teach students appropriate and effective ways to self-manage
physical needs
Suggest “IQ Sheets” for those with racing thoughts
Practice relaxation techniques (music, deep breathing, etc.)
Table Discussion:
Psychomotor Intensity
 What are some examples of psychomotor intensity or
overexcitabilities do you observe in your child, if any?
 What is wonderful about having a psychomotor
overexcitability?
 What are the challenges of psychomotor
overexcitabilities?
 How do you help your child relieve the stress of
psychomotor intensity?
Sensual Intensities
 Heightened sensory pleasure and over responsiveness:
Seeing, Smelling, Tasting, Touching, Hearing
 Enhanced aliveness of sensual experiences
 Expression of emotional tension through: overeating,
sensory seeking, wanting to be in limelight
 Aesthetic pleasures
that other children
may not even take
notice in
Accommodating for
Sensual Intensities
“You experience the world
in such deep and subtle ways!”
 Decrease offensive stimuli and increase comforting stimuli
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Address lighting issues, if needed, in living spaces
Sound issues identified and addressed as necessary – allow child to
use earplugs during work time or consider best placement in the
room for maximum work efficiency
Allow co-creation of sensual, soothing environment (nooks, etc.)
Carry a favorite texture, dab a small scent/essential oil on wrist
Provide time to delight in beauty
Accommodate food and clothing issues
 Work on personal space and boundary issues as necessary
 Remember that extreme reactions are real for them
Table Discussion:
Sensual Intensity
 What are some examples of sensual intensity or
overexcitabilities do you observe in your child?
 What is wonderful about having a sensual
overexcitability?
 What are the challenges of sensual overexcitabilities?
 How do you help your child relieve the stress of
sensual intensity?
Imaginational Intensity
 Frequent use of image and metaphor
 Vividness of imagery and richness of association
 Facility for dreams, fantasies, and inventions
 Mixing truth and fiction due to fantasy life
 Love for the unusual
 Detailed visual recall
 Limitless possibilities
Accommodating for
Imaginational Intensities
“You view the world in a rich
And fascinating way!”
 Be careful of books and movies that include danger, fear
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inducement, characters who represent evil (Disney, Harry Potter,
and so on – it’s everywhere!)
Communicate to the teacher any imaginational intensities so
movies/read alouds can be carefully chosen
Feed imagination through arts and writing (journaling, poetry,
fiction), and look for enrichment opportunities within and
outside of school
Suggest open-ended activities when playing
Help them define the difference between real and imaginary
world
Help them find appropriate times to daydream (e.g. on the bus)
Table Discussion:
Imaginational Intensity
 What are some examples of imaginational intensity or
overexcitabilities do you observe in your child?
 What is wonderful about having an imaginational
overexcitability?
 What are the challenges of imaginational
overexcitabilities?
 How do you help your child relieve the stress of
imaginational intensity?
Intellectual Intensity
 Avid, accelerated search for truth and knowledge
 Discovery, questioning, and always asking probing questions
 Love of ideas and theoretical analysis, moral thinking,
intuitive integration of ideas
 May worry about adult issues without the wisdom that age
can bring
 Capacity for sustained intellectual effort
 Intense concentration and curiosity
 Highly introspective
 May have mastered a majority of the core
curriculum before the school year begins
Accommodating for
Intellectual Intensities
“Your curiosity fuels your intelligence!”
 Project-based learning and self-paced studies
 Give these kids substantial mental experiences and
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opportunities for optimum intellectual endeavors (chess club,
enrichment courses or experiences, etc.)
Understand the absentminded professor syndrome
Help children record “deep questions” that can be considered
or researched later
Help them view potential for progress rather than all-right or
all-wrong (perfectionism and dealing with their harsh inner
critic)
Teach tact and diplomacy if outspoken tendencies are
perceived as too harsh or critical
Table Discussion:
Intellectual Intensity
 What are some examples of intellectual intensity or
overexcitabilities do you observe in your child?
 What is wonderful about having an intellectual
overexcitability?
 What are the challenges of intellectual
overexcitabilities?
 How do you help your child relieve the stress of
intellectual intensity?
Emotional Intensity
 Often first noticed by parents, it is the intensity of
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emotional life, intense positive and negative feelings,
identification with others’ feelings and strong affective
expression.
Somatic expression of emotions (tense stomach, blushing,
pounding heart)
Can form deep relationships with people, places & things
Compassion and empathy for others
Heightened sense of responsibility
Scrupulous self-examination and self-judgment
Fears and anxieties – death, love, loneliness, fairness, etc
Often accused of “overreacting”
Their focus on relationships and intensity of their feelings
may interfere with everyday tasks like homework
Accommodating for
Emotional Intensities
“Your deep feelings
add to your creativity!”
 Prepare your child’s teacher for your sensitive child
 Help them identify the physical warning signs of emotional
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stress such as headache, stomachache, hair pulling, etc. and
then better cope with emotional situations and not lose
control.
Create an environment which supports sensitivity rather than
makes it a negative (especially highly sensitive boys)
Find outlets for emotions: through journaling or talking with
a trusted adult or friend, exercise, etc.
Use a “time-out” space as a personal choice (learn how to
anticipate emotions)
Allow for relaxation time during the day
Find activities that provide meaningful opportunities for
empathy and social concern (service learning, etc.)
Remember they are not just being melodramatic.
Table Discussion:
Emotional Intensity
 What are some examples of emotional intensity
or overexcitabilities do you observe in your
child?
 What is wonderful about having an emotional
overexcitability?
 What are the challenges of emotional
overexcitabilities?
 How do you help your child relieve the stress of
emotional intensity?
Last Words…
 Focus on the benefits of your child’s sensitivities. Point out
the positives and celebrate the joy they bring.
 Suggest and/or choose literature for GT with
intense GT characters (Ida B, for example)
 52% of gifted teens (from a large survey) shared
that they want to know how to better deal with
intense feelings of sadness, depression, anger,
frustration or anxiety.
 Don’t rescue intense children! Instead, support and
encourage them to manage their heightened sensitivities
and give them coping skills
Thank you!
 I hope tonight’s information and discussion was
helpful.
 Please consider attending our next two parent
sessions:
 Feb. 4:
Perfectionism
 May 12: Underachievement
Daniels & Piechowski
Dawson & Guare
Fonseca
Galbraith
Rivero
Galbraith & Deslisle
Coordinator of Gifted and Talented Services
EDC
651.604.3749
[email protected]