“Ask Paula” is your opportunity to seek advice and find answers about parenting and education. Here, our gifted expert and
CTD Director,
Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, offers her insights into IQ and testing in addition to overexcitability in gifted children.
Q: A first grade boy with 149 WISC/IQ, placed in regular classes gets regular bad conduct reports. He gets B's or less on most ''in class'' assignments when there are instructions to follow, and he seems to under-perform for his teacher (reads at level 1 her) but was at level grade 3.5 in Kindergarten. Does this seem typical? [what might be going on? Possible next steps?]
An IQ of 149 is at the 99+ percentile meaning less than 1% of the population has a higher IQ score. The score indicates a very exceptional level of general intelligence, suggesting that this child learns at a much more rapid rate than his peers. I would suspect that he is under-challenged in school and is under-achieving and acting out as a result. While this kind of reaction is not unusual when a child is not getting the right kind of intellectual and educational "nourishment" at school, it is worrisome and a strong indicator that a change is needed. Think of what adults do in reaction to consistent boredom or frustration. Now consider that a child in school has few acceptable options and strategies in his repertoire to manage and/or vent strong emotions. So, what to do?
The parents need to approach school officials to make sure they are aware of their child's ability. Since they have an IQ score, I am assuming they have had some independent, private testing done. If that is the case, the results should be shared with school officials including the school psychologist, gifted coordinator, principal and teacher. They might ask for a meeting with all of them together. Another good piece of evidence parents can provide regarding their child's advanced abilities is examples of the books or other material the boy reads at home (so the educators can see his true reading level), products he has created (e.g. books, stories, etc.) and activities that engage and absorb him. The parents need to help the school administrators and educator learn more about their child's abilities and interest.
Given the child's IQ, the parents and educators will need to consider some kind of acceleration--either whole grade (i.e. grade skipping) or subject area acceleration (i.e. moving up grades in math or reading) for this child. The full report of the psychologist who evaluated the child might give some information about his academic strength areas--math, reading. When the parents meet with school officials, they should explore their attitudes and experience with acceleration. (Have they accelerated students before? How successful was it? Are they open to it?). In the meantime, the parents should read up on acceleration to find out more about it. Acceleration is generally viewed negatively by teachers and educators, but the research on it suggests that it is a good, reasonable option for many gifted children if implemented well. I would suggest the parents check out the Iowa Acceleration Scale (available from Great Potential Press), which is a tool to help educators and parents decide if acceleration is a good fit for a particular child. A good resource for parents on acceleration is the book, A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students, available at
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/nation_deceived/. Another resource on different types of gifted programs is the book, Reforming Gifted Education by Karen Rogers, available from Great Potential Press.
If the school is not amenable to significant accommodations for the child via some forms of acceleration, the parents might want to consider their options for a different school placement--maybe not immediately, but soon. Under-achievement is easier to turn around when caught and dealt with early before it becomes entrenched.
Q: For a child with an emotional overexcitability, what sort of strategies can the teacher use to mitigate his negative (frustration/anger) and physical exertions he may have on other students? What can a teacher also do to help "bring him back" to the classroom, after he has "shutdown" or has become withdrawn/depressed in the classroom?
I think that overexcitability might be helpful in understanding some of the behavior of some gifted children. Still, I am skeptical of how much we can generalize this characteristic given the great variability I have witnessed among gifted children. In thinking about how to address behaviors that are problematic, we have to dig deeper and make sure we know all that is going on. If a child is exhibiting negative behaviors such as displays of anger, acting out in the classroom and withdrawal, it is best to consult a school psychologist and/or social worker to assist in getting to the underlying cause of his behavior. Only then can strategies be identified that will help a teacher assist this child in better managing his emotions and reactions. In other words, I am not sure (and clearly I do not have a lot of information to go on) that what you are seeing in this child should be attributed to emotional overexcitability due to giftedness. I recommend it be investigated more thoroughly by experts. If you are also interested in general information on strategies for meeting the needs of gifted children, one good source that you can search, focusing in on your particular needs, interests and situation, is the Davidson Institute website. They have an extensive article library. It is searchable by topic or by role (parent, educator, etc.). It is available online at
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_by_topic_articles.aspx.
Do you have your own question for Paula? Let us know in the comments section below, or on Facebook, and watch this space next quarter for Paula’s replies!
Do you have your own question for Paula? Let us know in the comments section below, or on Facebook, and watch this space next quarter for Paula’s replies!
