The 5 Differences Between Being Gifted And Genius In Childhood
Concern for the development of intellectual abilities has been a topic of debate for a long time. More recently, it is an issue that has been significantly related to school performance and achievement. That is why it has become very common to hear that teachers or relatives of school-age children suspect that some of them have skills, both intellectual and social, that are superior to those of the rest.
A large number of questions arise between emotion and uncertainty: Will he be a genius child? Will she be a talented girl? A gifted child? a child prodigy? among many others. And psychology is one of the disciplines in charge of offering answers.
It is not uncommon for communication between a teacher and a child’s family to become difficult when some consider him or her a genius, others consider him or her gifted, and others simply a talented child; even if these concepts are quite discussed or even discredited by a good part of psychopedagogy.
So, considering that they are controversial terms and involved in a great diversity of opinions, but that they are still used and generate some confusion, below we will see some differences between gifted children and genius children which could be useful for general guidance.
1. IQ is not everything
Generally, a girl or boy is considered gifted if he or she has an intelligence well above average (around 130 IQ points or more, depending on age), who has also been able to learn certain things more quickly.
On the other hand, until recently it was considered that a genius child was one who had an IQ score above 180. Currently this criterion is no longer in use. A genius is considered a gifted person who also performs a brilliant work
That is, genius is defined a posteriori, by the product of his work or work, which not only depends on IQ but also on creativity, motivation and commitment to his task.
2. The impact of your work makes a difference
In line with the above, the gifted child can be a child of early learning, a prodigy child (one who carries out activities with adult performance levels at a young age) or a talented child (one who has superior performance in a certain area. and socially valuable, especially in some field of scientific knowledge), but He is not necessarily or will become a genius child because he does not always carry out a work that is considered transcendental.
3. Learning does not always seem ahead
gifted children They generally show “precocious” learning in the area of language and visual-motor coordination although also in other areas related to cognitive skills.
A genius child does not necessarily show early or socially valued learning, since he is considered a genius once his skills have had an impact perceived by others as important.
4. Motivation for learning is very important
Gifted children can develop a special talent for a specific task, but this does not happen naturally, it is necessary to give them the possibility for this to happen, above all fostering a motivation for learning
Since genius is one who has produced a work that is considered valuable, we assume that he has been or was a child who had the opportunity to constantly reinforce the motivation for what he does.
Related to the previous point, a gifted child is easier to identify within a school, since It is very noticeable that school learning is faster or it puts us in the need to make curricular adjustments to promote their skills, or to prevent them from getting bored in the classroom.
On the other hand, a genius child does not always show superior academic performance, since, as we have seen, genius is a characteristic that is attributed later and that is not only related to skills and IQ, but also to creativity and motivation for learning.
Other proposals: Outstanding Aptitudes
The study of intellectual abilities, as well as academic performance, is constantly updated. It is one of the most researched areas in psychology and pedagogy currently, especially since educational paradigms are focused on promoting both the skills and interests of boys and girls, often even if teachers or family members do not have the necessary strategies
In an attempt to offer explanations and alternatives that favor children’s learning, the concept of Outstanding Abilities and Aptitudes (CAS) has emerged, with which standardized ways of identifying “CAS children” (children with disabilities) have even been developed. outstanding capabilities and aptitudes).
Broadly speaking, the term CAS allows us to encompass several of the characteristics of intellectual development, without the need to use the terms “gifted” or “genius”, whose differentiation can be very problematic in some contexts.
It is also one of the conceptual tools that have allowed us to design and implement curricular adjustments as well as recognize and attend to the diversity of intellectual and social abilities during childhood.
