Article inspired by the well-known “What is Giftedness” article, written by giftedness expert Jennifer Harvey Sallin

Understanding Giftedness: Beyond IQ Scores

Giftedness is often associated with high IQ scores and great academic achievement. Our brain may immediately jump to the usual suspects; famous intellectuals like Einstein, Sheldon, and other brilliant minds. When someone tells us they’re gifted, we’ve possibly even had that knee-jerk reaction of shuddering at the thought of “being gifted” as it's commonly misunderstood as a form of feeling superior over others. I see giftedness as follows:

Giftedness is a natural variation in human cognitive and emotional functioning. Gifted individuals have a differently wired brain with complex, intense, and divergent ways of experiencing the world.

Testing for giftedness

IQ tests are still one of the most commonly used tools to measure giftedness, but they are not the only way to do so. Giftedness is typically defined as exceptional intellectual ability or aptitude that is significantly above average, and IQ tests are designed to measure these intellectual abilities. It's however important to understand that IQ tests have its limitations. IQ tests only measure certain types of intelligence, such as verbal comprehension and math skills, while neglecting other vital factors like creative, emotional, or physical intelligence. In addition, a high IQ score isn't always a reliable indicator of giftedness because factors like test anxiety, trauma, cultural differences, or lack of motivation can affect test performance. The other way around is also true; an IQ score that doesn’t qualify as gifted isn’t a reliable indicator of non-giftedness.

Multiple intelligences

This is why Jennifer Harvey Sallin, the founder of Intergifted, proposes a holistic model of giftedness that advocates for a more comprehensive approach to understanding intelligence and giftedness. She believes that giftedness encompasses a wide range of intelligences, including emotional, creative, sensual, existential, and physical complexity, besides the more well-known intellectual intelligence.

In my work, I follow the Intergifted model of giftedness to obtain a more complete understanding of an individual's unique abilities and strengths. I consider all of these different factors to get a more holistic view of clients’ giftedness to ensure that they receive the support and resources they need to thrive.

Embracing “Giftedness”

The simple truth is that giftedness is nothing more than a neurological fact, it’s not a choice nor a personality trait. Gifted individuals are not superior to others, but rather possess different cognitive abilities and needs. In reality, many gifted people (including myself when growing up) struggle with feelings of inadequacy or imposter syndrome, as they may not fit in with their peers or struggle to meet society's expectations. It’s like I’d played a theater show all my life, just to fit in, until I realized the importance of embracing my brain. It's important to acknowledge the challenges that come with giftedness and work towards creating a more accepting society for everyone, regardless of their intellectual abilities.

Unfortunately, the Superiority Stigma is still alive these days. It is a stereotype that paints gifted people as arrogant and boastful, acting like they're better than everyone else because they can ace a test or solve a puzzle faster than the average human. This kind of thinking can lead to unfair treatment and discrimination against the gifted population, which I believe is a real problem.

There are many reasons why people may buy into this stereotype. Some folks may be envious or intimidated by the abilities of gifted individuals, while others might be influenced by the way the media portrays giftedness. Too often, we see characters on TV or in movies who are socially awkward or obsessed with perfection, which reinforces the idea that gifted people are somehow "weird." By breaking down the Superiority Stigma, and owning up on the use of the word Giftedness, I want to help gifted individuals feel more included and valued in their communities.

It's time to embrace the diversity of our minds and celebrate the unique gifts that make us all special

Am I gifted?

Recognizing giftedness can be challenging as its manifestation is as unique as each individual! We now know that giftedness encompasses more than intellectual intelligence, it appears as a great memory, lightning-fast learning ability, high empathy, passion for multiple things, exploration of new ideas, intense complex emotions, quick absorption of information, or savant-like skills in certain areas. It can also show up with the opposite; low working memory and slower than average processing speed! Yes, it’s really that varied. Using the holistic model of giftedness beyond IQ tests therefore help identify the various signs of giftedness - it's crucial to acknowledge them all.

If you’re into quizzes, and you’re wondering “hmm, am I gifted?”, there’s this amazing quiz of Paula Prober you can take. If you identify with her description of a Rainforest Mind, it’s likely you fall somewhere on the Giftedness spectrum.

I also work together with my clients one on one, to develop a basic understanding of their unique Intelligence and Intensities profile, as well as any potential twice- or multi-exceptionalities, trauma history, and chronic physical or mental health topics. While I do not offer full formal giftedness assessments at this time, I'm happy to make recommendations for a qualified assessor if that's something you're interested in.

Intellectual Intelligence : Profound and complex curiosity, love of knowledge and learning, love of problem solving, probing questions, search for truth, understanding, knowledge, and discovery, keen observation, avid reading, sustained intellectual effort, love of theory and analysis, and independent thinking.

Emotional Intelligence : Depth of emotional feelings and relational attachments, wide range of complex emotions, strong memory for feelings, high concern for others, heightened sense of right, wrong, injustice and hypocrisy, empathy, responsibility, and self-examination.

Creative Intelligence : Detailed and complex visualization, vivid dreams, love of fantasy, creativity, inventions, love of music and art, good sense of humor, preference for the unusual and unique.

Sensual Intelligence : Complex and profound sensory experience of visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile stimulus. Appreciation of beauty and harmony.

Physical Intelligence : High physical skill or dexterity, preference for fast action, physical expression.

Existential Intelligence : High and complex focus on meaning, values, ethics, morality, ecological interconnectedness, and the nature of reality.

The Holistic Model of Giftedness. From: Jennifer Harvey Sallin - What is Giftedness

Levels of Giftedness

Giftedness isn’t binary - it’s a spectrum! Recognizing differences in giftedness levels is crucial for understanding individual challenges. Intellectual giftedness cannot be defined solely by IQ scores, however, IQ scores are what’s commonly most used to test for intellectual giftedness, and it can provide some perspective on the importance for understanding how giftedness is a spectrum and not a simple “yes/no” tickbox.

I found that the easiest way to look its importance is this: realize how a profoundly gifted adult with an IQ of 181 differs as much from her moderately gifted friend with an IQ of 130 as the latter does from an intellectually challenged adult with an IQ of 79. Putting gifted people together in schools, or finding “gifted friends” while seeing it as binary groups of “gifted vs non-gifted” just doesn’t make any sense. Recognizing the differences in giftedness levels helps meet the unique needs of each gifted individual.

Mild giftedness : IQ score between 115-129, prevalence 1:6 - 1:44

Moderate giftedness : IQ score between 130-144, prevalence 1:44 - 1:1000

High giftedness : IQ score between 145-159, prevalence 1:1000 - 1:10000

Exceptional giftedness : IQ score between 160-179, prevalence 1:10000 - 1:1 million

Profound giftedness is defined as having an IQ score of 180+, prevalence fewer than 1:1 million

From: Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted Students: An Underserved Population

Why is it important

Recognizing and accommodating for differences in giftedness levels can help prevent misdiagnosis, underachievement, and can drive acceleration of individuals plus promote social and emotional connections between individuals of similar levels of giftedness. Some gifted individuals may be misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or other conditions due to their high energy levels or tendency to become bored quickly.

Also for the social aspect it’s relevant to look at the levels. So often I’ve met people in my life and thought “oh man, finally someone I connect with, yay!”. And then, a month, a year, or 5 years later, I realized that our initial bonding and excitement had plateau’ed. I couldn’t express why I felt bored. This person is such a good friend of mine, how come I start feeling bored? What’s wrong with me? Am I anti-social? Simply shifting my mindset and looking at it from this “levels of giftedness” angle made a huge difference. Nothing’s wrong with me, nothing’s wrong with them. I found that this paragraph describes my experience so accurately:

“Many high+ gifted clients report to me that they might meet a fellow gifted person (mild+, in this case) and feel energized by the synergy of thought they share with the other person; however, sooner or later, they come to feel quite or very disappointed that the other person’s openness of mind and curiosity seemed to stop at some arbitrary point. It is as if the questioning and exploration became “enough” for their peer, while for the high+ gifted person, he was “just getting started.” For high+ gifted people, this “arbitrary stopping point” of curiosity and questioning of mild+ gifted people seems to happen much too quickly in relationships. Just as a mild+ gifted person seems to feel they have to shift down gears, hold back or go slow with those of average cognition, so too do the high+ gifted feel with their mild+ gifted peers after a certain point.”

From: Jennifer Harvey Sallin - High, Exceptional & Profound Giftedness

Skip Thinking vs Meta thinking

In my profiling work, I love to dig into the fascinating world of giftedness and explore the different levels of thinking. One of the things I look at is skip thinking versus meta thinking - these are some seriously cool concepts!

Skip thinking is all about being able to quickly jump over the steps that most people need to take to solve a problem or complete a task. It's like having a secret shortcut that allows gifted individuals to arrive at solutions super quickly and efficiently - how awesome is that?!

And then there's meta thinking, linked to High+ giftedness. It's not just about being able to go faster, but also having the ability to connect multiple systems, or matrices, that others can't see, and being able to think about your own thinking. That's right - it's like having a superpower that lets you reflect on your own cognitive processes and strategies, and evaluate and monitor your own thinking. Talk about being in control of your brain!

Overall, understanding the different levels of giftedness and the unique ways that gifted individuals think is so important. It can help us provide more effective coaching and support, and ultimately unlock even more of their incredible potential.

Intensities - live life to the fullest!

Where levels of intelligence cover the complexity of the brain, overexcitabilities cover the intensities with which we experience the world. Overexcitabilities are a key concept in Kazimierz Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration. According to this theory, some gifted individuals (as well as some non-gifted) experience a heightened level of psychomotor, sensual, imaginational, emotional, and intellectual stimulation, that can lead to inner conflicts and intense experiences. These overexcitabilities are believed to be a normal and natural aspect of the gifted individual's inner life.

Dabrowski believed that these overexcitabilities could lead to inner conflicts and a sense of dissonance in the individual's inner life. However, he also believed that this dissonance was a necessary step in the individual's personal growth and development, leading to a process of positive disintegration and ultimately to advanced personality development.

Where the DSM-V seems to heavily focus on “symptoms” so that we can “label” individuals, put them in a box, and give them treatment (in my eyes a rather negative view on “having a problem that needs fixing”), overexcitabilities on the other hand frame similar signs and symptoms as potential of individuals - a view that matches most closely my optimism and positive worldview.

We don’t need labels to be able to fix people, we need to recognize signs and opportunitiy to empower and support individuals to excel and live life to the fullest!

The books Living with Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults and “Mellow Out,” They Say. If I Only Could are a great starting point to get familiar with this theory and how it may apply to how you (or your kid) experiences life. Let your intensities shine and embrace your inner quirks!