Highly Exceptional vs. Just Gifted-"Emily"

When reflecting on the students I’ve taught over the last 15 years and pondering which student(s) are highly gifted, Emily immediately sprang to mind.  Emily possesses many of the characteristics of a highly exceptional student.  She learns at a much faster pace, processes material at a much greater depth, shows intensity in energy, imagination, intellect, sensitivity, and emotion.  (Hollingworth, 2007).  Emily also gets bored easily, is emotionally sensitive and sensitive to her surroundings, and is extremely stubborn with a need to dominate in most learning situations.  While Emily always scored highly on assessments, formally or informally, creating a learning environment challenging, yet encouraging for her is a difficult task.

Emily, originally diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiance Disorder, has the ability to concentrate on tasks for long periods of time; however she could not sit still when she was bored.  She cries very easily and is quick to lose her temper.  In addition, Emily is bossy to the other students when they don’t “do it right” and can’t keep up with her personal items.  She is also obsessed with situations being viewed as “fair” by her standards.  Emily is often misunderstood and her behavior can be troublesome.  She was even labeled a bully by one of her teachers.   In addition to bossing around her classmates, Emily has difficultly relating to many of her peers because they don’t’ share common interests.  Rather, she identifies more closely with her teachers and other adults in the classroom setting and older students.  Emily also has an intense desire to research and evaluate meanings of things and why they happen.  Unlike many of the other gifted students, Emily doesn’t want the answer given to her-she wants to devise it on her own.  Extremely independent, Emily needs a great deal of attention and stimulation both inside and outside of the classroom.  She’s a member of the Battle of the Books and Robotics teams, as well as active in various sports, gymnastics, and dance.

While many of the students in my classrooms have possessed characteristics commonly found in gifted students, very few have demonstrated the distinctive characteristics of being highly gifted.  Gifted students in my experience have the following tendencies:

·  a strong curiosity

·  a zealous reader

·  able to think and process information quickly and logically

·  observant and empathetic

·  can recall facts and has a powerful memory

·  creative

·  morally conscience

·  intrinsically-motivated

Many of these characteristics are also present in Emily; however, she also has a high activity level, possesses poor judgment in correlation with her intellect, and often gets involved in power struggles.  Emily’s extreme intensities such as being too sensitive, too needy, too excited, and too disorganized also set her aside from her gifted peers.  While there are not as many resources for accommodating students such as Emily, the following suggestions are beneficial: (Kamal)

• A stimulating environment
• Challenging tasks
• Lots of encouragement
• Relationships with people of similar intelligence levels
• The freedom of choosing which activities to pursue
• Stimulation of all senses
• Interactive assignments rather than passive lectures
• Autonomy to explore curiosities

Emily’s high intelligence, creativity, extensive vocabulary, ability to grasp new concepts quickly, and highly sensitive and intense feelings set her apart from her regularly gifted peers.

Kamal, R., & Kamal, T. (n.d.). How Are Highly and Profoundly Gifted Students Different? Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.specialneeds.com/children-and-parents/general-special-needs/how-are-highly-and-profoundly-gifted-stude 

Who are the Highly Gifted? (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.hollingworth.org/highlygifted.html