IQ Tests: Measurement of Reasoning Ability or Achievement?

This blog is being written from Vancouver, BC, the site of the World Gifted Council. Whereas I usually focus my discussion on a book I have read, I am prompted to respond to a keynote presentation by Dr. Jack Naglieri. Naglieri is the author of the NNAT, a non-verbal ability test that is designed to assess general reasoning ability in children and adolescents. Dr. Naglieri showed several examples where IQ tests had identical items as tests for achievement. He argued that while achievement tests are able to assess talent, a true IQ test should assess reasoning ability, free from achievement-type questions. He showed examples from his non-verbal ability test that have been shown to be free from culture or language bias as they do not require a student to read, write, or speak while completing the test. For a sample problem from the Naglieri test, see the Duke Newsletter.

While this is not the only test we can use to identify gifted students, Dr. Naglieri is encouraging educators to provide this test to all students so that we are able to identify a more diverse group of high ability students including students from under-represented populations as well as students with high introversion who may be overlooked by traditional teacher nominations. Once a student is identified as having gifted ability based upon this test, it is important for teachers to provide appropriate instruction so that these students have a greater chance of realizing their talents. I look forward to returning to my community to encourage our local educators to take a new look at gifted identification. Our gifted students are one of our greatest resources, and we can’t afford to lose these resources to a lack of appropriate assessment.

Getting to the Heart of Giftedness: Living with Intensity

Always searching for the perfect books for my gifted education classes, I have come upon a new book I will certainly require for my fall course, Social and Psychological Foundations of Gifted Education.  That book, Living with Intensity, is edited by by Susan Daniels and Michael Piechowski and includes chapters from experts in the field of gifted education.

The authors have divided Living with Intensity into the following sections:

Part One: Kazimierz Dabrowski, Overexcitability, Giftedness, and Developmental Potential

Part Two: Understanding Intensity: Practical Applications for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors

Part Three: Still Gifted After All These Years — Lifespan Intensity and Gifted Adults

Part Four: Current Research and Future Directions

My first posting was June 1, 2008, and the topic was “Bright, Sensitive, Intense“.  I have been interested in the “amplified ways of being” of gifted children, and Living with Intensity goes a long way to explain these amplified ways.  If you are a gifted adult, or a parent or teacher of a gifted child, this book is a must read!

Just Who Will You Be: Living the Authentic You

Living an authentic life is difficult for anyone, but it is particularly difficult if being bright, sensitive, and intense sets you apart from your peers. Gifted students often feel the pressure to excel from either their own perfectionism or the perfectionism of their parents. They feel the pressure to rein in their extensive vocabularies when they are ridiculed by their classmates. They feel the pressure of the media that portrays gifted people as odd balls, geeks, pocket-protector-wearing nerds. They also feel the pressure when their test scores negatively impact the class curve for their classmates.

I recently read the book Just Who Will You Be? by Maria Shriver. She talks about the life-long pressures she felt to fulfill the expectations of others, to measure up to the accomplishments of a mother who founded the Special Olympics and a father who created the Peace Corps. Despite all of her own accomplishments as a journalist, after having to give up her career due to the possible impression of conflict of interest as the First Lady of California, Shriver felt she had lost her authentic self. Actually, she wasn’t sure she had ever known her authentic self.

This small book’s title has had a profound impact on my thinking. Just who am I? Just who will I be? As a professor of education, I work with wonderful people who have chosen to touch the future by teaching. This week I challenged my students to find their authentic selves and bring that authenticity to their classrooms. I asked them to reflect upon “Just Who Will You Be?” This is my personal reaction to that question:

Just Who Will I Be?
I will support and nourish the authentic me and allow her to exist in all aspects of my life. I will be a compassionate person who listens to the heart and words of others. I will be a family member who gives my love freely and without strings attached. I will be generous of my time and resources, but I will set appropriate limits to maintain my authentic self. I will search for little things in life that bring me joy. I will be a person who laughs easily and smiles frequently. I will practice mindful movements and mindful living.
Just who will I be? I will be a work-in-progress who is never quite complete but always growing and improving.

And just who will YOU be?

Interested in Gifted Education? Be Inspired by Stephanie Tolan!

When asked by my university students (or by parents of gifted children) to explain the difference between gifted and bright children, there are many resources I could point them to on the internet. I would say, however, that if you are interested in knowing more about this topic, you will find the ideas of Stephanie Tolan to be inspiring. Tolan, an author, is passionate about exceptionally gifted children. Each fall, I have the students in my Social and Psychological Foundations of Gifted Education read Tolan’s piece,”Is It a Cheetah?”

Returning to the question of the differences between gifted and bright children, I believe Tolan has a strong case set forth in her piece “Giftedness as Asynchronous Development.” Rather than focusing on what the child has achieved, what grades have been earned and awards won, we need to look at the internal world of the gifted child, including an amplified way of being.

For those of you who are gifted, or who live with a gifted child, finding a counselor who understands this amplified way of being as an organic part of giftedness is important. See Andrew Mahoney and Paula Prober for more information on counseling the gifted.

Gifted Kids as Tall Poppies: Let’s Find Them and Nurture Them

Tall poppies. According to Wikipeda, “the term originates from accounts in Aristotle’s Politics (Book 5, Chapter 10) and Livy’s History of Rome, Book I. Aristotle wrote: ‘Periander advised Thrasybulus by cutting the tops of the tallest ears of corn, meaning tht he must always put out of the way the citizens who overtop the rest.’ In Livy’s account, the tyrannical Roman King, Tarquin the Proud, received a messenger from his son Sextus Tarquinius asking what he should do next in Gabii, since he had become all-powerful there. Rather than answering the messenger verbally, Tarquinius went into his garden, took a stick, and symbolically swept it across his garden thus cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies that were growing there….Sextus realized that his father wished him to put to death all of the most eminent people of Gabii, which he then did.”

In modern times, the tall poppies are the people who receive criticism for accomplishments that put them above their peers. I remember the first time I heard about the tall poppy syndrome. It was nearly ten years ago, and Miraca Gross (an expert on gifted education from Australia) was presenting to a group of parents and educators about gifted children. (See her article on exceptionally and profoundly gifted children.) I was deeply moved by her description of how intellectually gifted children are tall poppies who are regularly cut down to size so that they won’t continue to stand out among their peers. A gifted child might experience the following name calling: “overachiever,” “geek,” “nerd,” “brainiac,” “you’re too big for your britches,” “how about giving someone else a chance to shine?” etc.

I find it fascinating that we don’t see all gifts in the same way. Many people fear that by telling intellectually and academically gifted children they are “gifted,” these children might become arrogant and self-absorbed. We don’t seem to have the same fear about the gifted musician we place in the “first chair” when they rise above their peers, nor do we have the same fear when the gifted athlete wins a trophy. The truth is, when academically or intellectually gifted children learn about their “giftedness” there is often a sense of relief. They have known all along that there is a difference in the way they process information and in the speed at which they take in new information. In addition, for those who are bright, sensitive, and intense, they already know that they have a quality of life that is different (not better) than their peers. These tall poppies deserve to understand why they don’t always “fit” academic or socially, and they deserve to be nurtured so that they stand proudly with their petals held high. When you look at the world around us, it is clear that our society cannot afford to lose its tall poppies. I’m wondering how much of your school district’s budget is allocated for gifted education…..(See state by state resources.) To find them and nurture them, it takes a will and it takes money. Be a tall poppy yourself, let your voice stand out above the crowd, and speak up for these children.

A Whole New Mind

A Whole New Mind. That’s the title of a book by Daniel Pink that should be read by all people trying to be educated for a job for the future. As Pink tells us, technology and globalization are having a significant impact on the kind of work that will be outsourced and the kind of worker who will be valued here in the United States.

I can’t wait until the next time I see the woman who I assumed prepared my tax returns. I guess I knew my accountant handed over the inputing of figures to a clerk, but I never assumed she might be outsourcing my tax return to an accountant in India. According to Pink, my accountant needs to have great people skills to do the face-to-face work that keeps me coming back year after year, but the actual work of preparing my return doesn’t even need to be done in this country. Pink proves his point by saying, “Financial services firms such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase have contracted out number crunching and financial analysis to Indian MBAs.”

Those of you gifted young people considering law school, did you know that more and more law-related work can also be outsourced or done by purchasing online resources? Pink (who has a law degree) suggests that law schools need to train skilled litigators who are able to tell a great story to engage the judge and jury they are facing.

So what are the new “six senses” Pink suggests we nurture? What are the senses of this “whole new mind?” DESIGN, STORY, SYMPHONY, EMPATHY, PLAY, and MEANING

Daniel Pink is going to be the keynote speaker for the National Association for Gifted Children’s annual conference in Tampa Bay this fall, and I look forward to hearing first hand how we can nurture a whole new mind.

The Gifted Kid and the Schoolyard Bully

“I was just kidding,” is the response Retief Goosen has given to the comments he made this week about Tiger Woods’ limping and grimacing during his struggle to victory at the U.S. Open. According to Comast.net, Goosen said, “Nobody really knows if he (Woods) was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played.” Goosen, who finished tied for 14th at the Open, sounds like a schoolyard bully who has a hard time living in the shadow of the gifted kid. I WAS JUST KIDDING shouldn’t be an acceptable “take-back” of a stupid comment meant to denigrate the accomplishments of someone who cares so deeply about his craft. Gifted kids often face schoolyard bullies who are “just kidding,” and we need to let those bullies, young and old, know that they are the ones who are “showing off”…but rather than showing off skill, they are showing off their ignorance. As a postscript, little did most of us know the whole story about Tiger. According to Comcast.net, “Woods revealed Wednesday he has been playing for at least 10 months with a torn ligament in his left knee, and that he suffered a double stress fracture in his left leg two weeks before the U.S. Open.” I’d say that’s enough to make anyone limp and grimace. As for Goosen, we’ll see if he can finish higher than tied for 14th now that Tiger will be out for the rest of the season. Let’s hope the schoolyard bully focuses on his own game and learns a little something from the gifted perfectionist…class.

Strengths

Strengths.  Knowing our strengths and innate ways of understanding is important to living a satisfying life.  During a recent presentation on raising resilient children, I told the group of parents and educators how important it is for us to identify, nurture, and respect the strengths of our children and students.  So often we point out our children’s weaknesses rather than looking through the lens of strengths.  Not only can this hurt our relationship with our children, but it can also interfere with the child’s ability to be resilient. 

The Gallup Organization has created an online assessment that can highlight your top five themes from a list of 34 positive innate strengths.  This assessment can be accessed by purchasing one of a number of books including:

• Strengthsfinder 2.0 (Tom Rath)
• Now, Discover Your Strengths (Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton)
• Go Put Your Strengths to Work (Marcus Buckingham)
• Teach With Your Strengths (Liesveld & Miller)

My husband (a retired teacher), our daughter, and I all took the Strengthsfinder test, and we were surprised by the accuracy of the results.  At the time, our daughter felt as though she needed to change her profession in order to use her strengths and passions, but recently she has found that by USING her strengths, she is more satisfied with her chosen field.  My top five themes are: achiever, strategic, futuristic, learner, and activator.  As a college professor in the field of education, I am lucky to be able to use my top five themes in a way that is both personally and professionally satisfying.  The report I was able to download about my profile indicated, among other things, that I needed to find a friend or colleague with whom I could collaborate so that we could push each other to greater heights of creativity and vividness.  Never having known Jenna Forrest prior to reading her book (Help Is On Its Way), I think we have come into each other’s lives to play this important role. 

If you are a bright, sensitive, and intense adult, or you have a child who matches this description, I recommend a focus on strengths as a way to build the passion, joy, and optimism necessary to live happily in a world that doesn’t always nurture the bright, sensitive, and intense spirit.

Bright, Sensitive, Intense

I am pleased to be able to share my thoughts on this website.  I have an affinity for people who are bright, sensitive, and intense, and I hope my insights will help those of you who fit this description.  The poem that follows was written by my 28 year-old daughter Rachel and me.  This poem explains our experiences as bright, sensitive, and intense people.  This poem appears in the December 2007 issue of the National Association for Gifted Children’s magazine “Parenting for High Potential.” 

 

As I approach the 10^th anniversary of my brother’s death, I am amazed by the pain that remains for those who survive the suicide of a loved one.  I remember reading in Jenna’s Forrest ’s book “Help Is On Its Way” about the suicide of her uncle, and it made me realize that in addition to our sensitivity, we are also connected by suicide.  One of the lasting curses of suicide is the impact it has had on me as a mother, and Rachel as my daughter.  I found myself searching for signs of sadness, worried that the result would be suicide.  This hyper-vigilance came to a head in January when Rachel told me she felt as though she always had to have a happy face for me.  She also assured me that she was more resilient than I had realized.  The strangest part of all of this was that my fear of another suicide was all at my unconscious level, and now that we’ve had this conversation, I have let go of the fear of losing another loved one to suicide.

 

I have a passion for reading books about education and self-improvement, and for that reason I will focus on my personal and professional growth through some of those books.  When I read Help is on Its Way, I was struck by Jenna’s ability to put to words the feelings of a bright, sensitive, and intense child’s experiences.  I saw myself on many of the pages, and my heart broke for the young girl who found safety hiding in the bushes.  I hold a book club meeting three times per year for former and current students in my gifted education courses, and next fall we will be discussing Jenna Forrest’s book as part of my Social and Psychological Foundations of Gifted Education course. 

 

In March, we met to discuss the book The Hidden Gifts of the Introverted Child by Marti Olsen Laney, author of The Introvert Advantage.  For those of you who are introverts, you know how difficult it can be to live in a world where you are outnumbered 3 to 1.  It is particularly difficult to be an introvert in an extroverted family.  An introvert gets her batteries recharged by having quiet, alone time to process her thinking, while extroverts recharge their batteries through interaction with others.  The last thing an “innie” who has been at work or school all day wants to do is go right home to a family who wants to engage in high-spirited conversation.  For those of you who are introverts, or who love one, this is a great book designed to explain the gifts of these wonderful souls.

 

I’m looking forward to sharing more of my experiences and favorite books, and I hope to hear about yours.

 

 

BRIGHT, SENSITVE, INTENSE: Two Voices

 

MOM

I am BRIGHT, SENSITIVE, INTENSE

 

DAUGHTER

I am BRIGHT, SENSITIVE, INTENSE

 

MOM

As a child

I CRIED

The teacher yelled at my friend, Danny

Though he didn’t remember the incident

I HID under the bed,

COVERED my ears

when Mom and Dad argue

Many nights CRYING with GUILT

NEEDING SOOTHING

Others would say

I was TOO SENSITIVE

I needed to MELLOW OUT

 

DAUGHTER

As a child

I CRIED at the drop of a hat

Others would say

I was TOO SENSITIVE

I needed to TOUGHEN UP

As a child I was

SHY and RESERVED

Others would say

I was ALOOF and a SNOB

 

MOM

As a teenager

I had STOMACHACHES

Was put on tranquilizers

Why didn’t anyone understand?

I was BRIGHT, SENSITIVE, INTENSE

I understood early on

My way of being

was WRONG

I needed to be fixed

 

DAUGHTER

As a teenager

I hated CHANGE

I was miserable when middle school began

The UNFAMILIAR

the potential to be EMBARRASSED

The counselors didn’t understand why I was

TERRIFIED of gym class

Why couldn’t I just have fun like the other kids?

Why didn’t anyone understand?

I was BRIGHT, SENSITIVE AND INTENSE

MOM

As an adult

Others would say:

PERFECTIONIST

MELLOW OUT

Just GET OVER IT 

DAUGHTER

As an adult

I WORRY more than most

Still FEEL things INTENSELY

Sometimes wonder why I can’t just MELLOW OUT

MOM

I still feel

CONFUSION

GRIEF

LOSS

My brother

Who

Killed himself

Summa Cum Laude

Phi Beta Kappa

Order of the Coif

 

DAUGHTER

My uncle who killed himself

Was BRIGHT

SENSITIVE

INTENSE

MOM

He has given me PURPOSE

I am still

OVERWHELMED at times

Perfume,

Diesel,

New carpeting,

Scratchy labels

Bass drums that shake my organs

Yet, now learning to COPE

 

Deep JOY as well:

The beauty of nature

Learning new ideas

Music lifting my spirit

Friends and family

Who UNDERSTAND

And LOVE me

AS I AM

Now I know

I am NOT BROKEN

And do not need to be fixed

Giftedness is more

I AM MORE

Than an IQ score

 

DAUGHTER

Now I understand

My SENSITIVITY is a GIFT

I can put forth into the world

It gives me EMPATHY

COMPASSION and

HUMILITY

 

MOM

I am BRIGHT, SENSITIVE, INTENSE

 

DAUGHTER

I am BRIGHT, SENSITIVE, INTENSE