Are gifted children properly understood and supported in the Czech school system?

Questions prepared by Petra Přeučilová, project manager and mother of a three-year-old daughter. Answers by Monika Stehlíková

How do you recognise a gifted child in the classroom? Is it easy? And what actually is giftedness?

It is not entirely simple or clear-cut. In a way, it is a complex matter with many variables. Giftedness is not just IQ, that is, intellectual giftedness, which is determined above all through intelligence tests (tests which, in themselves, carry many risks for a gifted person). Giftedness can also be artistic, physical, manual and social. In some countries also creative, leadership-related or, say, emotional. What is more, giftedness is not a mere ability in itself; it is linked to creativity in the broad sense of the word, as openness of mind, as the opposite of rigidity. And as if that were not enough, creativity is in turn linked to sensitivity, from elevated to very high. Giftedness does not simply show itself on its own; sometimes the right conditions need to be created for it. Every gifted child is different, so there is no ready-made "recipe". If, however, there is a child in the classroom who is curious, who stands out for their quickness and the penetrating nature of their gaze, who is perceptive, experiences things intensely, can concentrate for a long time (provided the activity makes sense to them) and can stay immersed in an activity for a long while, then there is a strong likelihood that this is a gifted child. Those are the clues by which I can recognise it. And then I keep investigating what the area of their giftedness is, whether artistic, physical and so on, if I do not know yet. The psychologists Kolata (1987) and Webb (1993) both state that giftedness can be recognised at an age when intelligence tests or giftedness tests cannot yet be administered, precisely on the basis of these criteria: intensity, hypersensitivity, concentration and persistence. Piechowski (1997) even states that giftedness is linked to (and without this there is no giftedness) intrapersonal intelligence, emotional potential and moral sensitivity (that is the well-known sense of justice and equality of gifted children). A great problem is that gifted children hide their difference (their so-called neuroatypicality) in an effort to be like other children, which is why it is hard to be sure of spotting these clues.

Put simply, if a child is gentle, sensitive, bright, creative, perceptive, if they have original thinking, a rich vocabulary, unusual questions or knowledge, it is wise to pay attention. In an education based mostly on completing tasks with a predetermined procedure or on memorising facts, it is not always easy to uncover intelligence, because in tasks of that kind high intelligence shows itself only minimally. And that is the reason why so few gifted children are identified. They have nothing in which to express their intelligence and giftedness. Everything is too constrained, too school-like, uniform, conformist, predetermined...

Another reason why so many gifted children escape the notice of the Czech Ministry of Education is the definition of giftedness and the tools that were designed to identify them. They are too narrow. In Belgium, for example, the definition is much broader and corresponds far better to reality; judge for yourselves: "Specifically, we consider a young person to be exceptionally gifted if they reach an overall IQ of 125 or above, or reach an IQ of at least 130 in one of the WISC subtests, or show abilities exceptionally developed in one of the types of intelligence according to Gardner (which cannot be measured through IQ tests), or if exceptional giftedness is established by other specialists."

At what age is it even possible to tell, or when does it begin to show, that a child is gifted? Is it always that trajectory where the child has been "exceptional" at something from an early age?

A gifted child is different, so anyone who knows how to recognise it can spot it as early as the maternity ward. At three months, for example, a gifted child can concentrate in a calm, restful state twice as long as ordinary children. It looks around with a wise gaze, scans its surroundings, is curious. It learns quickly, keeps moving ahead, and so on. It is not just that the child is above average in some area (that is the quantitative difference of giftedness); its psychological functions of experiencing (perception, thinking, feeling) and of acting are different too (the qualitative difference of giftedness). On the other hand, anyone can be exceptional at something, and they do not necessarily have this neuroatypicality.

Is giftedness related, and if so how, to analytical (that is, linguistic, logical-mathematical and visual-spatial) intelligence? Because that is mostly what we measure with IQ tests...

If an individual meets the criteria and personality characteristics described above and has analytical intelligence at an exceptionally high level, then they are exceptionally gifted intellectually/cognitively (IQ above 130; 2.3% of the population).

The other kinds of giftedness (artistic, physical, social, manual) are less related to IQ tests. The psychiatrist Dabrowski once carried out research for which he selected children who were performing at an absolutely exceptional level in art, music, dance and theatre, and had their IQ measured. Their IQs ranged between 110 and 155. With these kinds of giftedness, then, we focus more on skills, performances, creations, creativity, invention, inspiration and the like than on IQ tests. And not everyone with a high IQ becomes a scientist; that too tends to be assumed automatically. Look up on the internet the IQs of the actresses Nicole Kidman and S. Stone, or of the director Tarantino: not one of them pursues a scientific career.

Is giftedness related, and if so how, to high sensitivity? Is every gifted person highly sensitive, and vice versa?

If we start from the definition of an exceptionally gifted individual (the Delphi study, Netherlands 2006-7), then an elevated to high sensitivity is part of giftedness: "A gifted individual is a skilful and quick thinker, capable of dealing with complex matters. They are autonomous, curious and enthusiastic. They are a sensitive and emotionally rich person who experiences things intensely. They seek out opportunities to be creative." Renzulli (1986) says there is no giftedness without creativity, and Gibello says there is no creativity without sensitivity. The question, of course, is what each of us imagines when we say sensitivity. In gifted people it certainly need not mean sensitive behaviour, especially when they are pushed into a corner. What is meant is the sensitivity of the nervous system; we are not talking about behaviour and actions. In any case, take a look at the chart, which presents it under the term highly sensitive.

What in the Czech school system does outright harm to gifted children, what should we watch out for, what should we avoid?

It is hard for me to speak for gifted children of school age, but I will try to sum up what I hear most often from my child clients. Gifted children need a great deal of trust and freedom, and that is sorely lacking. They cannot create from their own inner motivation, they are not given complex and demanding tasks, and it bothers them that they learn things simply in order to have learnt them, which is shallow. They would rather learn them invisibly, without any feeling of learning at all, and go straight to creating, writing, dancing, drawing, singing, solving mysteries, changing the world, coming up with new ideas. Above all, though, what not only bothers them but also does them immense harm is that they cannot think, feel and act in their own way, that they have to become someone else, because the whole school system is "made" for the neurotypical; they are therefore led to give up their own ways of thinking, learning, creating and paying attention, and to copy how "it is done". That, sadly, is a tragedy; we damage these individuals very badly by it. On the one hand we see everywhere how we should be supporting talent and giftedness, and on the other hand we only think we are supporting them, while doing those children great harm. Last but not least, they complain that the material is served up to them as if "for babies", in a way "for babies".

What do we already know how to do at school, and what do we not yet know how to do, in order to support gifted children properly? What should the Czech school system go through?

Occasionally, in some places, we know how to offer mathematics, English or Czech at a higher level. What we do not yet know how to do, on a wider scale, is understand the qualitative difference of giftedness. Let me give an example: a gifted child concentrates for a long time when it immerses itself in a demanding, ambiguous and complex creative activity that makes sense to it. On routine tasks of a "clerical" nature it concentrates only for an average time, sometimes even below average. A specialist concludes from this that the child needs even shorter tasks, instead of proposing, on the contrary, tasks or projects spanning a much longer time. That works even less well, and then we are only a step away from voicing the hypothesis that it is probably a case of ADHD. Absurd!

What can a teacher do so that gifted children feel better at school?

They should be kind, empathetic and creative, should not judge the child or attach diagnoses to it just because it is different from the others; on the whole they should also be demanding when it comes to interesting and inspiring outcomes of the work, and above all fair.

How can ACT psychotherapy and the mindfulness method help gifted individuals?

At the heart of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a person's true self and their values, and I think that is what speaks to gifted individuals. When making decisions about their lives, they want to be guided by themselves and not by external authorities, customary procedures, automatisms, conventions and the like. Mindfulness, in turn, helps them get through the tangle of thoughts and emotions to an inner space where they make decisions in harmony with themselves.

In what direction should education in the Czech Republic be heading in order to better support the discovery and development of the individual potential and talent of all students?

It should stop labelling children and giving them "papers", and should enable an education that creates the conditions for the development of giftedness (the Czech Education Act, Section 17, Education of gifted children, pupils and students, paragraph 1); it should freely allow the authentic expression of children's thinking and allow them to formulate opinions, that is, let the child create, think, feel and act in its own way, individually, with respect for others. Many teachers today believe this is already the case, but they simply cannot imagine what it really means to allow human creativity, invention and personality to move freely, to search, to discover, to be wrong, to correct themselves, to formulate their own (truly their own, not assigned by the teacher) procedures and opinions, however age-appropriate these will naturally be. Only in this way will a child develop properly, in harmony with itself. Today we witness two main tendencies: either to "pigeonhole" the child and drill it, or rosy positivity wherever you look, without adequate demands on the child, masking a lack of pedagogical professionalism.

Does the school system as such even suit gifted children? Could a completely different form of education be ideal for them? An alternative school / home schooling...

For many of them, yes; they do not want to be at home alone, they enjoy company and friends. Some, however, are not able to adapt to an overly institutional education without more serious consequences for their mental health; they are too creative, too free-spirited, too nonconformist for that.

What does a gifted adult look like whose giftedness was never identified? What do you encounter most often in your practice?

An individual with a false self they have built up, with their true personality suppressed, with passivity, depression, anxiety, and a lack of courage to be themselves and to do what is in harmony with who they are.

How and when does an adult usually find out that something is not right, and in what situation do they come to see you? What is it they feel "does not fit" (in their life)?

That is not so easy to say. Most often, perhaps, by beginning to become aware of their difference, of the fact that they do not fit in, that they are different and that it complicates their life. Or, conversely, in the ACT courses there are already people who know what they want, who want to be themselves and live in accordance with their values, but they need support at the start, they need tools (ACT therapy, mindfulness).

Do you feel that when you tell an adult about their giftedness, it is more of a relief for that person, or a burden? Can that person then really change their life towards greater contentment?

It is almost always an immediate relief: accepting oneself, understanding one's life and what has played out in it in the past. After a while, though, the burden can come too, not because anything is wrong, but because living with difference, day after day, in our world is simply hard; you keep running up against things, and then you may ask yourself, was it even worth it, becoming who I am? That is each person's choice. And courage.