All about children with high potential (EHP)

Is he curious, asks lots of questions and is very sensitive? Your child may have a High Intellectual Potential (HPI). This peculiarity affects approximately 2% of the French population. How do you know if a child is gifted? What signs, and how is the diagnosis made? If so, how can you best support your intellectually precocious child (EIP) so that they can fully develop? We take stock of giftedness, with Monique de Kermadec, clinical psychologist, specialist in gifted children and adults for over twenty years, and author of numerous books on the subject such as: “The little gifted child from 6 months to 6 years old” and “The precocious child today. Prepare it for the world of tomorrow ”.

Definition and characteristics: what is high intellectual potential, or HPI?

First of all, what exactly is a High Intellectual Potential? It is in fact a characteristic of the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in a part of the population. HPI people have an IQ that is between 130 and 160 (therefore well above the average, around 100 approximately). This profile of child and adult has particularities specific to High Potential, shared with us by Monique de Kermadec: “Gifted children have a great natural curiosity. They also have excellent memory, and often hypersensitivity ”. Gifted children, also called “zebras”, are often endowed with tree-like thinking, which gives them great creativity and allows them a certain speed in solving problems.

Signs: how to detect and recognize a gifted baby or child?

Signs of precocity can be detected by parents, even if an IQ test with a psychologist is needed to determine a child’s giftedness. However, even in babies, certain character traits can arouse the suspicion of parents, as Monique de Kermadec explains: “In babies, it’s the look which can reveal a High Intellectual Potential. Gifted babies will have keen eyes and full of curiosity. When they are older, it is through the word and the language that one can detect a High Potential. Gifted children often have a richer language than those of their age. They strike through verbal contact. They are also very sensitive and express their emotions very strongly. They can be more sensitive to sounds, smells or colors for example. Precocious children will also pose a large number of questions to those around them. These are often existential questions on the world, on death or on the universe for example. There may also be a challenge to authority associated with the rapid development of critical thinking. At school, these are students who can develop a form of boredom, because their learning rate is faster than that of others. “

What are the tests to measure a High Potential?

Over time, parents will gradually ask themselves questions about their child’s potential giftedness. They can then decide to go to the heart of it, by performing an IQ test : “Between the two years and the six years of the child, one takes the IQ test WPPSI-IV. For older children, it is the WISC-V, ”summarizes Monique de Kermadec. IQ tests are tests of logic. It is also important to know that this visit to the psychologist is not just intended to obtain a “score”, as Monique de Kermadec emphasizes: “The psychological assessment will make it possible to determine precise things, such as the probable anxiety of the precocious child, or his relationship with others. The assessment will also determine the weaknesses of the gifted child, because he is obviously not strong everywhere and has his own limits.

How to deal with an intellectually precocious child, or EIP?

The results come in, and they say your child is gifted. How to react ? “Your child is the same as before the consultation. You just have to take into account the personality traits that this implies. For example, if he is very sensitive, you will understand that he may get angry for sensory reasons. Try to understand him as much as possible, but above all do not tell yourself that you will not succeed because his needs are special. And be confident parents: a precocious child is full of creativity, and has many interests. Via the internet, school or teachers, he will be able to satisfy his curiosity. When it comes to the affective plan and the learning of life, it is only you, the parents, who are indispensable. Parents are the fundamental allies of the precocious child. They are the ones who will accompany it for years in its development. It is also up to the parents to help the precocious child to develop his other types of intelligence, especially relational. Being gifted is not a reason to be socially alone. », Advises Monique de Kermadec.

Should I say my child is precocious? Should we talk about it at school?

Perhaps after learning this news about our child’s situation, we will want to share this news with those around us. Or with the teaching team, so that they can take care of our little gifted child in an adequate way. Monique de Kermadec nevertheless advises talk about it sparingly : “Before talking about it, we have to ask ourselves whether we want to do it out of need or out of desire. Telling our loved ones about it can backfire on the gifted child, who will be seen in a different way, and may even feel rejection. As for the teaching team, I advise parents not to rush right away, at the beginning of the year, to talk to them about it. It is better to wait until the first date in the school year to mention it, if you feel it is necessary for your child. Finally in the family environment, it is important not to talk about it to your brothers and sisters, because this would create competitiveness and unnecessary jealousy. “

At school, how is it for the gifted?

The situations are very different for precocious children during their schooling. By their formidable peculiarities, some of them are students who get very good grades, while others are failing at school: “Often, we have tended to think in recent years that precocity was synonymous with problems, and particularly with academic failure. This is wrong, because many gifted children do very well in their studies and are very good students. Their creativity, their often optimal memory, and their speed of development are often important assets. We often talk about skipping class for a precocious child, to avoid boredom at school, even if this is not automatic. You need to get a good look at your child’s personality before the class jump procedure, and possibly talk to the psychologist about it. Indeed, some gifted children like to have control, and skipping class can confuse them. Let us not forget, moreover, that the development of the child, whether precocious or not, is the priority: leaving his comrades, finding himself the youngest of another class can also disturb him.

Giftedness in children: don’t put pressure on them!

Often, we think as a parent that having a precocious child is having a future genius who will change the world with his new ideas. A mistake not to be made, according to psychologist Monique de Kermadec: “Above all, do not condemn your child to becoming a future Leonardo da Vinci, or to making your unfulfilled dreams come true. You should not ask too much of a child, even with high potential. He is perhaps sharper than the others, but there is still a child ! Everyone has their own pace and vision of things. Some little “zebras” are very bright in school, others less so. Being gifted does not necessarily guarantee being a future Polytechnician! You have to love him for who he is, the way he is, and help him develop his talents and personality to the best of his ability. On the other hand, if you know yourself to be gifted encourages him to be a little pretentious towards his comrades, or if he does not make enough effort at school, pretending that he “understands everything”, try to have a conversation with him: he must understand that if he has “facilities”, it is is by working that he will be able to exploit them suitably.