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To cite this Article Silverman, Linda Kreger(1998) 'Through the lens of giftedness', Roeper Review, 20: 3, 204 — 210
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/02783199809553892
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02783199809553892
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Through the Lens of Giftedness
Linda Kreger Silverman rewards matter. There is only the deli- 1919), Terman (1916), Hollingworth
cious appreciation of now. Csikszentmi- (Garrison, Burke & Hollingworth,
Linda Kreger Silverman is a licensed psy-
halyi (1990) calls it "flow." 1917), and Witty (1930). They believed
chologist and Director of the Institute for the Cognitive complexity, emotional that giftedness is innate and that it
Study of Advanced Development and its sub- sensitivity, heightened imagination, and affects all aspects of functioning. When
sidiary, the Gifted Development Center, in magnified sensations combine to create we look for talents instead of giftedness,
Denver, Colorado. Editor of Advanced Devel-
opment Journal, she also edited the popular "a different quality of experiencing: the lens is focused on what individuals
textbook, Counseling the Gifted and Talented. vivid, absorbing, penetrating, encom- can do rather than on who they are in
passing, complex, commanding—a way their totality. This perspective diminish-
of being quiveringly alive" (Piechowski, es our capacity to grasp the dynamic
1992, p. 181). An unusual mind coupled inner experience of the gifted Self.
with unusual emotions leads to unusual defined as potential for recog-
G iftedness creates a different
organization of the Self. Impos-
sible dreams are realized, unrealistic
life experiences throughout the life
cycle. A gifted mind is a relentless idea
"nized achievement, giftedness
places a tremendous burden on the Self.
goals achieved, insurmountable obstacles generator that creates more things to do "What if I don't fulfill my potential?"
surmounted by Selves whose vision is a than there are hours in the day. Control- "Will I disappoint my parents? My
more powerful reality than the limita- ling an unmercifully creative mind is like teachers?" "Have I wasted my gifts?"
Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 19:00 4 May 2011
tions that most of the world accepts as trying to lasso a bull in an open field: it "Am I unworthy if I fail to live up to my
real. Peak experiences and devastating basically goes wherever it wants! It potential?" "Maybe they're wrong.
lows often come with the territory. Rush- rarely stops to listen to what it already Maybe I'm just a good test taker. Or
es of energy at unpredictable times drive knows. However, when engaged, it has maybe they switched the scores and
gifted adults until they find that note, as the capacity to observe or reflect with have mine mixed up with somebody
Dustin Hoffman so aptly described it profound concentration. And the emo- else's." "I couldn'tpossibly be gifted.
during the 1996 Golden Globe awards. tions of the gifted person are just as
Annemarie Roeper (1991) eloquently
I'm nowhere near as smart as..." This
unruly. Anything worth feeling is worth view of giftedness carries with it the
explains this drive:
feeling intensely. The lens through angst of failure for all those who don't
Gifted adults are often driven by
their giftedness. Gifted individuals do which the gifted Self sees the world is at make it to the top. Moreover, attaining
not know what creates the drive, the once complex and vividly intense. Noth- greatness may bring little in the way of
energy, the absolute necessity to act. ing is simple, bland, or colorless. Every- personal satisfaction, as the biographies
They may have no choice but to thing is electrically charged with rich, of eminent people often attest. A com-
explore, compose, write, paint, develop multicolored layers of meaning. petitive society looks with envy at its
theories...or do whatever else it is that heroes and is preoccupied with predict-
has become uppermost in their minds. ing who might have the potential for
They need to know; they need to learn; Definitions of Giftedness and their
lasting recognition. It is less concerned
they must climb the mountain because Impact on the Self
with the well being of those it esteems.
it is there. This "drivenness," this one- How giftedness is seen by the world
It is little wonder that few children
track-mindedness, may keep them and by one's Self has a dramatic impact
or adults—even the most brilliant—
from sleeping or eating, from engaging on the Self. It is currently fashionable to
in sex or any other normal behavior,
identify with the term "gifted." From
define high ability in terms of "poten-
for the duration of their specific involve- the achievement perspective, giftedness
tial" to become "critically acclaimed
ment. (Roeper, 1991, p. 90) brings with it pressure to succeed, anxi-
performers or exemplary producers of
ety about performance, despair at the
ideas" in adult life (Tannenbaum, 1983,
Is this a drive to achieve? Not nec- odds against becoming famous, shame
p. 86). In National Excellence: A Case
essarily. "They need to know; they need and guilt attendant with the fear of fail-
for Developing America's Talent (Office
to learn; they must climb the mountain ure. To protect one's Self from the
of Educational Research and Improve-
because it is there." The gifted Self is onslaught of such painful feelings, the
ment [OERI], 1993), America was offi-
driven by both curiosity and the need for path chosen by most children and adults
cially notified that the term "gifted" is
expression—in words, art, music, dance, is denial of their giftedness. This means
out and "talented" is in: "The term 'gift-
visual models, mathematical formulas, denying an essential quality of the Self,
ed' connotes a mature power rather than
whatever. Sometimes this drivenness which in turn produces Self-alienation.
a developing ability and, therefore, is
results in accomplishments that every- It also leaves the gifted bereft of any
antithetic to recent research findings
one admires, but more often it concen- positive explanation for their differences
about children" (p. 26). Yet, "mature
trates on activities that have significance and opens the door to a host of negative
power," while possibly applying to
only for the individual: an exquisite labels to fill the gap: overachiever, per-
prodigies, has never been the accepted
flower arrangement, a brilliantly execut- fectionist, workaholic, obsessive,
meaning of the term. The dictionary def-
ed chess move, a fabulous idea, a to-die- teacher pleaser, nerd, weirdo, alien, etc.
inition of gifted—"endowed with a nat-
for chocolate sauce... The elation that Substituting the term talented for gifted
ural ability or aptitude; talented" (Web-
comes from finding "that note," that without changing the context—the
ster, 1979, p. 770)—matches the
word, that move, that brush stroke, that connotation espoused by those who ini-
solution, is indescribable. It is pure tiated the field, such as Whipple (1913;
magic. At that moment, no external Manuscript submitted February, 1997.
Revision accepted January, 1998.
increases with higher intellectual alternative to normal appears to be to remember that their children are
capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted abnormal. The dread of abnormality can "children first," as if the giftedness
renders them particularly vulnerable be so overwhelming that the gifted may were tangential to parental decisions.
and requires modifications in parent- feign normalcy, deny their differences, No one assumes that people outgrow
ing, teaching and counseling in order and hide their rich inner worlds from retardation. Yet, I've heard many adults
for them to develop optimally. (The ridicule. It is not safe to name their dif- say, "/ used to be gifted."
Columbus Group, 1991). ferences giftedness, because it is not Developmentally advanced and
This is a phenomenological rather than a permissible to say—even to one's Self— developmentally delayed children are
utilitarian perspective; that is, it focuses "I am gifted." Parents are told not to tell both asynchronous; their development
on the conscious experience of the gift- their children they are gifted for fear (e.g., cognitive vs. physical develop-
ed rather than on their usefulness to that they will feel superior to others, ment) is markedly uneven, and they are
society. leaving children on their own to inter- out-of-sync with agemates and expecta-
Giftedness in this sense implies an pret their experiences: "I'm not like tions of society for their age group. The
advanced ability to construct meaning everybody else. I'm strange." "Imust more they veer in either direction from
in the context of experience, including be crazy."
the enhanced capacity to think the norm, the greater the asynchrony,
abstractly and to respond emotionally Some gifted children learn very both internally (in terms of the uneven-
to abstract concepts used in the inter- early in life to play the game. They ness of their development) and external-
pretation of experiential phenomena. reject their inner Selves and pretend to ly (in terms of their ability to fit in with
Importantly, giftedness pervades the agemates). Cognitive and emotional
whole of one's intellectual, social and
be someone they are not so that they are
emotional reality. (Morelock, in press, more acceptable to others. In Elizabeth complexity also vary as a function of the
p. 3). Drews' (1972) words, "Our children are degree of difference from the norm in
taught to don masks before they recog- either direction. This can be observed in
ting caught, a gifted child might say, "/ Perfectionism is one of the most of individual differences. Binet, Stern,
am not a person who lies. I would hate frequently misunderstood qualities of Goddard, Terman and Hollingworth all
myself if I were dishonest." the gifted Self. Therapists often assume contributed knowledge in both areas and
that perfectionism needs to be cured, understood the wide-ranging psycholog-
I f giftedness were to be recognized
as the mirror image of retardation
it would provide an entirely new way of
since it appears to be a factor in several
conditions, such as compulsive person-
ical manifestations of both syndromes.
The educational needs at the extremes
interpreting information used in identify- ality disorder, depression, and various stem directly from their developmental
ing, diagnosing, and providing therapy eating disorders. However, perfection- differences and psychological needs.
for the gifted. Society recognizes retarda- ism in the gifted has an entirely different The Self is a psychological entity. It
tion is an organizing principle—a unique significance. Perfectionism is a compo- should come as no surprise that so little
trajectory of development with atypical nent of the drive for self-actualization is known or written about the gifted Self
characteristics. Few expect developmen- (Maslow, 1970). The gifted Self envi- given the fact that there is little interface
tally delayed individuals to behave sions what could be instead of just what today between psychology and gifted
exactly like everyone else. The Diagnos- is, it longs to bring that vision into reali- education. An appreciation of the Self is
tic and Statistical Manual of Mental Dis- ty, and, often, it is capable of realizing part of the heritage of the psychology of
orders (DSM-IV), which establishes the its dreams. Without perfectionism, we giftedness that was lost along the way
criteria used by psychiatrists and psy- would have no Olympic champions, no when gifted education severed its rela-
chologists to determine various mental concert pianists, no brilliant surgeons, tionship with its psychological roots.
disorders, provides ample demonstration no great books or works of art, no dedi-
of this. The criteria for many of the psy-
chiatric diagnoses have the exclusionary
cated teachers who work 60 hours a
week at their craft. In a recent large-
T he definition of mental retarda-
tion in the DSM-IV, the methods
of assessment, the behavioral manifesta-
clause, "If Mental Retardation...is pre- scale study of gifted and talented sixth tions, and the statistical criteria for this
sent, the...difficulties are in excess of graders, Parker (1997) found perfection- diagnosis-accepted throughout the fields
those usually associated with these prob- ism to be correlated with conscientious- of psychiatry, psychology and educa-
lems"(American Psychiatric Association ness rather than neurosis; he argued for tion—are instructive for those of us who
[APA], 1994, p. 58). Certain behaviors appreciation of a healthy form of perfec- work with the gifted. First of all, for
that would appear abnormal in an aver- tionism. Therapists need to be able to obvious reasons, the determination of
age person are part of the syndrome of distinguish between an unreachable, retardation is under the jurisdiction of
retardation; therefore, they are attributed punitive set of standards of an average trained professionals. It takes years of
to retardation rather than to other cate- client and a level of excellence within specialized education to become certi-
gories. The diagnostic emphasis is on the grasp of a gifted one. fied as a school psychologist, clinical
comparing the developmentally disabled Misdiagnosis can occur in both psychologist or psychiatrist—the indi-
with their own group rather than with directions. It is possible to miss subtle viduals who are qualified to judge if a
societal norms. signs of serious disorders because the child is developmentally delayed.
This same principle needs to be gifted may exhibit atypical manifesta- Twenty-five years ago, the identification
applied in diagnosing problems in gifted tions rather than textbook symptoms. of giftedness was taken just as seriously.
individuals. However, since gifted indi- For example, a highly able adult may In 1972, Public Law 91-230 stated that
viduals look like everyone else and can experience only the lows without the "gifted and talented children are those
pretend to be like everyone else, they are highs and still have bipolar disorder. identified by professionally qualified
usually judged by a set of standards The manic phase may consist of periods persons..." In 1978, "professionally
based on norms for everyone else rather of enthusiasm, less need for sleep, enor- qualified persons" was removed from
than compared with their own group. mous creative energy, and the motiva- the law, and in the 1993 National Excel-
child s performance compare to the of the Self. Looking for strengths means being
norm?" Again, the interpretation of test To view a child through the lens of tuned in to the whole child, not just aca-
data for developmentally disabled in the giftedness requires being on the look- demic performance.
DSM-IV is revealing: out for strengths and taking them seri-
When there is significant scatter in ously when they appear. Strengths pro-
the subtest scores, the profile of vide a window into the child's abilities. Conclusion
strengths and weaknesses, rather This is the lens through which one
than the mathematically derived full- should look at any child, but it is imper- Giftedness is a ground of experi-
scale IQ, will more accurately reflect ative in attempting to discover gifted-
the person's learning abilities. When ence that differs significantly from the
there is a marked discrepancy across ness. Without this perspective, the most norm. Just as developmental delay pro-
verbal and performance scores, aver- asynchronous children—gifted children duces lifelong effects on social and
aging to obtain a full-scale IQ score with learning disabilities—suffer the emotional development, academic
can be misleading. (APA, 1994, p. 40) greatest damage to their Selves. When achievement, home life, response of the
[italics added] their strengths and weaknesses are aver- community, and career goals, develop-
In diagnosing delayed children, it is rec- aged, they cancel each other, and nei- mental advancement exerts a profound
ognized that the IQ test assesses discrete ther their gifts and nor their disabilities impact on the Self, permeating all facets
sets of abilities which need to be sepa- are detected. Their Selves feels unseen of a person's life in childhood and adult-
rately analyzed to derive a true under- and unheard. "Am I smart or am I stu- hood. Children with significant develop-
standing of the child. It is ironic that pid?" "How come I understand so mental differences in either direction
while gifted educators often subscribe to much more than everyone else but I require modifications in parenting,
the view of multiple abilities, the vari- can't write in such a way as to get teaching and counseling in order for the
ous patterns of strengths that appear on A's?" Failing to qualify for services for Self to be fully realized.
IQ tests of gifted children are often either exceptionality, the Self is left to Because their abstract reasoning
ignored, and placement in programs is struggle with dramatic asynchrony abilities enable the gifted to compen-
dependent upon Full Scale IQ scores- without any support. sate, true disabilities and disorders are
averages of those various abilities. often masked, while typical behaviors of
Many gifted children with uneven pat-
terns are denied differentiated program-
G I i:ifted children use their abstract
Treasoning
r abilities to compen-
sate for their weaknesses; however,
the gifted may be misinterpreted. Diag-
nosticians, school psychologists, thera-
ming due to this misapplication of IQ compensation can mask visual and audi- pists and educators need to be aware of
data. Averaging scores when they are tory problems. All diagnosticians who the characteristics of giftedness in order
extremely discrepant diminishes the work with the gifted—audiologists, to recognize what is atypical for this
Self's gifts by essentially subtracting the optometrists, occupational therapists, population, rather than comparing gifted
weaknesses from the strengths. If it is etc.—need to be aware of compensatory individuals with the general population.
diagnostically inappropriate with chil- behaviors in the gifted and notice how The caveat in the DSM-IV, "If Mental
dren who are developmentally delayed, the child's weaker areas compare with Retardation [etc.]...is present, the...dif-
it should also be considered inappropri- their stronger ones. Otherwise, when a ficulties are in excess of those usually
ate with children who are developmen- child scores within the normal range on associated with these problems" (p. 58,
tally advanced. their assessments, they will fail to detect emphasis added) should be applied to
According to Kaufman (1994), the correctable deficits. For a child whose the gifted population as well. Through
leading interpreter of the Wechsler tests, reasoning is advanced, scores in the nor- the lens of giftedness traits that may be
a discrepancy of 9 points between a mal range may actually indicate signifi- perceived as dysfunctional-such as
child's highest and lowest subtest score cant weaknesses. intensity, sensitivity, perfectionism,
ANNOUNCEMENTS
KUDOS
Tracy L. Cross was named new editor of the Gifted Child Quarterly. Tracy, is Executive Director of the
Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities in Muncie, a Trustee of The Roeper School, and
Contributing Editor of this journal. Tracy was the editor of the journal of Secondary Gifted Education and the
recipient of the 1997 NAGC Early Scholar Award.
Paula Olszewski-Kubilius was named new co-editor of the journal of Secondary Gifted Education with
Rena Subotnik. Paula is Director of the Center for Talent Development, Northwestern, former Book Editor of
the Roeper Review and now Contributing Editor for this journal. Rena is also a Contributing Editor for the
Roeper Review.
Joyce VanTassel-Baska was named the recipient of the 1997 NAGC Distinguished Scholar award. She is
also the new editor of Gifted and Talented International. Joyce is Professor at the College of William & Mary,
Virginia and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Roeper Review.