Giftedness and Talent

Giftedness is the possession of a very high natural ability in at least one domain (e.g. athletic, communication, a school subject, or art). Gifted people pick up new skills very quickly and are not driven to learn through external goals or achievement but by curiosity and enjoyment. Giftedness and neurodiversity are highly linked. We move away from medicalising neurodiversity and instead focus on the strengths that is gives people, while planning for some of the challenges that neurodiversity can present.

Giftedness is often incorrectly thought of as being solely associated with (school based) intelligence. While children and adults can be intellectually gifted, there are other domains such as motor-skill, social, and creativity in which people can hold gifts.

Understanding how giftedness can affect personality and behaviour is crucial to helping gifted people fully develop their gifts into talent. Gifted people can flourish with the right guidance and nurturing, and indeed gifted people can experience emotional and self-esteem difficulties. These experiences can impact on the development of gifts but also be harnessed positively to promote exceptionality if given the right support.

Common Experiences with Gifted Children and Adults

• Sensitivity to emotions

• Highly self-critical mind

• Beliefs that they are different from others (in a negative way)

• Perfectionistic

• Lack patience

• Low level of concentration when unchallenged

• Difficulty being understood

Translating Giftedness into Talent

Talent is when individuals have mastered and have great knowledge of a skill. Talent, unlike giftedness, is developed over time through planning, commitment, and discipline. People who are gifted can increase there talent through the right developmental environment as well as learning to manage their own gifted mind.

At PSPC we can help positively guide both parents and children in learning how to develop gifts into talent from a psychological perspective.

The Model shows some of the influencing factors on developing gifts into talent.