What is Highly and Profoundly Gifted?

This intuitive, and often asynchronous, human development is at high risk of misunderstanding, misidentification, and misdiagnosis (the 3Ms), and requires support and scaffolding from like-minded peers, mentors, and practitioners to meet the profoundly gifted individual’s exceptionally unique educational and developmental needs, and to provide fitting opportunities for positive growth and well-being (IGC, Research Center for the highly- profoundly gifted, based on the works of Terman, Hollingworth, Columbus Group, Clark, Gross, Dabrowski & Piechowski, Webb, et al.)(International Gifted Consortium, 2019)

Profoundly gifted students are those who score in the 99.9th percentile on IQ and achievement tests. This population thinks and learns differently than other students. Some common characteristics of profoundly gifted students can include one or more of the following:

• An advanced ability to learn and process information rapidly.
• An extreme need for constant mental stimulation.
• A need to understand the world and for it to be logical and fair.
• An ability to relate a broad range of ideas and synthesize commonalities among them.
• An insatiable curiosity; endless questions, inquiries and appreciation for nuance.
• An inborn sensitivity and awareness of life.
• A need to explore some topics in greater depth.
• A sense of frustration with regard to mundane or repetitious processes.

Profoundly gifted students may also:

• Demonstrate different or unusual interests compared to their same age peers.
• Reach developmental milestones earlier and faster.
• Read early or understand math concepts at a very young age.
• Hold themselves and others to high standards.
• Exhibit asynchronous development, which can manifest as uneven intellectual, physical, and emotional development. 

Oftentimes profoundly intelligent young people are not properly identified and, thus, do not receive an appropriately challenging education. Research shows this can lead to underachievement or even dropping out of school – studies indicate that 40 percent of all gifted students may be underachievers (Handbook of Gifted Education, p. 424). (Davidson Institute)

More Resources:

PG Retreat is an organization directed by and for its members, cultivating lifelong communities of support, and enriching the lives of profoundly gifted children and their families.

Intergifted is a social space and support group designed specifically for and by gifted people.

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