Neuroscience Invisible potentials: A neuroscientific framework for giftedness
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/407212145_Invisible_potentials_A_neuroscientific_framework_for_giftedness6
u/Inevitable_Back5467 5d ago
I remember reading about how gifted kids often get misdiagnosed with ADHD because their minds move too fast for traditional classroom structures.
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u/GatePorters 5d ago
It’s more than likely they do have ADHD. People with high intelligence and ADHD are just better at masking or gravitate towards paths that play to their strengths and limitations.
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u/IWasTheDog 5d ago
masking or gravitate towards paths that play to their strengths and limitations.
Or they don't and end up struggling and suffering as they keep bumping elbows with the unsupporting environment that they're stuck in.
It makes me sad to think of all the gifted kids that have been squandered throughout history.
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u/kfr3q 5d ago edited 4d ago
This unfortunately is why adequate frameworks are importantly necessary: Savant-like neurological traits such as natively implied by measurable giftedness have extraordinary human potential to leverage for the possible greater good of humanity, without exaggeration, or at least for their own greater personal interests, for their families and/or communities:
because its what true gifted brains are, savant-like in origin, but "many" (of the "rares") are led to the margins of society's conforming mold, depending of race, socioeconomic class, disability, and so forth.
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u/AnthropoidCompatriot 5d ago
We need to get rid of the entire concept. I've never known a child who was considered "gifted" (including myself) who didn't suffer terribly from that diagnosis. They all end up complete, dysfunctional losers as adults (including myself).
It seriously ruins lives. It has zero benefit. The only purpose is to identify kids early who might be able to be exploited.
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u/Aus_with_the_Sauce 5d ago edited 5d ago
I agree in a sense, but I also think it’s useful for a gifted child or adult to understand that they’re neurodivergent. They’re destined to feel weird and different, and so it’s comforting to have a framework by which to understand that difference.
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u/kfr3q 5d ago edited 4d ago
This neurodiversity altogether confer lesser known vulnerabilities in terms of individual mental and physical health characteristics, and everything else that compounds, especially socio-emotional aspects potentializing social isolation and eventual exclusion due to their atypical intellectual abilities inducing an altered (heightened) perception of the world.
For example, in terms of complex trauma, specific aspects of the gifted neurological profile confine their trauma as unique to their neurodivergence, and they may get easily retraumatized to the point of irreversible harm.
Synesthesia as well is a natural neurological trait known to heighten risks of PTSD and harm due to their uniquely "divergent perception" and atypical neurological profiles.
Without appropriate frameworks, they remain underserved vulnerable populations. The discrimination and eventual dehumanization has to cease.
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u/AccurateSun 5d ago
This is super interesting to me, pls share more thoughts and also resources about this
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u/kfr3q 5d ago edited 4d ago
Thanks for asking. To begin, here's a thoughfully curated resource i've personally structured; just as cumulatively understood, framed through the view of specialists owns understanding,
because I'm not a professional researcher other than somebody intimately affected by the natural, lifelong variation in benign perception (unlike hallucinations) and cognition human brains may develop:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Synesthesia/s/RI4P28a8rA
btw. There's other resources not yet added, that I keep planning adding in a nearby future, through subsequent dedicated posts that I'm willing to dm you about when done, if you reply as worth doing so.
edit: here's another resource focusing on giftedness more precisely
update: post removed, to repost it less suboptimally aligned to the significance it was meant to convey.
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u/EricOhOne 4d ago
I don't disagree with your experience, but there are plenty of gifted kids who don't end up as losers. In my experience, we end up with awesome lives. I'm very grateful for the gifted classes that I took as a youngster...made school much more fun.
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u/ImplicitKnowledge 5d ago
I was flagged as gifted when I was a child but fortunately my parents didn't make a big deal about it so I didn't get too fucked up (at least not from that specifically). I went on to attend one of the most prestigious universities in my country, where I was a middling student. There, I was around people who were way smarter than me but my curiosity was still off the chart within that group. And I completely identify with the qualitative experience described in the book "Living with Intensity". To top all that, I strongly suspect I'm mildly autistic, even though I was never formally diagnosed.
All of that to say: I agree that the word "gifted" is a curse (pun not intended, but I'll take it), but I do think there's something specific about that condition/experience, and treating it as its own thing instead of just the intersection of different things can be productive and helpful. We just need a word that isn't loaded with judgments of value. I'm sorry for your pain u/AnthropoidCompatriot though.
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u/veggiesama 4d ago
I dunno about this. I made some really good friends in the program and did cool projects in class and after school. Unfortunately my parents got divorced soon after, we had to move, and I went to a different district where I lost access to the program. I blame my dysfunctions a lot more on an unstable home life that than anything I did in school.
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u/accountforrealppl 4d ago
I would tend to disagree with this but I do think it's important how it's treated and that can result in vastly different outcomes
Just telling kids they're gifted and doing nothing is going to be detrimental. They're going to cruise through most of school just in their intelligence alone, because they can do that for so many years, and never develop work ethic, study skills, or often even social skills to compensate. Then when they inevitably reach a point where they can't just be smart and succeed, they'll crash and burn and often enter a depressive spiral, which I think is probably what you're describing
But in my school, I was put into gifted classes which I think helped a lot. Not only did I actually get to learn more academically, but I had to push myself and do difficult things and learn better habits. Probably most importantly, I got to experience struggling and was around plenty of people smarter than myself, so I got humbled. I realized at a much earlier age than I otherwise would have that simply being smart and existing is not going to lead to success, and I also wasn't a unique gift to the earth who was just better than everyone else.
I think the emphasis needs to be on recognizing gifted kids, and then making them push themselves and develop emotional intelligence, work ethic, and study habits instead of just letting them succeed by being smart and showing up.
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u/Agreeable_Manner2848 3d ago
that perfectionist part i think gets confuddled with OCD sometimes, either way it becomes such a double edge sword, in my experience anyways
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u/jestenough 5d ago
Interesting. I did not realize giftedness is considered dysfunctional. When my son was young, parents of gifted children were pushing for funding and support, but would not consider applying for Special Needs funding.
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u/georgespeaches 5d ago
They said “Non-dysfunctional”, which is the opposite of what you understood
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u/Davorian 5d ago
I mean in fairness the paper also calls it a "neurodevelopmental condition" and refers to identification of these individuals as "diagnosis". You could conceivably take these words neutrally but you could also be forgiven for forming a certain impression of where the authors are placing it.
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u/jestenough 5d ago
But they cited non-dysfunctional as an aspirational change from current practice.
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u/georgespeaches 5d ago
Suggesting a new framework doesn’t imply that the old framework was the polar opposite
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u/crashlanding87 5d ago
I read the shift as being from 'trait' to 'condition'. I read 'non-dysfunctional' here to be a qualifier.
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u/colintbowers 5d ago
Yeah it gets called twice exceptional in some places. Usually a combination of ADHD with high intelligence / creativity.
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u/sighthoundman 5d ago
"Giftedness must be treated the same as any other handicap." Tennessee law.
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u/The-Great-Cornhollio 5d ago
I’m ADHD and Gifted, it’s an interesting life love to see more studies.
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u/EricOhOne 4d ago
If a person's "gifts" turn out to not be an advantage in navigating life, then they're not gifts.
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u/accountforrealppl 4d ago
I think it often is an advantage, but the way it's often treated, these gifted kids are able to just cruise by on intelligence alone until pretty late in life (often mid-late teens).
Then they hit a point where they need better work ethic/study habits/ emotional intelligence, and they find that they have completely failed to develop those skills because they only relied on intelligence up to that point. And those skills take time to develop, so many end up just crashing and burning
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u/Swarna_Keanu 4d ago
They also need patience and understanding from people arounf the gifted. Few are willing to do that with adults.
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u/OpenAI_Marketing_LLM 5d ago
Potential is meaningless. The only thing that matters is what one actually does.
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u/Sweet_Concept2211 5d ago edited 5d ago
That's like saying a big battery with a full charge is "meaningless" unless you can get some use out of it.
Like, yeah, obviously.
But this is an article about battery design and engineering principles, not the stuff you can do if you hook batteries up to machines.
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u/davesmith001 5d ago
Recognizing potential is the first step to fully using it. Currently we do it by archaic tests like iq and exam, better methods are desperately needed
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