What is meant a talented child?
Exceptionality is plural. Some individuals are talented in one area of life—understanding, sensitivity, or acting—but not in another; skilled in one area of culture, but not in others. They are individuals with greater skills in writing or composing, in playing with mathematics, or in finding applications of science in the everyday world, among others. They are people with very powerful interests and motivations in a particular area of culture or life; they possess specific interests and aptitudes, and in these they can perform excellently.
For many years, the topic of exceptionality has been surrounded by an immense number and variety of myths. For example, until the beginning of the century, it was believed that they were left-handed, short, unhealthy, and emotionally unstable. However, a study by Lewis Terman, who followed a population of nearly two thousand young Americans with exceptional intellectual abilities from 1921 to 1959, refuted this popular belief. Terman found that these young people were physically and emotionally healthy, and were more successful in their academic, emotional, and professional lives than those with average intellectual abilities.
Other myths about gifted children have recently gained traction, and from very different perspectives. Commercial versions, especially on American television, present prototypes such as "Little Adams" (a child who on screen demonstrated a very high level of specific and insubstantial knowledge and, as a result, provided answers to all kinds of questions, no matter how bizarre). In the 1990s, Lisa Simpson emerged, an eight-year-old girl with an IQ of 156, yet who was consistently rejected by her family and peers.
According to these versions, gifted children wear glasses, are unattractive, unsociable, arrogant, "bookworms," and dedicated all their time to studying. Consequently, they are often assumed to be poor athletes and terrible in social interactions. In short, adults with the body and face of children; that is, children who lose their childhood.
Despite all the above, these myths are precisely that: myths. They lack scientific basis, knowledge, follow-up, and support on the subject of exceptionality.
Contrary to popular belief, children with exceptional abilities play and sing; they have fun, laugh, eat popsicles, tell jokes, play sports, and tease, just like any other child. In addition to being emotional and social leaders from a very early age, they are usually bright and especially friendly and fun. Like any other child, they prefer vacations and enjoy it when their teachers get sick, just like Mafalda, the wonderful character from Quino. What happens is that these children have high levels of intensity in the activities they engage in; be they academic, recreational, athletic, or social.
When they play, they give themselves completely to their game, striving to make it a life-changing experience. They sing, study, love, suffer, have fun, and annoy others: always at a faster pace. It seems as if time weren't enough for what they have to live; as if our minutes were seconds for them.
It's clear, then, that these children have high levels of motor, intellectual, imaginative, and emotional energy: This is why it is said that they are overexcited when it comes to asking, thinking, imagining, feeling, and acting. They live as if every day were their last or as if every soccer game were the final of a professional world championship.
Children with exceptional abilities are like this: intense, thoughtful, committed, and passionate, eager to learn, to question, to discover, and to invent, because they have a strong energy that makes them live at a faster pace.
Precisely for this reason, it is nothing short of foolish to think that children with exceptional abilities are not children. Quite the opposite. They live their childhood more intensely and, because of this, they develop questions, attitudes, and concerns much earlier than other children.
In short, they are not adult children; they are doubly children. And that's why they deserve our adult attention.