Categories: Wellness

High intellectual capacities for children: tips for parents and teachers

The professor of the ULL and expert in high children's intellectual abilities, Africa Borges del Rosal, shares valuable information on the detection and approach of intellectual giftedness in children.

This interesting topic is explained in this interview for Sanus by Canary Doctor, by Professor Borges del Rosal, a psychologist who has been researching and studying exclusively high children's intellectual abilities since 2002.

What is meant by high intellectual abilities?

How do high children's intellectual abilities manifest?

It is also quite varied. Normally parents or teachers or people in the environment usually realize that The boy or girl reacts differently. You have ideas about death or momentous events when they are small or they reason very easily or have a extraordinary memory...

That is the "detection“, The first step where someone says that that child has a different capacity. Then this leads to a rigorous diagnosis by a specialized professional.

From what age do these capacities become evident?

From very young. In fact, there are tests from two years which are reliable.

Anyway, an interesting moment is When they enter school. Or when there may be problems at school. That is the time to make a diagnosis to determine If the problems you have or that Superior development is due to a high capacity.

What are the recommendations for those who deal with children with high intellectual abilities day after day?

For parents:

Love, rigor and control are the recommendations. There is not much difference with regard to the recommendations that are given to any parent.
Give limits to children With high children's intellectual abilities is necessary. Rsponsor your questions also, although sometimes he is tired, but they do not lose heart.
Stimulate, empower and reward them When they deserve it. Control when it is convenient to change their behavior and give them a stimulating environment To advance.

For teachers:

That they are formed. This is a very important problem because normally in regulated formations there is not a body of knowledge large enough about high children's intellectual abilities.
These are children with special educational needs which is paradoxically given for its great capacity.
One of the fundamental things is that they have a fast response and learning speed and that makes them grasp concepts very quickly, learn very fast and they get bored and that is going to lead to very important problems of demotivation and worse performance problems of what would be expected.

What can be expected of a child with high abilities in adulthood?

That depends a lot. High capacity only means that one is able to respond to cognitive aspects quickly. If that is not combined with a efforta work and by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of Spain with the assessment Of the things that cost effort, nothing is achieved.
It is very important Develop study habits. We must maximize their capabilities and enhance this policy of effort to achieve great things because if it is not very likely to stay on the road.

Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often confused with high abilities?

Sometimes they are simply very active children interested in what surrounds them and that interest and that activity is confused with hyperactivity. Many times because in the same class they ask and move a lot. That's why it is fundamental to make a differential diagnosis and to clarify what is an interest and a varied attention of what is a lack of attention and hyperactivity.

What does the University of La Laguna bring to children with high abilities?

I am proud to say that our institution has been committed in an important way and we have a long history of 16 years working with students of high abilities.

First we have worked with children of school age, primary and secondary school, in the integral program for high capacities that this year we are doing in its XVI edition.
On the other hand, there is another program that is more oriented to cognitive aspects and to enhance scientific vocations. Its about "Program shares", which is done once a month. Curiously we have a different model than usual because there are usually many mentoring programs in the world and in this the original thing is that it is carried out by doctoral students who have their doctoral thesis adapted to that student body .
This year we have started a pioneering program for the students of the University of La Laguna called "Athena ULL"We have held four plenary conferences, more than 60 curricular activities, 113 students and more than 80 teachers have participated.

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Mrs. Africa Borges del Rosal

Professor at the University of La Laguna, researcher and expert in High Intellectual Abilities, especially in boys and girls. Associate Professor of the Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychobiology and Methodology at the Faculty of Psychology of the ULL