Poster #73 - Difficult or Gifted? Qualitative Investigation of Parents’ Experiences of Their Gifted Children as Infants

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

BACKGROUND: While studies have been conducted to ascertain the experience of parenting a gifted child post-identification, less is known about the experience prior to identification, particularly in infancy. Many psychologists and psychiatrists traditionally equate giftedness with high IQ. However, giftedness is no longer seen in a unitary manner and confined to intellectual intelligence alone (Renzulli, 2011). IQ scores are now often viewed as an inadequate measure of giftedness (Renzulli, 2011) and a more robust multifaceted definition of giftedness has diversified to include atypical strengths in academic ability, such as an exceptional ability to reason and learn, leadership, artistic talent, language, memory aptitude, observational skills, humor, resiliency, and abundant creativity (Beisser, Mehring, & Sullivan, 2015; Gere, Capps, Mitchell, & Grubbs, 2009; Ross, 1993; Sankar-DeLeeuw, 2004). A body of literature has noted a variety of difficult behaviors that often accompany intellectual ability, including hyperactivity, withdrawal, heightened sensitivity, insatiable curiosity, impatience, intensity, and disrupted sleep (e.g. Beljan et al., 2006; Geiger, Achermann, & Jenni, 2010). Misdiagnosis is common due to the prevalence of other neurological and mood disorders that share similar characteristics, such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) (Beljan et al., 2006). Pressure for a diagnosis is significant when the gifted child’s behavior increases stress at home (Webb et al., 2005). The implications of misdiagnosis and non-identification, and the deficit in the literature highlight the importance of identifying early markers of ability so that parents can receive support and guidance. PARTICIPANTS: A total of seven participants were recruited for this study. A call for participants, along with the purpose and intent of the qualitative study, was posted to two separate Facebook sites for parents of gifted children. A brief phone interview was conducted with interested applicants to determine if eligibility criteria were met. METHODS: The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the parental experience of gifted children prior to assessment and formal identification. Seven mothers of gifted children, ranging in age from 4 to 18, were recruited and, via video interview, were asked a series of questions about the traits they observed in their children as infants. Notes were made either during or after the interview to label dominant concepts. The emergent qualitative data was used to develop distinct categories of themes, which were subsequently used to highlight and extract relevant data. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis revealed that despite the variations in giftedness, commonalities were observed across the following domains: sleep patterns, eye contact, temperament, overexcitabilities, traumatic birth, developmental milestones, outside perceptions of the child, and sensitivities. The data expands on the existing literature by providing a snapshot of the unique characteristics of giftedness in infancy. Results from this study may provide an early preliminary foundation to inform the field of the importance of meeting the unmet needs of this population, as well as further understanding the psychological underpinnings of the nature of giftedness and its development.

Authors

• Amy Rastogi, Antioch University Seattle
  Presenting Author

• Macall Gordon, Antioch University, Seattle
  Non-Presenting Author