You think you have a zebra at home? It's possible! Here I give you some tips to (1) identify the HIP of your child, (2) understand what is going on in his head, and (3) help him to advance in the construction of his personality.
What is a zebra child?
A Zebra Child (or precocious, gifted, etc.) is a child with a intellectual quotient higher than average. Generally, it is estimated that an IQ greater than or equal to 130 on the Wechsler scale is required to be among the high potentials. Contrary to popular ideas, this over-boosted brain does not lead to greater intelligence. Actually, it has a completely different functioning "normal" brains (atypical in the jargon).
One precocious child will not necessarily succeed easily, or flourish in the same way as his comrades. On the contrary, this atypical functioning regularly causes some disorders in the development of the gifted child. It may prove to be disabled if it is not detected in time.
Characteristics of the precocious child
First of all, I want to point out that there is no 100% reliable way for a person to identify an intellectually precocious child. Indeed, only realIQ testand consultation with a professional can give a reliable response and actually detect a gifted child.
Nevertheless, some "characteristics" or "symptoms" may put the chip in your ear, which I speak of in my precocious child test. Note, however, that they differ from one individual to another. Some may have more than one and have no doubt, while others may be completely melted into the mass and be gifted. I also included some small feelings seen "from the inside" of the high potential, to try to help understand some reactions of your zebra child.
Hypersensitivity
Emotional and sensory hypersensitivity is a predominant feature in zebra children. Nevertheless, it is very common that, in order to protect itself from this constant influx of emotions and stimulations, the child "cuts" from the outside world and seems a little "in his head" throughout the day. That was my case very quickly. I have always felt assaulted and abused by how I felt without it reading on my face or my reactions. I was wearing some kind of mask. It's crazy like everything took on an inordinate sense. A small refusal of nothing at all (" No, Paul, you're still waiting 30 minutes for everyone to sit at the table even if you're already hungry. ") could bring me into mad anger and hatred. Nevertheless, this anger remained deep in me, and I was content to wait kindly on the side.
My mother always said that my emotions were only in my eyes. It seemed to be the only place where a wise eye could read my anger or my joy. Otherwise, I kept straight and fad.
Social adjustment
The zebra child will generally understand the world that surrounds it very (too?) fast. In fact, he thinks very quickly and many things. These waves of ideas and complex connections, combined with a hypersensitivity of the outside world, allow him to develop what is called Iextra-lucidity. Basically, the naivety of childhood goes very fast. The gifted child grows faster (at least in the head). He is not interested in the same things as his comrades. Besides, he finds their activities futile, even stupid and boring.
In primary school, my friends liked to go play outside or with figurines. I liked to stay alone and create online contests. I had strangers vote for the best object, the best site, or the best anything. They voted by sending paid text messages, and I was making a little money. The plan was to save money to buy a house. When I was talking about it, my friends didn't understand why I was doing all this. And those who understood it did not manage to get to the idea that I would save that money for a real estate project and not to go buy candy. Anyway, we lived in two different worlds. School and university are not obvious environments for zebra.
In spite of all this, this social gap can be erased by the creation of a kind of facade personality that is called false self. The goal for the little zebra is to hide its sensitive and fragile personality well at the bottom of itself. He protects himself with his false self that corresponds to social and societal norms. The precocious child needs to be loved, and he will rather build a false personality and forget to feel included than to be revealed and rejected.
Creativity and curiosity
The gifted child needs to understand and learn. His curiosity is boundless. When I was a child, I loved reading a lot of books, and going to school to learn. From kindergarten, I was called " Paulo-la-science" because I knew a lot about various subjects.
At the same time, this curiosity and the sensitivity of high potentials make them very creative people. Besides, from a biological and anatomical point of view, zebras use both their right brain and their left brain. It's called "I"Hemisphere equipotentiality. A lambda person will rather tend to overuse the left (logical) hemisphere relative to the right (creative). Creativity does not necessarily take on an artistic form – even though, small, j'adorais draw and painting! However, what I preferred most was to create an entire world in my head. Like that, in a split second. And create and model absolutely everything. That was great.
Today, I am always very well in my head, but creativity develops differently. I have a passion for huge and automated Excel spreadsheets, I have many professional projects that advance in parallel, and I draw (by the way, you will notice throughout this site my beginnings in the drawings on tablet... I am bursting!). And my curiosity didn't diminish either. What's important is feeding her.
The gifted child in school
As I grew up I often heard two clichés about high potentials at school. The first was to say that a gifted person knew everything before the teacher spoke about it. The second was that the zebra child would sooner or later end up in school failure. Know that this is not usually the case. I'm the perfect example. I have always been a very good student, without knowing everything before my comrades. In addition, I have always been very well compliant with the school system. In fact, I think people who match the two previous shots usually do IQ tests. So we quickly discover that they are zebra children. Nevertheless, there are many other young people for whom everything is normal and therefore not detected.
Many zebra children are dysgraphic and may require follow-up graphotherapy.
Understanding potential school difficulties
Nevertheless, here are a few ways to better understand the causes of the potential educational difficulties of a zebra child.
Attention disorders
First, we have the latent inhibition deficit. Simply put, latent inhibition is the brain's ability to select only relevant information. If I walk in the street, my brain will only pay attention to any obstacles in front of me. In the case of a classroom, the child will focus only on his/her teacher. In the illustration below, the student will focus only on the coloured elements.
One precocious child will have a deficit of this latent inhibition. In other words, his brain will not prioritize the information that comes to him. This is akin to attention disorders. In fact, the brain of the zebra child will focus as much on the time he is outside, his comrades or going and coming into the hallway behind the door as on the actual course. If we take back the previous picture, here are the elements to which the intellectually precocious child will pay attention.
A challenge to the authority
The zebra child has a big problem with authority, and it is on the part of the parents, the teacher, or the future manager. In fact, he quickly realized that the figure of authority does not have infuse science and can then some times be mistaken. From there on, why listen to it the following times, because the risk that it (it) makes a missake is still there? The gifted child knows his parents learn to be a parents on the job. So that means they will make mistakes some times. In this case, the only "right" solution would be to do what he thinks is right. to him.
One day my Spanish teacher returned a written duty. I read his annotations carefully, and found a mistake in his points system. She forgot 0.5 out of 20 points. I quickly went to her to report this omission. From that day on, she lost all credibility in my eyes and I completely robbed myself of her. After all, if she is not able to count points, how could she learn something?
Even with my senior philosophy teacher. I disagreed with what he taught us. The views of the "great philosophers" that I saw in the course seemed delusional to me. I made a kind of small rebellion do to him and refused to return him any duty throughout the last quarter. As a result, I had a good 0 average. My parents were desperate, and I was pretty proud of myself. Why write pages and essay pages on a way of thinking that I thought bad?
The 6 profiles of intellectually young children
In 1988, two Americans defined 6 profiles of intellectually young children. He is Georges Betts, a professor at the University of Colorado and President of the National Association of Guifted Children, and Maureen Neihart, a doctor in psychology. Their results are to be taken with tweezers because each individual is different and I am not always convinced by the principle of putting people in boxes. Nevertheless, you may recognize certain traits of your child.
Type 1 – The Successful : Student who succeeds well
At least 90% of the gifted students identified during their schooling are type 1. Children who demonstrate behaviour, feelings and needs in category 1 have learned the system. They listened carefully to their parents and teachers. After finding out what "walks" at home and at school, they begin to show appropriate behavior. They learn well and are able to achieve high scores in success tests and intelligence tests. As a result, they are generally identified to be placed in programs for the gifted. They rarely have behavioural problems because they want to get approval from teachers, parents and other adults.
These are the children, many of whom think they will "successfully succeed alone". However, Type 1 often bothers with the school and learns how to use the system to manage with as little effort as possible. Rather than pursuing their own interests and goals at school, they tend to follow school movements, seeking structure and direction from instructors. They depend on parents and teachers. They fail to acquire the skills and attitudes necessary for autonomy, but they succeed. Overall, these children may seem to have positive self-concepts because they have been confirmed for their achievements. They are valued by their peers and are part of social groups. They are dependent on the system but are not aware that they have shortcomings because of the strengthening they receive from adults who are satisfied with them and their achievements. However, the brightest children in the class can become competent adults but without imagination who do not fully develop their gifts and talents. It appears that these children have lost both their creativity and their autonomy.
Type 2 – The Challending : the provocateur
Type 2 has a divergent and arborescent thinking very developed. The school system generally fails to identify zebra type 2 children. They have a high degree of creativity and may seem obstinate, without tact or sarcastic. These students often question authority and can challenge the teacher in front of the class. They do not comply with the system and have not learned to use it to their advantage. They receive little recognition and few rewards or honors. Their interactions at school and at home often involve conflicts.
These gifted children feel frustrated because the school system has not asserted their talents and abilities. They are struggling with their self-esteem. They may or may not feel included in the social group. Some also challenge their peers and are often not included or welcomed in group activities or projects. On the other hand, some have a sense of humour and creativity that can save their social relationships. Nevertheless, their spontaneity can be disruptive in class. Despite their creativity, they often have a negative image of themselves.
Type 2 has more "lucky" to develop a drug behaviour or if appropriate interventions are not carried out quickly in school. Parents of gifted high school students who drop out of school (type 4) frequently note that their children have experienced type 2 behaviours in primary school or college. Although this relationship has not been validated empirically, it has important implications that deserve serious consideration.
Type 3 – The Underground : student erased
The zebra child type 3 is known as the "underground gifted". In general, this behaviour develops more in college and girls – although boys may also want to hide their talent. If a gifted boy enters the underground, it tends to happen later in high school, and generally in response to social pressure.
In general, Type 3 girls are talented girls whose need for college membership increases considerably. They begin to deny their talent in order to feel more included in a group of untrained peers. Students who are highly motivated and interested in academic or creative activities can undergo a seemingly sudden radical transformation, losing interest in their previous passions. They often feel anxious. Their changing needs often conflict with the expectations of teachers and parents. Too often, adults react in a way that only increases their resistance and denial. There is a tendency to push these children, to insist that they continue their educational program, no matter what they feel.
Type 4 – The Dropout : the dropout
Type 4 zebra children are angry. They are angry with adults and themselves because the system has not met their needs for many years and they feel rejected. They can express this anger by being depressed, confined or defensive. Often, types 4 have interests that fall outside the ordinary curriculum and do not receive support. School seems to them irrelevant or even hostile. For the most part, they are high school students, although there may sometimes be a younger student who attends school sporadically or only on certain days and who has essentially "abandoned" emotionally and mentally if not physically.
Precocious type 4 students are often gifted children who were identified very late, perhaps not before high school. They are bitter and full of resentment because they feel rejected and neglected. Their self-esteem is very low and they need a close working relationship with an adult they can trust. Type 4 students often had type 2 behaviour when they were younger.
Type 5 – The Double-Labeled : the exceptional doubling
Type 5 refers to gifted children who are physically or emotionally disabled in one way or another or have learning disabilities. The vast majority of gifted programs do not identify these children nor do they offer differentiated programs that address and integrate their special needs. Fortunately, research into the effective identification of these children has been promising, and there are suggestions for alternative programming. They often do not present the behaviours schools seek from the gifted. Type 5 zebra children may have sloppy writing or disruptive behaviours that prevent them from completing work, and they often seem confused because of their inability to perform school duties. They are stressed and may feel discouraged, frustrated, rejected, powerless or isolated.
These children may deny having difficulties by claiming that the activities or duties are "dreadful" or "stupid". They can use their humour to lower others to strengthen their own self-esteem. These zebra children urgently want to avoid failures and are unhappy not to live up to their own expectations. They can be very skilled in intellectualization as a way to cope with their feelings of insufficiency. They are often impatient and critical and react stubbornly to criticism.
Traditionally, these students are either ignored because they are perceived as means or oriented towards catch-up assistance. School systems tend to focus on their weaknesses and not maintain their strengths or talents.
Type 6 – The Autonomous Learner Self-employed
The gifted type 6 child is autonomous. Few gifted children demonstrate this style at a very young age, although parents can see evidence at home. Like types 1, these students have learned to work effectively in the school system. However, unlike Type 1s who try to do the least, Type 6s have learned to use the system to create new opportunities. They don't work for the system: they run the system for them. Types 6 have strong and positive concepts of self because their needs are met. They succeed and receive positive attention and support for their achievements and who they are. They are highly respected by adults and their peers and often perform leadership roles in their schools or communities.
Type 6 students are independent and autonomous. They feel safe in designing their own educational and personal goals. They accept and are able to take risks. An important aspect of type 6 is his strong sense of personal power. He realizes that they can create changes in their own lives and does not expect others to facilitate change for them. It is able to express its feelings, objectives and needs freely and appropriately.
Tips for Relieving a Zebra Child HIP
Despite this picture which may seem a bit negative, first of all know that high potential does not necessarily rhyme with problems. For my part, everything always went very well. I didn't have any difficulties in school or major problems with my surroundings (except for a few frictions with my parents during my teenage crisis, but it's almost normal!).
In any case, here are some tips that should help you relieve your child. However, remember that there is nothing better than having a clear heart (e.g. through an IQ test) that would then allow your zebra child to understand more precisely what is happening in his or her head. Explain to a precocious child that he is gifted and the impact this can have on his life is very important.
To deepen this idea, I wrote a few tips for parents of an IPE.
Be Right
The atypical child loves justice. I'd even say more: need of justice. And that, at all levels. For example, it is important for me that my brothers and sisters (we are 4 children, and I'm the eldest) do not receive "preferential treatment" over me. If I see that one of them receives for example more pocket money than I at his age, you can be sure that a crisis will happen very quickly. The opposite is true: when my little sister was not allowed to go partying with her girlfriends at an age when I could, I went to report it to my parents. Well, she actually had bad grades at school which could justify punishment. Nevertheless, I needed to bring back what I found to be an injustice.
Jeanne Siaud-Facchin, psychologist specialized in high intellectual potentials (it is moreover she who called us Zebra For the first time!), proposes a rule to be put in place: the 3 C rule.
- Clarity: explain the instructions as well as Why They're important. Know that the justification " because I'm your father and I'm asking you" does not work. We need a true reason;
- Consistency: there are no exceptions to the rule without explaining it. There, we go back to the story of my private exit sister: I needed to understand the consistency with their usual rule and to know why she had changed for her;
- Consistency: one remains a parent loyal to one's values.
Feed his curiosity and creativity
I mentioned earlier: the zebra child is (very) curious and (very) creative. Give him the opportunity to flourish. There will certainly be one theme that will interest him more than another. I was houses, architecture and science – go understand. For your child, it may be space, mathematics, art, history or I don't know what else. Identify what it is, and flood it with information to satisfy its curiosity. Whenever possible, make jumps in museums, exhibitions, take subscriptions in specialized magazines, etc. For example, my parents had taken a monthly subscription to Science and Life Junior. I read it in one night, and it gave me plenty of new research ideas to go into for the month. Or we went to museums but only those with interesting architecture.
In addition, you can stimulate its creativity. I was with drawing and painting. Everyone's got their own thing. The important thing is that you give him the opportunity to do it. And above all, that you support him in his approach.
Schools for the gifted
Finally, you should know that there are schools for gifted people everywhere in France. If the traditional school system really does not suit your child, it is therefore a possible option. Nevertheless, they may represent an additional financial cost that must be taken into account. Therefore, if the zebra child does well in the classical curriculum, I recommend leaving it there.
You can also contact us at:associations for precocious children.
I am developing this part further (I did a classical course, so I don't mean nonsense!). Don't hesitate to subscribe to the newsletter to be kept informed of my progress.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a zebra child is a young person whose brain works differently because of a higher than average IQ. This different functioning can sometimes cause some difficulties to integrate into "normal" life. Indeed the precocious child tend to be guided by his hypersensitivity, his need for justice and his divergent thinking. School disorders or within the family cocoon may follow. However, keep in mind that these issues are not mandatory. Many high potentials go unnoticed because they are not detected because they have no visible signs. They could simply be confused with sensitive, reserved, or different children.
Therefore, in case of doubt, I invite you to consult a professional quickly. It will initially confirm or not your theory, and help you to better accompany the child. This can be done through the installation of clearly defined rules at home, the setting up of creative moments and/or discoveries, and the precise explanation of what generates high potential.
