Exceptionally to Profoundly Gifted - Part 1 - An Introduction
Level Four - The Outliers
In the previous three series, I focused on parent and child dynamics for study subjects from the first three Levels of Gifted and referred to those subjects as the conventionally gifted because almost everyone has met and gone to school with some members of those three Levels. The needs of such children are certainly different than for most children, and meeting their needs is theoretically possible in most schools. The two series I begin here concern the same topics for Levels Four and Five participants, the outliers. After I’ve finished creating and publishing the entire series, I will edit them for the 1 of 8 or whatever it turns out to be.
Old friends. They “found” each other in 5th grade.
The outlier group’s members are all exceptionally to profoundly gifted and their intellectual brilliance is obvious to most people. Remember, this doesn’t mean “good grades” but how they be, how they just seem to be very clever and quick-witted. When a teacher experiences a Level Four or Five student, they usually say the child is like no student they’ve ever had before. And because of the relative rarity of these outliers, few parents or educators know what to do for them and what to expect will be good or enough. What will meeting the needs of such youngsters look like? You’ll get a clearer idea about what I mean as we progress through the series on Level 4 — The Outliers.
Discussion of Level Four Subjects
Level Four
As a reminder, the presentation of the participants follows the order of their K-12 school fit from the categories of Unsatisfactory to Excellent. This provides a context from their early educational background to where they are now with respect to their viewpoints, careers, and relationships to family and friends.
Level Four has 16 participants in this longitudinal study, 16 people for whom there is enough data to explore and discuss the parenting they experienced and the personality results of their parents and themselves.
Children in Level Four are unlikely to fit well in even a public or private college preparatory school
The Type III educational institutions described in Chapter 2 of 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options in 2009, explains more of this conundrum, especially in the elementary grades. Some may thrive in a bona fide Montessori school setting, a Type V school, which would have some likelihood of being flexible enough to add extra support and options as they discover the child is well advanced of the age-peer group. The P-Perceiving type preference adds to the issues related to these students fitting the school or other educational set-up. As you review the preceding 3-part table above, you will see Level Four has a larger proportion of students who did not attain an Excellent fit even in high school. This is not because the schools are not good, or even excellent, but because they do not have enough true peers or enough subject matter depth and sufficient pace to keep such children engaged and learning.
As in the early Levels of Moderately, Highly, and Exceptionally Gifted, the MBTI® results show more mothers than fathers with a preference for J- Judging. All 16 mothers took the inventory; 14 of the fathers took the inventory; and 14 of the children completed the MMTIC® childhood inventory for personality. The J-P results showed 10 of the 16 mothers scored as J-Judging types, while only 4 of the tested 14 fathers do. Only one of the 14 children who completed the inventory scored as a J-Judging type, which means, therefore, that 13 out of the 14 children who completed the inventory scored as P-Perceiving types. My intention when commenting on this is to show that P-Perceiving types struggle more to fit into structured school expectations than do J-Judgers. It doesn’t mean there are more gifted people who are gifted as some have asserted.
Helpful Review of the Personality Tables
Consider that with their J-Judging type preference, fewer mothers in this sample are likely to see what the problem might be with their P-Perceiving type children in school as far as doing what teachers tell them to do. It is likely many of the fathers with a P-Perceiving type preference already relate to their children’s issues and either accept them as normal “smart kid” behaviors or they try to keep their child from going through the same difficulties as they did when children. The most obvious behaviors of these P-Perceiving parents include those who encourage the J-Judging parent to not worry about their child skipping boring assignments or always getting perfect grades. They might, for example, ask their partner to go easier on the child. Another frequent behavior on the part of the P-Perceiver parent is to agree with the J- Judger because they, as adults, now agree that their own childhood misbehaviors had not been a good thing. Still others withdraw and let their J-Judger partners take over the educational responsibilities for their children. Overall, though, when gifted children are as exceptional and rare as Level Four children are, even P-Perceiving type parents sense they need an evaluation and recommendations for their youngster and that it will not all “just work out.”
In the next parts of the Level Four series — exceptionally to profoundly gifted — you will read what the subjects have to say. Keep in mind that a Levels’ assignment is subjective because it cannot be precise. None of the subjects’ Level designations are set in stone.
An earlier post that might help catch you up on personalities. Dynamics Between Parent & Gifted Child Personalities: https://deborahruf.medium.com/dynamics-between-parent-gifted-child-personalities-4634f5d3df03?sk=a7ba2544f806c715a9ffa8e000aab23c
Books by Deborah Ruf, PhD
5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options in 2009. This is the original 5 Levels of Gifted book for parents and educators. Moderately Gifted, Highly Gifted, Exceptionally Gifted, and Profoundly Gifted children are the subjects of this book (78 of them) and their early milestones, behaviors, and parent journeys through how to raise and educate these children is a must-read. Parents who read this book can estimate their own children’s eventual IQs surprisingly accurately by the time they are age three to about six years old, before it is effective — or reliable — to have them professionally tested. Here are links to the 5 Levels of Gifted book on Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/5-levels-of-gifted-deborah-ruf/1126358834 and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Gifted-School-Educational-Options/dp/0910707987 or directly from the publisher: https://www.giftedunlimitedllc.com/store/p12/5_Levels_of_Gifted.html
Keys to Successfully Parenting the Gifted Child (2023). Need answers fast on what to do now? This is a short book — 80 pages including pictures — that is a great starter for parents just wanting some answers … fast! The content was originally from a PowerPoint I created for the parents of gifted children presentations around the country. The contents zero in on some of the most important things about raising gifted children that parents want to know. On Amazon, Keys to Successfully Parenting Gifted Children (2022, 2023) Print and ebook. The Nook version is also now on B&N.
The Five Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us (2023). This is a 20-year longitudinal study follow-up about the original gifted child subjects in 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005, 2009). In it, Dr. Ruf covers every conceivable topic to ask the 60 of the original study group of 78. She also shows readers how it is that people of the same original promise to succeed have vastly different outcomes. https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Gifted-Children-Grown-Up/dp/B0C9SHFRLH or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-5-levels-of-gifted-children-grown-up-phd-deborah-l-ruf/1143719859?ean=9798988323709.
Losing Our Minds: Too Many Gifted Children Left Behind (Oct. 2024). This is the first book in a Trilogy meant especially for educators, parents, adult gifted, and therapists. Questions for discussion are at the end of every chapter. The book provides a detailed analysis of the different levels of giftedness, the concept of “good fit” in educational settings, and the impact of various school environments on gifted children. It also includes personal stories and experiences of gifted children and adults, highlighting the challenges they face in finding appropriate educational and social environments. Available now on both Amazon and B&N. It is not the old purple book from 2005. Also, the Kindle and Nook versions are formatted so readers can click back and forth easily and find their place again. Follow this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DL3BSC9X or this link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/losing-our-minds-deborah-ruf/1146410968?ean=2940185888872
Environmental, Familial, and Personal Factors That Affect the Self-Actualization of Highly Gifted Adults: Case Studies (D. Ruf, 1998) doctoral dissertation. Free PDF https://dabrowskicenter.org/ruf
Dr. Ruf is available for the following services.
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