Gifted children and their special needs

Abstract

The concept of giftedness is placed at the crossroad of three qualities: intelligence, creativity and self-motivation. Each quality can be discovered in a gifted child in the absence of the other two. Giftedness is the attribution of a combination of factors, coming from two directions: natural, innate factor doubled by the educational factor. There is a mutual determination relationship between these two factors. The fact that people are born with specific features is highlighted by studies on identical twins raised by different families. They show surprisingly similar psycho-behavioural characteristics although they have been raised separately and in different social backgrounds. Education influences the development of abilities to the maximum level of giftedness but it is achieved only under certain conditions determined by educational and social factors but mostly by personal self-motivation even at very young ages. Motivation along with creativity can often replace the absent factor but when all three factors: intelligence, creativity and self-motivation work simultaneously in a proper educational and social environment, children can reach outstanding performance in their development.