Scientists followed 5,000 genius kids for 45 years — here's what they learned about success (2024)
Follow thousands of super-bright kids for four and a half decades and you learn a thing or two about how to raise a high-achiever.
One of the biggest takeaways: Even kids with genius-level IQs need teachers to help them reach their full potential.
Since it began in 1971, the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) has tracked 5,000 of the smartest the children in America — the top 1%, 0.1%, and even 0.01% of all students. It is the longest-running study of gifted children in history.
Set against an education system that often prioritizeslifting up the lowest-performing kids, SMPY's findings present another claim: Don't forget about the kids at the tippy-top.
"Whether we like it or not, these people really do control our society," Jonathan Wai, psychologist at the Duke University Talent Identification Program, recently told Nature. "The kids who test in the top 1% tend to become our eminent scientists and academics, our Fortune 500 CEOs and federal judges, senators and billionaires."
Unfortunately, much of the research from SMPY (pronounced simpy) indicates that kids who show an early aptitude forsubjects like science and math tend not to receive the help they need. Teachers who see their brightest students mastering material and getting straight As choose instead to devote the majority of their attention to under-achieving kids.
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As a result, the kids who may have gone on to invent life-changing medical devices or sit in the United Nations can fall into less influential roles.
SMPY reveals that assuming the smartest kids can achieve their full potential without being pushedismisguided. One of themany follow-up reviews in the study's45-year run showed that grade-skipping can play a vital role in kids' development.
When researchers compared a control group of gifted students who didn't skip a grade tothose who did, the grade-skippers were 60% more likely to earn patents and doctorates and more than twice as likely to get a Ph.D. in a field related to science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM).
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Even at the upper limits of intelligence, in other words, kids can still slip through the cracks.
But teachers and parents can also read that finding with optimism. If they notice a child is gifted, the best evidence suggests they should never stop supplying that child with tougher and tougher work. They should see where their limits are and make sure they're intellectually stimulated as often as possible.
SMPY has also found that teachers and parents can help high-achieving studentsby recognizing what kinds of intelligence they possess. Many gifted children, for instance, tend tohave exceptionalspatial reasoning skills. Over time, those strengths can develop into the abilitiesneeded to achieve success asengineers, architects, orsurgeons.
No matter howteachers and parents challenge kids to further developthese abilities, 45 years' worth of data suggests it'simperative that they do. The future of the world could depend on it.
“How to Raise a Genius: Lessons from a 45-year study of Super-Smart Children,” recounts SMPY's beginning in the early '70s at Johns Hopkins University, led by renowned researcher Julian C. Stanley. Benbow was his protégé and graduate student at the time. In those days, gifted programs were in their infancy.
Giftedness comes with challenges, but many gifted people would say it's worth it. Psychologists have found that most gifted people are successful in life because of their intellectual superiority over others. The social difficulties and isolation gifted children face can seem overwhelming at times.
While we like to think everyone is special, some people have extraordinary abilities — intellectual, artistic, social, or athletic. Many experts believe only 3 to 5 percent of the population is gifted, though some estimates reach 20 percent.
At its core, giftedness is a brain-based difference that contributes to our vibrant and neurodiverse world. This neurological difference means that profoundly gifted students experience a different intellectual, academic, and social-emotional development trajectory than neurotypical individuals.
To be classified as gifted, most education departments require children to have an IQ score at or above 130 on a standardised test administered by a psychologist. However, a child can be classified as being mildly gifted with an IQ score of 115–129.
Gifted trauma stems from childhood issues with feeling like you don't belong anywhere because of your gift. Bullying, starving for mental stimulation, school mismatch, and other issues specific to the life experience of the gifted child may also contribute both to the main mental health issue and gift-specific trauma.
Kids who are gifted are often independent, motivated, and dazzlingly quick learners. But not everything comes easy. Even as highly intellectual children seem to breeze through the standard academic curriculum, they may need extra support to manage strong emotions and complex social situations.
Gifted children are challenging to parent in many ways. The more gifted the child, the more often it seems the more the parent is frustrated with the discrepancy of someone able to do school several levels above age level but unable to remember to take their finished work to school.
Without understanding and support, gifted kids face an increased risk of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, along with social and academic problems. Currently, experts estimate that up to 1 in 50 gifted kids drop out of school, while many more fail to live up to their full academic potential.
Studies since the early 1970s consistently show that such development is the result of an interaction between the child's genetic endowment and a rich and appropriate environment in which the child grows. No child is born gifted—only with the potential for giftedness.
Gifted kids seem to be able to function quite well with less sleep than their age mates, but they can sometimes have a difficult time getting to sleep. Many kids describe it as being unable to shut off their brains.
Giftedness is a talent or a potential. It stays with you but if you don't keep practicing or keep working on your gifted ability , those neurons can get dull. Just like muscle strength when you cannot exercise for a while and needs retraining.
Although IQ represents only a partial expression of giftedness, according to a purely psychometric view, giftedness is defined by an IQ of 130 or higher, placing gifted individuals at least two standard deviations above the population mean.
an ability to learn and process complex information rapidly. a need to explore subjects in surprising depth. an insatiable curiosity, as demonstrated by endless questions and inquiries. ability to comprehend material several grade levels above their age peers.
Research reflects that giftedness does “run in families”: for a gifted child, their genetically-related relatives — siblings and/or parents — are likely to also be gifted, though there are plenty of exceptions.
The Genetic Studies of Genius, later known as the Terman Study of the Gifted, is currently the oldest and longest-running longitudinal study in the field of psychology. It was begun by Lewis Terman at Stanford University in 1921 to examine the development and characteristics of gifted children into adulthood.
"Quantitatively, gifted people vary widely in their passions," Lubinski says. Many of the students in the study did end up pursuing medicine, but others went into fields like economics or engineering. Others still were more gifted in areas like logical or verbal reasoning, making them excellent lawyers and writers.
Type I – The Successful. Perhaps as many as 90% of identified gifted students in school programs are Type I's. Children who demonstrate the behavior, feelings, and needs classified as Type I's have learned the system.
Introduction: My name is Wyatt Volkman LLD, I am a handsome, rich, comfortable, lively, zealous, graceful, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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