Little is said about these children, except with a circumspection that would suggest that their specific characteristics differentiate them so much from others that too many aspects of their personality escape understanding and that it is therefore preferable to remain very cautious. These are children who are at the very end of the so-called normal curve of the distribution of marks obtained in a given test.
These children often exceed by far the highest marks obtained by children in their age group. It is then appropriate to compare them to children a year older and, there again, they achieve much higher marks. It was Jean-Charles Terrassier who described this method called “Compensated IQ“. It reinforces, among other things, the arguments used to request a class jump: if a child reaches an IQ of 130 under these conditions, the class jump is strongly recommended.
Beyond this quantified aspect, there are children who really struggle to find their place. Their parents are quickly disconcerted, while appreciating this wise child, happy to discover new knowledge, whose conversation is imbued with both humor and deep wisdom, tinged with philosophy. We quickly forget his real age, nor do we consider him as a child who would be only older : his remarks, his questions, the reasoning he develops are also very rare in most children.
“Very early on, he was forced to build armor for himself”.
He quickly notices that his close entourage is often disconcerted. Thus, he very early knew how to read, no one can say how he learned, but he deciphers with total ease the stories he likes, happy to be able to explore other universes without always having to annoy his interlocutors with his incessant questions which curiously plunge them into embarrassment.
IAdults would therefore not be able to answer all the questions and here he is, without having wanted to and without even having thought about it for a second, in disruptive roledisturbing the tranquility of those from whom he expected everything. He then becomes extremely cautious and does not speak lightly. He waits to take the measure of his interlocutor and he imitates the other children to avoid being stupidly noticed by a reaction which will be too surprising and which will then deeply disconcert his interlocutor.
He settles into a mistrust that becomes second nature to him. Very early on, he is forced to build armor for himself. EShe protects him as best she can against all the misunderstandings he provokes, in spite of himself, by the relevance, almost inconceivable for some, of his remarks and she filters, with more or less efficiency, his remarks which spring up too spontaneously. He soon learned that it is better to be sober in his words, to avoid the off-the-cuff remark that comes to mind, or, what is even worse, the conclusion dictated by his insight, when it does not. hasn’t already been held back by commonly accepted ideas that it is better not to contradict.
A constant filter
This constant filter that he is forced to keep can give him the feeling of floating between two universes: his own with his familiar environment where he can behave more or less normally, and the outside world, which begins at school, where he must not let his guard down. Everything is not so clear cut. Sometimes, at home, he has absent-mindedly expressed an opinion that he considered innocuous, and he suddenly sees his parents perplexed, surprised, even worried, when he had simply given his opinion on a person around them, for example , convinced that his parents shared it, and he sees them troubled more than reason, sometimes panicked.
The parents consider it preferable and wiser to ignore this advice and to continue as in the past to frequent this person of whom their child had seemed to be wary. They even forget this warning when, much later, it turns out that their child was right. He prefers to spare them rather than making unwelcome triumphalism, on the theme “I had said it well!”. The notion of gifted children is now widespread enough to make the use of tests easier to consider. However, the announced result does not solve the daily problems, which are sometimes so surprising. He explains them, justifies them, but he does not provide instructions for use. It also facilitates a class jumpbut it is a tiny modification, even if this leap is repeated, with the secondary consequences that are not always positive.
The inner world of these children is immeasurably rich, filled with marvelous beings, in every sense of the word, cosmic battles, cavalcades in unknown but very constructed spaces, for once these children have the power to control their environment. This lack of control is perhaps the most difficult for them to accept. Their insight and wisdom are not enough for them to make the decisions that affect them. They are obliged to follow those that we take in their place, and they very quickly realize when they are not suitable, without being able to rebel: grown-ups know what is suitable for children…
Floating between two worlds
Once adults, they retain this impression of floating between two worlds. They are drawn in multiple ways, they try several, sometimes head-on without it bothering them, and even if they find interest in the studies they undertake when they suit their desire for knowledge pushed to the furthest, following the wider paths which finally open before them. But close, sincere and trusting friendly relations are still just as delicate. They are based on common centers of interest or on a specific way of apprehending existence. Armor cannot be easily dropped. There will always be the jealousy aroused by this admirable ease and the incomprehension of this absolute coherence of thought which ends up making it not very accessible because the reasoning took place so quickly that the stages were not mentioned, so that they are necessary for the greatest number. It is those who are at the extreme end of the curve who make the most startling discoveries, who have flashes of genius bringing a solution to a situation that seems insoluble, who trace roads that no one had thought of taking, always guided by this logical rigor which avoids impasses. Knowing such a treasure is a chance that must be appreciated as it should be.
By Arielle Adda