For the past few years, Claire, a CM2 teacher in Ile-de-France, has observed a strange phenomenon in the classroom: a strong “upsurge” of gifted children. “Finally, according to their parents!” she hastens to clarify. “Many are the latter who come to see me to explain to me that if their offspring shows lower results or encounters discipline problems, it is undoubtedly because they are too far ahead of the others and the system school is not suitable for her”, sighs this teacher, raising her eyes to the sky. In defense of these parents, this discourse is omnipresent today. Many media, TV series or books help to highlight the idea that students with high intellectual potential – that is to say, displaying an intelligence quotient greater than 130 -, commonly called HPI, would leave with a significant disability in life.
And yet. “All the known data in all countries of the world show that the smarter a child is, the better he does in school!” exclaims Franck Ramus. This research director at the CNRS, a specialist in cognitive sciences, himself came to this conclusion after having conducted five studies on the subject with his team in recent years. On his blog, Ramus méninges, the researcher mentions, among other things, a survey by the DEPP (National Education Statistical Service) carried out in 2007 and based on a panel of 35,000 pupils followed from sixth to third grade. Those with an IQ over 130 scored 2.6 points out of 20 higher than others on average. Only 1.66% of them scored below 10 (against 15.55% of the others). Finally, 89.5% went on to general and technological high school (compared to 61.8% of their peers). Results that undermine what Franck Ramus calls the “black legends” of intellectual precocity, widely conveyed in recent years. “Of course, that does not mean that the children concerned never have problems. in failure for other reasons”, he nuances, however.
HPI, ADHD and autism
Among the myths often mentioned: HPI children would have a so-called tree-like thinking, that is a reasoning that would unfold in several directions, sometimes at the same time, the ideas giving rise to several sub-ideas, and so on. A concept not validated scientifically. According to some “specialists”, students with high potential are also more unstable and anxious than their peers. However, here again, no less than 14 studies carried out in different countries (France, USA, Canada, Israel, Poland, Latvia) show that they are within the average. And, contrary to what we often hear, they do not present more behavioral problems than the others. “This confusion would undoubtedly come from the fact that the symptoms observed in HPI and ADHD children are sometimes similar”, explains Sébastien Henrard, psychologist specializing in the diagnosis and management of attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity ( ADHD). It may thus happen that an HPI student who is bored in class due to lack of stimulation tries to occupy himself by talking to his classmates or by being a little more active. “Just like an ADHD individual. With the difference that the latter cannot do otherwise and thus acts independently of his will”, continues Sébastien Henrard.
Ditto for the graphological difficulties. The thought of certain children would be so fast that their hand would not be able to follow, we sometimes read… False, once again! At least, no solid epidemiological study has clearly demonstrated this to date. For Katia Terriot, lecturer in psychology at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam), all these received ideas would come, among other things, from a sampling bias. “In general, identified HPI children are identified because they encountered a difficulty at the start. This would largely distort the results,” she explains. Jacques Grégoire, doctor of psychology and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), confirms: “Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists tend to start from their personal experience, based on the patients who come to consult them, to draw conclusions general. Hence an over-representation of subjects encountering problems.” According to this academic, the fact of associating intelligence with disorders is not new. From the 19th century, the work Genio e Follia, written by Italian psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso, is a resounding success. “He analyzed a whole series of famous personalities on the scientific and literary level to try to prove that they had in them a form of madness”, explains Jacques Grégoire, for whom the demonstration of the author does not hold water.
The Belgian researcher, meanwhile, was interested in the link often made between high intellectual potential and autism. “Some subjects can indeed combine high intelligence and autism spectrum disorders, but this remains very rare,” he concludes. Why is the general public so sensitive to these erroneous beliefs? “That some are too strong or too perfect can annoy. Imagining faults or problems in them will help restore a semblance of justice”, advances Franck Ramus. It is also reassuring for parents to attach themselves to a diagnosis, whatever its degree of reliability, because it at least allows them to put a name to the problems encountered by their children. Thinking that these difficulties are linked to their superior intelligence is also more rewarding. Unfortunately, these false leads often delay effective care, since the answers to be given are not the same depending on whether your child is HPI or has an anxiety or behavioral disorder. Hence the importance of communicating more and remembering that the vast majority of people with high potential have a smooth education. According to Franck Ramus, “most of them go completely under the radar and are never tested. And that’s fine.”