Programs and Practices for Identifying and Nurturing High Intellectual Abilities in Spain

IntroductionPerfectionism is understood as a psychological construct that can either facilitate excellence in various areas of life or lead to maladaptation when not properly managed. Although numerous studies exist on perfectionism and high abilities, this relationship still has many unresolved scientific questions, especially regarding the emotional development of individuals.MethodThis study aimed to analyze the relationship between perfectionism and psychological well-being in 103 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years with either high intellectual abilities or average intellectual capacity. Subgroups were established based on different age ranges to compare the relationships between perfectionism and psychological well-being throughout adolescence.ResultsThe results showed statistically significant differences in the mean levels of perfectionism according to the subjects’ intellectual abilities, with the mean being higher in the high intellectual ability groups. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between perfectionism and psychological well-being in any of the groups, regardless of intellectual capacity or age. Although adaptive perfectionism was more common in adolescents with high abilities, this did not necessarily translate into higher levels of psychological well-being.Discussion and conclusionThe study highlights the complex relationship between high intellectual ability (HIA) and perfectionism, distinguishing between adaptive and maladaptive forms. While HIA adolescents show higher perfectionism levels, their psychological well-being remains comparable to peers. Findings emphasize the role of educational and cultural contexts, urging tailored interventions to foster adaptive perfectionism and mitigate its negative effects.

Students who have high abilities demand educational responses, both inside and outside of the classroom. The best type of educational strategy depends on the characteristics of the students, the school, the educational system, and the country. For this reason, the level of attention paid to high-ability students can vary across nations. To guarantee the efficacy of programs that are implemented both inside and outside of school, it is essential to offer to these students the support that they need. The students' parents are a fundamental component of this scenario. This study evaluates the educational support provided to students with high abilities from a parental perspective. This study's aim is to evaluate the opinions that parents in several countries hold about the educational responses to gifted students, as well as to compare the types of strategies implemented in these countries' respective educational systems. Parents of students with high abilities completed an ad hoc online questionnaire that was designed to identify the types of educational responses, the students' participation in enrichment programs (inside and outside of school), the parents' level of satisfaction with these programs, and any difficulties or problems that occurred. A mixed methodology was used, with both quantitative and qualitative survey questions. ALCESTE software was used to analyze the open-ended (qualitative) questions. This research, which was directed by the Network of Research, Intervention and Evaluation in High Intellectual Abilities, focused on three countries: Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Descriptive analysis were carried out for analyzing the questions related with the educational support and demographic information. Qualitative analysis were used to analyze open-ended questions. The results provide evidence on which types of educational responses are being implemented in those countries, how they are being used, and whether they offer appropriate support for the needs of high-ability students.

This study aims to provide a better understanding of high intellectual abilities and of how to address the educational needs of those who possess such abilities. Within the emergent paradigm, high intellectual abilities are understood as multidimensional and as the result of lifetime development; that is, not only are they the result of their neurobiological basis but also of the interrelation among opportunity, personality, psychosocial factors, and individual effort. This study describes the basis of a program of extracurricular enrichment and its interrelation with research procedures and results.

A common question among teachers of students with high intellectual ability is how to best teach this group of children. To answer this question, it is first necessary to better understand their cognitive profiles. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to examine the neurocognitive profiles of children with high intellectual ability. To do this, we used the Discrepancy Consistency Model (Naglieri, 1999), which allows researchers to detect patterns of cognitive strengths and weaknesses. One hundred forty-two children with high intellectual ability (70 females, 72 males; Mage = 127.41 months, SD = 10.76) from Grades 4, 5, and 6 were assessed on measures of general intelligence and academic achievement, as well as on measures of Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processes. Results showed that 54% of the sample had a PASS score that was significantly lower than that of each student’s average PASS score. Only 8% of the students had a PASS disorder (a score that was low in relation to the student’s average and below 90). Further, 4% of our sample had both a PASS disorder and an academic-skills disorder. The findings suggest that students with high intellectual ability can show variability in PASS scores that may have relevance for instructional programming and for identifying twice-exceptional children.

Among the characteristics within people with high intellectual abilities, some that stand out are a better handling of information, asynchronous development, high awareness, and sensibility. Therefore, our goal was to learn if, due to these characteristics, the children and adolescents with high intellectual abilities have a better understanding and comprehension about COVID-19 compared to those with average intellectual abilities. A qualitative study was conducted at the beginning of the lockdown with 649 children with and without high intellectual abilities. An online questionnaire was used and three open questions were analyzed with the ALCESTE software. The results showed that both groups had a similar handling of the information regarding COVID-19. Despite this, in the high ability group there is a greater social concern, which coincides with some characteristics associated with a more developed moral conscience. The results are then discussed in terms of the importance of designing actions that allow us to adequately follow the control and intervention strategies, as well as to propose improvements in the communication of relevant information before diverse crises to which the child population may be exposed.

Since the beginning of 1990s, when the first multidimensional concepts of perfectionism were published (see, Frost et al., 1990; Hewitt, & Flett, 1990, 1991) there has been a stable increase in the research of perfectionism and its relationships to wide variety of variables, for example, stress (Smith, Saklofske, Yan, & Sherry, 2017), personality traits (Cruce, Pashak, Handal, Munz, & Gfeller, 2012) coping strategies (Gnilka, McLaulin, Ashby, & Alle, 2017). It has to be noted that perfectionism researchers have turned their attention to both general and clinical populations, as well as specific groups, for example, individuals with high intellectual abilities or gifted individuals (e.g., Kornblum, & Ainely, 2005; Margot, & Rinn, 2016). The paper aims to review the studies focused on relationship between perfectionism and high intellectual abilities, and to see what variables are involved in this relationship. In the first section of the paper concepts and definitions of high intellectual abilities are described. In the second section of the paper perfectionism concepts are described. An in the third section of the paper the relationship between high intellectual abilities and perfectionism is analysed. The results of literature review will serve as theoretical background for studying individuals with high intellectual ability and perfectionistic personality traits.

Despite there having been improvements in efficiency and ease on test scoring for individuals with high intellectual ability, the stability of these scores is not assured. The main objective of our research is a preliminary detection of variations in test scores from a group of children that were identified as having HIA. This was done by means of a single-time assessment of children currently following an enrichment program. A total of n=26 students participated (19 male and 7 female) in the study. The age range was between 12 and 17 years, being the average age 13.89 years (SD = 1.09 years). Differential Aptitude Test (DAT-5) and Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) were used to assess the logical-deductive intellectual skills and creative thinking. The results show that test scores may change in a considerable amount in many supposedly HIA individuals. More than 30% of the variance cannot be attributed to common components in the two measurements points. The scores in creativity were the most fluctuating, something that could be expected of these scales having the lowest reliability indexes. Only eight participants remain steady, according to the one standard deviation criterion, and it is quite notorious that two participants show a decrease in three subscales out of five. On the other hand, two other participants have shown an increase in one subscale as well as a decrease in another. In order to foster HIA individuals and their wellbeing, it is essential to be careful with mistaken diagnoses (false-negatives and false-positives), given the fact that they will lead to developmental consequences.

Policymakers around the world are eager to promote innovative entrepreneurship, but the formation of such businesses relies on founders' high intellectual ability. I show that high ability is associated with less extreme risk preferences: those of lower ability are more likely to be highly risk tolerant. Risk aversion is thus likely to be a greater barrier to entry into entrepreneurship for the most cognitively skilled, and may partly explain why the founder of the average incorporated business is not the best and brightest. It is possible that lowering the risk inherent in new ventures may attract higher ability founders with the skills to start an innovative business. In addition, while there are observed differences in risk preferences between men and women, they explain only 13-15% of the gender gap in entrepreneurship.

Students considered gifted and learning disabled (G/LD) are those most at risk of not being adequately served in U.S. schools. This research compares delivery formats and Individual Education Plan (IEP) modifications offered to 1,055 elementary school students, grades 3–5, who qualified as having a learning disability (LD) at different levels on the intellectual spectrum. Archival assessment and IEP documents determined the proportion of students with LD who demonstrated high, average, and low intellectual abilities, and the modifications, accommodations, and services they were offered. Multivariate analyses examined group differences in identified modifications. Although current research indicates that children who are G/LD receive the same modifications as their average and below-average LD peers, students in the higher scoring intellectual group received significantly fewer modifications in two of the four evaluated categories (namely, delivery and evaluation). Modifications failed to address areas of strength and/or giftedness of students who were LD but also demonstrated high intellectual ability. Group differences in educational planning showed that students who had high intellectual ability and LD differed from their peers who demonstrated low and average intellectual ability with LD. However, it is not clear whether the resulting differentiated programming that occurred in practice was the appropriate educational approach for this group of children.

From a neuroconstructivist approach and a developmental model of high intellectual ability (HIA), it is argued that the management of intellectual resources through executive functioning (EF) is one of the factors influencing the expression of high potential. The main objective is to determine the effectiveness of measures of executive functioning used comparing schoolchildren with HIA and those of average intelligence. A meta-analysis was carried out on a selection of 17 studies for a total sample of 1518 children with either HIA or an average level of intelligence. Pooled estimates of effect size revealed a significant difference favoring the HIA individuals in the two components of EF related with WM verbal (d = 1.015), and WM visual-spatial (d = 0.709). Other components did not show significant differences: inhibition (d = −0.014), flexibility (d = 0.068), and planification (d = −0.038). The empirical heterogeneity was very high. It is concluded that these instruments show a degree of measurement impurity, which condition their validity and reliability, and that schoolchildren with HIA display better executive functioning in the components of verbal and visual-spatial working memory.

This article presents and describes an extracurricular enrichment intervention program to promote the development of resilience factors, aimed at teenagers with high abilities from vulnerable social contexts. In addition, its effects on aspects related to creativity and resilience are explored. This program proposes a series of creative and meaningful activities so that students can explore, experiment, express their emotions and analytically contrast their own identity characteristics with their surrounding reality. A comparative case study was carried out with a mixed methodological approach. Three students (two male and one female) of 13 and 14 years of age and with high abilities, who attended a public middle school located in a disadvantaged sector of the Mexican capital, participated. The program was developed over nine sessions (90 min each), over two months. The quantitative analysis did not show significant differences in the creativity and resilience factors. However, the qualitative analysis of the tasks and products created by the participants has provided positive evidence about the program’s contribution to enhancing their self-knowledge and coping skills, considering the adversities of their family, school and social contexts.

Students with high intellectual abilities in higher education face a significant risk of underachievement due to a range of influencing factors. This systematic review explored their social-emotional and educational needs and examined interventions aimed at addressing both these needs and underachievement. A systematic literature search of a total of 118 records identified 20 social-emotional and 26 educational needs, organized into six overarching categories, illustrating the complex challenges these students face. Of the 42 records investigating an intervention, 38 focused on students directly, three on student advisors and one on teachers. While most interventions addressed multiple student needs, none fully integrated social-emotional and educational aspects. Ultimately, 17 studies examined underachievement, but only 5 implemented an intervention to reduce it. These findings underscore the need for integrated approaches to effectively support higher education students with high abilities.

The attention to students with high intellectual abilities has been a challenge for teachers, this situation does not escape the university context, so it is decided to carry out a non-experimental, cross-sectional research, based on a quantitative paradigm. Due to the proximity to the population under study, we worked with 85 teachers. A survey was conducted for data collection, which was processed with SPSS v27 software. The main results show that attending to students with high intellectual abilities is a challenge for teachers and that even in the present where so many teaching methodologies have been implemented, it is not easy to attend to these students who require specialized attention. Therefore, it is necessary to increase teacher training in this area and reinforce pedagogical and psycho-pedagogical knowledge to assume this situation with better results.

There is a dearth of research regarding young children with high intellectual abilities, particularly research involving the direct observation of children in naturalistic settings. The current study examines 2 years of observations of young children (aged 37-71 months; n = 34) at an early childhood facility. The children were observed during the substantial periods of the day in which they were engaged in play at self-selected learning centers. The play was coded on levels of cognitive (non-play, functional, dramatic, constructive, and games with rules) and social (solitary, parallel, associative, and cooperative) play. Overall, the high ability children ( n = 19) spent more time in functional, dramatic, and solitary play behaviors than typical children ( n = 15). The high ability children also spent more time in literacy-based (library and writing) and arts-based (art and music) centers than the typical children. These findings indicate that the high ability children in this study were more likely to select centers independent of their peers.

Figurative language is a complex construct related to intelligence. Psychology and psycholinguistics are trying to understand it from an interdisciplinary perspective, but studies are still scarce, methodologies are heterogeneous, and results are difficult to integrate. Some studies suggest that understanding the cognitive processes underlying figurative language and its forms could provide a new approach to understanding intellectual differences, such as high intellectual ability (HIA), and new instruments to assess it. The language of HIA children develops earlier and includes the use of irony, which involves metalinguistic skills. In this context, the present study aims to offer an instrument, called the verbal irony questionnaire (or VIrQ), to test the comprehension of verbal irony in students with HIA. A convenience sample of n = 169 students with HIA, aged between 7 and 15 years, responded to the VIrQ. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted. The results revealed that 33 items were retained and categorized into four factors. F1, ironic dissociation (14 items); F2, ironic attitude (8 items); F3, ironic constructions (7 items); and F4, reinforced irony echo (4 items). All factors have adequate reliability indices above 0.70 and below 0.95. Finally, new perspectives are also discussed.