High Intellectual Ability or Giftedness

The assessment draws on previous reports (if available), clinical observations made during the sessions, and a battery of standardized tests administered in the office, both in written and digital formats. Together, these elements provide a detailed, nuanced, and objective understanding of the child’s mental functioning

The first appointment is usually held with both parents present, without the child. It focuses on an in‑depth discussion of the child’s history, current difficulties, and the parents’ expectations.

This interview aims to:

• Determine whether a diagnostic evaluation is appropriate.

• Clarify the assessment protocol (tests selected based on the information gathered beforehand).

• Explain the full evaluation process (number of sessions, duration, report, and feedback session).

• Address any questions the parents may have.

• Establish a trusting environment, which is essential for minimizing the impact of anxiety on test performance.

It enables the clinician to:

• Establish a diagnosis.

• Gain an in-depth understanding of the child’s mental functioning and its impact on daily life.

• Provide tailored recommendations and accommodations for daily life, both at home and at school.

• Intellectual abilities: logical, conceptual, and quantitative reasoning.

• Attentional functions: selective and sustained attention.

• Executive functions: cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory.

• Memory functions: short-term memory.

• Visuospatial functions: 2D representation.

Not every gifted child needs to skip a grade.

If the educational support already in place keeps them sufficiently stimulated, they can stay in a class with children of their own age. This protects their emotional balance, especially if they have formed friendships with their classmates or are not yet ready to mix with older children.

If, on the other hand, this support does not meet their needs, skipping a grade may be worth considering. Without enough stimulation, a child may become bored, lose interest in school, or never develop the ability, or even the desire, to make an intellectual effort. This lack of practice can become a problem in later years, as academic demands increase. Some children then find themselves struggling and begin to doubt their own abilities.

Before deciding to skip a grade, it is essential to make sure the child will be able to cope with the greater demands of their new environment.

A thorough assessment helps answer key questions: what are their actual learning abilities, and do they have any difficulties? How emotionally mature and stable are they? Do they have the social skills they will need to fit in?

Beyond the cognitive assessment, other areas also need to be evaluated:

•    Adaptive skills: how well the child adapts in terms of communication, daily living, social interaction and motor skills.

•    Psycho-affective aspects: current emotional state (anxiety), personality organisation and any underlying psychological difficulties.

A gifted child may show some of the signs listed below.

It is rare, however, for a gifted child to show all of them. Some gifted children do not particularly enjoy reading and prefer sport, or are not especially sensitive. Others have no trouble at all making friends with children their own age. Much depends on the child's personality: there are as many ways of being gifted as there are gifted children. Many children who are not gifted also show several of these traits. This list can therefore never replace a psychological assessment.

An alert baby

• Observant and curious: the baby's gaze is focused, they take a keen interest in their surroundings and react quickly and appropriately to new situations.

• Communicative: their behaviour and babbling show a strong desire to communicate.

Advanced understanding and language

• They grasp ideas and concepts quickly.

• They speak very early, or, if they start later, speak correctly from the outset.

• They have a rich and precise vocabulary.

• Their sentences are well constructed, with grammar that is advanced for their age.

• They may have a great sense of humour.

A curiosity drawn to adult subjects

• They are extremely curious, eager to learn and to understand, and remember new ideas easily.

• They are fascinated by subjects such as prehistory, astronomy or space.

• They ask big questions about life, death, the sky, the world and the origins of humanity.

• They take an interest in adult conversations, listen closely to what you say and do not hesitate to correct you, defending their views convincingly on subjects that rarely concern children their age.

Little interest in activities they find unstimulating

• They dislike repetitive tasks, which hold no interest for them.

• When a subject does not interest them, they get bored, quickly lose motivation and focus, and drift off into their daydreams and imaginary world.

A strong attraction to intellectually stimulating activities

• Reading: they want to learn to read and write very early and love reading. Some teach themselves through games and observation. Others, with little early exposure to books, pick up reading effortlessly once they start primary school, sometimes even in the last year of kindergarten, as soon as they are encouraged.

• Games: from an early age, they enjoy pretend play and building games, and often prefer chess to ordinary board games or sport.

Difficulties fitting in socially

• At school, they may sometimes be isolated, feeling out of step with classmates who do not share their interests or games.

• They prefer the company of older children, who are not always keen to spend their time with a younger one.

• To fit into a group, they may go along with playground activities such as ball games, even when they do not feel at ease.

A difficult relationship with learning or with teachers

• They may clash with their teacher when they cannot see the point of a task, or find it useless or too obvious. Gifted children need meaning.

• They tend to get bored whenever their mind is not stimulated, and may therefore lack motivation and persistence when learning.

• Because they understand and remember things quickly, they have never had to make an effort. When learning becomes more demanding after primary school, particularly in the early years of secondary school, it can become a struggle. They may lack persistence in the face of difficulty, and cope poorly with failure, which they have never experienced before.

Motor difficulties

• Their development is not always even, as they have invested more in the mind than in the body, and they may sometimes have difficulties with motor coordination.

• Gross motor skills may be challenging: they can be clumsy, find it hard to ride a bike or to catch a ball in the playground.

• Fine motor skills may also be affected: they may struggle to hold and handle small objects such as a pencil, scissors or a ruler, so their handwriting can be slow and untidy.

Emotional difficulties

• Understanding things quickly does not mean they can take them in and accept them. A young child who grasps the concept of death before the age of six, for example, may find it hard to cope emotionally with what it means: the loss of their parents and their own mortality.

• They can be very empathetic, sensing other people's emotions, and may find their own feelings hard to manage.