What is Gifted Plus?

Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D
Gifted Development Center

In our June newsletter, I introduced a new term: Gifted Plus: “It can be a lonely journey raising a Gifted Plus child.” What does this mean?

“Gifted” has many different connotations. Most people think it is about high achievement in school. In my view, that is academic talent. Gifted children may or may not excel in school, and academically talented students may or may not be gifted.

To differentiate the concept of giftedness from “success”—in school or in life—I have come up with the notion of Gifted Plus to signify the inner experience of giftedness. In 1993, I began my textbook, Counseling the Gifted & Talented, with the following passage:

To the uninformed, giftedness may seem a sort of special privilege, but to the gifted individual, often it feels like a distinct disadvantage. It is painful to be different in a society that derides differences. Pain may also come from internal sources—from a finely tuned psychological structure that experiences all of life more intensely. Giftedness has an emotional as well as a cognitive substructure: cognitive complexity gives rise to emotional depth. Thus, gifted children not only think differently from their peers, they also feel differently. (Silverman, 1993, p. 3)

If most of these qualities apply to you, then you are Gifted Plus.

• You are complex.

• You are highly sensitive.

• You are intense.

• You are passionate.

• You are compassionate.

• You often take a stand against injustice.

• You are curious: you need to understand.

• You are insightful, perceptive, intuitive.

• You set high standards for yourself.

• You get excited about ideas.

• You understand new concepts quickly.

• You are a good problem solver.

• You thrive on challenge.

• You have an extraordinary sense of humor.

• You search for meaning in your life.

• You are often driven by your creativity.

• You think for yourself.

• You feel out-of-sync with others.

These qualities are lifelong: they describe gifted children and gifted elders. They apply equally to all individuals, regardless of age, race, economic status, exceptionality, neurodiversity, gender identification, culture, ethnicity, nationality, linguistic background, ideology, or level of achievement.

Gifted Plus is who you are, not what you do. It is not about “success.” It is about the experience of being a gifted individual.

Please join Gifted Development Center in redefining giftedness from the inside-out.