What do you do when your child is not feeling well? That question dominated Esther Scharn’s life four years ago when her son Mas started experiencing sudden outbursts of anger in his first year of secondary school. He no longer wanted to go to school, quit sports, lost interest in everything, stopped seeing his friends, refused to go outside, and even became depressed. “No parent would ever wish for such a situation,” she sums up.
Esther and her husband searched for answers. Mas was tested for autism and ADHD, but the results were inconclusive. “A terrible period,” Esther recalls. A psychologist noted that Mas seemed “young for his age” and diagnosed him with dyslexia. It was suggested that placing Mas in a lower academic level at school might help. “I didn’t recognise him in that at all,” she says. “So I started reading books and reaching out to other parents. That’s when I came across the concept of ‘highly sensitive children with a strong will,’ which eventually led me to giftedness. Why hadn’t we thought of that? And the crazy thing is – giftedness runs in my family.”
How was it possible that neither we as parents nor any teacher recognised the signs? That was the question Esther wanted to answer – not only for herself and Mas but also to spare other parents from the same struggle in the future. “I wanted to understand Mas, but I also wanted more awareness in childcare so we can contribute to the early identification of these children.” She decided to enrol in the ECHA giftedness specialist program at Radboud University, the only place in the Netherlands offering such training.
There are many different definitions of giftedness. IQ measurement is an objective criterion, with gifted individuals scoring above 130. “A gifted person makes larger cognitive leaps to arrive at the same conclusion as their peers,” Esther explains. “They establish connections much faster than others. In a classroom setting, this means that while a teacher explains a concept in ten steps, a gifted student may already know the answer by step two.”
One in 50 children is gifted. This means that Partou childcare staff interact with nearly 2,000 gifted children every day. However, gifted children often adapt their behaviour to avoid standing out, making it harder to recognise their traits. “Giftedness is not a disorder like autism is considered to be,” Esther explains. “It doesn’t fall within the scope of the GGD (Dutch Public Health Service) or other medical specialists. This creates a grey area filled with ‘experts’ and ‘coaches’ whose knowledge and methods can sometimes be questionable.”
During her studies, Esther focused on her own field: childcare. “Besides schools and parents, we as childcare professionals are in a unique position to notice early signs in children,” she explains. “But what are the objective, scientific criteria we can work with? You don’t want to get lost in a jungle of unverified advice and opinions circulating online.”
The location manager developed guidelines for Partou staff to help recognise giftedness in children. One key indicator can be an advanced language ability, she explains: “Most toddlers aged two or three laugh at the word ‘poop’ or at someone slipping on a banana peel. But sometimes, there’s a child who makes puns that even adults find funny. Or a child who already rhymes and plays with language.”
Conversations with toddlers can also reveal signs of giftedness. “Gifted toddlers ask questions their peers wouldn’t even think of. They think deeper – about life and death, for example: ‘What is death? Where do we go when we die?’ That suggests a cognitive advantage.”
With the knowledge she now has, Esther believes she would have recognised the signs in Mas much earlier. “I suddenly remembered a question he asked as a toddler,” she recalls. “‘Mom, if all the people in the world die, will water still come out of the tap?’ That would be a remarkable question even for an adult. I had no idea how to answer it.”
Esther hopes that with her guidance, childcare colleagues will notice these signs and inform parents as well. “Especially since gifted children often start adapting at an early age, making it harder for teachers to recognise the signals,” she explains. “Plus, in childcare, we can more easily observe differences between children. Parents with multiple gifted children may not realise how differently their child behaves compared to peers.”
Giftedness is not necessarily a reason to treat children differently or place them in separate classes. “But the right knowledge can explain certain behaviours,” says Esther. “It might call for a slightly different approach or additional stimulation. Gifted children are not broken – they’re just wired a little differently. Unfortunately, this often leads to misunderstandings from the outside world.”
In October, Esther started a weekly morning group in Leiden for toddlers with an advanced development. The group began with seven children. Some transition to school, while new children join. “We’re considering expansion in the near future,” the location manager says. “It’s clear that these children truly enjoy connecting with peers who understand them. It’s been a great success, and we’re working on rolling out the initiative further this year. After just one day, I received excited emails from parents saying, ‘My child has finally come alive again.’”
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