How the very gifted LEARN
It's not just MORE, it's a distinctly different WAY of learning . . .
"Ryan by far prefers to concentrate utterly and completely and intensely on something he is learning. He wishes to IMMERSE himself in something he is interested in and learn it from top to bottom, inside and out".
(Canadian, profoundly gifted male, now age 19, art student, all names are pseudonyms)
TOTAL ABSORPTION and FULL IMMERSION in any learning process characterizes the preferred approach of most exceptionally bright learners.
They are also resolutely SELF-DIRECTED in their learning. Resolutely.
In fact, EXPRESSION OF THEIR CORE SELF -- which morphs and grows with every constructive learning experience, seeking unity in an ever-increasing complexity of what is perceived and known, in any body of knowledge -- is the backbone of this extraordinary learning calculus.
This search for UNITY or WHOLENESS in their understanding of phenomena -- a quest for an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality, with nothing left wanting -- is a very deep need, at the core of their learning appetites and tendencies.
For this coherence to be truly satisfying the very gifted child/adult thrives when they can FULLY ENGAGE ALL ALL ASPECTS OF THEIR BEING in a learning process: their intellect, their creativity, their emotions and their sensorium.
And, in the end, while they need to delve into new concepts and new skills, they also need to understand the way they learn, what it means to be an exceptional learner:
"The thing that sticks out now that he is 17 is not the failure to provide the right learning environment, which we did fail in our attempts, but rather a failure to help him understand this unique part of himself. His exceptional giftedness and the WAY he learns. My hope would be that parents don’t feel alone or overwhelmed and can therefore do a better job nurturing these kids."
(American, Mother of a PG child, herself an Administrator of a Special School for the Gifted).
Excerpt from: "Excuse Me Where Do I Park my Whale? The Extraordinary Journey of the Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted."
A Book-in-the-making, by author P. Susan Jackson,
Daimon Institute for the Highly Gifted, Canada.
To be released in 2021.
