TAG PAWS seminar

Stop, Breathe and Think

Mrs. LeClair-Ash

As you read this article, highlight or underline the characteristics or behaviors that you
can identify in yourself.

Dabrowskis Five Over-excitabilities/Super-sensitivities in Gifted Children

Does your child complain about the seams in his socks? Put her hands over her ears
when the movie starts in the movie theater? Have trouble sitting still? Get moved almost
to tears by a piece of music or work of art? These are signs of some of the different types
of intensities that can be seen in gifted children.

Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski identified five of these intensities, which he

called "over-excitabilities", hyper-sensitivities or "super-sensitivities": Psychomotor,
Sensual, Emotional, Intellectual, and Imaginational. Gifted children tend to have more
than one of these intensities, although one is usually dominant.

Psychomotor
The primary sign of this intensity is a surplus of energy. Children with a dominant
psychomotor over-excitability are often misdiagnosed with ADHD since characteristics
are similar. Children with this OE also may be misdiagnosed as ADHD. While they can be
active, they are quite capable of focused concentration unless they are insufficiently
mentally stimulated. The lack of mental stimulation can be a problem for these children
in school. They are constantly on the move and exhibit high levels of energy. Even as
infants, they need less sleep than other children, and as adults, they are able to work
long hours without tiring.
Rapid speech
Impulsive behavior
Competitiveness
Compulsive talking
Compulsive organizing
Nervous habits and tics
Preference for fast action and sports
Physical expression of emotions
Sleeplessness

Sensual
The primary sign of this intensity is a heightened awareness of all five senses: sight,
smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Children with a dominant sensual over-excitability can
get sick from the smell of certain foods or as toddlers will hate to walk on grass in their
bare feet. The pleasure they get from the tastes and textures of some foods may cause
them to overeat.
Appreciation of beauty, whether in writing, music, art or nature. Includes love of
objects like jewelry
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 Sensitive to smells, tastes, or textures of foods
Sensitivity to pollution
Tactile sensitivity (Bothered by feel of some materials on the skin, clothing tags)
Craving for pleasure
Need or desire for comfort

More about the Sensual hyper-sensitivity/over-excitability

It is also marked by heightened sensuality, sexuality, aestheticism, and craving for

physical admiration.
Children with this over-excitability may have either negative or positive responses to
stimulation to their senses. They may find pleasure in the smell of paint -- or it could
make them physically sick. They may love the touch of the silky material, but be driven
to distraction by the feel of wool. Some parents have to cut tags out of clothing because
the feel of the tags bother their children so much.

These children might also avoid loud sounds, for example, putting their hands over their
ears in the movie theater. They may also refuse to eat certain foods because of the
texture, or they may love other foods for the same reason. In addition, they can be
incredibly sensitive to minute differences in the chemical composition of foods, being
able to tell the difference in even small changes in a recipe.

Children with the sensual over-excitability can also be moved sometimes to tears by the
beauty of a sunset or by a poem, or piece or music or art. They may love gems and
jewelry or other objects of beauty. They may also crave being in the limelight.

As infants and, these children may cry immediately after their diapers get wet. They may
have colic or allergic reactions as a result of intense sensitivity to foods. As toddlers, they
may avoid walking on the grass in their bare feet because they hate the way the grass
feels.

Intellectual
This intensity is the one most recognized in gifted children. It is characterized by
activities of the mind, thought and thinking about thinking. Children who lead with this
intensity seem to be thinking all the time and want answers to deep thoughts.
Sometimes their need for answers will get them in trouble in school when their
questioning of the teacher can look like disrespectful challenging.
Deep curiosity
Love of knowledge and learning
Love of problem solving
Avid reading
Asking of probing questions
Theoretical thinking
Analytical thinking
Independent thinking
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 Concentration, ability to maintain intellectual effort

More about the Intellectual hyper-sensitivity/over-excitability

The intellectual over-excitability is one of Dabrowski's super-sensitivities common in gifted

children. Although this over-excitability is characterized by an intense and accelerated
mental activity, it is not concerned with academic achievement. Instead, it is concerned
with a love of truth and quest for understanding.

Signs of this over-excitability are a high level of curiosity, deep concentration, the capacity
for sustained intellectual effort, and a wide variety of interests. Children with this over-
excitability tend to be avid readers in their quest for knowledge. They are also excellent
problem solvers and love to strategize.

These children also ask deep and probing questions, questions about God, death, and the
meaning of life, for example. They are theoretical and introspective and can be preoccupied
with certain problems, often those involving moral issues. People often believe that
intellectual over-excitability is the same as high intelligence, but it's not. Children with
intellectual over-excitability tend to be interested in cultural events, social issues, and
learning new theories. Children without this over-excitability or with a lesser degree of it,
tend not to have such interests and may instead excel in practical intelligence.
Imaginational
The primary sign of this intensity is the free play of the imagination. Their vivid
imaginations can cause them to visualize the worst possibility in any situation. It can
keep them from taking chances or getting involved in new situations.
Vivid dreams
Fear of the unknown
Good sense of humor
Magical thinking
Love of poetry, music and drama
Love of fantasy
Daydreaming
Imaginary friends
Detailed visualization

More about the Imaginational hyper-sensitivity/over-excitability

The imaginational over-excitability is one of Dabrowski's super-sensitivities common in
gifted children. It is characterized by a rich, vivid, and active imagination. Children who
have this over-excitability have unusual visualization abilities. They may have elaborate
dreams, which are often in color. Their vivid imaginations can often lead to vivid
nightmares

It can be difficult for those children with the imaginational over-excitability to express
their thoughts verbally because they often think in images, and when they do express
their thoughts, they do so in so much detail that their point is often lost. In fact, it may
seem as though they don't have a point, but are simply describing what they see and
think for the sake of describing it. These children enjoy poetry and drama, not just
reading and watching it, but also writing and participating in it.
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Young children display this over-excitability with their creation of imaginary playmates.
Gifted children are more likely than other children to have imaginary playmates and they
tend to have more of them. Rather than one playmate, they may create whole families of
imaginary people.

Emotional
The emotional over-excitability is probably the most significant of the five over-
excitabilities. It is most easily recognized by parents of gifted children because these
children display heightened and intense emotions and emotional responses to events
and experiences. The primary sign of this intensity is exceptional emotional sensitivity.
Children with a strong emotional over-excitability are sometimes mistakenly believed to
have bipolar disorder or other emotional problems and disorders. They are often the
children about whom people will say, "He's too sensitive for his own good."

Extremes of emotion
Anxiety
Feelings of guilt and sense of responsibility
Feelings of inadequacy and inferiority
Timidity and shyness
Loneliness
Concern for others
Heightened sense right and wrong, of injustice and hypocrisy
Strong memory for feelings
Problems adjusting to change
Depression
Need for security
Physical response to emotions (stomach aches caused by anxiety, for example)

More about the Emotional hyper-sensitivity/over-excitability

Parents can get a better understanding of their gifted children by matching their child's
behavior with the characteristics of each of these intensities. Telling an emotionally
intense child to ignore teasing or not let the teasing bother him is impossible advice for
the child to follow. Understanding what lies behind a gifted child's behavior will help
parents better respond to that behavior.
Children with this OE have the capacity for great emotional depth. They develop strong
attachments to people, places, and things. Because of their emotional intensity, they are
often accused of over-reacting or being melodramatic. However, the emotions they feel
are real. The molehills to them are truly mountains.

The emotional OE is also manifested in a deep concern for others, as well as self-criticism
and anxiety. Even gifted toddlers high in this OE can show concern over a baby's cries or
over the distress of a fellow toddler who has been hurt or become upset. As sympathetic
as they are to others, they seem unable to feel sympathy for themselves. Instead, they
tend to be highly self-critical. They can also feel a deep sense of responsibility, which can
lead to feelings of failure and guilt.

Not only do these children empathize with others, but they feel a connection to animals
as well. These children may become vegetarians at a young age because they cannot
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bear to eat what was once a living creature.

While their compassion and sense of responsibility can lead those with emotional over-
excitability to help others, it can also create problems for them. The levels of anxiety
they experience can interfere with simple tasks like home chores or even completing
homework. They can also develop psychosomatic symptoms like stomach aches or suffer
from depression.

The depression that those with emotional OE often experience is existential depression,
which means that they become depressed over issues concerning the basic questions of
life: death, poverty, war, and disease, for example. Bouts of existential depression can
be caused be some specific experience, but they are just as likely to arise spontaneously.

Children with the emotional OE also have a hard time adjusting to change and can
experience high levels of anxiety when they are put in new situations or unfamiliar
surroundings. They may also be shy and slow to participate in social activities.

Children do not grow out of this sensitivity. A child with intense emotional feelings will
experience the same depth of emotion as an adult.

Bainbridge, Carol. Dabrowskis Over-excitabilities or super-sensitivities in Gifted

Children. http://giftedkids.about.com/od/dabrowski/a/overexcite.htm. September 2,
2014.