Helping Your Gifted Student Survive (and Thrive) During the Season of High-Stakes Testing: Fourteen Tips for Before, During, and After the Test

Feeling the Pressure

Children of all ages are starting to feel the pressure that surrounds this season of high-stakes testing.

Gifted children, in particular, may feel a great deal of pressure to achieve at the highest levels on these tests. Sometimes the pressure is self-imposed, stemming from an internal desire to live up to their "gifts." Other times, it comes from a longing to please their teachers and parents.

And, unfortunately, some school cultures, even while trying to put a positive spin on the mandatory testing, have caused our children to worry that they will somehow underperform or let their peers down if they make mistakes on the tests. I've recently even heard of schools creating test-based competitions--children with the highest scores are rewarded with parties and prizes!

While no doubt, these efforts to increase test engagement are coming from a positive place of trying to motivate the students body as a whole to try to perform well on the tests, they end up increasing the pressure exponentially for gifted students, who are looked to as the people who are "supposed" to get the best scores. After all, they're so smart, right?  And, even if you're lucky enough to be teaching in a place that doesn't place much importance on the tests, even if you give your best efforts to minimize testing pressure, your gifted students will STILL sense the weight of the tests, because of the nature of their giftedness and heightened sensitivity to external stimuli.

Teachers and parents can try to say that the test scores don't matter, but if there is even a hint of inauthenticity to those statements, you can bet your gifted child or student is going to pick up on it. 

I know that my gifted students, particularly my fourth and fifth graders, consistently expressed their worry about upcoming state tests, despite the daily reminders that these high-stakes tests were largely worthless, only measuring accurately the average income levels of students' parents, not a big deal. They had gotten the notion in their heads that if they were to underperform on the exams, they wouldn't be gifted anymore, and then they wouldn't be able to come to my classes any longer.

Can you imagine if that were true? Sorry, kids. You can't come to the place where your academic (and social-emotional) needs are truly being met. It's not illogical thinking, though, is it? After all, didn't a test get them into "the program"? So, we had many, many talks about how the results of the tests would be used, and how none of those uses included being used to disqualify them from being labeled as gifted.*

Telling the children these facts helped to ease some of their fears a little, but there are some important things we need to know about our gifted children as they face any testing scenario.  I also have some suggestions for ways to help your anxiety-ridden child cope with their worries. 

Tried and True Tips for Facing Testing Fears and Moving Forward

There are some important and helpful things you can do to help ease your gifted child's fears. Many of these are things I did in my gifted classroom with my students, so I've learned from experience that they really do help!

Before the Test

1. First, no matter whether it is a high-stakes testing scenario or a pop quiz in your math class, it is important to acknowledge that the anxiety that your gifted student is experiencing is real. When a person experiences this type of anxiety, it can cause the body's fight or flight response to be triggered, which in essence renders the brain's critical thinking areas far less effective than normal. It's important that we recognize these real fears and real physiological responses instead of trying to minimize them or brush them off. 

2.  Help your gifted student become familiar with the test. It's easy to assume that your students already know the answers to many of these questions, but remember, when they're stressed, their critical thinking skills aren't functioning like they normally do! Allow your children to ask every. single. question. they have, and please don't make them feel silly for asking (see number one above). Here are some examples of things you may want to discuss about the test itself.

• What is the format of the test? What types of questions will they encounter?
• How long will the test take? How many questions will there be?
• Is it timed or do they have as long as they need to finish?
• Can they skip questions and come back? 
• If the test is on a computer, what will happen if the computer has a problem? 
• If the test is a pencil/paper test, what will happen if they forget a pencil? What if the pencil breaks? 

3. See if you can help the child identify their own internal dialogue--what are they fearful of exactly? What is that pesky little voice inside saying to them? Once you get to the bottom of what they're telling themselves, work toward changing the dialogue to something more positive.** Below are some examples of common things I heard my gifted students say:

• "If I don't pass the test, I might get kicked out of the gifted program at school." 
• "What if Johnny Gifted-Peer gets a higher score than me?" Or worse, "What if Suzy Not-Gifted-Peer gets a better score than me?" 
• "I'm afraid that my mom (teacher, dad, etc.) will be disappointed in me if I mess up."
• "I'm not good at taking tests."

4. If the child is being tested on something he or she finds challenging, it's a great time to teach proper study skills like making flash cards, recopying notes, devising mnemonic devices, etc.  If they feel really well prepared for the tests, the anxiety can be lessened. 

5. Help your student practice asking for help if they need it. I know that this can be particularly difficult (I know this from my own experience! I didn't (and still don't) like asking for help). I found it helpful to develop a quiet signal that a student and I could use if they needed help. Sometimes it was as simple as placing a sticky note in a particular area on their desk or computer, maybe it was a baseball-coach-style ear tug or nose wiggle. Whatever it was, if the student was willing to ask for help after we minimized the risk of drawing attention to themselves for needing help, I was a happy camper. 

6. Prepare physically for the test. This includes getting proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise in the days leading up to the test. 

During the Test

1. Have your student or child use breathing strategies to help ease the body's physical response.

2. Allow (and encourage) them to take breaks as needed. 

3. Make them hydrate! There is scientific evidence that water acts like a mental lubricant--increasing brain efficiency and function. 

4. Allow your gifted student to keep a small stress ball or other small comfort object nearby or in a pocket.

5. Help your child decide on a short phrase, an affirmation of sorts, to visualize or whisper as needed.  

After the Test

1. Debrief, but focus on the positive. What do they feel went well? (Teachers, be careful. Unfortunately, you will need to be sure you stick to generalities here. If you've ever proctored a high-stakes test, you know that the testing protocols are usually QUITE strict about not allowing any discussion of the tests' content whatsoever.) 

2. Rest. Test-taking is difficult for everyone, but it can really take a physical toll on children with high levels of anxiety. Allow time for your students to rest and relax. They need it (and you probably do, to!)

3. Move on. It's over now. There's nothing left to do. Remind your gifted child that they've done their absolute best and no matter what, your opinion of them won't change. Remind them that you're proud of them for facing their fears and getting through a tough time in their life!

Phew! You made it to the bottom of the post! And good thing you did, because I have a FREEBIE just for you! Click on the image on the right to sign up for access a handout that contains the tips above written in student-friendly language. It's ready for you to print and use, then send home for parents to read with their kids! *Just to be clear, by clicking to get the freebie (and instant access to the growing collection of free resources in my library of subscriber exclusives), you're also agreeing to be added to my email list, where I'll send occasional messages with fresh ideas, tips, and other resources straight to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.*


Thank you so VERY much for reading. I do appreciate it! If you like what you're reading, don't miss a post! Click the subscribe button on the right to get emails with my blog posts delivered right to your inbox!

*Thankfully, in Ohio the law protects children from the removal of the gifted label. The law is written so that once they are identified as gifted, they will always carry the gifted label.*

**It's important to recognize that while you can help a child practice changing the dialogue, they may really benefit from a visit to the school counselor or therapist who is better equipped to handle these things. Don't be afraid to refer the child for more help!

References:

Tips for taming test anxiety (because even gifted kids get anxious), by Gail Post, Ph.D.
Keeping a Healthy Perspective on Stress and Test Anxiety, by Vidisha Patel
Gifted Students...Scared of Tests? Part 2, by Christopher Taibbi, M.A.T.
Why Your Brain Needs Water, by Joshua Gowin Ph.D

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Gifted Overexcitabilities: Intellectual Intensity

Deeply curious, avid reader, loves problem solving, insatiable desire for knowledge, ability to concentrate for extended periods of time on one task, not satisfied with surface-level answers to questions, analytical, able to synthesize information readily, asks a seemingly infinite amount of questions.

Sound familiar? Then perhaps you've met a gifted child with Intellectual Intensity.

This is the fifth and final part of my overexcitabilities series. You can read an overview here, and you can find out more about the other four intensities (sensual, emotional, imaginational, and psychomotor) in earlier blog posts as well.

If you consider the intellectual intensity, you may think that this OE is fairly obvious, right? If a child has been identified as cognitively gifted, it would make sense that they have intellectual needs beyond their typically developing peers. As with the other overexcitabilites, though, this intellectual intensity is a marked departure from a child who is bright or gifted without this particular OE taking the spotlight. 

A child with the intellectual OE has a mind that is constantly working. They not only enjoy thinking and learning, but they also love thinking about their thinking (metacognition). They also spend a lot of time thinking about moral and ethical issues, which is why it's not uncommon for children with this intensity to be the justice-seekers in your classroom. It can be truly amazing to observe these minds in action.

It can be difficult to keep with the intellectual needs of a child with this OE. They can absorb new information faster than you can get it in their hands. They can test your patience as a teacher with the sheer volume of questions they have. They will question choices you make in your classroom or home if they feel you've made a decision that doesn't align with their own moral compass. They can also be critical of people who can't keep up with their rapid thinking. (Ahem...sorry mom and dad!)

There are some important things you can (and should) do in your classroom or home to help these children thrive.

• Show them that you understand! Acknowledge their intensity--validate this very real thirst for knowledge, and help them focus on the positive aspects of this OE
• Help them answer their own questions when you can't. Teach intellectual OE kids how to research, and then provide time for them to do it. In the classroom, it can be as simple as setting aside 10 minutes of time (especially when you're introducing something new) to allow the child access to a computer or book on the topic. 
• Help them use their precepts to make a difference! In my classroom, we did a variation of the popular 20% time that Google had once offered it's employees. Children were provided time in class each week to work on a project of their choice. I looped with my students, so in the second year of doing this in my classroom, I changed it slightly--kids could still work on a passion project, sometimes referred to as "Genius Hour" (I didn't call it that because of my feelings on growth mindset and praise--to be covered in a future post!), but this time they had to learn something that could have a positive impact on someone. Maybe it was just one person, maybe it was our gifted classroom, perhaps it would be something to impact the entire school, community, or the world. The projects were wildly engaging, motivating, and awesome, if I don't say so myself! I used Kid President's videos as motivation to launch our projects. Here are a couple:

How to Change the World

Hello Internet! #Socktober Love, Kid President

• Help kids to monitor and filter their reactions towards other people when they find others' ideas frustrating or silly. 
• Help the child set up a system of setting and tracking progress toward learning goals. I did this in my classroom on a small scale, by graphing pre- and post- assessment data with students. They really loved seeing their progress in a visual representation. 

Here are some great resources for further viewing:

• Byrdseed TV -- Live video from a parent night put on by the Orange County Department of Education 
• "The Bright Side of Overexcitabilities in Gifted Children" --article from The Institute for Educational Advancement

Please check out my other posts, linked above, for more information and resources about the gifted child and Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities. 

Here is a handout I created to give to parents or other teachers--a cheatsheet with info from all my posts on Gifted OEs. Click on the image to download your free copy from my free resource library!

Thanks so much for reading! 

~Jen

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Gifted Overexcitabilities: Psychomotor Intensity

You've seen these kids before. Children with psychomotor intensity have a an overabundance of energy--constant movement, anxiety, difficulty with impulse control, high energy, rapid speech. They need action.

They can become workaholics. They can be competitive. They can have nervous tics, even trouble sleeping. It seems like they have an internal motor that is constantly running. On high. All. the. time. Chances are, if you have had a child like this in your classroom, you've also seen them labeled "ADHD." And while there are some children who most definitely have attention problems, there is this other group of people with the psychomotor OE who have been misdiagnosed. It's important to understand the differences and seek out which of these is most fitting for the child in your life with psychomotor intensity.

The ramifications of having a child with psychomotor intensity in the classroom can be quite challenging, as you can imagine. After all, a typical classroom with 20, 30, even 40 students in it relies on kids' ability to be quiet, sit still, and listen. Having a child with psychomotor OE can prove disruptive, distracting, and downright frustrating at times. Conversely, it important that we remember that having an intensity like the psychomotor overexcitability can also be a good thing! These people have drive. They have a competitive spirit. They have so much energy that can be channeled into GREAT things!

There are many children in my teaching experiences who most certainly fit these descriptions. They were my wiggle worms, my passionately outspoken, energetic worker bees! They expressed their emotions with their bodies--literally jumping for joy! Positive or negative--there wasn't much guessing needing to be done when they were experiencing their feelings! Having children with psychomotor intensities in the classroom can test even the most tolerant teacher's patience at times.  However, once some simple modifications are made in the classroom working space to accommodate childrens' needs for movement and expression, these children can be happy, productive members of any classroom community!

Here are some things to consider implementing:

• Let them fidget with something. Let's face it, they're probably going to be doing it anyways, so why not acknowledge their needs, and give them permission to do it? 
• Allow them to stand and work. In my classroom, I had a rule that anyone could stand, as long as they weren't blocking another student from seeing. This applied for our group instruction time, independent work time, you name it.  The benefit of allowing all of the students to do it meant removing any stigma that could be attached to these kiddos who need more movement. Plus, don't all of our students need a little more movement in their daily school lives?
• Provide opportunities for breaks and serious movement, if needed. Gonoodle.com was my go-to website for "Brain Breaks."*  I was also fortunate enough to work in a school that had a kind of par course set up at different intervals around the school. So if I had a child who needed more action than what a classroom brain break would provide, I would send him or her out to do a lap or two through the course. 
• Consider allowing students to chew gum. We had school rules against gum chewing, but there were some students with whom I made special arrangements (I got permission first, of course). There was a culture of fairness in my classroom (in the truest meaning of the word--my students understood deeply that different learners need different things in order to make them successful), so I never had issues with jealousy regarding using the gum chewing as a tool, or any other intervention for that matter.  
• Try to build in some time for spontaneity in your classroom. This is something that will not only benefit your psychomotor OE kid, but the rest of the students in your classroom as well.

*If you haven't checked that website out yet, I urge you--DO IT! It's great for energizing activities, but it also has activities meant to calm kids down as well. My students loved it. They loved it so much that we had to come up with a strategy for determining which students could be the "DJ" each day. I'll have to write about that on another day.

Thanks for reading~
Jen

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Gifted Overexcitabilities: Imaginational Intensity

"Hey Lexi, can we talk for a minute?"
<stares in puzzlement>
"Lexi?"
"Huh? Did you need me, Mrs. Snyder?"
"Yep, I sure did, little one. Can we talk a minute?"
"Sure."
"Lexi, I noticed that sometimes when it's time to do independent work in the classroom, or when it's time to listen to our read aloud, or even sometimes when other students or I are trying to talk to you, sometimes it can be hard to get your attention. Can you talk to me me about that? Are you having a hard time concentrating? What do you think is going on?"
"Well..." <long pause>
"Well...what?"
"It's just that sometimes I watch cartoons in the morning before school."
"Okay, sounds pretty normal, kiddo. Do you think that's having an impact on your listening and focus skills at school?'
"Well, it's just that, sometimes when I'm here, I can see the cartoons playing in my head, and I can hear the music. It's like I'm watching the show again, and it's fun!"

Okay. Yep. That's a completely true story. I changed the name of the student, of course, but everything else about that conversation is completely and utterly true. It's a conversation that happened in my classroom probably five year ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

This is a prime example of another gifted overexcitability-- Imaginational OE. According to an article at SENG, this OE,  "...reflects a heightened play of the imagination with rich association of images and impressions, frequent use of image and metaphor, facility for invention and fantasy, detailed visualization, and elaborate dreams (Dabrowski & Piechowski, 1977; Piechowski, 1979, 1991)."
Students with Imaginational intensity can often be found daydreaming, doodling, and engaging in dramatic play, sometimes creating entire imaginary worlds and living in them for long periods of time. As you can imagine, people with a strong Imaginational OE can grow to become some of the most prolific creative minds of humanity. 

There is a downside, though. It can be difficult for children to distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy, no matter how illogical it may seem to others. A strong Imaginational OE can lead a child to believe strongly in their nightmares or other scary situations they've imagined up. Sometimes the imagination can be so strong that the child can begin to combine reality and their fantasies into one "memory," and they can end up mixing the two so much that they can no longer distinguish between which parts of the story are real and which are embellished. And of course, in the classroom, teachers need their students to be engaged listeners! It's important to help a child with this intensity gain focus, and learn when and how to channel this creative energy. 

Here are some ways you can help the child in your life to deal with Imaginational OE

• Help the child to see that the Imaginational intensity is not a negative thing! It's amazing that they have such a dynamic and vivid imagination! They can go on to create incredible stories, movies, songs, you name it. 
• Provide opportunities in your home or classroom for which the child to USE their Imaginational OE in a meaningful and productive way.
• Help children understand when it's okay to daydream and imagine, and when there are times they need to focus on educational and other tasks. With the approval of her parents, "Lexi" and I came up with a signal that I would use when I noticed her tuning out during a time when I needed her to tune in. 
• Use the strength of their imagination to help them help themselves. 
• Additionally, an article found on the Davidson Gifted website suggests, "Sometimes imaginational people confuse reality and fiction because their memories and new ideas become blended in their mind. Help individuals to differentiate between their imagination and the real world by having them place a stop sign in their mental videotape, or write down or draw the factual account before they embellish it. 
• And, "Help people use their imagination to function in the real world. Often those who do not want to follow the paths of others are expected to just fit in. Instead, encourage them to use their path to promote learning and productivity-instead of the conventional school organized notebook, have children create their own organizational system."

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or ask a question below. I'm happy to help!

~Jen

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Gifted Kids and Overexcitabilities: Sensual Intensity

Yes, this one sounds a little weird at first, right? But it's not, I promise. This OE has EVERYTHING to do with the five senses (you know, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) and how people who have overexcitabilities experience these things in ways that are much, much, more intense than the average person experiences them. Like the other intensities, the Sensual OE has both positive and negative aspects. 

This could be a GREAT thing! People with sensual intensity could express an deep and profound appreciation for gourmet food, the great beauty and wonders found in nature, and musical expression early on in their lives. Experiencing these things brings with it stimulation to the body's pleasure centers. It makes them feel happy, excited, and exhilarated even! You know how good it can feel to hear the perfect song, taste the perfect bite of food, see the most beautiful sight, right? Now multiply that feeling times 1304284. <---- That is NOT a scientific measure, FYI. But you get the point, right?

On the downside, having a Sensual Overexcitability may lead to the seeking out of things that cause the same sensations that provide those happy feelings, and they may do it to an extreme. Think: binge eating, binge shopping, overindulging. You might find that they get so absorbed in smells, sounds, or sights, that they are hyper-focused on those things, instead of the lesson, activity, or process in which they're supposed to be participating. Further, there's a chance that you might see someone with a Sensual OE cutting the tags out of their clothes, or aligning the seams on their socks just.right. They're wearing earplugs to school assemblies, or putting on earphones during thunderstorms. 

I have had several students who seemed to experience Sensual OE. Most of the time, they were most noticeable outwardly because they had a really hard time with boisterous environments, the glaringly bright overhead lights in some classrooms (not mine, because I.hate.overhead.lighting, especially of the fluorescent persuasion), and thunderstorms. Oh the thunderstorms. 

Like the other OEs, there are strategies and coping skills that children (and adults) can help. These are all taken directly from one of my favorite pages/organizations: SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted):

• Whenever possible, create an environment which limits offensive stimuli and provides comfort.
• Provide appropriate opportunities for being in the limelight by giving unexpected attention, or facilitating creative and dramatic productions that have an audience. These individuals literally feel the recognition that comes from being in the limelight.
• Provide time to dwell in the delight of the sensual

You can also read more here, and here. 

Thanks for reading HERE! 

~Jen

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Gifted Kids and Overexcitabilities: Emotional Intensity

If you've worked with gifted children in any capacity, THIS is probably the most widely recognizable OE of all. The Emotional Overexcitability. I chose to write about this OE first because of how easily identifiable it is, and also because as a gifted adult I am pretty sure I (still!) experience this OE myself. 

According to an article on the super-informative SENG page, the emotional OE is characterized by 
"heightened, intense feelings, extremes of complex emotions, identification with others’ feelings, and strong affective expression (Piechowski, 1991)". You might notice things like "stomachaches and blushing or concern with death and depression (Piechowski, 1979)".

In a nutshell, these people experience emotions and relationships to people, places, or things very deeply. They might be deeply empathetic toward other people or animals, they have a strong desire to love and be loved. They are very, very aware of their own feelings, can be harshly self-critical, immensely joyful or tragically sad, and they can experience all of these emotions in a relatively short period of time.

You might peg these students as drama queens or attention seekers, but in reality, the heightened intensity of how they're experiencing the world could be the root of some of their outwardly negative behaviors.The strong emotional reactions that these children are prone to can cause some difficulty at home and at school, so it's important to help your child or student work through the range of emotions as they come. Trust me on this one, be patient! It takes time to learn to self-regulate and cope with the sometimes unexpected emotions that rise up from the depths. Actually, they don't need to rise up from anywhere, because (for me, at least) those babies are always sitting pretty darn close to the surface.

In my years of teaching, I've DEFINITELY worked with a child or two just like this. And there is a slight pretty good chance that I have at least one offspring who sees life through this lens. One sweet girl I'm thinking of was just soooo emotional about many things. She was the first one crying when we experienced the sad parts in my read aloud books (well, maybe she was second, because I was usually the first one...), she was easily upset or offended if she perceived any unfairness in the way people were treating her, and forget about it if someone even started talking about one of those pet rescue commercials with the sad dogs and sad music.

Some pointers for helping out the child (or adult) YOU know with Emotional Intensity:

• LISTEN to them--validate their feelings instead of trying to minimize them
• Help them to recognize (and avoid, if possible and when appropriate) things that are known to trigger strong emotional reactions like scary or intense movies, for example. 
• If known triggers are unavoidable, work on rehearsing appropriate reactions and coping strategies. 
• Work with children to recognize signs that they're starting to feel an intense reaction to something (sweaty palms, shaking, pit in stomach, general unease) and work on teaching them ways to cope with their feelings. 
• Focus on the positive aspects of the deep connections and empathy that they're capable of! 

Here are some more resources for you or your students' parents to check out: 

• An article by Jade Ann Rivera, teacher, coach, author, Living with (not indulging) Intensity
• One of my go-to gifted websites, Hoagie's Gifted has a great page on OE 
• Daniels, Susan and Michael M. Piechowski.  Living With Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and the Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults.  Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, Inc., 2009.
• Piechowski, Michael. "Mellow Out,"They Say. If Only I Could: Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright. Madison, WI: Yunasa Books, 2010

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