"Being gifted is not a disease, it is not something that requires medication, it is a gift that the child should love."
Dafne Almazán grew up with an IQ higher than the average population and proved that not everyone knew how to act in this reality.
Dafne, a 17-year-old Mexican, is talented. And as he grew up, he added feats to his unique story.
<img alt = "Dafne explains that she decided to focus on areas in which she could" change things and help people "on their own" src = "https: //p2.trrsf. com / image / fget / cf / 460 / Dafne explains that she decided to focus on studying areas in which she could "make changes and help people." Dafne explains that she decided to focus alone on areas where she could "change things and help others"
To be considered gifted, the child must have, among other characteristics, a precocity or a high potential in at least one of the seven intelligences defined by the psychologist
. Photo: CEDAT / BBC News Brasil
The American Howard Gardner in his theory of multiple intelligences.
These are: linguistic intelligence, logico-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, corporo-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, intelligence interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence.
In other words: she must have a skill well above that expected for her age.
The extraordinary trajectory of Daphne
Dafne began reading at the age of three years. At age 6, started elementary school, which lasts six years for most children. She has however completed it in one and the Internet.
At the age of 10, the girl graduated from high school and became one of the world's youngest psychologists at age 13.
"I studied psychology because of the situation I saw in Mexico with gifted children, I saw that they were not identified, that their emotional part was on the ground, with cases of children who wanted to kill themselves, "said Daphne. BBC News World, the Spanish service of the BBC.
As if that were not enough, her program of extraordinary achievements has just won another: this month, she was accepted at Harvard University in the United States to do a master's degree in mathematics.
And what does this have to do with psychology? "Well, I also saw that in Mexico there was a math problem, because the children found the discipline difficult and boring, which made the country had a performance problem in this area. "he says.
<img alt = "Daphne graduated in psychology at age 13" src = "https://p2.trrsf.com/image/fget/cf/460/0/images.terra.com/2019/ 02/08 / 1055589253559c2a6-9dd3 Dafne graduated in psychology at the age of 13. "Dafne graduated in psychology at the age of 13" [=19659005]
Photo: CEDAT / BBC News Brazil
Dafne explains that she decided to focus on areas where she could "change things and help people".
Although she badures that she has not been harbaded or discriminated against because of her special abilities, she is aware that other gifted children are experiencing very poor in the face of misunderstanding or ignorance of the people around them.
Diagnosis
Excited by the unprecedented fact of being accepted into a postgraduate degree from the prestigious American educational institution before the age of 18, Dafne insists on the need for Identify correctly and on time when a child is gifted.
"At school, they think these kids are hyperactive because they're not letting others concentrate," she says.
According to data from the Center for Talent Care (Cedat) in Mexico, 93% of gifted children are confused and misdiagnosed with a deficit of attention, resulting in improper management of the situation and, consequently, , a loss of their abilities. .
The girl knew many of these cases. And he says that in reality, the child is bored at school because he has studied the subject or because the subject does not interest him.
"So there is a problem with taking medication, which slows down their abilities and hurts them." (Being gifted) is not a disease, "she says.
Confronted with the ignorance of what they really are, many of these children are facing rejection and discrimination from their peers in school.
And, in more extreme cases, they end up being depressed or even by the idea of committing suicide.
"They must have an environment in which they can be children, enjoy their lives and if they can be themselves with other gifted children," says Dafne.
Photo: CEDAT / BBC News Brazil
Dafne claims to have suffered no type of harbadment, particularly because she never attended a "traditional" school system, after her Gifted brother was bullied in one of them. .
Thus, although the case of each of these people is different, she thinks that special education is often beneficial to them.
"They must have an environment where they can be children, enjoy their lives and where they can be themselves with other gifted children and progress at their own pace, without being stopped or put under pressure" he says.
She says that in her case, the support of her parents was fundamental. "They did not hurry me in. I wanted to go faster and they supported me, that's how it should always be."
Dafne also highlights the work of Cedat, headed by her father, in which she claims to have helped her to continue to progress, "but without losing her childhood, playing and having fun with people of the same age".
"I was able to maintain my emotional stability," she says.
But if there are so many cases of misdiagnosis of gifted children, how can we correctly identify them?
"There is a list of qualities such as being hyperactive, interfering with conversations of adults who are easily bored, and if you have 50% of these characteristics, they may be to be gifted, which is confirmed by standardized tests, "says Dafne. .
"In Mexico, there are many areas of opportunity that require improvement and all possible knowledge, so that everything I learn at Harvard will want to apply in my country" , says Daphne
The World Health Organization defines a gifted person as a person whose IQ is greater than 130 points in some psychometrically validated tests scientifically and statistically.
Photo: CEDAT / BBC News Brasil
Asked about her plans for the future, after the master's degree – which she hopes to complete in a year – Dafne does not doubt: she does not want, she says, to be another case of "flight from brains ", where people admitted to foreign universities end up applying everything they learn abroad.
"In Mexico, many areas of opportunity need to be improved and all possible knowledge, so will everything I learn at Harvard want to apply in my country", he said.
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