Mary Elaine Jacobsen  

It Takes a Gifted Adult to Know & Encourage One

As a professional who works exclusively with gifted, talented and creative people, I know something about the particular challenges gifted and creative people experience. Maybe you do, too.

For more than a decade I've been working with gifted, talented and creative adults as a therapist, counselor, speaker, trainer, educator, consultant, coach, and mentor specializing in the challenges, psychology and development of gifted, talented and creative adults.

In my experience, the challenges that multi-talented adults face are not perceived, understood or appreciated by most educators, parents, business leaders, therapists, life & executive coaches, and other assorted professionals-- because they lack information and understanding about giftedness and gifted adult development.

Helping gifted, talented and creative adults understand themselves, their gifts, and to live life more fully is my passion.
 
Helping people understand and appreciate gifted, talented and creative adults is my mission. 

Because of a lack of basic information and understanding about what giftedness is, gifted, talented and creative people of all ages are largely misperceived, misunderstood, and mislabeled.

Not only are gifted and creative adults misperceived, misdiagnosed, and misunderstood by others, they also misunderstand, misperceive, and misdiagnose themselves, too.

Overall, gifted adults take their multiple talents and abilities for granted and mistakenly label their everyday successes and achievements as "hard work" or "something anybody could do"--not a result of their own unique view, giftedness, and talents applied.

Helping each gifted adult become more aware of the role giftedness plays in their lives--and how they can utilize their multiple talents, interests and abilities to create, and live fully, the life they imagine --is the best work I could possibly do.

As a result of my work with adult giftedness, I've developed many effective and useful tools and models for working with gifted people of all ages.

You will find many of these, as well as the articles, books and resources I use with clients, on this site. Be sure to check out the articles and links at the bottom of each page as well as the book sections.

You may notice that some of the articles on this site have information on gifted children.  This is not a mistake. 

Much of the information written about gifted children growing up applies equally to the gifted adult. 

Reading about giftedness in children allows adults to accurately identify themselves as gifted and helps them sort out and make sense of many of the experiences they encountered as children; this has a healing and liberating effect.   

If you have found your way here you are either a gifted, talented and creative adult or someone who knows or lives with a gifted person. 

Special Challenges for Gifted & Creative Adults

Emotional Aspects of the Gifted

Misdiagnosis of the Gifted

Creativity

Articles

Giftedness:  The View From Within
Martha J. Morelock
.....Sommers (1981) links the breadth of emotional responsiveness to cognitive complexity. She introduced the concept of "emotional range" to denote the number and variety of emotions experienced by an individual. Sommers found that college students evidencing advanced cognitive organization had a wider "emotional range”. She concludes:

The picture of the more emotional person, as it is emerging from this research ... reveals that a high level of emotional responsiveness may be associated with advanced cognitive organization. All of the cognitive skills that were found to be related to the ability to respond with more emotions are marks of a highly organized awareness - an awareness that might be governed by a well-structured system of values, oughts, and beliefs, but not by momentary excitements. (p. 560)

Thus, we have the beginnings of internal view of giftedness. The heightened and broadened emotionality of the gifted, the role played by a well-structured system of values in evoking emotional reactions, and the asynchronicity of development leads.....More

Understanding and Encouraging the Exceptionally Gifted
Bruce Kline & Elizabeth Meckstroth
Emotional and social diversity are as clearly manifest in gifted persons as is intellectual exceptionality. In this regard, we recognize three gradients within the gifted range: gifted, from 130-145 IQ; highly gifted, 140-160 IQ; and exceptionally gifted, above 160 IQ. Parents of highly and exceptionally gifted persons have found it useful to retain a family psychologist or counselor to develop relationships in a preventive function.

In this article, five facets of critical development are highlighted: (a) interpersonal relationships; (b) acknowledgement of uniqueness; (c) school adjustment; (d) creative self-expressions; and (e) user-friendly environment. In each area, several interventive strategies are suggested......In understanding this population, gradients of abilities become apparent. Gradients in abilities, sensitivity, intensity, talent, and creativity within the gifted range must be recognized just as we acknowledge and program for graduations of ability below the norm.....More

Exceptionally Gifted Children
Miraca Gross
Gagne identifies a cluster of personalogical and environmental variables that serve as catalysts to either facilitate or impede the translation of giftedness into talent.  Crucial to the process of ‘talent development’ is the quality of the child’s learning.  Impacting on this process, however, are personality factors in the child herself.  Motivation, while not a ‘necessary ingredient’ of giftedness as in the Renzulli model is essential if the child is to develop as talented.  She must have the motivation to get started, the dedication to apply herself, and the will to persevere when the going gets rough.  She must have the confidence in her abilities and she must accept and value her own gifts......More  

Hoagie's Gifted Education Page
The premier resource for gifted information put together by Carolyn K.  A treasure trove of information and resources for gifted people of all ages.  You'll want to bookmark this site.

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