A child prodigy is a person who shows exceptional smartness at an early age. Such children can do things that average people can only do when they are adults. Child prodigies can be smart in any field, such as music, mathematics, dance, singing, intelligence, etc. People always want to know how child prodigies are different from normal kids. So, here are eight facts about child prodigies that will make you understand how & why they are different:
1. Child Prodigies Are Experimental
It is believed that children who come out to be prodigies have always been experimental. These children love to try different things, they experiment a lot, and hence they learn things perfectly at a very young age. Experiments are always good to understand any concenpt or to learn a skill.
2. Prodigies Are Not Always Gifted
Although, it has always been a topic of debate if child prodigies are born or made? But, this example can make it a bit clear that non-gifted children can also become prodigies if provided with the right direction. A Hungarian man, Laszlo Polgar, conducted an experiment on his children with the proposition that “every child has the innate capacity to become a genius in a chosen field, as long as education starts before their third birthday and they begin to specialize at six”. All 3 of his daughters became world-class chess players. Two of them became the best and second-best women, chess players, globally at one point.
3. One in Ten Million
Do you know how rare is a true child prodigy? One study by a person who has spent her life’s work studying prodigies, says that true prodigies are as uncommon as one in 5 to 10 million.
4. Working Memory
The Intelligence journal study says that IQ is not ultimately necessary to become a prodigy. But, every single prodigy has scored extremely high in the working memory portion of the IQ test. All of them were in the 99th percentile, and six out of eight scored 99.9 percentile in the working memory. Hence, it is clear that child prodigies have an extremely good working memory.
5. A High IQ Isn’t Everything
A study done by the journal Intelligence tested the IQs of nine famous child prodigies. Most of them had reached professional levels in their domain by the age of 10. All of them have also been featured on national and international TV programs. The researchers discovered that these prodigies’ IQs varied significantly, from 108 to 147. The study confirmed that high IQ is not a necessary & only thing to be a prodigy. Many children with low IQ are prodigies & many with high IQ are not.
6. Results May Vary
A researcher, who studies expert performance in several fields such as sports, music, mathematics, and other areas, finds that children who are prodigies may not necessarily have a successful future. Rather, it depends on the number of hours a person dedicates to a particular activity. It was the best indicator of their success in adulthood.
7. It Is Harder Than It Looks
The gifted children who are deemed prodigies have to struggle in many areas not related to their academic field. These areas include interpersonal skills, motivation issues, and perfectionism.
8. Autism Links
Some studies also believe that child prodigies often have autistic relatives. One study done in 2012 found that half of all the prodigies had an autistic relative. Another study claims that there might be a genetic link between prodigies.
These were some amazing facts about child prodigies. We hope that we were able to make your understand the difference between prodigies & other children.
If you know any exceptionally talented kid close to you, make sure to click here.
Also Read: 5 amazing facts about happiness of children
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