Vimy V Vijayan and Nice Mary Francis P
Prajyoti Niketan College, Pudukad
Pages:382-392
The present study was designed to identify intellectually gifted adolescents from school
settings. Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC IV India), a comprehensive
tool to assess intelligence and cognitive profile was individually administered to the
adolescents who were screened by teachers using nomination criteria. The
sociodemographic and academic characteristics were assessed through interviews
and the filling of the sociodemographic data sheet. Results reveal that out of 69 nominees,
25 adolescents were identified as intellectually gifted (IQ>=30) using WISC-IV. The
sociodemographic details reveal that 68% of identified intellectually gifted adolescents
were boys, 60% were firstborns, 40% of mothers of intellectually gifted adolescents
have post-graduation and above, 40% of fathers have a professional degree, 44% of
fathers employed as highly skilled and 32% of mothers are occupied as skilled jobs or
homemakers. More adolescents were from the lower middle class (60%). The academic
profile reveals variations in exam scores – about 48% of the adolescents have- 90-95%
marks and 4% of them have 70 -79% marks. 43% won scholarship exams at the
school level, 4% at the national level,12% at the state level, and 16% at district/zonal
level. Most adolescents prefer science as their excellent subject. Exploring the profile
of intellectually gifted adolescents would help in educating parents regarding their
cognitive excellence, making them aware of environmental and academic markers of
high potential, setting educational strategies and gifted education programs for them,
and looking into their psychological aspects for providing socio-emotional support