After age 12, the numbers are higher for boys. Researchers hypothesize that this is because at that age girls begin to value their appearance and social skills over their intelligence and achievement. Where one child in the family is found to be gifted, the chances are that all members of the family are gifted. Brothers and sisters are usually within 5-10 points in ability. Parents are usually within 10 IQ points of their children.
Families play a far more important role in the development of a child's gifts than do schools.
Back about Behavior and Conduct Profiles of extremely gifted children show no singular pattern. Children functioning four standard deviations from the norm differ from each other in as many ways as do children of normal intelligence. In fact, they may be gifted in certain areas and delayed in others. As with a disability, giftedness can lead to unhappiness and social isolation. The greater the degree of a person s intellectual differences, the greater the discomfort such an intellect seems to bring to his or her world, and that world responds by creating discomfort for the individual.