Dabrowski's Over-excitabilities
A Layman's Explanation
by Stephanie S. Tolan
Written for Hoagies'
Gifted Education Page, February, 1999
Dabrowski talked about OE's - over-excitabilities ("superstimulatabilities"),
and how the gifted were extremely sensitive in a variety of areas. It's a
stimulus-response difference from the norms. It means that in these 5 areas a
person reacts more strongly than normal for a longer period than normal to a
stimulus that may be very small. It involves not just psychological factors but
central nervous system sensitivity.
The five areas are:
Psychomotor
This is often thought to mean that the person needs lots of movement and
athletic activity, but can also refer to the issue of having trouble smoothing
out the mind's activities for sleeping. Lots of physical energy and movement,
fast talking, lots of gestures, sometimes nervous tics.
Sensual
Here's the "cut the label out of the shirt" demand, the child who
limps as if with a broken leg when a sock seam is twisted. Also a love for
sensory things -- textures, smells, tastes etc. or a powerful reaction to
negative sensory input (bad smells, loud sounds, etc.) The kids tend to be
sensitive to bright lights (squinting in all the family photographs, etc.),
harsh sounds. A baby who cries when the wind blows in his face, for instance; a
toddler who cries at the feel of grass on bare legs and feet. Another important
aspect of this is aesthetic awareness -- the child who is awed to breathlessness
at the sight of a beautiful sunset or cries hearing Mozart, etc.
Imaginational
These are the dreamers, poets, "space cadets" who are strong visual
thinkers, use lots of metaphorical speech. They day dream, remember their dreams
at night and often react strongly to them, believe in magic (take a long time to
"grow out of" Santa, the tooth fairy, elves and fairies, etc.).
Intellectual
Here's the usual definition of "giftedness." Kids with a strong
"logical imperative," who love brain teasers and puzzles, enjoy
following a line of complex reasoning, figuring things out. A love of things
academic, new information, cognitive games, etc.
Emotional
This includes being "happier when happy, sadder when sad, angrier when
angry," etc. Intensity of emotion. But also a very broad range of emotions.
Also a need for deep connections with other people or animals. Unable to find
close and deep friends (Damon and Pythias variety) they invent imaginary
friends, make do with pets or stuffed animals, etc. Empathy and compassion. A
child who needs a committed relationship will think herself "betrayed"
by a child who plays with one child today and another tomorrow and refers to
both as "friends." This is also the OE that makes the kids susceptible
to depression.
Dabrowski believed emotional OE to be central -- the energy center from which
the whole constellation of OE's is generated.
Highly gifted people tend to have all 5 of these, but different people lead
with different OE's. The engineer types lead with Intellectual, the poets with
Emotional and Imaginational, etc. But variations in the levels of the individual
OE's explain a great deal about the temperamental differences we see!
These five describe the unusual intensity of the gifted as well as the many
ways in which they look and behave "oddly" when compared to norms.
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