The truth is, there are a wide range of reasons why many gifted children dislike school. Very often, their cognitive abilities and natural curiosity develop idiosyncratic interests which can be more cosmopolitan than their peers.
While gifted children are capable of reading, speaking, and even reasoning above grade level, those abilities can be challenging in a number of ways. 2 For instance, gifted children can be argumentative. Adults might even remark that these children are little lawyers.
Most often smart children who are failing in school have a learning obstacle. ADHD, genius, and high functioning autism will all interfere with a smart child's ability to succeed in school. There's nothing wrong with the child. Schools are designed to teach students in one way, which fits very few students.
Gifted students are outstanding learners who are not usually considered at risk of academic failure or problems. However, gifted students can still underachieve.
They might learn quickly and not require as much practice as other children to develop new skills. They may easily become bored when a lesson is repetitive and this can lead to them tuning out. Children with giftedness can often benefit from a condensed curriculum that covers more material in less time.
Gifted children often set very high standards for themselves and get frustrated when they can't meet them. This can sometimes result in tantrums and other difficult behaviour. It's great for your child to work towards high standards. But your child needs to understand that they can't have high standards for everything.
Gifted children may be more likely to experience existential depression, as their minds tend to be more attuned to contemplating the big life and death issues facing the world.
Those who are considered “gifted” are especially likely to experience depression, particularly existential depression, a type of depression that centers around thoughts about life, death, and meaninglessness as the name might suggest.
Most people use terms like “bright,” “gifted,” “exceptional,” “remarkable,” and “talented” interchangeably, but when a psychologist uses the term “gifted,” we're usually talking about something that is statistically quite rare. About 3 to 5 out of every 100 children could be considered gifted.
For profoundly gifted students, the roots of underachievement can step from a variety of factors, including improper learning environments and social/emotional challenges.
The brain's outer mantle, or cortex, gets thicker and then thins during childhood and the teen years. The study found that in kids with superior intelligence, the cortex reaches its thickest stage a few years later than in other children. Nobody knows what causes that or how it relates to superior intelligence.
Even though the gifted are no more susceptible to mental illness than anyone else, some gifted children and teens struggle with overthinking, worry, or cautious alertness. Their nervous system seems wired for heightened reactivity. For some, obsessive thinking transitions into anxiety.
Every stage of parenting has its challenges, but one poll reveals what age most parents feel they struggled with the most.
Many gifted children are highly sensitive individuals. 1 They may take things personally and become upset by words and deeds that other children may easily ignore or get over quickly.
Some gifted children need to organize everything, including people and activities. Because they are more cognitively advanced than their non-gifted peers, they may also have a more advanced understanding of group organization. They know who should do which job or play which role and how each should be performed.
Gifted trauma stems from childhood issues with feeling like you don't belong anywhere because of your gift. Bullying, starving for mental stimulation, school mismatch, and other issues specific to the life experience of the gifted child may also contribute both to the main mental health issue and gift-specific trauma.
Social Skills
The problems gifted children sometimes face with socializing often stem from their asynchrony and educational setting. Asynchronous development, or uneven development, is often considered a core trait of giftedness.
But then it does, and inevitably, burnout. There are those who would point out that not all gifted kids experience burnout. Being a gifted kid doesn't force anyone to be a straight-A student forever. Nevertheless, we have a lot to unlearn, and it will take time to dismantle what we have built ourselves into.
Just because gifted children are often emotionally sensitive and can be profoundly empathetic very early in their development does not mean they can always access that empathy, however.
It is extremely difficult to find someone who truly gets you in this world when you are gifted or twice exceptional. Rarely finding someone with whom you can relate or who makes you feel understood, inevitably leads to loneliness. If you are identified as gifted you have a cohort of roughly 2% of the population.
Your children may feel empathetic with others but others may reject them. The first trait can cause frustration and self-doubt; the second can cause sadness or confusion. Other aspects of giftedness can cause big emotional reactions that are hard to handle. High energy and alertness can become frustration.
ADHD AND GIFTEDNESS are sometimes described as having the same or similar characteristics. However, one diagnosis is considered a disability and one, a gift. Neither assumption is ideal in supporting the child identified with either ADHD, giftedness, or both, often referred to as twice exceptional or 2e.
Gifted children can be argumentative and/or manipulative. Even though a child might be able to present a logical or convincing argument, they still need boundaries and discipline around their behaviour else they learn that these undesirable behaviours get them what they want.
Because giftedness is a form of asynchronous development, gifted children often struggle to reconcile their advanced intellectual abilities with their age-appropriate motor and social skills, resulting in frustration and self-doubt.