LISTEN & UNDERSTAND Leave the door open to further conversations. Ask if they have questions. Encourage them to feel comfortable discussing giftedness with you. Provide insight as to how others may perceive their giftedness and abilities.
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.
Giftedness can create problems and conflicts; being a gifted child can also mean difficulty socializing with age peers, thinking styles that don't always mesh well with the demands from the environment, even children who see themselves as little adults, challenging teachers and parents.
Genetics do play a large part in being gifted, definitely. It has been thought that the brain of a gifted person can actually process information faster. However, one's surroundings are equally important. Nature and nurture are at work as some traits are genetic and others are learned.
Giftedness falls into one or more of the following areas: intellectual, academic, creative, artistic and leadership.
Signs of Giftedness in Children Include:
an ability to learn and process complex information rapidly. a need to explore subjects in surprising depth. an insatiable curiosity, as demonstrated by endless questions and inquiries. ability to comprehend material several grade levels above their age peers.
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.
In many ways, your gifted child is just like other children who want to do what they want to do when they want to do it. However, gifted children are incredibly determined. They have an advanced vocabulary and can argue their case like an experienced lawyer.
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.
Gifted children tend to begin talking early. While most children say their first word at around 1 year of age, gifted children may begin speaking when they are 9 months old. 2 Some parents report that their children said their first word even earlier than that, as early as 6 months of age.
Some gifted kids like to talk a lot. They love to share their knowledge with others. They are highly verbal, and may possess an advanced vocabulary for their age. When talking to students, pay attention to not only how much they talk but also to the vocabulary used in daily conversation.
You'll need to tell him or explain any special services he might receive, but as far as the label of "gifted," don't burden him. Let him know that you're proud of his schoolwork but that every one of us has gifts and talents.
Research reflects that giftedness does “run in families”: for a gifted child, their genetically-related relatives — siblings and/or parents — are likely to also be gifted, though there are plenty of exceptions.
Ideally, gifted students require three components to maximize their potential: a safe and flexible learning environment, proper academic rigor, and dual focus on social-emotional learning.
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.
They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity. They are extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations, or events. They often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasize and imagine.
Gifted children may be under-stimulated or bored in typical social or education settings, [which] may result in behavior challenges like school refusal, tantrums, distractibility, or general acting out.
Many profoundly gifted students are likely misdiagnosed with autism, whilst many autistic children are likely undiagnosed as gifted. Given the incredibly complex, and similar, nature of both giftedness and autism, the diagnosis itself is rather unimportant.
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.
Studies show that gifted children have a higher risk of experiencing mental health issues, like anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. Because gifted children have different capabilities than their peers, other children may find them intimidating.