Gifted individuals, particularly those who are "twice-exceptional" (or 2e), may also have co-occurring conditions, with the three most commonly associated disorders being Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and learning disabilities.
Gifted children often are asked “If you're so good at doing that, why can't you do this?” Gifted children with ADHD often show heightened intensity and sensitivity, but they are set up to fail in a system that only recognizes and expects intellectual proclivity without consideration of their emotional needs.
Twice-exceptional students are those who have high ability and also have a disability. Disabilities include learning difficulties, physical disabilities, and disorders that impact sensory, social and emotional processing, such as autism and Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder (ADHD).
Self-Esteem Issues
Being gifted academically can make a child feel different from her peers and may even lead to the child being bullied and becoming depressed. Studies have shown that the more intellectually gifted a child is, the greater the risk of social difficulties and unhappiness.
Some studies have found an association between giftedness and internalizing problems, which involve excessive control of emotions and behavior, anxiety, social withdrawal, low self-esteem, or excessive perfectionism [e.g., 11].
One possibility is that the genes associated with intelligence also make you more prone to mental illness, but intelligence doesn't directly increase your risk of mental illness. Another possibility is that people with higher IQs are often more socially isolated, which leads to more anxiety disorder and depression.
“One thing we know about giftedness is that it is quite literally a different brain — it's a piece of neurodivergence,” said psychologist Matt Zakreski, a former gifted kid himself who now works with and consults on the topic of gifted children.
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.
Gifted kids can be misdiagnosed. Some are diagnosed as having learning differences such as ADHD or High Functioning Autism, but are really just gifted, or bored and gifted kids. Others are not diagnosed, when they struggle with Executive Functioning (EF), social skills or other learning challenges.
Giftedness is not considered a disability, although some gifted students may also have learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, or autism disorder. These students are known as twice-exceptional students (also known as 2e children or students).
Around 90% of autism cases are attributed to genetic factors, meaning autism is highly heritable, with many different genes contributing, rather than a single cause, often interacting with environmental influences during early brain development, though specific environmental factors don't cause it but can increase risk. Twin studies show strong genetic links, with concordance rates between 60-90% in identical twins, and research points to complex interactions of many genes and prenatal/perinatal factors.
The ADHD "30% Rule" is a guideline suggesting that executive functions (like self-regulation, planning, and emotional control) in people with ADHD develop about 30% slower than in neurotypical individuals, meaning a 10-year-old might function more like a 7-year-old in these areas, requiring adjusted expectations for maturity, task management, and behavior. It's a tool for caregivers and adults with ADHD to set realistic goals, not a strict scientific law, helping to reduce frustration by matching demands to the person's actual developmental level (executive age) rather than just their chronological age.
Famous actors like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom all have dyslexia. Pablo Picasso's teachers described him as “having difficulty differentiating the orientation of letters”.
The 20-minute rule for ADHD is a productivity strategy to overcome task paralysis by committing to work on a task for just 20 minutes, leveraging the brain's need for dopamine and short bursts of focus, making it easier to start and build momentum, with the option to stop or continue after the timer goes off, and it's a variation of the Pomodoro Technique, adapted for ADHD's unique challenges like time blindness. It helps by reducing overwhelm, providing a clear starting point, and creating a dopamine-boosting win, even if you only work for that short period.
Common Characteristics of Gifted Children:
Enthusiastic about unique interests and topics. Quirky or mature sense of humor. Creative problem solving and imaginative expression. Absorbs information quickly with few repetitions needed.
The five gifts of ADHD include creativity, emotional sensitivity, exuberance, interpersonal empathy, and being nature-smart (The Gift of Adult ADD, 2008).
Common Causes of Anger in Gifted Children
They often exhibit heightened sensitivity to their surroundings and the emotions of others. This intensity and sensitivity can make it difficult for the profoundly gifted to regulate their emotions, resulting in angry outbursts.
The "6-second rule" for autism is a communication strategy where a speaker pauses for about six seconds after asking a question or giving information, giving the autistic person extra time to process it without feeling rushed, which helps reduce anxiety and allows for a more thoughtful response, reducing frustration for both parties. Instead of repeating or rephrasing, which can be confusing, you wait, and if needed, repeat the exact same words after the pause.
Gifted Assessment
Testing is one of many tools utilized in an assessment and may include both quantitative and qualitative measurements. The quantitative measures can include intelligence testing, which evaluates a child's cognitive abilities, and achievement testing, which evaluates a child's knowledge.
Sixteen personality types: The most common types among gifted adolescents were INFP, INTP, ENFP, and ENTP, which constituted nearly 50% of the gifted sample compared with 19% of the normative group. The most common preference among gifted adolescents is intuition.
Emotional intelligence is not only a gift in the workplace, but also in relationships. Regularly communicating four phrases may signify that you have the emotionally intelligent qualities: self-awareness (accountability), social awareness, empathy, and motivation.
Gifted kids often struggle with asynchronous development when they are young, but may continue to lag behind their peers in terms of social maturity. This becomes a challenge when confronted with very adult decisions and multiple social expectations.
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.
The study showed that people who have higher general intelligence tend to have larger brains, thicker grey matter on the surface of the brain, and healthier white matter brain connections. The associations are not strong, but some aspects of brain structure do relate to intelligence test scores.
What are the signs of a neurodiverse child?