Signs of Giftedness in Children Include: an extreme need for constant mental stimulation. an ability to learn and process complex information rapidly. a need to explore subjects in surprising depth.
If you think your child might be gifted, you can see an educational psychologist for an IQ test and a report on your child's advanced learning. This report is likely to focus mostly on academic learning but often includes notes about social and emotional gifts too.
Even when academic performance is high, the hidden cost of ADD (ADHD) is often taking a toll. Gifted students with ADD (ADHD) often struggle with anxiety, even when grades are high. They may suffer from boredom when required to do unnecessary, repetitive work that less gifted students may need.
Likewise, two people of very average or low intelligence may have a brilliant child. In biology, this phenomenon is called a mutation. Another cause of giftedness is environmental, the belief that you can make a child gifted by exposing him or her to a variety of enriching experiences, beginning at an early age.
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.
Signs of giftedness can appear as early as infancy and continue during the toddler and preschool years. Testing for giftedness and high IQ, however, usually takes place around age 5.
However, there is no correlation between this condition and intelligence. In fact, according to one study , ADHD affects people in the same way across high, average, and low IQ score ranges. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that can make it difficult for people to focus and to control impulsive behaviors.
Gifted children are challenging to parent in many ways. The more gifted the child, the more often it seems the more the parent is frustrated with the discrepancy of someone able to do school several levels above age level but unable to remember to take their finished work to school.
Because autism and giftedness exist separately, it's possible to have a gifted child with more pronounced autistic traits who may benefit from more support at home and at school. You can also have a fully verbal and self-sufficient autistic child with a typical IQ who isn't twice exceptional.
It may depend where you live. While we like to think everyone is special, some people have extraordinary abilities — intellectual, artistic, social, or athletic. Many experts believe only 3 to 5 percent of the population is gifted, though some estimates reach 20 percent.
Many gifted children are being mis-diagnosed as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The gifted child's characteristics of intensity, sensitivity, impatience, and high motor activity can easily be mistaken for ADHD.
Conversely, the attention disorder may be so strong that the child underperforms, masking their giftedness. Finally, it is also possible that the giftedness and the attention disorder hide each other, called the masking effect.
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 is not uncommon for gifted kids to feel different from their peers—even at an early age. It is important for parents to recognize this fact and help them make social connections. Make sure your child has the opportunity to socialize with a diverse group of children, suggests Dr. Hollman.
While gifted children may not be any more susceptible to mental health issues as other adolescents, there are certain aspects of giftedness that may influence or amplify a gifted child's experience of mental health issues.
There is a distinction between a gifted child and a smart child. All gifted children may be viewed as smart, but not all smart children are gifted. To put it briefly, a smart child can answer a question correctly.
Giftedness can lead to misdiagnosis
Children who are gifted may have behaviors that look like ADHD or autism. “One of the things we know about gifted children almost universally is that they are intense,” says psychologist James T. Webb, who specializes in them.
Anxiety among gifted students is controversial. Some studies showed that gifted children had lower anxiety scores than their non-gifted peers (15,16). For example, Guignard et al., (9) reported that gifted children display higher anxiety only when they did not have more perfectionism than their peers.
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.
Many gifted children will start arguments using “why” questions. This argument usually begins with, “Why do I have to…?” It's important to define these types of arguments for your child at an earlier time for use later. The best time to have a discussion with your gifted child is before you are in a heated moment.
Executive functions have other roles which affect how someone thinks. In people with ADHD, these executive dysfunctions impact thinking in numerous ways. People with ADHD don't really think faster than people without it, but it can sometimes seem like they do. People with ADHD do think differently though, in a sense.
At Work or School
Research has found that people with ADHD have more creativity and idea generation than people without the disorder. 3 This can lead to outside-the-box thinking that is so important for innovation. Hyper-focus: Many people with ADHD become hyper-focused on things that interest them.
He is one of the most successful and well-known entrepreneurs of modern times. Bill Gates the co-founder of Microsoft is known to have ADHD and has admitted to struggling with ADHD symptoms. He's also one of the wealthiest people in the world.