Gifted Kids

What does it mean to be a “Gifted Child”? In an educational context, it means that a child has a higher capacity to learn and apply concepts presented than most of the students of his or her age or grade level. Giftedness can manifest in one or more academic subject areas, or other areas of life such as performing arts or athleticism.

A few common traits of gifted children include: unusual alertness, a high degree of curiosity that asks probing questions, a larger than average vocabulary and a capacity for complex sentence structures a heightened memory, early abstract and critical thinking, a highly sensitive nature, a preoccupation with social justice, a keen sense of humor, etc.

While it may seem like gifted kids ‘have it made’ on the road to success because of their native, enhanced capacities, it’s never that simple or easy. It’s a very unfortunate myth that the gifted child can simply be left to their own devices to advance on their own. Gifted children have special needs and they deserve support both in and out of the classroom.

In a classroom with a curriculum that’s geared to the abilities of the average student, the gifted child may feel bored or unchallenged when they’ve easily mastered the material; yet they have to wait while others struggle to learn at a normal pace. When that happens, a gifted child may lose interest, develop bad work habits, act out from frustration, excessively day dream or even fall asleep from lack of stimulation.

Just as students with learning disabilities require a curriculum that speaks to their learning differences and capacity, so does the gifted child.

Gifted kids may feel awkward or lonely from feeling out of step with the other students. They may become the object of bullying as their fellow students begin to see them as “other” or feel insecure in comparison with their noticeable ability to succeed with less effort.

Or, when a lot of emphasis is placed on their giftedness and it becomes an intense focus of their identity, they may experience heightened fears of failing to continue to perform at a high level; particularly once their educational planning has been adjusted to account for their advanced capacity. They may become obsessed with and stressed by a need for perfectionism.

Gifted children may share fewer interests with others at their age or grade level. They may be more emotionally or morally sensitive than their peers which can result in social isolation. Care should be taken for children who are developmentally advanced, to support them emotionally and socially, just as you would a child who is developmentally delayed.

Further, maturity in one area does not mean that child will be mature across all areas of academic or emotional development. Asynchronous development comes with its own challenges.

For example, a child may be an advanced reader, but still perform poorly or at an average level in math — or vice versa. The same child may possess superior intellectual abilities, but may also experience difficulties when it comes to fine motor skills.

So, it follows that gifted children may have learning disabilities, too. The same child may be highly intelligent and dyslexic or have sensory processing troubles, manifest ADHD or be dyspraxic or what have you. With some children one set of learning differences masks the other which can lead to underachievement, frustration or difficulty in their support system to identify either their giftedness or their learning disability. For information on resources for parents of gifted children, please click here.

How can my child’s astrology reading help me and my child?

Knowledge is power. Having a sense of the arenas where your child may feel challenged or worried may help you to know how to support them with stresses and frustrations academically, emotionally or socially.