Have any of us adult highly gifted people who are not in some way odd? I was thinking about the people in my life who are the "pink monkeys without belly buttons". Really every one I know who is very odd also seems very intelligent. Every one I know how seems very intelligent is also in some way very odd.

Even the "kirk friend" is very deeply involved in his interests to the point of excluding outside activities. He's an INFP, like me, and as such needs a very long down time to recharge from his expertly executed social interactions.

Is the adult asynchrony synonymous with odd?

feeling odd today....

FWIW - I know many many people with wide ranges of intellect who are odd. It's an odd world, and if one observes close enough, there are sure to be oddities to observe.

((If you've watched television or picked up a newspaper, then you no doubt agree with me that oddness is all around us.))

cousin T

I guess that's true. We are all odd in our own unique way!! chuckle.

What a great topic. I can really identify with the quote about gifted women and some of the issues they can have. I have felt that way for years and have always felt isolated. It was not until I had my daughter that I thought there was someone in the world who mabe was a little like me. It is a wonderful thing to be a parent and hear her ask the same questions and wonder about the same things I did as a child. There is something healing for me about knowing that I am here for her and that she will not have to go through life alone. It is also nice to know there are other women who have felt similar. I am so glad I found this web site.

Did someone say: Underserved gifted adult needs? Know more at: http://www.FoolQuest.com

I really identify with my DD too! I'm also weird/odd, especially for the where area I live. Sometimes when I tell people what I do they look at me like I'm from Mars. I'm going to go to grad school this fall and am studying in a pretty "advanced" topic. However, I also find myself slipping into that 12 year old girl in the back of the classroom who is afraid to raise their hand during Math class. I feel like I have to qualify my intelligence when I tell them about my grad school studies. I'm not going to do that anymore.

Boy can I relate to both of you and the articles. I can remember lamenting to anyone who would listen that I couldn't pick a major in college because I liked everything and wanted to learn everything but just when I got a ways into it I wanted to switch! Picking only what I was good at didn't work either. I also found problems working as there would be this expectation that learning the "system" would take x number of days/weeks and I would be ahead but they wouldn't be ready for me. Almost like the experience of our children in school. The teacher doesn't expect enough and doesn't quite believe the material is mastered and then the kids are bored and disruptive etc. Not that I was disruptive at work. :-) I eventually found that I preferred to be a stay-at-home mom because it allowed me to read and study and pursue my interests at my pace. Now I am a certified teacher looking for work. Once again I think the giftedness is hampering me as I feel compelled already to be prepared 100% with all my lesson plans before I even have a job and I find so many great ideas online but I worry that I will not do a good job teaching. Agh! Does it never end? Luckily I have a very gifted brother and sister and we email family inside jokes and turn them into games...like Family trivia but in French etc. Other than that I have not met someone in person that I truly clicked with intellectually. That has been a bonus on this forum - finding a place to learn and share about my children but with really cool smart people who all around "get it".
What a great thread. I hope more folks post to it.

What I see as the biggest difference between gifted and non-gifted adults is that gifted people have a driving motivation to do their best at whatever they do. When I played pickup volleyball, I was shocked to find that some of the not-so-good players had NO interest in learning how to play better. I am now a figure skater. I've been taking lessons for seven years and found that the sport really appeals to me in part because everything is hard but eventually achievable with hard work. The other skaters, child or adult, all have a drive for excellence and all seem to be quite smart.

In other settings, I have found hostility when I have talked about my kid's problems with dumbed-down instruction. That makes it difficult for me to deal with them. I organized park dates with other gifted families partly so that my kids could have a chance to play with other kids like them - and partly so that I had a safe place to discuss my problems. This led to working on the board of the local gifted advocacy group where I have found good friends. Some of our board meeting time is devoted to discussions are about advocacy - but the rest is a support group.

I contrasted skating lessons to school not too long ago. I've been taking lessons for a few months, and I've been thrilled at how they're structured.

People can move at the pace that best suits them, and no one gets wound up if you pick up something faster or slower than someone else. In fact, we cheer each other on and help each other regardless. No instructor forces people to follow a prescribed set of tasks before moving onto something harder. And, best of all, each student moves at his or her own pace.

And they manage to do this with 15-20 students aged 17 to 50s!

I guess the difference is that the teachers don't expect to be lecturing the group for most of a lesson. Instead, an instructor will spend 5 minutes with people learning, say, a waltz jump. Then she'll move on to the ones doing, say, a 3 turn while the waltz jumpers practice. Etc. etc.

I have never, ever been in a learning environment that's so wonderfully perfect (at least, for me).

I imagine that a regular classroom could be structured in a similar way with a bit of imagination.

Val