Our son is 8 1/2 years old and in third grade. He has recently been identified as being "gifted" and we are in the process of putting together an Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) at school. He has always been a very intense and spirited child. He does well at home but has frequent meltdowns at school and in competive situations (e.g,. sports). He can get extremely perfectionistic about his school work and several teachers have noted that he seems "obsessive" about getting perfect scores. He also has a very tender/sensitive side to him and is easily frightened or upset. He often has difficulty falling asleep and even went through a period of night terrors/panic attacks when he was 6 years old. He has seen a private counselor for the past 2 years for an (undiagnosed) anxiety disorder. We are considering having a full psychological assessment done to get a formal diagnosis.
Part of me wonders how much of his quirky personality comes from his giftedness. I have read in books that many of his personality characteristics are common in gifted children (e.g., intense, perfectionistic, sensitive, anxious). Just looking for advice and wondering if others have children with similar issues. At what point do you consider these personality characteristics an emotional "disorder" or mental health issue?
Last edited by Laura6179; 01/28/10 02:37 PM.
