Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Best Enviroments for Every Overexcitability

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry for not being on in a long time, with vacation and whatnot...anyway, I'm going to show you what kind of enviroment you should put your young gifted kid into (this can work for your work enviroment!) based on said Overexcitability. I will cover every type, too, so pay attention! This will be useful.

Psychomotor: People with this over-excitability require active stimulation to let out their energy, so intergrate a lot of hands-on activities with the lessons. Try to keep up with their advanced physical, as well as mental, growth, as they can be hyper. Don't tell their parents stuff like, "Oh, get this kid on some Ritalin!", because they need room to expel their energies, and often do something physical when bored.


Sensual: First off, be sure not to over-stimulate them, as they have heightened awareness to things like lighting, noise, smell, touch, and anything else that goes in the classroom they're in. Try to take them to places like art galleries, symphonies, and anywhere else that positively stimulates their senses.


Intellectual: Give them room for challenge. Allow them to research things of their advanced interests (a tidbit of advice for all parents of every type of gifted children), and give them room to argue. Allow them to debate with students and even the teachers (if it is a friendly, deep, or harmless debate), and give them a wide variety of intellectual horizons.


Imaginational (Me!): Don't discredit their imaginations as "illogical". Many a time, inventions may seem "illogical" at first, but end up being useful in the long run. Allow them to imagine freely, and allow them time to dream up scenarios, or whatever stimulates their active imaginations. Don't hate their unconventional behavior just because it's not the cookie-cutter way of doing things (my fifth grade teacher made THAT mistake) and don't call them stupid just because they have strange, awesome ideas (she also made that mistake with me).


Emotional (Also me!): Treat them kindly and sensitively, and appeal to their interests in helping others. Provide them ways to encourage philanthropy, and if their ready, gear them towards websites such as Idealist so they can find non-profit ways to help them. Don't deliberately try to hurt their feelings (again, my teacher made that mistake), as they are perceptive on the teacher's possible hatred of them. Don't make judgements and prejudices against others wilst in their company (heck, don't do it to anyone ); they (as do I) will hate that.

Oh, and three more tips for every gifted child:

1. Give them a lot to read (if they are avid readers like I am),

2. Give them challenge,

and 3. Don't underestimate them!



See you!

Violet

Lovely Violet!

I'm experimenting with new ways to handle OEs.

If you want, take a look at this:

http://www.appliedmeditation.org/Heart_Rhythm_Practice/meditation_types_of.shtml

I'm thinking that 'Downward meditation' has a lot of potential for teaching us Gifties how to grow ourselves to handle our OEs.

What I'm finding interesting right now is that my picture of the OEs matches their model of the 'Dimensions of the Heart' pretty well:

http://www.appliedmeditation.org/Heart_Rhythm_Practice/four_dimensions_of_heart.shtml

Pshcyomotor OE are similar to the Forward Dimension.
Emotional OE are similar to the Inner Dimension.
Intellectual and Imaginational OE remind me of the Height Dimension
Sensual OE remind me of the Depth Dimension.

Their recomendation is that if one is unbalanced and has a strength that is so strong that it become hard to manage, then the plan is to strengthen the other Dimensions and become stronger overall. If one is wounded in one of the Dimensions, then one is recommended to work on strengthening that Dimension directly.

I'll keep you posted on how it's going, but I did have a 'little minute' last night were I was just totally frustated with my family, and I sat and breathed instead of fuming - and it seemed to help me have the strength I wanted.

What do you think?
Grinity

I have a question about OE's. �Is it only OE if it's causing a problem? � I wander if heightened observation and unusual taste for quality is the "good side" of the sensory OE? � Would it only be an OE if this "gift" was disturbing to him? �

And always liking things neat and in working order. �He'll quickly let you know if something's not right. �But he doesn't freak out about it like I've seen the SPD kids described, he just notices everything. �He's also had mature taste. �We joke that he never was a baby. �He's a picky eater, but he likes tasty seasoned food, not bland like a picky kid. �
He's not spoiled and we're not wealthy but he has advanced fine taste in quality. �Like when my preschooler was a toddler he didn't like toddler toys, but he liked older kids toys with smaller pieces and similar functions. �I bought some just to see if he just didn't like toys or what since he wasn't playing with the baby toys grandma sent. �Now he has a Walmart drumset and a how to drum video. �He told me, I don't like my drumset. �I want one like that. �Mine's not good. �He's not even three. �We got our truck painted. �I told him look, there's our truck. �They painted it. �He didn't recognize our truck. �He thought I was pointing at another one. �He said, that's not our's. �That one's not good. �(he was right. �It was a heap). �He points out all the best cars and houses already. �Not that ours is one of the best cars. �Those two sentences are too close together.�

Like when I was a kid the "good side" of my emotional OE was great empathy and insights into other people's lives. �Do you think all this observation skills, fine taste, and preference for "real" things might be the good side of sensory OE in my child? �

What's your opinion Violet? �Is OE just describing a heightened (sensation , emotion, intellectual understanding, imaginative creativity, what-have-you), or is an OE describing only the problem that comes with the heightened what-have-you?

I'm not Violet, but I think OEs are definitely both positive and negative. No question.

This might not be the right place, but in what ways are sensual overexcitabilities and SPD different? DD14 could fit the description for either...
I enjoyed your post, DD seems to have a few of them... if not all of them... Every time I look at the list, I think "oh, so she has this. and this. and this. and.. all of them, with the exception of psychomotor?"
I especially like the intellectual advice, both of my gifted kids probably have intellectual OE, and we have an almost daily crossword puzzle competition, debates, etc.. they are always asking if we can do one tonight. I remember when DD was 6-7, she would always ask to play a "family game". She would ask almost every saturday, but we would really never end up doing it. I feel bad now thinking back on it...
EDIT: About the sensory stuff, she has problems with sounds, tastes, and feelings.
Sounds: Gets "nails on the chalkboard" more than a normal person should... can't use certain coasters, can't stand looking at chalk or our garage floor because of the potential noise they could make, couldn't put something in the oven because of the "horrible noise it made" (left it hanging in the middle, I had to run over and push it the rest of the way) In general anything that's chalk/chalkboard/cement like will not be good for her. Having said this, she will be fine in a busy restaurant with a lot of people talking, it's just certain sounds that annoys her. (I'm the one that can't be in a busy restaurant without about crying from the sounds)
Taste: refuses to eat cheese, milk, yoghurt, sour cream, anything creamy to a certain extent.. She wouldn't eat our dinner tonight because of the texture of the sauce. She doesn't like many foods at all, but she really likes the ones that she likes.
Touch: she can't not wear socks to bed, because her skin will be exposed and she will be able to feel the blanket on it. She ends up wearing knee socks tucked into her pajamas during the winter when it is cold enough, and even during the summer sometimes if she cranks up the fan enough.
She is also a gifted composer.
I guess my "point" is that alone none of these would be very odd, but when you add them all together, you have to wonder...

Grinity - thank you for those (Violet too). I have needed something like that myself! I am going to have to print those out for my own use, as well as DS's.