The difference between a child musician and a musician is that a musician is an adult whose main occupation is music whereas a child musician is a child who is still learning (1) all of the other things (reading, writing, math, science), (2) social skills, and (3) who they are (a range of interests they might have if given the chance to develop them, what they like to think about, their feelings about right and wrong, etc).
I'm not saying that talented children should be kept from pursuing their talents. Or that a child who loves music should not be allowed to play music. But most child prodigy musicians were forced by their parents to practice far more than they naturally wanted to (it doesn't sound like that happened with Alma though). That is one damaging thing. Even for kids where it is completely self-driven, I think promoting (as in, publicizing) the children is another thing that is frequently damaging. Do kids who develop talents precociously grow into adults who are more talented than the other extremely talented but less-precocious people in their field? Usually not. What does that do to their self-image?
There's a big gap between letting an early-reading child have books and write stories (and even finding them appropriate books to read and reading the stories they write, and doing various other supportive things) and leaping upon the child and making it the family project to develop their talent and drilling them with vocabulary words and sending their stories to the newspapers.
I don't disagree the world needs creativity. But the world is also swimming in it. I'm not saying "squash the children!" I'm just saying that a parent does not have to worry about the loss to the world if their talented kid doesn't develop their talents. That should not be one of the considerations. You worry about your kid; the world will be fine.
Anyway, this is really not all that relevant to Alma. It does sound like her case is one of the rare ones where it was mostly child-driven.
I recommend that everyone who's interested in this topic read "Off the Charts: the Hidden Lives and Lessons of American Child Prodigies", a book full of cautionary tales.
