Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional When second exceptionality is emotional-boys

We're struggling with ds9 who is really sad and won't discuss with us what is going on. We're not sure he knows. We're getting the sense that it's school related but he's unable to communicate what is going on. Just to preface, he have testing and counseling support coming up but I'm gathering information on this topic. He's always been very sweet and a VERY easy child to set boundaries with, he hardly ever needs them. He stopped eating meat at 2 when he discovered that chicken is a chicken etc. I still hear 'they are animals!'. He thinks all day kindergarten is so sad because 'little kids shouldn't be away from there mother's all day'. Scooby Doo was still intense at 8. There doesn't seem to be any bullying and he's in a full time hg program that he's doing fine in and seems to be an okay fit. We're exploring all 2e options. Anyone have really sensitive kids and how do you help them cope?

Wow, hopefully his ability to feel things very very deeply can be treated as a positive exceptionality by others as he gets older - I know it is hard to deal with kids who are like this. Adults and other kids might (consciously or unconsciously) make him feel negative about his own way of seeing things, and that can't be good for one's self esteem.
I usually don't think 'Oh great!' when my ds9 comes in to my room at night to talk again about death, loneliness, life, the universe, and everything. But I should - he is a cool kid and has lots of really interesting, if late at night, questions.

Like your ds, ours has been very interested in doing the right thing, although so high energy and curious I could not call his first few years 'well behaved'.

We found out last year that ds was probably depressed and we have been working on the why and what to do about it since then. For him it seemed to really boil down to feeling better about friendships - having more kids he could really call friends and seeing them more often. There was also some anxiety we had to help him with, and continue to do so.

Sounds like you are going in the right direction to get your ds some help, just letting him know you see he is sad and he will feel better with help should give both of you something to look forward to.

My son is sensitive. Even though he only went to Kindergarten at public school, he quickly learned that boys are not supposed to show pain or fear or anxiety. His dad, a former first sergeant, reinforces these lessons by telling him he is whining if he says he hurts or has difficulty doing something because he hurts--and my son has been dealing with a lot of pain lately. My son as told me before that it really bothers him that his dad thinks he is weak so he tries to keep it to himself, but lately he just couldn't. I wish I knew what to do. All I can do is tell my son that he can talk to me about anything and hope that he will continue to do so.

I cracked the shell finally. He's trying to deal with the harshness of boys and the playground, compounded by school frustrations. Mostly just mean comments at this point but at 9 it's just getting started. Thank you for your insights because I was able to ask more questions and that got him to open up. Hopefully we can get him to a place where his stuffed animal goes back to his bed and the stomach aches stop.

Lori- I'm sorry for your little one. He's fortunate to have such an intuned mother. I've slowly had to work with DH to change his perspective on who his son is. He's coming around though-