My HG son, age 7, is extremely stubborn, negative, rigid, and frankly anxious and depressed. We took him to a neuropsych for testing and she said these are classic HG issues. She said that my son is immature, and the conflict between being HG and his immaturity is causing these issues....A lot of his thinking is just so wrong.
Has anyone tested for Asperger's/autism? (The ADOS is a good test for ruling this in or out.) The collection of issues you described, together with the linguistic quirk about naming himself in the 3rd person, is all very typical of kids on the autism spectrum.
I would not be inclined to see these issues as stemming from giftedness alone. My DS11 (who has Asperger's) went undiagnosed for a LONG time because he is so verbal and bright that nobody (including many professionals) believed he could be autistic.
We are taking him to a social group because his social skills need work, will be taking him to occupational therapy to address his writing aversion, smell hypersensitivity and hypersensitivity to pain. We are doing cognitive therapy, trying to address his negative thinking. I am discouraged, he has been like this his whole life and I want to help him.
Those are a very reasonable collection of things to try, and I would bet you would see progress on the specific issues you're treating. I am a big believer in CBT. (Our family has also had success with ABA (behavior therapy)-- they helped correct our son's pencil grip and writing fluency issues after the school OT failed to do so, as well as solving countless problems at home and school.)
How is school for your DS?
DeeDee
