Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Are gifted kids really that special?

Emotional needs of the gifted. Yes they are very different. And I fervently believe that they should be addressed.

A couple of years ago I went to my GP with symptoms of depression. A lot had happened in the 3 months leading to this appointment and I was overwhelmed. I completed a simple checklist, was prescribed a drug and given a referral to a counselor.

I took one dose of the drug. The side effects (of which I had been properly warned) were unbearable. I didn't take any more of the drug, but followed through with the counselor.

The counselor was not 100% on board with my not taking the drug, but agreed to see me, while I tried a regimen of cutting sugar and exercising regularly (I knew I'd been eating too much sugar and it has always negatively affected my mood).

So, months of coping strategies later (which helped greatly btw), I happened to mention that my oldest DS had been accepted into a GT program. My counselor went into a long diatribe about how I'll have to be very patient with DS because "he sees the world differently than you do." He gave me examples of how the gifted see the world with much more nuance and that how it's easy for them to become overwhelmed with anxiety or perfectionism because they are frustrated with the fact that the rest of the people in the world cannot see the detail they do, or appreciate the depth with which they interpret events in their lives.

I responded with my SAT and IQ test scores. To which he responded had he known this we could have saved a lot of time. And that sometimes the gifted appear to have anxiety or depression when in reality they are just coping with the disconnect they feel with their age peers. Bingo. End of therapy.

This is anecdotal, I know, but I can personally appreciate how the gifted, just by being ourselves, can appear to be suffering from any number of disorders, simply because we are intrinsically DIFFERENT from 99% of the population.

My mother is not gifted. She does not understand what I just wrote about, and she fears I'm a little crazy. She always will, I can't change her mind, because you see, she thinks she's really smart and can't fathom that I'm really that different from her. That is the danger of combining bright kids with gifted kids. The bright kids can't accept the fact that the gifted kids will always get there first. I'm continuously accused of cheating, sandbagging, holding back information because I'll spout something out that no one ever thought of before, and they can't fathom that yes, sometimes the gifted have flashes of brilliance. And sometimes we lose it emotionally because we are overwhelmed with the input wee are getting. And that's what it's all about.

So, if your child has the opportunity to learn in an atmosphere where educators actually appreciate and understand him/her and are willing to accommodate him/her, then that is one lucky child.