gifted children Archives - Therapist for Sensitive and Gifted

How to Ride Out Life’s Tough Times: Hang Loose in the Washing Machine!

Adversity is something everyone faces at some time in their life. Adversity often has a greater impact on CASIGYs™ (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense and/or Gifted You-s) than it does on neurotypical people. So, for the CASIGYs™ in your life, here’s How to Ride Out Life’s Tough Times: Hang Loose in the Washing Machine! Several years ago, I was helping one of my counseling clients learn how to cope with overwhelming emotions connected to the adversity he

Sharon Barnes June 27, 2018

Remembering Columbine: Helping Creative, Highly Sensitive & Gifted Adults Heal from Trauma

Remembering Columbine – healing trauma for creative sensitive gifted people. Nineteen years ago this Friday, April 20, 1999, my husband Gary and I connected for a rare lunch together. As we munched on our sandwiches under a restaurant patio umbrella, we saw police car after police car roaring south through Lakewood on Wadsworth Blvd, sirens wailing . Chills went up and down my spine as we also heard the rumble of big military type helicopters overhead.

Sharon Barnes April 19, 2018

FREE Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays

Are you Creative, Super-Sensitive and/or Gifted, AKA a CASIGY™? Have Previous Holiday Seasons left you feeling frustrated or hurting emotionally? Are you Thinking, “THIS YEAR the Holidays MUST be BETTER!”? Here’s Hope and Help from Sharon M. Barnes, MSSW, LCSW, Therapist for Sensitive and Gifted. I’m giving a Free Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays! Join me in this Free Webinar, where you’ll learn: Life Lessons We Can Learn From Classic Holiday Movies That Can

Sharon Barnes November 25, 2017

How to Face Bad Dreams – for Highly Sensitive or Gifted Children & Adults

Not long ago, two sensitive, gifted children came in on the same day telling me some recent bad dreams. These were intense sessions. It was hard for them to tell their bad/scary dreams. Their moms were also worried about what these dreams might reveal – about their child’s psyches, about their parenting, about what the dreams might mean. Bad, scary dreams are hard for anyone to deal with, especially children. And when you add sensitivity

Sharon Barnes August 3, 2017

Pandora’s Box of Emotions

As you may recall, the myth of Pandora’s Box involved a Forbidden Box which was not supposed to be opened, but of course WAS opened, and then unleashed Evil . . . . and finally, Hope. We each have similar boxes; ours are often boxes of emotions. I remember standing with my father in his home office when I was a young adult. We were talking about life, and coping with emotions. I told him

Sharon Barnes July 20, 2017

CASIGY Coping Tools-Steps 5, 6, 7

Here’s More CASIGY™ Coping Tools This continues Strategy #4 in the series, “7 Strategies to Cope With the Differences of Being a Creative, Highly Sensitive or Gifted Person”. We’ve been talking about CASIGY coping tools (CASIGY™ = Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive and/or Gifted You-s). CASIGY coping tools are ones that are suited to your creativity, sensitivity, intensity and intelligence. In my previous blog post of this series, I introduced the Personal Power Pyramid, a

Sharon Barnes May 6, 2017

US Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Colorado Student With Disabilities

Historic US Supreme Court ruling yesterday – court rules in favor of a Douglas County, Colorado student with disabilities. Here’s how the ruling reads: “Held: To meet its substantive obligation under the IDEA, a school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.” According to the Denver Post, ” A unanimous Supreme Court on Wednesday bolstered the rights of millions of learning-disabled students

Sharon Barnes March 23, 2017

Creative Coping Tools for CASIGYs

Creative Coping Tools for CASIGYs and Skills to Use Them. This begins Strategy #4 in the series, “7 Strategies to Cope With the Differences of Being a Creative, Highly Sensitive or Gifted Person” Creative Coping Tools and skills to use them comprise Phase I of the CASIGY Cycle of Encouragement that I mentioned in my previous blog post. As a CASIGY, you may feel the need for coping tools suited to your creativity, sensitivity, intensity

Sharon Barnes March 16, 2017

Seven Strategies to Cope With the DIFFERENCES of Being a Highly Sensitive or Gifted Person. (Part 1)

At least once a week, a highly sensitive or gifted child or adult tells me that they HATE being SO DIFFERENT from other people. They tell me that they feel abnormal and just wish they could be NORMAL! They say things like “I feel like an alien from a different planet!” and ‘What’s WRONG with ME?” Highly sensitive and many gifted people have Central Nervous Systems that are more perceptive and more reactive than that

Sharon Barnes February 23, 2017

Five Tools to Solve Behavior Problems with Gifted, ADHD Kids

Is Your House Haunted by the Mayhem Monster? Five Tools to Solve Behavior Problems with Gifted ADHD Kids: Many kids, especially those with ADD, AD/HD or who are Gifted, Creative or Highly Sensitive feel the need to stimulate their brains. For lack of better methods, they create chaos & crisis. Voila! The Mayhem Monster is born and grows bigger each time it’s activated. Unfortunately, the Mayhem Monster wrecks havoc on family harmony, homework assignments, friendships,

Sharon Barnes February 16, 2017