Ten year old Aiden (not his real name) dissolves in a puddle of tears. Once he has calmed down and can actually talk about it, you discover that he has no idea why he feels sad. No, he is not hurt physically. No, no one said or did anything that hurt his feelings. No, he is not afraid or scared about anything. You -and he- remain puzzled. As a parent, what do you do? And what is going on here? One possibility is that Aiden is totally disconnected from his emotions and therefore has no idea what is going on. …
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 of most people. They perceive many things that go right by most people, from a tiny piece of lint on the floor to the buzz …
Does My Gifted Child Have ADHD?
“Does my gifted child have ADHD?” is a common question for parents of gifted children. They want to know if the problems their gifted child has with paying attention in school, and sometimes also at home, are related to their giftedness or are a sign of having ADHD. Often the only way to know for sure if you or your child has ADHD is to pay for expensive testing. If that’s not an option for you, what’s a parent to do? Let’s take a metaphoric walk around both giftedness and ADHD. My hope is that the perspective we gain will …