Neuroscience experts identify 5 signs that your child is gifted
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Parents often wonder whether their child has any talents or is gifted. They tend to believe that a gifted child should have exemplary behavior, excel academically, and demonstrate extraordinary knowledge in some field.
Below are five signs that indicate your child might be highly gifted, citing CNBC.
Megan Cannella from the Davidson Institute, which has helped thousands of profoundly gifted children reach their full potential, discusses the characteristics of such children.
According to her, most gifted children can learn and process information faster than children of their age and grasp material several levels above their peers.
However, they are not always well-behaved or successful students. Neuroscience experts note that giftedness looks different in every child.
Here are five signs of a highly gifted child:
Asynchronous development
Your clever child may struggle with simple tasks, like tying shoelaces or remembering to brush their teeth. These are just a few examples of asynchronous development—developing more quickly in some areas than others. This is a common trait among gifted children.
A gifted 8-year-old might display reading skills at a 7th-grade level, math abilities at a 5th-grade level, social skills on par with their peers, and emotional regulation akin to that of a much younger child.
Emotional depth and sensitivity at young age
Neuroscientists suggest that gifted children experience more intense emotional reactions to the world around them.
For example, they may find it hard to enjoy TV shows where a character gets hurt or feels sad. Many also have a heightened sense of justice and can feel frustrated when they perceive a situation as unfair.
Due to their asynchronous development, they may not yet have the emotional regulation skills to manage such strong feelings.
Existential questions
Gifted children often have an insatiable curiosity, especially when it comes to existential aspects of life. They may be concerned with issues like death, poverty, climate change, and injustice.
Even a children's movie or book that addresses topics like bullying can prompt them to ask profound questions about society. These questions might range from "What happens when we die?" to "Why do bad things happen in the world?"
Unique interests or mature sense of humor
When a student makes high-level chemistry puns or studies public transportation maps of major cities, parents might worry that their child is losing out on childhood or not "being a kid."
In reality, these children might simply have a deeper understanding of certain topics than other kids their age.
Underachievement in school
Gifted children have an exceptional need for constant intellectual stimulation. In school, they often get bored because they learn faster than their peers.
When school is not challenging or engaging enough, they may lose motivation. Despite being capable of doing the work easily—often with excellent reasoning skills and memory—they might not see the point and stop trying.
At its core, giftedness is a difference in the brain that contributes to a vibrant and diverse world. Exploring this further in your child can give you a better understanding of who they are and provide them with the resources to fully realize their potential.
Earlier, we wrote about why children in the Netherlands are the happiest in the world.
