Most parents wish their kids to be over average in their talents, usually hoping that their child turns out to be highly gifted.

In reality, only about one percent of the kids will be in this category, with a IQ of over 140. And when this happens, truth is neither parents, nor schools are ready to deal with the blessing.

I know this may sound harsh, but it is the truth, schools do not screen gifted children, at least not most schools in most countries of the world. They only find out and deal with children on the other side of the spectrum, children with disabilities, who usually can get more easily the special education they need.

On the other hand, gifted children won’t be as easy to recognize. They belong to a completely different group than "good students", it is important not to equal these two groups as they do not oveorlap statistically in a significative way. In other words, just because a kid does well in school it doesn’t make him technically a gifted child, and if the child does not do good in school, it doesn’t rule him out as a gifted child either.

The reason for this is that high ability or intelligence is not the highest factor in good grades; adequate techniques of study and application are.

Gifted children present on the other hand, due to their unique possibilities and talents many chances of going wrong. They usually are highly sensitive in many different ways: emotionally, intellectually and physically.

Emotionally, psychologist have determined that gifted children will develop in some cases, great sensitivity,  developing a sense of responsibility and even guilt very early and surprisingly enough, getting existential depressions that may accompany them all their lives. They also may become socially isolated because their abilities and way of thinking may alianate them from the rest of the kids. So gifted children interact better with adults, parents and older children.

Intellectually, gifted children will need constant stimuli, they will search for it even as babies, crying more and needing to be moved as often as every 20 minutes. And sleeping less hours than other children.

They will be very creative, inquisitive, curious, and tend to be sceptical. Their interests will be very wide, diverse and intense.

Intensity, in fact, is a very important characteristic of gifted children.

Physically, they will also tend to need more stimulation, having varied and developed tastes for different foods  and needing pleasurably activities.

Some gifted children will learn to read before school and depending on their ability may feel school as a very heavy burden because they will get bored with classes that are too basic for their ability. This is why, it is very important to determine and analyze the situation of every gifted children and give them access to the proper education and stimuli that they require. They are every bit as special as those with learning disabilities and nonetheless they hardly ever receive the care they need.

Note, gifted children will KNOW they are different and may develop a very early sense of isolation and think there is something wrong with them if they are not explained out and dealt with professionally.  Bad self-esteem issues are not unusual. So it is not a good idea to keep quiet about their special situation because parents don’t want them to “get a big head”.

If you think your child is gifted, try to get a professional assessment and guide so as to help him develop in the best possible way, as it is not as easy to be a gifted child as we may think and many problems could be dealt with if managed adequately from an early stage.