I’m continuing to read more about giftedness and am still learning a lot. It’s like we’ve found the answer to a great mystery:) If this stuff is boring to you, don’t read any further! I’m now reading “Living with Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults.” The last book I read briefly covered the characteristics of gifted kids and mostly focused on educational concerns. This new book focuses a great deal on the characteristics of those who are gifted or to use the technical term: “overexcitabilities.” The categories of overexcitabilities include: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional. Some of what is covered in this book, I had learned in the last book I read. But a few new things have jumped out at me. Ever since we had Ethan, and now Ian too, I’ve wondered why does everyone elses children sleep so much better than mine? Neither of our boys have required the amount of sleep as most kids and both gave up their naps way before most kids do and I have learned that this is a common characteristic of gifted kids. Finally an answer! Ethan’s psychmotor activity has always been a mystery to me and I mostly blamed it on his gender. When he reads books to me, he is in constant motion and while the motion is distracting to me, he is able to stay on task and read. The book pointed out that with gifted kids, they often need to move to stay focused on their task. This at least helps me to not be so annoyed when he’s climbing all over the couch while we are reading a book. Overall, since I’ve been reading on this subject and talking to professionals about it, it has significantly helped me in my interactions and patience level with Ethan. I’m finding myself being more prepared with ways to keep him stimulated during the day and I can better understand his various sensitivities. One way to look at these kids is to relate it to television channels. Most people are born with just basic tv, ten channels or so. But gifted kids are born with satellite tv, with more channels to choose from than they know what to do with. This can overwhelm them and they can freeze and not be able to make decisions. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll have more of this to share as time goes on. The problem for me is not only is it interesting because of Ethan but also because all psychological research is fascinating to me:)

Yesterday, I met with the person at the school district who runs much of the gifted program for the county. I was able to get some questions answered and talk about Ethan’s options. Mostly I signed paperwork and left with more paperwork to sign. I am feeling empathetic to all my former clients who had to sign the mountains of paperwork I used to give them. While I was there, George was at the Christian school, registering Ethan for this fall. If we end up changing our mind, we’ll lose a large registration fee. It looks like there will be more meetings down the road. Having attended many an ESE IEP meeting, I imagine ours will be similar (though hopefully more positive).

The other day a friend referred to gifted kids as “weird.” She didn’t know what we’ve been going through in recent weeks. But it got me thinking, is Ethan weird? He’s the only five year old I hang out with on a regular basis so I don’t have much to compare to. But the books I’ve been reading do say that gifted kids are often teased because the things they enjoy are different from other kids their age. I heard Ethan yesterday tell a friend “you know it’s a challenge to use the bathroom when you are in the space shuttle because of gravity.” One book pointed out that the very definition of a peer is different for gifted kids because they have peers who are there own age who they really want to fit in with and play with but aren’t understood by them and there are peers who are like them and think the same way. I guess that’s why a lot of schools group gifted kids together in a class to themselves, though this encourages the “weirdness” reputation. Though I’ve read gifted kids quoted as saying that they really love being around kids who are just like them because those kids understand their fascination with learning. I’ve read gifted kids described as “old souls” because of their concerns with problems in the world, death and afterlife, etc. I’m thinking that Ethan will definitely be considered different-the only cartoon he likes is “Magic School Bus” and his favorite channel is the science channel. He has educated us as to the name of the largest plane in the world-The Antenov. He adds and subtracts in his head, while I have to use my fingers. Most kids his age are collecting Bakugans. He got some for his birthday but could care less about them. So when he gets teased by other kids, I will have to point out to him that Jesus did not call us to be just like everyone else and we have to remain faithful to do what he has called us to do. And try to point out that not everyone enjoys the same things or is skilled in the same things. Monet probably didn’t excel in basketball and the best photographers may not love calculus. I mean look at mommy she has her Master’s but still counts using her fingers!