I am the mum of a gifted child. AMA

[mumof2andimtired]

My son is 8 years old and is considered gifted. I usually just browse on mumsnet but I decided to make a post cause so many people in real life have so many questions!

I also have a 12 year old daughter

Considered gifted by who? Who determines it (genuine question, always wondered how it works)

Does your son like to practice and improve his gift, do you support him to? And does he ever refuse to do anything about it (context mine is, but doesn't care and want to work on his talent. Any advice appreciated)

How gifted?

How do you operationalise 'gifted'?

Do you think he will live up to his potential when he's older?

Does the 'also' child have any talents at all or is she only good for fetching things?

In our case he was evaluated by an educational psychologist

What are the parameters for gifted?

Is he 'globally gifted' or 'specifically gifted'?,

Does he have additional needs?

Oh crikey I hope this one goes better than the single mum 7 kids AMA thread....
What has been the benefit, if there is one, in labelling your kid?

My son does like to practice an improve but we've found that he prefers to practice on his terms. Otherwise his gift feels more like a burden. If he says he is done with maths for day, he is done with maths for the day

did you intend for him to be gifted? As in did you research it and educate him behind the scenes or was it an accidental find?

I was also considered a gifted child but so were 20 of the 140 students in my year so it didn't feel that special. Mine was for art.

He is globally gifted

How does he do socially?

How old is he and what level maths is he studying?

so Interesting as when my son was in pre school he could read and write his name.

it all evens out very quickly

He has autism

No, we didn't intend for him to be gifted.

Well done!

Socially he does struggle a little bit. He has autism and can sometimes struggle with social cues and holding a conversation that doesn't interest him

He is 8 and he is studying maths about 4 years ahead of his current year group.

So clever for age rather than a prodigy?

Is this the bit that makes him gifted? I'm surprised by this because dd has several classmates who are at least 4 years ahead on maths. They do that Olympiad mathletics thing and now at 11 theyre taking gcses.

It's a shame AI means that the social side will probably be more valuable.

What's the difference, out of interest? Can you give an example?

Mainly being able to get him the support he needs.

No, he is globally gifted. Being ahead in maths is not what makes him gifted.

I was identified as gifted as child, which had an extremely detrimental effect on me psychologically as it does to many former gifted children. It meant years of anxiety, perfectionism, eating disorders, disappointment and perceived failure. And then years of therapy and medication correcting the damage done by parents and teachers.

what are you doing to mitigate the harm done by labelling a child ‘gifted’?