Social and Emotional

Giftedness has an emotional as well as intellectual component.  Intellectual complexity goes hand in hand with emotional depth. Just as gifted children's thinking is more complex and has more depth than other children's, so too are their emotions more complex and more intense. Gifted children may exhibit the following social and emotional characteristics:

Divergent Thinking Ability

  • creative thinking which moves in multiple directions exposing many possible answers
  • often appear to be disorganized and absentminded

    • Excitability

    • high energy level, emotional reactivity, or high arousal of the central nervous system
    • excitable students have a high need to explore the environment and enjoy new experiences
    • many are stimulus-seekers, needing stimulation to moderate behavior
    • some stimulus-withdrawers, finding stressful the amounts of stimulation other people find comfortable
    • some also have trouble turning off thoughts and feelings so they may feel powerful emotions more intensely, and for a longer time than others

        Sensitivity

        • extreme empathy
        • particularly negative feelings
        • experiencing the suffering of others
        • having intense commitment to people or ideas
        • Perceptiveness
        • clear sense of honesty
        • often tell the truth even when it may hurt someone's feelings
        • very good intuition
        • little patience for foolishness or unfairness

            What can parents do to help?

                • help your child to meet other gifted children
                • help your child to learn social graces
                • model compassion and friendship for your child
                • talk with your child about bossiness and bragging
                • provide enrichment opportunities out side of school 

            Common Concerns

            Stress and Depression
            Gender Issues
            Perfectionism

            Additional Resources

            SENG

            Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students (Critical Issues in Equity and Excellence in Gifted Education) by Joyce VanTassel-Baska Ed.D., Tracy L. Cross Ph.D., and F. Richard Olenchak Ph.D.

            The Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Kids: Understanding and Guiding Their Development by Tracy L. Cross

            Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What Do We Know? by Maureen Neihart, Sally M. Reis, Nancy M. Robinson, and Sidney M. Moon

            Making Great Kids Greater: Easing the Burden of Being Gifted by Dorothy A. Sisk

            Living With Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and the Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults by Susan Daniels and Michael M. Piechowski