Early Career Planning For Gifted Youth: An All-Too-Often Neglected Art
Gifted youth often show early career interests; many begin considering futures by age nine or ten. Effective career planning pairs cognitive abilities with personal interests, values, and passions. Early conversations, assessments, and exposure to varied coursework and mentorship help gifted adolescents identify fitting career paths.
Underachievement in Exceptionally Gifted Adolescents and Young Adults: A Psychiatrist’s View
Clinical observations of exceptionally gifted adolescents and young adults describe how intense drives, sensitivities, early autonomy, and emerging grandiosity produce deep conflicts. Lacking frustration tolerance and emotional maturity, many respond with avoidance, provocation, or self-harm. Psychotherapy helped by building trust, insight, and integration, reducing underachievement and self-destructive behavior.
Mental Health Care
The author describes how comprehensive neuropsychological assessments, though costly and often under-reimbursed, provide deeper understanding than brief insurance-driven visits. Short appointment slots risk misdiagnosis by overlooking learning, emotional, and medical causes. Gifted children especially reveal systemic flaws; advocacy can help address managed-care failures.
Gifted and Learning Disabled: A Neuropsychologist’s Perspective
Neuropsychologists describe how gifted children can also have neurologically based learning or emotional difficulties. Twice-exceptional students often go unrecognized because strengths mask deficits, leading to misdiagnosis and poor support. Effective assessment and interventions should consider whole-child context, accommodations, and targeted strategies for attention, language, memory, and executive functioning.