Gifted Children Can Be Problem Children

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30399, 25 March 1964, Page 2

Gifted Children Can Be Problem Children

(N.Z J’.A.-Keuter—Copyright)

OTTAWA If your child displays above-average intelligence he may also have complex emotional problems, said a Federal Health Department psychologist, Dr. Craig M. Mooney. Although the special problems of bright youngsters have been studied extensively in the United States during the last five years, people are not generally aware of the various pressures and conflicts confronting children with higher-than-average intelligence quotients.

“With most of these children the basic problem Is coping with being

a minority of one,” he says. “Many bright children are isolated from their fellow students in what is often a painfully felt intellectual ‘box.’ Ten-year-olds who read comic books do not understand their friend who reads historical novels. ‘Oh, he’s just a brain’, is often their scornful reaction.” A further problem which bright children face is the danger that their independence may be interpreted as hostile or aggressive. Because they usually prefer to learn “on their own” and like to attempt difficult and dangerous tasks, they are often misunderstood by their friends. —Reuter.