We each have different gifts, different personalities and different difficulties.
What we share is this: tall or short, heavy or slight, dark-skinned or fair, healthy or often ill, high-achieving or low-achieving — every one of us longs to be respected and accepted. Only in love and acceptance do people find the strength to move forward, unafraid of the storms.
Before you read the cases, let us introduce our family:
Gifted with Autism
In their words: “I only want to do what I like. Going to school doesn't mean I want to do homework.”
“Mum and Dad nag and scold. I just want them to stop making noise.”
“Teachers and parents keep going over what I did wrong at school. What has it got to do with me?”
“They ask too much of me. I'm under a lot of pressure. I need free time, and they force me off the internet — it makes no sense!”
Treatment Goals: The key is learning to think about what other people expect and think, and to meet the demands of different situations so as to earn reasonable rewards — no longer being 100% self-centred, and not becoming a financial, emotional and psychological burden on others, family above all.
Treatment Outcomes: After a few sessions of explanation, gifted adolescents and adults on the autism spectrum usually improve in how they think, speak and act, and their families feel they are no longer “closed off”.
Articles on autismIndividual Vocational Counselling for Autistic clients
Gifted with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
In their words: “I don't have enough time to read! Mum and Dad are always telling me to put my book down and get on with homework — so annoying. I like to start at the last minute; homework, tests and exams are all the same, and I still get through. What I dread most is being bored. I need to be doing something I enjoy — reading, building models — and I'm happiest doing several interesting things at once, like doing homework while listening to music and being on social media (Facebook, Instagram and so on). I'm used to juggling this much. When school is stressful I need my own things even more to relieve it — but nobody understands me.”
Treatment Goals: Current medical knowledge indicates that the mainstream treatment for ADHD involves a combination of medication and behavioral therapy, which is generally effective for two to three months; for more complex cases, family therapy may be incorporated as well.
Treatment Outcomes: Gifted individuals with ADHD may exhibit heightened creativity and unique problem-solving skills, often coupled with challenges in attention regulation and impulse control.
Gifted with Anxiety and Depression
Depression
In their words: “So what if I'm intelligent? However many qualifications I get, nobody recognises me. I have less and less drive; there is no positive value in being alive; I don't want to do anything. There is no point in my being in the world at all — I just drag people down.”
“Trying is useless. Even my parents have said I am useless. Why did they bring me into this world?”
“I can't see any hope ahead. I don't even dare answer the phone at home, in case relatives find out I am at home being a ‘waste of space’ and ask why I am not at school or at work.”
“I don't want to see friends either, in case they see the gap between us — because I have achieved nothing.”
“Since I can't do anything anyway, I haven't the strength to go on. I might as well sleep forever.”
Anxiety
In their words: “My results have always been good. I failed this test and I am afraid the teacher will be disappointed in me, and classmates laughed that I must have been lazy.”
“I was really serious about it — I asked the teacher questions in class and answered questions too. I am afraid my poor result will disappoint my parents and make them think I am lazy.”
“I am even more afraid people will find out I am stupid and more classmates will laugh at me — so I daren't go to school tomorrow!”
Treatment Goals: Gifted individuals with anxiety-depression often experience heightened sensitivities and intense emotions, known as over-excitabilities.
Apart from appropriate pharmacotherapy, treatment goals focus on understanding and managing these unique intensities, promoting emotional regulation, and building resilience.
Treatment Outcomes: Our approach utilizes the over-excitability framework to help individuals recognize their strengths and challenges, reduce negative self-judgment, and develop adaptive coping strategies. Through tailored counseling and psychoeducation, we support emotional growth, enhance well-being, and empower gifted individuals to thrive while managing the complexities of anxiety and depression.
Articles on depression
Gifted with Vision Problems
Treatment Goals: Gifted individuals with visual dysfunctions (VD) often experience difficulties in processing visual information, which can lead to challenges in reading and writing. VD may manifest as impaired visual coordination, tracking issues, or difficulty with visual-spatial skills. Developmental and behavioral optometrists can provide targeted vision training to address these specific needs.
Treatment Outcomes: Treatment strategies include tailored exercises to enhance visual perception, improve eye movements, and strengthen visual-memory skills.
By implementing these techniques, gifted individuals can significantly reverse their reading and writing difficulties, ultimately fostering academic success.
Articles on vision problems
Gifted with Sensory Integration Dysfunction
Treatment Goals: Gifted individuals with sensory integration dysfunctions often display heightened sensitivities, known as sensory over-excitabilities. Using the over-excitability framework, our treatment goals include fostering self-awareness, developing adaptive sensory regulation, and enhancing daily functioning.
Treatment Outcomes: Strategies involve individualized sensory interventions, psychoeducation, and cognitive-behavioral techniques to manage reactions and build coping skills. We work collaboratively to help clients harness their unique strengths, reduce distress, and thrive in varied environments, enabling gifted individuals to achieve emotional balance and personal growth.
Articles on sensory integration dysfunction
Gifted
In their words: “I need enough time to read the books I love. Why is there so much homework and so many ‘trivial things’ pressing on me every day, leaving me no time at all to think?”
“Whenever inspiration comes, I can never settle down long enough to finish what I create.”
“Why do teachers and parents always judge a person's ability by grades? Such a narrow view leaves me helpless.”
“Sometimes I wonder whether I really am different from everyone else. My confidence does waver now and then.
Where in all the world do I find someone who understands?”
Treatment Goals: To help gifted students see that they were born with a strong thirst for knowledge, with passion and with insight.
What matters most is putting them in touch with people who truly understand them, and helping those close to them understand their inner world.
Treatment Outcomes: Outcomes depend on self-understanding, acceptance by those close to them, and mutual respect. Inner tension and tension in relationships usually ease within one to two months. Giftedness is a psychological and physiological reality.
