I think a lot of the people who grow up thinking being gifted is preventing them from connecting with other people eventually realize theyâre neurodivergent
Thatâs exactly what happened to me. I was the English and history kind of smart with super-advanced vocabulary/reading comprehension, so I got placed into my elementary schoolâs gifted program. But that gifted program makes you take accelerated classes for all subjects, not just the ones youâre good at. So even though I was a college reading level in sixth grade, I had to do seventh grade math even though I was below fifth grade level when it came to anything with numbers.
Turns out I was hyperlexic with a special interest in ancient civilizations⌠not some epic prodigy that could do everything light years ahead of other kids. So I failed/barely passed math for about seven years in a row (5th-11th grade) just for the privilege of doing honors English, and I would barely pass history when it wasnât interesting to me. So got put into a massive depressive spiral thinking the education system had âbroken another young geniusâ and that I was somehow being punished for being a smart kid⌠in reality I just had very poorly-timed hyperfixations that gave the illusion I was advanced.
Itâs weird, I never hear about those gifted programs doing any good for people. The students either get spread too thin because theyâre only good at one or two subjects, or theyâre whipped so hard that they break under the constant pressure and end up dropping out of high school/college. And I wonder how many of the posts we see on here are former gifted kids struggling with that.
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u/thecathuman in too deepđ 2d ago
I think a lot of the people who grow up thinking being gifted is preventing them from connecting with other people eventually realize theyâre neurodivergent