Life with a Gifted Toddler

Heather, Michelle brings up very good points. My opinion is that it's really important for anyone who believes they have a gifted child on their hands to make an attempt to understand asynchronous development. It just kind of helps keep you grounded as a parent. The last thing kids need is more pressure or stress, and an understanding of this concept can be very beneficial when it comes to parenting these types of children. As far as the sleep goes, my understanding is that it is quite common for gifted children to need less sleep. Grab some books on gifted children at the library and see if you notice any other characteristics listed that are familiar to you. If this is the type of child you have on your hands, you will recognize the characteristics quickly. On the other hand, think logically too...for instance, cut back on your child's sugar consumption if there's room to do so, implement a relaxing bedtime routine with aromatherapy and/or massage, etc. Your child may be one

Heather, honing in on this, since I don't know if the original writer, who wrote this in 2007, will see your comment but hopefully you'll come back. Gifted kids often don't need as much sleep as other kids. But if yours seems to be sleep deprived, maybe ask what's up. Sometimes they'll get something stuck in their minds and need to work it out before sleep can come, or they're worrying about something. Look up asynchronous development for more info about this, but sometimes they'll get a topic on the mind that they're not emotionally able to handle and might be worried to bring up (death is a big one for this). Talking it out might help your kid sleep better. Maybe.

I'm trying to figure out if my gifted child is suffering from his sleep deprivation. Any tips on getting gifted children to sleep more?

Good article; very informative!

This website does not allow people to cut and paste from their story. I needed to quote a section of this story (yes, I gave credit) and figured out that if you click View from the browser menu and then select Source, you can find the text you need to copy. This works for all the stories on this site. Hope this helps with others doing research papers!

Wow... speaking at 7 months old? I would freak out!