Does anyone know/have experienced that exceptionally intelligent children, with ocd are emotionally under developed?? We have a 7 year old, was promoted into 1st grade out of kindergarten, LASt year was at 7th grade reading level, etc. Although not tested, he was classified as being 'gifted'... however he is VERY emotional about petty things, crying for no reason... tantrums etc. We will address this at the doctor in a few weeks, but hubby and I wondered if any of you have any experience with it? Is it a common thread? Any inut would be appreciated...:confused:

Howdy babyboy:

While not a direct answer to your question, I think that we may expect more of these very gifted kids. On an intellectual level they act like kids much older than themselves, and we just tend to forget that on an emotional maturity level, they are still 7 years old.

OCD is all about anxiety. I suppose that developmental problems can exacerbate it, but OCD is an anxiety disorder. In order to treat OCD it is important to addres the anxiety.....

There may be other disorders present with which OCD is comorbid. You should talk to your child's therapist/doctor about it.

It is a good thing that your child is very intelligent, it will help him learn coping skills much more easily. The problem that young kids face is developing the very special cognitive skills needed to help cope with anxiety and OCD.

This is where parents and therapists can help in guiding the child. Medication can help, but being self aware and having cognitve skills to overcome and work around the problems that ocd presents are so very important.... Easy for an adult, but a very tough job for a kid.

In any case, some of the behaviors you are describing may be anxiety based and as such, may represent one facet of OCD, rather than a discrete developmental problem in the classic sense.

Me :D

I agree sometimes we DO forget that he is 7 years old, but in all honesty he tends to act more like a 4-5 year old emotionally, so we did wonder. We will cerrtainly discuss it with his doctor-

thanks

This really reminds me of myself when I was younger. A couple of times the cops were called to our house because my screaming (over truly miniscule things) made the neighbors think I might be being abused.

I did eventually get over this, and finally got over my anger issues... though I don't think I did so in a healthy way. I'm 17 now and am thinking about going to a counselor about my problems. Looking to find out if I had ADD, I took the test at http://www.amenclinic.com/ac/tests/ which told me that it was highly probable that I had "cingulate system hyperactivity" or "overfocus". They also gave me a description for this (http://www.amenclinic.com/ac/tests/subtype_results.php#cingulate). It turned out that "overfocus" fits me perfectly: it encompasses every disorder I have noticed in myself. The OCD, the worrying, the obsessiveness, the depression, moodiness, and most recently, attention difficulties. So I would recommend those tests to anyone, not for a diagnosis but for something to talk to a doctor about.

If he is anything like me, I definetely think a psychiatrist would be a good idea, and don't wait until he is 17 :o. I'm trying to figure out myself right now, so I can't really help other than that..

Good for you! I hope that you are involving your parents in your research! Recognizing the problem is the biggest step-

I am glad we caught on early enough to help him before he is emotionally scarred for life.

Best of luck to you TC

In my experience, high intelligence individuals are GLOBALLY heightened individuals. If you want to be sensitive to the acquisition of information (gifted intelligence), then you pay the price by being sensitive in MANY other ways. Your skin might be super sensitive, you may be incredibly emotionally perceptive, experiencing the slightest shift in tone as a torrent of new sensation. If your child's emotions overwhelm him, he needs a form of expression and FAST. This is why many of the most intelligent individuals go into art, music, and science. All three are ways in which your creativity effects change in the world...Make sure he has an outlet, cuz he needs it!

And also, regarding the regressive emotional maturity, intelligent individuals are typically socially inept (for lack of better words, sorry!) One of my professors is obviously brilliant, but he was the strangest person to talk to because socialization is almost menial for him. In lecture, he looks down at the ground and avoids eye contact at all costs. His demeanor is almost like that of a kid on the playground, huddling in a corner out of shyness, and we are HIS STUDENTS! Communication can be frustrating and exhausting for ADD-OCD people because its anomalous nature doesn't follow the rigid rules we define for our reality.

He isnt the artistic type... he does LOVE science, his outlet seems to be video games and computer- it relaxes him so we go with it, but I WISH he would vent in a journal or something like that

My brightest of 3 bright children was also the one that was socially/emotionally "delayed."
Now she's 22 and I love her especially because of her depth of emotion that just took longer to cultivate than the shallow type.
I only wish I had been able to appreciate her as much when she was smaller.

Oh please dont get me wrong, its not that I do not appreciate the person that he is... he just acts a lot less mature than his friends, and while that may be okay at home... children are clearly not as understanding. He is 7 , his friends range from ages 5-8