Yip! Research done in the States suggests that around 70% of gifted people are introverts. But those who are extroverts seem to be gifted at that as well!
My 8 year old daughter (gifted, Aspergers, ADHD) is actually very extroverted as well as very positive. I am not surprised by the statistic of 70% introverts though.
My 6 year old boy is there but I often wonder what is an 'excitedability' versus extroversion. Is there a difference? he uses his whole body to describe things and LOVES being on stage in front of an audience. Which is which?
My daughter is currently disrupting a bubbledome holiday program with her gifted friend - there is no introversion in that girl!
My son is gifted too and very outgoing too.
I know my son suffers because he's so out there that he fails to notice when people don't "appreciate" his energy and alienates them. I suspect my daughter's friend has similar experiences.
Or maybe that is "excitedability" because a true extrovert would read the social cues better?
Bitsy - my girl can be very loud and excitable and she's also very good at getting up in assembly at school and performing alone in front of heaps of other kids.
She's most definitely an introvert though :-) When she gets home from school she needs to be left alone for hours so she can think and unwind... she also needs a certain amount of time at home on the weekends and will turn down invitations if she feels she hasn't had enough time to do her own thing lately.
Thanks for posting that link. I think that article sums up nicely what an introvert is and is not. Many people equate introversion with shyness or lack of confidence (and extroversion with the opposite). I have a child who sounds like your daughter. My child has a strong personality, is confident, loves to be the centre of attention and enjoys being around friends. Like your daughter though, downtime alone is a necessity. Holiday time brings requests to stay at home and potter around the house, read, think etc.
Hard to balance with a sibling who needs to be out and about doing something....
At our house, we are predominantly what I like to call, extroverted introverts (ha!).
We can be the life and soul of the party, are seldom hesitant about being noticed or doing public speaking, but when we're at home, we don't like a lot of people coming and going and would quite like to be able to stick our nose in a book or jig-saw or current obsessional project and be left to it for long periods.
And none of us really like the phone very much (it's intrusive and rings uninvited with people who want to talk on it!).
The best definiton I have ever heard of introverts and extroverts is
introvert:A person who is energised by being alone
Extrovert: a person who is energized by being around other people.
I live with 3 GT introvert children and an introvert husband. I have 2 extrovert children and I am an extrovert to. I have learned to be more introverted the older I have got. I think it is to gain sanity in my "wonderful mad world" in which I live. :)
I have no idea if my 5 year old daughter is gifted but her vocabulary is impressive, she talks all the time, jumps when she is nervous about a recital, loves to use her body, loves performances too. She is an extreme extrovert at times, to the point that it appears she is annoying others. She gets ignored at times when she is trying to charm other peers to play with her, but she keeps on going. Definitely not my gene. If I get knocked down, I crawl into my corner.
Having a gifted extrovert son (7 y.o.), it is a blessing. When things go wrong at school or he is anxious or he is unhappy you sure do know about - as does the whole world. Nothing gets buried emotionally. Sometimes its a short term curse but good for long term emotional health! Enjoy!
I do believe that the stereotypical "nerdy and shy" introverted gifted child is just that, a stereotype.
I am gifted teen, at 15, and have been around other gifted students for the majority of life. More often than not, I find that most of them are in fact extroverted. True, some would rather deal with themselves rather than others, i.e. read a book then engage in a conversation about it, but I feel like most people, and certainly gifted people, will do this. No person can stay sane around others for 24 hours a day.
I also believe that the majority of gifted children are nervous when meeting others, and this may appear to be introversion, but are easily more sociable once they know them better. I personally adhere to this, but feel comfortable participating in activities such as public speaking and acting on stage. It's easier talking to hundreds of people rather than just one or two if the latter are strangers.
I don't believe that if your gifted it means you have to be introverted or extroverted. Everyone has their own individual personality and qualities that separate them from everyone else. Why should we be any different?
My 5 year old boy is gifted and very extroverted! ask questions about how the univers works, (knows all the names of the solars sistem bodies including their moon asteroids and comets)how volcanoes work, and why people fight at wars, he doesn't have to have a quit Time, sometimes I tell him my ears and mouth are tired to listed or talk for a few minutes so i can recharge and so he will go and play aloud with his cars or imaginary friends. So when we have visitors they get the same deep question we get everyday. He is very good at math second grade,and playing the piano and reads at therd level grade, he is very intense all day long can't fall usleep for bed time and is up a 6:30 am. He is super friendly and not shy as you can read, always wanting to talk to people in the phone and is the first to open the door for the mail man.so it's hard for me to understand how the mayority of gifted kids are introverted. Love my son and my other two introverted children, 1 and 3 years old. Introverted myself and my husband.
