Hydrotherapy for gifted children

Gifted children and adolescents are very talented children, whether they have been diagnosed as gifted in the national assessment test or not.

Like other children, gifted children may also experience emotional difficulties, difficulties that can manifest themselves within the family, in a social setting, or among themselves.

It often happens that around the gifted child have difficulty understanding why such a smart girl does not behave with emotional maturity appropriate for her intellectual age, which is beyond her chronological age.

In other words, society's expectations of the gifted child may be one of the reasons for the emotional difficulties experienced by the gifted child. In therapy, the tools I use often include discussing emotional issues through films or books that the gifted child is interested in, while creating an analogy from the literary to her inner world.

Another reason for emotional difficulties in a gifted child may be sensory sensitivity. Most gifted children have an unusually high sensory sensitivity to noise, smells, touch, and visual inputs. The gifted child feels like the world is attacking them, and they have no tools to deal with the attack. A significant part of water therapy might be to help them acquire tools for sensory regulation.

Another reason for emotional difficulties the gifted girl may be experiencing could be her insistence on loyalty to her inner truth, or on achievement that is not in line with family expectations of society. Loyalty to one's inner truth and achievement are traits that are valued more in boys than in girls, and gifted girls must deal with giving them up while internalizing the values of society, or maintaining them while struggling in society.

Another reason for specific emotional difficulties for gifted children is their need for intellectual stimulation, and for conversation that promotes thinking and doubt, no matter how strange they those thoughts may be. These are needs that are not always met in the classroom, or in the company of the gifted's peers. As a geek myself, a mother of three gifted children, and a therapist for gifted children, I have had the opportunity to have fascinating discussions about different types of infinity in mathematics, the differences between carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs, Korean military history, visual elements in Miyazaki films, and which animal is best to transform into when playing a droid.

All of these topics come up very quickly in conversation, creating a fruitful and enjoyable connection between me and the gifted child patient.

I know that there are topics that the gifted person is more knowledgeable about than I am, and I come to the meeting without fear or prejudice, because it makes me happy to learn from my patients, and it makes me happy that I have things that they learn from me.

Hydrotherapy treatment in water allows a gifted girl to engage in physical activity, in a pleasant environment that accepts them as they are.

In conclusion - the treatment of gifted children should be tailored specifically to them: as gifted and as human beings. Each child is a whole world, and they should be treated with respect and attention, and in language that is thier language.

Photo credit: Danny Sternfeld