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Gifted children are born with a very intense limbic system. It makes sense, then, that their limbic system can easily become overwhelmed when processing intense sensory stimuli.
Gifted children often struggle with processing the sensory stimuli they encounter on their path. It is difficult for them to regulate the intensity of their emotional reactions to the multitude of stimuli.
Because their limbic system is so intense, gifted children may actually struggle more with stimulus-rich environments (such as loud birthday parties) than other children of the same age.
These problems in processing intense sensory information can also occur for a longer period of development because it takes more time for the executive part of the brain (executive functions) to develop the skills to help the limbic system regulate (control) itself.
However, the environment often expects gifted children to be able to deal with situations more maturely, because of their advanced intellectual skills. Nothing could be further from the truth. Executive functions, including self-control (inhibition control), are still under development.
It is important to remember that this is a developmental process and that sensory information processing problems for gifted children often become less important as a child gets older (after all, executive functions develop gradually). You could argue that gifted children are “out of sync” in their emotion regulation between the ages of about 3 years and 9 years old.
As far as sensory problems are concerned, it is important to take a step back and consider that for a gifted child with a very intense limbic system, it may take longer for the executive functions to be sufficiently developed to help cope with the very intense limbic system.
In addition, between the ages of 3 and 9, our society expects children to be able to handle intense stimulation, for example in classrooms. So the gap between what children can tolerate and what is expected of them can be quite large in those years. By about the age of 9, cognitive functioning at a higher level is more active and the gifted child can often cope more easily with environmental stress. And this ability to cope with environmental stress often increases as the child gets older.
First, it is important to recognize which stimuli your child is hypersensitive to. If you have a child who has ‘meltdowns‘ with some regularity, your child is indicating that the amount of sensory stimuli is more than he or she can handle. Observe your child and start a conversation to gain insight into which stimuli and/or situations are the ‘triggers’.
When you have insight into which situations are overwhelming for your child, you have the following options to help your child:
-> What are stimulus processing problems?
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