Precocious 4 year old

When I typed Precocious Children into the browser this is what I got:

"The National Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children (NFGCC) has listed the following characteristics to help parents and educators identify gifted/exceptional children."

• Highly sensitive and often emotional
• High energy
• Bores easily; may appear to have short attention span
• Resists authority if it's not democratically orientated
• Becomes easily frustrated
• Learns from an exploratory level often resisting rote memory or just sitting back and listening
• Cannot sit still unless absorbed in something of their own interest
• Is very compassionate; may fear the death or loss of loved ones
• If pressured to conform - May give up and develop permanent
learning blocks
• Withdraws if pressured to conform
• May sacrifice their individual creativity in an attempt to 'fit in.'

The above list is Jared to a "T."

No this post isn't about how smart and wonderful my little man is (though I'm not denying that either.)  This is something that we are starting to figure out about him. 

Jared has been called Precocious a few times recently and the latest time was while talking to Dr. Johnson and Dr. La Due PHD.  Besides the eating issues that I mentioned a few posts ago, Jared has started showing other signs that have been worrying and frustrating us.

Jared and I met with Dr. La Due PHD today for the first time and so many things came into light. First of all she mentioned how very smart and what a great kid he is.  She also mentioned that she can tell that he is having some anxiety issues, which she says often happens with smart kids.  They tend to worry and think too much about things.  But that isn't all.

Getting into his health history his prematurity was brought up.We talked about that for a little bit.  Studies show that babies that are born premature, especially deliveries that were very difficult, mother distress, high-stress, life threatening; Those babies have the tendency to be more hyper active and have anxiety and stress issues.  It isn't just the Mom's that feel it during the delivery.  Jared's delivery was anything BUT stress free, which you know. I had never heard that, but thinking about it, it makes total sense to me.

Dr. La Due mentioned that there are 2 things to look at.  His IQ (Intellectual Quotient) and is EQ (Emotional Quotient.)  She said that without a doubt his IQ is way beyond the age of 4.  She also said though that his EQ is not at the age of 4.  That is something that is lacking to a degree and we need to find ways of helping with that.  As of right now we don't really know where he is, but with an assessment we should be able to find out. 

We are happy with how things went today and are looking forward to learning more about our very Precocious little man!