Do you have a child with great physical energy, a child who in the phrase of Ken Robinson “needs to move to think”? In his or her intensity expressed through the body, especially when engaged in learning of any kind, such as pacing while talking through ideas?
Casey, the author of Raising Smart Girls, describes the glow and challenge of physical intensity that some young children exhibit:
“As I dropped off my two older daughters at school today, I gazed at my middle daughter in the rear-view mirror and contemplated her for a moment. She was chattering about something and looked over at me and smiled. I thought at that moment she looked absolutely radiant. Perfectly HER. I thought about how hard it is to preserve her unique self as a parent. She’s my child that is highly energetic, constantly chattering, always moving. It’s hard to parent a child with so much energy. I can’t keep up with her most times. She makes me nervous, except I’m almost certain I was like her in many ways as a child.” Understanding Psychomotor Overexcitabilities in the Gifted Child
Michael Piechowski writes that this quality of “psychomotor overexcitability (OE)” can manifest as “rapid speech, marked excitation, intense physical activity (e.g., fast games and sports), pressure for action (e.g., organizing), marked competitiveness, compulsive talking and chattering, impulsive actions, nervous habits (tics, nail biting), workaholism, acting out.”
It’s easy to see the downside of psychomotor OE, especially in young children, but, as Dr. Marlene Rankel, expert on the theory of overexcitabilities, explains, there is an upside as well:
“[I]t is regarded by most educators and psychologists as a distracting or disturbing factor, often bordering on neurosis. Parents often share this opinion. An overexcitable child does differ from the ordinary type of child, thus causing difficulties for the child and the family, because he or she evokes the idea of ‘strangeness.’ On the other hand… these children are also sensitive, empathetic, gifted, and creative. They do not easily settle for this reality. Great effort and an understanding attitude are needed to appreciate these children.” (Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration, Marlene Rankel, “Dabrowski on Authentic Education,” p. 91, emphasis added)
How do parents learn to see their physically overexcitable children as Casey sees her daughter, as radiant and “Perfectly HER” rather than disturbing or broken?
Michael Piechowski offers a starting point when he refers to psychomotor OE as “personal energy.” Simply by changing the way we think and talk about our children’s traits, we can go far toward helping them to use their intensity in powerful and fulfilling ways, especially when the rest of the world tells them they are “strange.”
Is your child manic? Hyper? Keyed up?
Or, instead, does she have great personal energy?
For Further Reading:
Elizabeth Mika explains of how overexcitabilities fit in with Kazimierz Dabrowski’s larger Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD).
The Born to Explore site discusses overexcitabilities and ADD.
Living With Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and the Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults, Edited by Susan Daniels and Michael Piechowski
“Overexcitability and the Gifted,”by Sharon Lind
Related Post: Lessons from Precious: Intensity of the Imagination
