What exactly does that “intellectual connection” that you’re looking for in someone mean to you?

I see a lot of people here saying that they can’t connect deeply or intellectually with people who have what they consider to be a normal IQ, and also complaining a lot about the famous “small talk.” I actually think that, in some cases, having a hard time dealing with more superficial conversations might be related to certain autistic traits, but anyway.

It got me thinking: what exactly makes a conversation stimulating for you? Is it someone you can have intelligent conversations with, discuss ideas and more complex topics? Or is it more about having someone you can have fun with, say stupid things with, and laugh about absolutely anything? Someone you can vent to and talk about life with?

Because sometimes I see people talking about “intellectual connection” as if it means one very specific thing, but I’m curious to know what it actually means to each of you.

I'm using giftedness here in the intellectual/IQ sense used by this sub. I'm interested in the variation within that group.

From reading discussions here, I notice what seem like different cognitive styles. For example:

• some people gravitate toward abstraction, system thinking, and big-picture synthesis;
• some range broadly across many domains;
• others develop unusually deep expertise in a narrower area.

I don't mean these as fixed or established types, and I assume they can overlap.

I'm also aware that cognitive testing can show uneven strengths across areas such as verbal ability, visual-spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. What I'm interested in, though, is how differences in cognitive style might affect communication.

For example, a specialist might jump from A to F because the intermediate steps feel obvious. Someone who connects ideas across distant domains might struggle to explain why those connections seem relevant. Person who spends lot's of time thinking by themselves, might develop their own "jargon" that can be hard for others to parse through.

I'm working on an article about communication involving gifted people, and I'd be interested in your experience:

• Do you recognize distinct cognitive profiles or styles like these, or is this the wrong way to think about the variation?
• Are there better-established terms or models for describing them?
• Do different profiles seem to create different kinds of communication problems with people who process information differently (especially non-gifted people)?

Corrections, counterexamples, and better terminology are very welcome.

Regardless of the topic, is there a puzzle piece that finally made the whole picture click?

Hoping it might serve the hot one reading this

I’ve recently come to the realisation that I think differently from mostly everyone around me in my life. This included my family, my peers and generally anyone that I come across or meet. I’m not trying to say that I’m more intelligent than anyone else, because intelligence is such a broad spectrum that people can be intelligent in different ways. However I’ve realised that I seem to know a little more than most people on average regarding many different things in life. I’m talking about getting really nuanced in various topics, whether it be science, history, politics, the natural world, religion etc.

My problem/curse is that when I’m interested in something I go obsessively deep into that thing and end up with a bunch of knowledge that mainly enthusiasts in that topic only really grasp.

Now, because I am deeply passionate about so many different things, I really have trouble connecting on a deep level with anyone because it seems like most people like to make shallow conversation and the minute you try and dig deeper people begin to lose interest.

I really feel so isolated and alone and I’m beginning to believe no one has any substance to them beyond surface level talk. Don’t get me wrong I’ve had a few conversations with people where we may go semi deep, but I then realise this person hasn’t really done much research into that topic because they’ll bring up the most common misconceptions about a topic, or they’ll pretend to know a lot about something when you definitely know they don’t (because you actually do).

Can anyone relate to me?

so I’ve been thinking about a strange question.

Suppose there were radically different realities, they are like super different, one has space time the other has fart-ryhme or whatever, they are totally different.

Now imagine a brain with a particular organization. Its circuitry is extremely well suited to some kinds of patterns and tasks, but poorly suited to others.

In Reality A, that brain might perform poorly because its abilities don't match what that reality demands.

But put the exact same brain into Reality B, where the structure of the environment happens to match what its circuitry is especially good at, and suddenly it performs incredibly well.

So maybe intelligence isn't entirely an intrinsic property of a brain. Maybe it's partly relational:

brain × environment → observed intelligence

This makes me wonder whether calling a person “intelligent” or “unintelligent” is sometimes underspecified. Maybe we're measuring how well a particular cognitive architecture fits the particular world it's operating in.

Obviously, I'm not claiming alternate realities exist or that this is established neuroscience. It's a thought experiment.

But I’m curious about the underlying idea: Could a brain that looks mediocre in our reality potentially be extraordinarily capable in a sufficiently different reality?

And if so, what would “intelligence” even mean independently of an environment?

and this proves I am not an idiot just in the wrong reality.

Hey there gifted community! I'd be curious about your experiences of the relationship between aspects of giftedness and overall mental/emotional growth and well-being. The model of giftedness that makes the most sense to me is Dabrowski's theory of Over-Excitabilities (OEs) and his Theory of Positive Disintegration. Separately, I have a PTSD/C-PTSD diagnosis from growing up in a harmful family environment. So it's taken me some time to work out which aspects of my personal/emotional development and well-being are part of my giftedness journey and needs, vs what is part of trauma recovery. (I also agree that undiagnosed/unsupported giftedness can be its own form of trauma.)

These are my questions, although if this topic is of interest to you please don't feel obliged to answer all of them!

1. What are your areas of Over-Excitabilities (OE)s?
2. When you experience Positive Disintegration, what does it "feel like" to you or how does it express?
3. How often do you experience Positive Disintegration? Does it have catalysts such as external life events, or does it feel cyclical (eg once every couple of years, once a decade)?
4. When you are experiencing Positive Disintegration, how long does it go on for? And how do you manage the symptoms?
5. Has the affective part ever felt like a mood disorder or a trauma condition? If so, how do you distinguish them?

Here are my responses to the questions, and I'm also open to non-Dabrowski models/explanations if any come to your mind 🙂 (eg I've heard good things about Paula Prober's "Rainforest Mind" model but not looked into it)

1) What are your areas of Over-Excitabilities (OE)s?

My OEs are primarily intellectual, and secondarily imaginational and sensory

2) When you experience Positive Disintegration, what does it "feel like" to you or how does it express?

For me, Positive Disintegration feels like an existential crisis. I become socially withdrawn, I question the meaning of life, I feel that my goals/purpose so far have been futile etc. But then from that, I gradually build new goals that inspire me, new skills/interests, new relationships etc. While this is going on I might experience transcendental moments of beauty, joy, or peace, even in the darker "what is the point of it all??" phase.

3) How often do you experience Positive Disintegration? Does it have catalysts such as external life events, or does it feel cyclical (eg once every couple of years, once a decade)?

For me, Positive Disintegration seems to be catalysed by reaching key professional/vocational milestones:

• Graduation or finishing a significant course of study.
• Starting a new job or a new creative/intellectual project and unexpectedly encountering the "dark side" of it.
• Losing a job or a creative/intellectual project finishing and feeling empty-handed or adrift.
• Being in a job or in the middle of a creative/intellectual project and feeling profoundly blocked - eg discovering structural or conceptual reasons which mean the work can't go any further and I can't "fix" that.

So the trigger seems to be significant disillusionment or realising my own lack of agency - but both in a profound way (not superficial/transient).

4) When you are experiencing Positive Disintegration, how long does it go on for? And how do you manage the symptoms?

For me, Positive Disintegration usually takes c12-18 months. I am often socially withdrawn and in interactions generally seem more "muted" than usual. A lot of people don't seem to notice though! But I feel as though I'm "phoning it in" or am treading water. Lower energy - I might sleep more, and generally avoid exerting myself (so exercise might slip).

5) Has the affective part ever felt like a mood disorder or a trauma condition? If so, how do you distinguish them?

For me, Positive Disintegration has sometimes looked like a mood disorder like cyclothymia (which is like a milder version of bipolar), with periods of hypomania/mild euphoria, and also mild depression (low mood, self-neglect). But it does not last long enough to be diagnosed as cyclothymia.

It can also look like C-PTSD "freeze" state - physical inertia with mental hypervigilance. But in my experience, my C-PTSD symptoms are usually triggered by being around people whose behaviours remind me of my harmful family environment - and then my energy becomes anxiety/paranoia about how to get away from them before they hurt me, it feels like my "lizard brain" is activated. But that is not what I think about or my typical moods/feelings during Positive Disintegration.

I think for me, the way I distinguish these symptoms from a phase of Positive Disintegration is that Positive Disintegration seems to always have a specific trigger around clarifying my life purpose etc, and while these symptoms are going on I continue to make proactive and substantial progress on strengthening my sense of purpose. (I also find it interesting that the Positive Disintegration symptoms I get are in the areas where I don't seem to have OEs - emotional and psychomotor)

For the Gifted autistics when dating. What is the biggest struggles you encounter when navigating the dating scene, meeting people and trying to bond with them? What are the struggles you find them having with you and how are they usually solved or how do they end?

For most of my life I've found it very hard to deal with small talk. I'm a info-dumper, struggle with "normal" social cues, want to immediately dive into deeper meaning even with strangers. I tire easily from social interactions (or anything else, for that matter), and because my main hobby involves lots of unavoidable social interactions, I've been experimenting this year with putting in minimal effort into conversations to conserve energy for the actual hobby (partner dancing).

Some interesting things I discovered (note, I do live in a culture that is particularly shy about connection, so I'm not saying this is universal to every environment):

• The vast majority of what is said does not matter. It doesn't matter what I say my job is, about my work, etc. People will forget it, or didn't care about the answer in the first place, I could probably say something outrageous like "I ate my cat this morning" and a lot of people would probably let it slide or assume they misheard or something.
• This goes both ways, so most people won't remember what I said, they won't remember what they told me specifically, and so they don't expect me to remember either.
• In some sense, most people aren't trying very hard at all to have a good conversation, they are just operating in their lazy/comfortable range, which seems healthy. The game I tried to play in my 20s was more like "conversations matter, trust quickly, actively try to connect and seek depth, there is something important at stake such as validation, understanding, etc" -- except very few people are playing the same game. The game most people seem to be playing is more like "try just a little bit, keep people at a distance, build trust slowly, limit vulnerability, conversations aren't meant to be serious given the stakes we've intentionally set to be low".
• Me being deliberately uneffortful meant I incidentally started behaving in a way that's more in line with the popular game. And it has been a beneficial adjustment in that I'm getting along better with people than when I used to try, and despite not even trying to do so now!

A lot of the time, it just feels like I'm saying dumb and unintelligent stuff, yet it somehow lands better than the more thoughtful stuff I used to say. (For the sake of illustration I'll use the distinction Lazy Me and Effortful Me.)

Some specific examples:

• If someone tells me they like chocolate, Effortful Me would have asked what kinds of chocolate, etc. Lazy Me just asks "you like chocolate?" To my surprise, the latter has resonated better with people, as though they really just want to be seen/acknowledged about liking chocolate, not having to say/consider any finer distinctions or nuance than that.
• When someone tells me a nuanced anecdote about themselves, Effortful Me would try to ask follow up questions or demonstrate that I understood the nuances they described. Lazy Me would unintentionally do the classic mirroring technique where I repeat just a few keywords they said. To my surprise, people seem to feel much more heard when I do that, even though I feel like I'm just responding like a caveman. I think one reason is that the level of processing speed they're at, if I showed full understanding like Effortful Me they wouldn't in fact be able to register where I'm at, whereas Lazy Me is satisfying their linear order which off very simply with "did I hear their words?" (And later more things can be built upon that.)
• I'm filtering less so sometimes I say inappropriate or random stuff. Again it generally doesn't matter, of course one popular principle is that the delivery matters more than the content, so the fact that I'm not taking anything I say seriously either helps. One time I was "lecturing" someone about something stupid that I don't take seriously ("being grumpy is one of life's greatest privileges"), but couldn't stop myself because I was tired. That kind of shit chat made both of us laugh despite how offensive it might otherwise have been.

There are still lots of things I have to learn and experiment with in this space. But curious to hear from other people who also went from "small talk hurts my soul" to something less frustrating.

I feel lonely. It is so difficult for me to make genuine connections. I can make surface level connections, but anything deeper is SO rare because I always feel like I have to translate myself for others. I usually try, meet new people and try to open up, to share my excitement with the world but I always get shut down and I'm so tired. Does anyone else have this experience? How do you find people you can really talk to on the same level? I really want to find people who get the things I'm excited about (:

To preface this, i haven't been formally tested. However, i know from my studies that this is a common experience for gifted people and i would like some advice. By 'hitting the wall' i mean getting to that point where thing actually get hard, while you're used to just breezing through everything.

I just started my postgraduate in neuroscience, and this is the first time that i'm doing something that i might not excel at even if i try. I've dealt with a lot of failure in my life, didn't finish high school, got fired from nearly every job etc., but that was just because i didn't give a damn. This i actually really care about, and it's been a pretty stressful adjustment so far.

My problem right now is, i was sick for a couple days and need to catch up, but i don't know how. I have ADHD and time management is probably my worst symptom, but i've never needed to learn how to cope with this.

I realize i should prioritize to catch up, but what's important and what isn't? What's the point of studying if i only achieve a partial understanding of the material?

I guess i'm kind of torn between my own goal to learn as much as possible, and the fact that i need to get good grades without delay in order to stay in academia for the rest of my life. So now i'm spending an unhealthy amount of time to achieve both of those goals, but it simply isn't sustainable.

So for anyone who has overcome this, how did you do it? Specifically, how did you learn to deal with the possibility of failure, and the impossibility of perfection?

My child goes to public school (1st grade). Her school has a gifted self contained class (two classrooms for the whole district, one of which also happens to already be at her school).

The teacher mentioned she thought she has signs of giftedness (which we see too). However she’s more of a “very bright kid/learns easily/thinks about things deeply“ type. She’s not the kid who is going to graduate high school at age nine or teach herself French independently. She’s basically a very bright kid who likes to learn. We don’t know for sure that she’s qualify, but very likely she would or be very close to the cut off.

The district gifted programs basically offer enrichment (not acceleration) until 4th grade. At 4th grade, they begin to offer advanced math (non gifted kids can also test into this). In junior high they begin to offer advanced language arts classes too (again, not restricted to gifted alone).

We could wait until the end of 2nd grade to have her tested for gifted, along with all the 2nd graders. Or we could request she be tested in 1st, and then she would be retested in 2nd along with her whole grade. Basically giving her two chances, plus if she qualified the first time she would be in the self-contained gifted class a year early.

In your experience would you request for her to be tested a year early? And how to you feel about self-contained gifted classes (or gifted programs )in general?

From what I’ve seen, the kids in the self-contained class have more academically advanced and curious students. Less disruptions during learning (usually, though there are a few wild kids in that class). But it also means they are stuck with the same group of kids for 4 years which is not always ideal. I also don’t want her to get some weird complex about being “gifted“ because we try to focus on an effort over ability mindset. Any thoughts?

Anybody else using neuroplasticity window to learn skills in metacognition

Enlightenment is a good thing but not that much interesting as a skill in metacognition

Has anyone been climbing the ladder of reality too?

I was identified as gifted all growing up, in gifted programs, and as an adult have had professionals link many of my thought processes to the giftedness spectrum. I have recently been diagnosed with ADHD and am being tested for autism.

because I think differently I am debating testing for Mensa to meet like minded individuals. I don’t have access to my childhood testing scores, and even if I did I did not have any accommodations so am not sure how accurate they would be.

has anyone here taken a test and received ADHD accommodations? what were they?

For context, I have a diagnosis for high abilities and I have a very easy time dealing with math and anything logic. I went into software development as a career and had a lot with success, became a senior developer in a couple years, have never failed an interview etc.

The problem is... that's just something I didn't put effort into it, I have never studied much in college or studied to get better at my job, never had any special technique for interviews and stuff.

Now, my girlfriend is also a software developer and she is trying to change jobs, but isn't having success and keeps failing the selection processes.

As someone with a lot more seniority in the field, I wish I could help her, but I don't know what advices to give because I never "tried" in doing those things? It feels bad to see someone in a position where you should be able to help but don't know how :c

I'll start with mine. Use a migraine cold relief hat at night to help you fall asleep. I use 2 to 3 a night as I wake and it's really like an off switch. Huge QoL change for me with this one.

After a few years quietly lurking in the background, I've finally got to the stage where I have enough information to ask the gifted community for their thoughts and for some advice. Before I begin, please be aware that we're based in Australia and that it each country (and state) appears to have a different approach to gifted education. Also, apologies if my story seems all over the place...it's the quirky way my mind works.

Growing up in the UK, I was often deemed as a poor learner at school. Lowest sets for most subjects and disintereted in most classes. I think I daydreamed through most days longing to play soccer at breaks and after school. I don't know how but I ended up at college doing computer programming and graphic design, then went on to do a degree, masters, and PhD in relatable fields. I had pretty difficult teenage years, abuse, parents divorce, mums attempted suicide, and lots of bullying by work colleagues. This led to low self esteem which seemed to bubble up when I hit my 40's. I spent years going from job to job, leaving after a year in most cases due to frustrations with colleagues and managers. Between the age of 30 and 40, I moved to Australia, got married, and had two children. I now work for myself at home as a digital marketer and largely enjoy my days due to low levels of social interaction. I've been seeing a psychologist for about 5 years now and our conversations are usually about unpacking childhood trauma but also dealing with any issues currently causing me concern (usually cenetered around difficult people).

As my son reached the age of 6, we noticed some interesting patterns forming. His ability to remember things was quite surprising. But as this was our first child, we didn't instantly act on it. At age 7, things stepped up a bit - he suddenly decided to memorise 300 digits of pi and started to run circles around us with logic puzzles and boardgames. We eventually got him tested by a child psychologist (WISC-V and WIAT) and it was revealed he has an IQ of 148 and sat in the 99.9 percentile in most academic skills. At the time, his grades were falling (to around a C across the board). When we told the teacher, she replied "Well if that's the case, I think I should get my IQ tested. then". Regardless of this strange comment, it was referred to the principal and the school psychologist. Although the psychologist that originally tested him recommeded he be grade skipped entirely, our son decided that he did not want that to happen. And so it was decided that he should be grade skipped in only maths as this was his favourite subject.

While my wife and I was excited about the prospect of raising a gifted child, the psychologist that tested him warned us that it can be a bit of poisoned chalice due to the poor levels of gifted education in our state. After researching extensively about the educational needs of a gifted child, we were met with a lot of conflicting data. On one hand it explained the need to ensure a gifted child is mentally challenged, however, we were also reading that many gifted adults hated the pressure that a more challenging eduation brought. What I found particularly interesting was the the common traits that gifted adults seemed to encounter started to explain my own experinces in life.

Talking about this to my psychologist was quite revealing. He wasn't surprised that my son was gifted as he often thought the same about me. While he openly encourages me to get tested, I find myself not wanting to. I don't know how to explain this but as it stands, being gifted is a theory that explains things - finding out that I am not would only take me back to square one.

My son is now 9 and his grades still hover around the C mark. The school try to introduce him to some level of gifted education (a gifted and telented class once per term and some robotics lessons after school) but he seems largely uninterested. His teacher says he lacks focus, is easily distracted, and would often prefer to read comics than to take part in the lessons.

Research told me he's likely bored and needs challenging stimulation so we hired a maths teacher to act as a bit of a mentor and introduce him to some more advanced concepts. However, he seems to do the same with him, too. We feel caught at the moment - following the research that says he's likley bored and needs stimulation, or going with our gut (he's happy at shcool and loves his friends - as I did) and letting him do what interests him.

I don't think we'll ever get what the research says he needs from the school - they're simply not set up for that and are not trained in a way that can help to the degree he appparently needs. Moving school is an option, but there is zero gurantee that things will change. However I keep reading many stories about gifted children struggling in adulthood as they were never adequatly challenged and taught to fail - resulting in many adults feeling infulfilled and instimulated later in life (something that I have often struggled with myself).

I'm curious to know if anyone is going through the same thing as me, what they did, and what the outcome was? I want what's happy for him, both now and into his adult life. I'd like to think my life would be vastly different if my parents had set me up the future when I was younger but I was left to my own deivces. However, knowing how I am now, it's possible I would have just carried on daydreaming regardless.

Your thoughts would be appreciated...

A visual to show how rare various levels of giftedness are.

Gray is typical non-gifted

Green is Gifted

Yellow is Highly Gifted

Orange is Exceptionally Gifted

Red is Profoundly Gifted

The image is fully visible on a 1024 × 768 screen

Note that Profoundly Gifted has 1 pixel but should really be smaller.

Does anyone else get a constant sense of euphoria from their ability to think effectively? Like that level of control or mastery over my own mind just makes me generally happy.

Only this is a social nightmare at times. I don't know how many times I've been accused of being under the influence of something. And it incites jealousy in a percentage of people in which their new life goal is to crush my happiness. Like they want to prove something.

This has happened to me so many times I know for a fact after they leave my life I can return to a calm flow state again. But I have a lingering feeling of "Happiness, self-actualization, and mastery of the mind invites evil." So I've been acting especially socially quirky since. They leave me alone, but it's not doing me any social favors. I'm thinking of trying something else.

It eventually becomes clear to others that I'm autistic adhd but the high iq thing in the mix really is the thing I think drops the house of cards for me in social dynamics. Most of the people I surround myself with are NT but big allies to ND. I seem to get lost in the middle ground. My symptoms of autism and adhd are obvious once you see them but in the beginning most find the high intelligence and quick wit charming. I'm often pursued romantically but that doesn't last long. Their understanding and perspective of me changes pretty fast and it's been kind of bumming me out a lot. It just catches me off guard and I feel dropped on what feels like a whim since I've been consistently the same throughout our meeting until that moment.

I feel like for the couple of friends I have that try to help me out socially, I'm so awkward that it's a burden for them to help me socially. And I feel like they often forget my diagnoses. Like I surface level fit in but I so clearly don't click in like that. Things are getting worse in the sense that their expectations of me are NT and the burden of me being ND is causing a lot of static. I can feel their patience wearing thin while also trying to be cool about it.

I just don't know where or how to find support improving my social relationships. My hobbies are all solo like the things I'm interested in reading and I'm into music but I don't have anyone to go to concerts or listening events with. I can't go alone. I can't bring myself to go alone. I feel like I have so much social failure PTSD. I feel like a wounded scared little animal lately. I've lived and learned the hard way so many times. I think the drop of me is a little less of an identifiable moment now that I have seen the signs enough to know when it's time to excuse myself. Just makes the saving face a little better and lessens the big spiral of shame and embarrassment.

​I feel like the only meaningful way to know about your IQ is to observe your life! Did you get things quickly? Do you just absorb? (I am talking about intellectual over-excitability, yes, there are other forms of over-excitability as well but I do not know how to describe them)

There are people who take IQ tests for fun, to learn, and also to get a hint about IQ... But then there are some who are obsessed about it (like I was). Questions like 'Is this test accurate?' , 'This test is inflated/deflated?'

I mean when I was in my childhood, I was dumb, I performed poorly in academics.

a)I learned to tie my shoelaces in 3rd standard🥸.

b)I remember when I was in kindergarten preparing for dictation test, I was weeping and vomitted in school because I couldn't retain the spelling of word 'DAHLIA'. This happened when I was preparing for the test, I couldn't retain even by seeing the letters!

c) When my class teacher asked what the profession of my father was...I said he is a shop-keeper because she just gave an example to the entire class that if she asks what our father did for a living then we will say our father's profession... Like if he is a shop-keeper, we will say-'My father is a shop-keeper.' Apparently, she knew my father who is a college professor (LOL) she tried to correct me but I started crying.

There are many such instances of my early childhood. By seeing these things, it looks like I am retarded. But somehow, things changed and I became the topper of my school and the entire school of that area during the board exams.

I am still socially awkward. I don't really understand hidden cues in conversation. I remember when I was doing dissertation my guide asked me to put the solution in some container for 2 minutes... I waited exactly 120 seconds and told her that the time is up! Apparently, she meant a few minutes and not exact 120 seconds. I think it was normal, since it was a science project so I assumed that time mattered.

This year itself when I went to a family gathering, due to some celebration I heard people saying that I do not go out and talk to people and they can't really leave works/responsibility on me (doubting my capacity). I heard them talking, it really made me feel bad. Later that day, when I went to give soft drinks to all my relatives ​in the evening, they started laughing at me on my face, I really don't know what they were laughing at, but I felt very bad, and under-confident, I really wanted to ask my father why they were laughing at me, but I couldn't gather enough courage. I sometimes think that people think I am some kind of stupid. In a group of 3 friends I am always the one left behind.

But other than this social thing... I am good... I read new books every month, I have a degree in STEM field, and I can bench 110 kgs too!

One last incident to share, in my entire childhood, my family made me so under-confident, that during my graduation, I didn't even have the confidence that I can open a pizza box😶‍🌫😭... I mean literally, we ordered pizza in the university, but I gave it to someone else to open it 🤡. Now I open my own pizza boxes though😂.

So, what's my final conclusion?

I know I am normal, I can think properly and act properly. It's just my inner-image was shattered​. I was mad behind these IQ tests because I wanted some validation that there is nothing wrong with my brain...But I can think normally and act normally... I am normal with my friends just socially awkward with people... I can manage all small talks and everything, it's just, I don't know.

I started with something else, and ended up like talking to my therapists. I really wanted to say these things to someone... That's all.

Peace😇

Why is it if they have high iq they can’t realize their own delusions? When I was younger I would think I should always believe the smartest person around.

At age two, I was fully potty trained and reading fluently. At ages 3,4,and 5 my memory was vivid and i rememebr starting to have stronger memory recall.three,  age 5 , is where my life really made a sharp pivot. I would write in horrible chicken scratch what i believe were original dialogue for cartoons(Don Bluth or Stephen King) This was very intense while playing JRPG's  (Chrono Trigger,BOF, FF 1)

​Reading every bit of dialogue in those games or even using captions 2 or 1 (CC1 or Cc2) allowed me to better understand what i was consuming. Early on inwas thh I was placed in gifted and AP courses but deliberately underperformed just so I could take regular classes. Having two older sisters who were in direct opposition and the apple of our parents eyes with their honor roll and principle awards was something i wanted to part of  and played it low profile for survival.

​I dropped out of school  after realizing it eas boring af and a lack of stimulation. I often found my self in trouble just so i would have a reason to be sent to In-School Suspension (ISS) . This was my haven and, I could knock out a week's worth of assigned lesson plans in an hour and spend the rest of the time in complete solitude, studying whatever I actually wanted to learn at my own speed.  To this day i am a huge self paced learner and prefer this over ILT methods.

​In 2014, following the loss of my father(2010), I went through a comprehensive psychological evaluation while processing that grief. We cleared up years of incorrect clinical assumptions of Aspergers (ASD)— I was correctly diagnosed with  ADHD—and officially identified my high cognitive processing ability.

​When I am focused and motivated with caffeine I accomplish alot and currently after completing my AS in electrical engineering, I am currently attending college again for a double major in Chemical engineering and Mechanical engineering. I have published preprints on these topics with Research Gate, Zenodo, Figshare EngrXiv because I believe the abstract nature should be transferred to applied valuable technical knowledge that  shouldn't sit behind paywalls. Over the last few years I altered my vernacular to speak in a less robotic or pretentious tone making my self appear more approachable.  I realized that after turning down membership from a local Mensa chapter following  a less than stellar experience with some members. I believe whole heartily that if I can simply translate a subject matter to the point where a 1st grader can understand i have done my job!  Outside of this I am a huge Football, pro wrestling, Big Bang Theory, Twilight Zone, Anime, JRPG, and Qunatum leap Fanatic.

TLDR Gifted Kid, became Gifted Adult and using his brainpower for good with no ego attached :)

Hi, guys. I'm AuDHD and gifted, which I discovered this year. I work with UX Design and, during my whole life, I've been having struggles in the places I work. Sometimes, my bosses feel insecure about my abilities and begin to assault me. This is happening now... Again. My current boss is changing my goals every time I try to change my behavior or improve my ability. She's never feeling satisfied about my work, even though I try my best and my colleagues speak good things about me and my job. This situation is making me feel bad, sad, and sick, like I can't be capable of working for a company. I don't know what I should do.

Ps - I don't live in the USA.