Is giftedness bad for your health?

I realize this seems like as ludicrous a question as my blog title, but actually . . . it can be, apparently.

M went for an assessment for vision therapy, following a noticing in a routine eye exam.  It started as "this can be perfectly normal at her age," then became "we'd like to see it minimized, so try this at home for a couple of months, and finally was, "I think you should consult a therapy specialist.  Of course, we did.  There were some symptoms of the issue, but we really would not have noticed if not for the doctor.

When we went in for the results, my husband got uncharateristically quiet.  He stayed that way for a long time.  This was before the payment information was revealed, even.  I found myself feeling a sinking sensation in my chest as the therapist explained the sheet to us.  As I glanced over it, one thing was perfectly clear.  Her vision is far from normal.  Let me stall any fear by stating that it is all believed to be fully treatable, and in less time than I would have expected.

In gifted circles, you hear neuro-typical and similar terms frequently, but it has far-reaching implications.  Neuro-typical can apply to all sorts of things beyond intelligence.  I'm not a doctor and won't pretend to understand all of the consequences, but I do understand that anything the brain controls is neuro-something.  Vision is no different.  From the second mention of vision concerns, it was made clear that this is a brain issue, rather than a muscle issue.

You're probably wondering when I'll get to my point.  Here it is.  With the results we were given, most kids would be in remedial reading classes, failing math, or other similar things.  That's one of the ways that kids are noticed by people suggesting vision therapy.  M does not show one of those symptoms.  The therapy specialist said that it's only because of her extreme intelligence that she was able to read at all . . . and boy does she read!!!!  She reads well and a lot!  The specialists were amazed and talked about how hard she is working to visually do all that she is doing.  Wow.

Of course, they excitedly went on to say that she would become a neurospecialist someday and that after therapy everything will be easier for her.  Yikes!  Seriously, this mom reacts to quicker progress with yikes, and I am not ashamed to admit it!  As for the neurospecialist, she told the doctor she likes animals.  The doctor said she could be a vet.  M said, "I thought so for a while, but now I don't.  I think I want to work at PetCo."  So, the doctor looked at me astonished, and I just said, "I think it would be fun & I think she'd be good at it."  So, that flung us back into the more familiar realm of my weirdness of life.

So many of the things that we saw as idiosynchrosies of a highly gifted child could be symptoms of vision dysfunctions (yes, the plural is intentional).  Because of how quickly she progresses in learning, we may not have noticed had she not needed glasses, etc.  I have many curiosities about the changes to come.  One of them is the emphasis of vision on IQ tests.  I don't believe every child, gifted or not, needs an IQ test, but M had one in the course of our adventure, then was asked to be in a normative study for another, and now will be participating in a third test as part of normative testing.  I wonder if/how things would/will show up differently if she is invited to be part of another normative test.  Disclaimer: most normative testing does not allow you to see your results, but we got lucky and are allowed to receive unofficial results, which is just interesting to compare with other things.  M likes it because they pay her (and she spends it at Petco :)).