Why Gifted Kids Are Actually Special Needs
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters call it enlightening for understanding the emotional challenges of gifted kids, especially those who struggle later in school or college.
What it is
Dr. K of HealthyGamerGG argues that gifted kids can be seen as special needs, tracing a path from the gifted label to burnout and perfectionism.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec Upgrayyed_U · 2021-12 · on “Ask HN: How would you have done high school/college/university differently?”
You should check out this video: Why Gifted Kids Are Actually Special Needs: [this video] . It is a truly excellent video for helping to understand some of the psychological/emotional challenges of being "gifted." Internalizing the ideas spoken to in this video has been a huge gift to my mental help. For a long time, I held it against myself that I didn't try harder in college, and that if I did, I would be in a much better place. The reality is that for kids who do extremely well in high school with little effort, doing poorly in college is the default response. It takes a major intervention to get and stay on the right path, and many "gifted" kids of the past generations never got that since it
Recommends mattgreenrocks · 2025-11 · on “Why aren't smart people happier?”
There is a HealthygamerGG video where he talks about gifted kids as special needs kids bc of this factor. I found it really enlightening. I definitely had to confront it in my own life. [this video]
Cites nrabulinski · 2022-10 · on “The link between August birthdays and ADHD (2018)”
This idea has been proposed multiple times before but, from what I remember (and I’m paraphrasing here) we’re identifying it as a disorder not because it’s a disease per se but because it affects the lives of those people and in general has been deteriorating ever since humans changed their lifestyles from hunters to farmers. I think this video talked about this concept in more depth [this video]
Cites Akronymus · 2022-10 · on “Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children”
As an allegedly gifted child: School was boring/not challenging enough. While video games progressed as fast as made sense. I absolutely think that it's your PoV that's correct rather than the articles. [this video]
Cites Akronymus · 2023-02 · on “Astonishing regularity in learning rate among college students”
Despite what many think, gifted kids are actually special needs as well. Not being challenged enough directly leads to a lack of learning to learn. And that in turn leads to hitting a brick wall at some point. I have now attempted a few times to finish my higher education, always bounced HARD as I lack the mental facilities needed to deal with the frustration/commitment of actually having to learn. [this video]