Gifted Girl

My name is Chloe and I’m nine and three quarters. I would say I’m fairly normal (for someone who is much more different). It’s just that some people would think I’m weird, crazy or pushed too hard. You see, I’m one of the people classified as ‘gifted’.

When I was little (approx. ten months old), my mum took me to a mothers’ group outing. There were not many toys available to play with, so I started ‘reading’ through book after book after book.

I was quite happy in preschool and kindergarten, even though the work was too easy for me, because no one really noticed that I was different. Although once, I wrote in pen and the teacher was very angry even it was quite neat because she wanted us to write in pencil only. Then when I was in year one I started diverting away from the other kids in the school. Even though I tried to connect with the other kids, I just was too different or I was the opposite gender or too young.

I often used to feel terribly bored and immensely lonely at school. I would come home every day feeling very depressed. The work was much too easy and I got every question correct but my yearly and half-yearly reports weren’t great. I don’t know why, but I felt the teachers hated me. One time, my previous school trialed coding class, and let me tell you one thing: it was way too easy (I already had my own website I coded myself). I tried to communicate with the teachers via my mum (I was too scared), but they just thought mum was pushing me too hard when in reality I was the one getting my mother to talk to them.

I played pretend at school because I had no real friends. The girls were all about dance and looking pretty, but I don’t like just gossiping about my hair or how good my jazz moves are. Also, most of the boys liked sport or found it too awkward to play with me because I was a girl.

This year I made it in the gifted class at a more welcoming school. I’m happy now at my current school, but I feel there are other less lucky gifted children out there; ones who cannot reach their full potential because there are no special classes or schools where they live, or any at all. There are also ones who cannot get an education because of the mere fact that they are girls, or kids who stay in hospital or with non-tangible disabilities like dyslexia or Irlen syndrome.

I want those children to be and make themselves heard, and we should try and make a change in the world, starting with our communities. I would like people to recognise and respect gifted children — and, on that case — any other children who are ‘different’: transgender, with a disability etc.