Where Are They Now? Following Up On Child Prodigies

When we think of a child prodigy, we picture a kid who has a talent which isn’t usually possible in someone so young. We often imagine them as precocious and wise beyond their years: a small child playing a violin with such beauty that it beggars belief, or a tiny kid winning a game of chess against a grandmaster.

Take Mozart: the iconic composer who wrote his first piece of music at only five years old. He traveled the length and breadth of Europe, stunning audiences with his incredible compositions and an ability to play the piano while blindfolded.

Pablo Picasso’s first oil painting was completed when he was only nine years old, and by 14, he was learning his trade at a storied art school in Barcelona. His iconic painting First Communion came at only 15, and he would follow it with 22,000 further works across an 80-year career.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was born in Mexico in 1651 and had no formal education because she was female. Somehow, though, she began writing religious poetry at eight years old, and then learned to speak fluent Latin in just 20 lessons. At 17, a bunch of university scholars tested her on mathematics, history, and philosophy, and they were shocked at her wide-ranging knowledge of each topic.

In the modern world, Mensa is the global organization of choice for people with unusually high IQs — in fact, only the top 2 percent of the population is accepted. Most countries have gifted classes and programs into which super-smart kids will be shepherded.

The life path for every child prodigy is different, but there are usually some commonalities. For most of them, the initial discovery of their almost preternatural gifts tends to come with a lot of fanfare and media attention.

All of a sudden, a world of opportunities and perks arose for Guerin. He and his family were given a free trip to Ireland — his parents’ homeland — and he was treated as a guest of honor at Villa Park, watching his favorite soccer team Aston Villa alongside the club’s chairman.

“I went to a state grammar school,” continued Guerin, “so that meant that being academically competitive was a big part of the school ethos anyway. So, it was a really good environment to be part of and most people responded to it positively.”

As an adult, Guerin’s job as an assistant principal affords him the opportunity to pass on his wisdom to his students. He’s particularly passionate about encouraging them to make the most of their gifts, as he speaks from personal experience.

Another success story is that of Arran Fernandez, who attended Cambridge at only 15 years old to study math. This made him the youngest student at the institution since 1773; by the time he turned 18 he’d solidified his spot as Cambridge’s “senior wrangler” — also known as its champion mathematician.

“Socially I've never cared much about comparing my age with others,” revealed Fernandez. “So, I didn’t feel different from my peers due to my age. Starting at university for the first time is a life change and a new experience for everyone, whether at 15 or at 18.”

As these comments attest, Fernandez has never believed in letting other people’s beliefs about his gifts affect his thinking. He explained, “I found that people generally had high expectations of me, thinking I must be a ‘genius’ because of my age.”

In 1995 three Filipino youngsters leapt into the national spotlight and were dubbed the “Gifted Kids.” Francis “Kiko” Galura III was a poetry prodigy; Shaira Luna had mastered human anatomy and could explain the functions of the cardiovascular system better than many adult doctors; and James Flores was an unexpected expert in astronomy.

Galura III told Spot, “Being labeled ‘gifted’ didn’t bother me that much, mostly because I grew up understanding that every person has the capability to excel at something. My family didn't really make me feel like there were public expectations that I had to live up to… It gave me the freedom to enjoy my youth like most kids.”

Luna’s experience, unfortunately, is quite common — and this is where we get into the dark side of being labeled a prodigy before you’re old enough to truly understand the implications.

Before his standard level mathematics exam at age 11, Halliburton was hounded by the media and forced to make a TV appearance. He later told The Guardian, “I could hardly get my words straight. That built up a lot of pressure for me before the exam.”

In the end, Halliburton didn’t ace that particular exam, but still wound up getting top grades and going to university at a normal age. Yet he struggled to fit in and found his course boring — because his brain was functioning at a higher level than his peers.

Halliburton became so disillusioned that he left university after less than a year — and got a job at McDonald’s. For the next five years he worked there, occasionally shocking customers with his ability to add up the cost of their orders in his head.

The key word here is “expectation” — and, despite what some of the success stories say, it is something which weighs heavily on many gifted children. Psychotherapist Herzela Zach told Ynet News, “Expectations are often rooted in the parents’ narcissism.”

For other child geniuses, problems don’t really present themselves until they enter adulthood. Jocelyn Lavin attended Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester as a youngster, and as she grew up she felt perfectly well adjusted. But when she entered the world of work, things took a turn.

Lavin found herself drifting between jobs, and she began to believe the very things which made her special as a kid were hamstringing her as an adult. She revealed that when she applied for her perfect job, “I filled out their questionnaire… and emphasised that I felt I could do the job well with my researching skills.”

In an emotional sense, being a gifted child is often not all it’s cracked up to be — in fact, there can be a number of societal pitfalls. Zach told Ynet News, “Parents want a gifted child who’ll… conquer the world, but they forget that gifted children pay a price for being what they are.”

Zach explained, “There’s a huge discrepancy between a gifted child’s cognitive and intellectual development and their social and emotional development.” She then gave a thought-provoking hypothetical example, saying, “A six-year-old who’s reading a wide variety of books at home and possesses a broad vocabulary starts first grade.”

Yonatan Gilon, an Israeli man who was labeled gifted as a child, revealed that this feeling of otherness is very common. He explained, “They think and comprehend faster and at a deeper level. Very early on, they’re hit with the reality that they’re more intelligent than their parents — and that’s a real problem.”

Though his intellectual capabilities are far ahead of his classmates, this hypothetical gifted child is still just a six-year-old whose emotional development is more in line with his peers. He doesn’t understand why he feels so alien among the other kids, and all it does it make him feel alone.

On top of this, gifted children also very often find themselves bored in school , and this can lead to them acting out. Naturally, this simply increases the alienation from their classmates. Gilon admitted, “When they explained something in class for the fifth time, I found myself saying ‘Really? This again?’”

Sadly, this kind of behavior can lead to gifted kids being perceived as aggravating know-it-alls, even if that’s the last thing they’d want. Gilon, who grew up to become an educator of gifted kids, even confessed, “I felt I had to tell them to know to shut up sometimes, because it’s annoying.”

Once a gifted child realizes that their peers — and their educators — don’t react fondly to them demonstrating their superior intellect, they often try a different technique. They may begin suppressing their natural intelligence to fit in.

Having said this, the experts do have some sympathy for teachers in this situation. Dr. David explained, “Parents must remember that most, if not all, teachers are not trained in the didactics of gifted children. Most mental health professionals who don’t treat gifted children aren’t trained in these fields either.”

Many parents of gifted kids have a choice to make here: do they allow the school to place their child in a specific “gifted” class? Zach revealed, “It means extracting a third-grader from their natural environment and placing them in a different class where they don’t know anyone — just to develop their intellectual abilities.”

These complex emotional issues won’t just play out at school, of course — home life can often be difficult for gifted kids. For instance, their brothers and sisters may begin to resent all the extra attention that will naturally be lavished upon their gifted sibling.

When gifted kids deal with peers at home and at school who aren’t their intellectual equals, it can be easy to dismiss them. This is, obviously, wrong — but they may need help in learning how to empathize more.

Meanwhile, Gilon also believes that the way society treats gifted children can sometimes lead to them becoming lazy and entitled: he knows this from first-hand experience. He mused, “When they keep telling you you’re the top 1 percent and you’re treated as the top 1 percent, you believe it.”

Gilon then drew a parallel with young soccer prospects and Cristiano Ronaldo, widely perceived as one of the best players of all time. He said, “The difference between the best kid at soccer in the grade, and a man who makes a living playing soccer is immense.”

In essence, if you’re constantly told how great you are, you may start to believe you don’t have to work as hard as other people. In the real-world — which is as competitive and cutthroat as it’s ever been — this can be incredibly damaging.

In the end, Gilon left his gifted class because of the isolation he felt, and he’s still not sure if his adult life would have been better or worse if he’d stayed. What he is sure of, though, is that he wasn’t done any favors by constantly being reminded of his giftedness.

By not achieving as highly as some of his gifted peers, some may argue this makes Gilon a gifted child, but not a gifted adult. Ruth Zarhi, who runs a teaching clinic for gifted people and lectures at universities, doesn’t think it’s that simple, though.

Zarhi believes many gifted adults — like Halliburton — struggle to deal with not achieving their goals. They feel if their natural talent can’t help them succeed, then they mustn’t be as gifted as they thought. The reality, though, is more nuanced.

In conclusion, it’s obvious that child prodigies and their paths in life vary to huge degrees based on the person. Why don’t they all develop as expected and fulfil society’s expectations of them? Well, we’ll leave the final word to Zach, who argued, “There’s no one solution for gifted children.”