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Exceptional problems

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When Anne Damrall's elder son was two years old, he was returning from a trip to the beach with his father when he said: 'You know, Daddy, I think the world is made up of numbers and letters.'

'That's what he told my husband,' said mother-of-two Damrall. 'We were a bit dumbfounded. But we didn't think much more about it, he was our first child.'

It was when her son - let's call him Jason - was in his last year at kindergarten that the teacher recommended he be tested by a child psychologist to see if he was gifted. She had noticed he was very distracted in the classroom, though he would be listening.

So Jason was tested. Yes, he was exceptionally gifted, scoring 98 per cent, but he also had ADD - or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dysgraphia - which, as Damrall describes it, is a disconnection between the motor neurons of the brain and his hands.

It was hard for Jason to produce good handwriting so the child psychologist, John Shanahan, suggested he do many more things on a computer.

In the tough educational environment of Hong Kong, many parents would love their children to be gifted, but it can be incredibly demanding on both parents and child. While Hong Kong is improving its services for gifted children, it still has a long way to go, according to Professor Daniel Shek Tan-lei, the chair professor of applied social sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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