My child is frightfully special. I mean, like, scary special. She has been computer literate since she was 18 months old. She knew all the alphabet and could count to 50 when she was two. She would much rather have a book than a lollipop. She gets on the Internet and goes to all the kids channels on her own, and what amazes me is that she tells me where she is going before she does it. She loves watching learning videos rather than a good cartoon. The thing that worries me is that she is not very social. She never wants to play, she is always serious about everything. Other children never affect what she is into. All she wants to do is learn more and different things, and she does on a daily basis. It worries me because she’s up late at night, and up early in the mornings—like it’s a job for her at her tender age. Do you have any suggestions? She will be starting school in August and she asks every day if it’s August yet.

Wow—she is special. That’s wonderful! She sounds delightful and wonderfully inquisitive. However, there are some “other” things that she’ll need to learn in order to acclimatize to a school environment–interacting with kids and adults is one of them. Children learn much through interaction with other children their own age, and even though she may not seem interested, it is a very important part of her development and should not be ignored.

Some personalities are more driven than others and she just may deem it her job to figure it all out right now. Your job is to help her shape that drive and determination into a well-rounded personality. You might want to limit her time on the computer and with the TV and work on social interaction skills. A walk in the park, noticing what other people are doing and discussing it. Talking to the teller at the bank, grocery store, noticing all the instances that we come in contact with people everyday and pointing them out to her. Inviting a friend over to play—no TV and no computer games, face-to-face games that are age appropriate. Start slow, keep it short at first. She may just be humoring you at the beginning, but eventually, hopefully, she’ll want a playmate, at least once in a while.

Keep in close contact with her new schoolteacher and make sure that she’s developing socially at school and not feeling isolated or left out because she doesn’t know how to join in. Social skills need to be learned just like reading or math skills need to be learned. Some people and personalities are better at it than others, just like everything. Helping her adjust now to social situations will be a lifetime skill that she’s going to need. Hope that helps a bit. Good luck to you and enjoy the process of learning all kinds of things with your child.