Developmental Disorder, Naughty or just plain Spirited?

Back in 2007, whilst still residing interstate, I had the pleasure of listening to Francois Gagne address the local members of the NSW Gifted and Talented Association. He presented, to us, his Model of Giftedness and Talent [link to PDF].

During the event, that evening, I perused the Association's library and ordered a copy of Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's 'Raising Your Spirited Child' with PJ Bear in mind. He was only just two at the time but I felt that the subtitle (A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic) acknowledged something I saw in him even back then.

Recently, I stumbled upon the book again. I am looking at it now with new eyes. I can at a single flip through the sections I read last time and those I did not. Now that we know that his issues are not strictly behavioural or flat-out medical it makes be wonder if the missing pieces of the puzzle can be in that his coming of age has brought out new challenges that are addressed in those untouched sections of the book that I find before me?

Already, I find myself captivated with lots of small examples that encapsulate my experiences. Like, for example:

[I] needed to talk with other parents who understood what it is like to live with a child who could scream for forty-five minutes because his toast was cut into triangles and he was expecting rectangles. The kind of kid who would rather die than take no for an answer and knew the perfect trigger to "push my buttons".

Kurcinka, M.S. (2006), Raising Your Spirited Child,p 1.

Oh, how did she know. Is there a hidden camera in my kitchen? No? What about my kids bedroom, then? Because how could she know about the bedroom trashings too?

..much of the advice for raising other children is ineffective with spirited kids. To ignore your child's tantrums is ineffective with spirited kids. He can rage for an hour because you opened a door when he was expecting to do it himself. Send him to his room for time-out and he is liable to tear it apart. There is no distracting him from anything he wants.

Kurcinka, M.S. (2006), Raising Your Spirited Child,p 15.

I don't know if the answers are really here but I suspect this is a reread that I will come to enjoy as I am sure there will be many more tales that I ignored last time because they were not relevant to that stage of PJ's life but perhaps are now. I suspect this is a reread that I am really going to enjoy!