They can read your thoughts, see into the future, know when you're lying, have heightened senses and a problem with authority. No, they're not fictional X-men. They exist among us and are here to save the world. Well, according to people who believe in indigo children they are.

For the last three decades the New Age movement has been championing the idea that scores of children across the globe have been born with super-human and supernatural powers - and that they are the next step in the evolution of mankind. American Parapsychologist Nancy Ann Tappe first came up with the idea in the 1970s when she reasoned that a new type of indigo aura she was seeing around certain youngsters was heralding a new form of consciousness.

Since then, despite the theory's questionable foundations, the number of believers has mushroomed. So too, apparently, has the number of indigos in the world - some estimate that 80 per cent of children born since 1980 are of the indigo persuasion. Management consultant and astrologist Charlie Kennedy (charliekennedy.co.uk), 46, believes her eight-year-old daughter Star is one such child. Star, who has not been told she is an indigo, first showed psychic abilities five years ago.
'On one occasion I was given two pairs of socks by a friend called Diane, ' says Kennedy. 'After washing them five times, I asked Star to pass them to me. Without smelling them she told me that they were not my socks and that they belonged to Diane. I asked her why she thought they weren't mine. She replied: "They smell of Diane." These were socks that I had worn and washed five times!'

Impressive, yet an olfactory ability to identify the original owner of a pair of socks is not going to save the world. But for Kennedy, this is an indication of a far more important destiny. She says: 'The special powers indigo children have make them "older" than the adults around them. They have all come to us at this time because we need "old souls" to help with the survival of our planet or we, the humans around so far, will destroy it!'

Apart from psychic ability, Indigo children have an in-built lie detector that means they won't simply accept "because I say so" as a disciplinary technique. Indigos can be difficult and find traditional school structures impossible to deal with. This means they are sometimes diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or said to be simply disobedient problem children.
Doreen Virtue, author of The care and feeding of Indigo children, says that the difference between a disobedient child and an Indigo is that, 'An Indigo Child is very philosophical so the "disobedience" is actually defiance to the philosophy that they disagree with. A disobedient child, in contrast, has no underlying philosophy for their defiance'

So why are they appearing now? Virtue says, 'There have always been Indigo Children. Some early examples are Joan of Arc and St. Bernadette, two 14 year olds who defied authorities and made significant contributions to the world. There are just many more Indigos today than ever. They are here to usher out the old energy of greed, corruption, and competition, and to usher in the new energy of manifestation, cooperation, and integrity.'

However, the scientific world is deeply sceptical about the existence of indigos and a number of child psychologists have expressed grave concerns about the temptation to explain away problem children by saying they have mystical powers.

Psychologist and author of Darkness Visible, Ross Heaven is not a believer. 'For grown adults to be giving away their power for making decisions on life to a group of children is just ridiculous,' he says. 'There is no evidence for this whatsoever and it merely illustrates people's willingness to hook their hopes on a false saviour, not to mention how reprehensible it is to put so much pressure on a young child.'