Is it a gift? well the answer to that is NO, We all have the ability within us, we are all the same, we are all made from the same energy, we have a spirit, we all laugh, cry, bleed and smile. Personally any mediums or psychics who claim to have god gifted abilities are generally the ones to avoid.
So why do some seem to be born with it? Well the reason is people who seem to be born with the ability have not just been given a gift as some people call it, it's just they have developed the ability which we can all do, maybe in a past life or many past lives or while learning in the spirit world, spiritual learning can be many life times, maybe they were a medium or spiritual teacher in a past life. Even when we come back to earth, when we are born we have that ability, as children, we have imaginary friends or not so imaginary, most children who have these friends are actually speaking and playing with spirit, we tend to lose this ability when we start our first school, from teachers and other kids saying "don't be so silly, there's no one there" and this shuts it off.
The problem is we all, including myself get so wrapped up in our lives with work, home, children and every day problems etc, but that's good that's what we are here for, to live our lives and that`s what it's about, but if you want to develop you need to set aside some quiet time for yourself, even if it's just 5 minutes a day, just sit and send thoughts to spirit. This quiet time is important, we need to quiet down our minds and relax our bodies so we can perceive the subtle vibrations from spirit.