Brian's exceptional child (5)

I believe the answer is:

bairn

'child' is the definition.
(Scottish and northern English term for a child)

'brian's exceptional' is the wordplay.
'exceptional' indicates an anagram.
'brian' is an anagram of 'BAIRN'.

(Other definitions for bairn that I've seen before include "little one in Yorkshire" , "A tot of Scotch" , "Child in Scotland" , "Northern child" , "A Scottish child?" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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