Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Conflicting test results, 3 year gap

Wow, aeh, this was a bit of a revelation for me. I had never heard of gestalt/simultaneous thinkers. I had to google it. But it makes a lot of sense. Some thoughts:

* I used to comment when she was little that she seemed to learn by osmosis. I never saw evidence of direct learning, and most times I tried to directly teach her something it failed. Somehow she just absorbed information and skills. Oh, and she literally never stopped moving (another reason I thought she had ADHD). She never seemed out of control though, it was just constant motion. If gestalt learners need to move when incorporating new information, then this would explain a lot.

* She's nearly 8 and still has trouble knowing what time of day it is, eg will ask me if it's the afternoon yet when it's clearly dark outside. Took her a very long time to learn to read a clock. Follows a learned process to solve time/clock questions in maths, but doesn't really 'get' it.

* Good with graphs, fractions (the visual kind not the 'a over b' kind), but still doesn't know addition and subtraction maths facts by heart and will use her fingers.

* Weak in lots of sequential-thinking skills but, thankfully, is good at learning processes. Follows processes to do long addition, subtraction, algebra, etc. Follows processes to get dressed in the morning, get ready for bed etc. Also really great at following a process to construct and arrange entire songs using loops and samples, (makes chorus first, then makes verse, then makes intro, middle 8, etc., then copies/arranges the sections and adds in 'ear candy', sound effects, etc.).

* Reads a book or watches a show/movie but cannot tell me what happened. Struggles a lot with explaining order of events, or even distinguishing between important information/events in a storyline vs random facts.

* Good at learning choreography. Sees a dance move that might have arms, legs, torso all doing different things at the same time, and can just DO it, without having to break it down constituent movements. Likewise, good at most sports without having to breakdown movements.

* Always moving and often doesn't look at me when I'm trying to explain something (and I'm guilty of always telling her to sit still and look at me - but I'll stop now!)

I think I have a lot more to google on this topic.

Very glad that if DD's oddities turn out to be the result of EF weaknesses and gestalt learning style, that she can be taught skills to deal with both.

Can I ask you for one more huge favour? If you had to make a list of things to investigate further based on what we've covered in this thread so far, what sort of order would you put things in?