Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums THINKING BIG About Gifted Education social networking for gifted???

Anyone heard of IGGY (https://www.iggy.net/)?

It's a social networking site for gifted kids aged 13-18. It's based in the UK, but apparently kids have joined from outside the UK. It seems to be school-based at the moment, though this may broaden in time.

I think this would be a wonderful opportunity for many gifted kids, particularly those being homeschooled who have difficulty finding other gifted kids. I would jump at the chance for my pg son since he is a dual US/Uk citizen, though he's only 7.5 years old and being homeschooled.

Does anyone know if there is a social networking site for gifted kids based in the US??? Or is this IGGY the first of its kind??

How do they verify the participants?

Johns Hopkins & CTY has had something called Cogito for several years that is an online forum and chat application for gifted kids. It was a lifeline for my D when she was in middle school (she just graduated from high school). She is still in touch with some of the kids she met there, one IRL and a few on other social networking sites now, although she no longer uses Cogito.

Here is a link. My D was invited to join based on her SAT scores submitted to CTY when she was in 7th grade. I don't know if you can just ask to join or not, but contact info is on the website. By the way, don't be put off by the Templeton sponsorship -- my D said there was never any attempt to stifle or direct their discussions in any way on the forums.

http://cty.jhu.edu/cogito/

Wow, thanks very much. I never heard of Cogito. That's fantastic. I'll definitely contact them.
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As for IGGY - it's primarily school based at the moment. A school or teacher confirms whether a child would qualify or not for IGGY.

I applied this weekend, but the site is programmed for confirmation and verification from a school. The website, though, says that homeschoolers may apply. From what I understand, it seems like you have to provide some documentation as to your child's giftedness to join IGGY. So presumably, IGGY would verify with homeschooling parents as to a child's gifted documentation.

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My pg ds7.5 is so desperate to find someone like him who shares the same interests and thinks like he does. I'm waiting to get the test results for DYS and I do realize that this is where he may find that one soul buddy who ds7.5 can relate. In the meantime, it seems impossible to find that soul buddy or meet ds7.5's social/emotional needs locally or elsewhere in the physical world at least. He's got pretty restricted criteria here .

Ugh. Duh, I didn't realize that Cogito is for STEM kids.

Where's the equivalent for the humanities crowd? My ds 7.5 is a serious Mesoamerican/history buff (at the moment).

I've been trying to gently persuade ds that he may find someone more like him in STEM, but so far he's been resistant to delve into it.

"Ugh. Duh, I didn't realize that Cogito is for STEM kids."

It isn't... at least it wasn't when my D used it a lot. In fact, she used to help monitor the discussion on the Philosophy forum they had at the time. I will say that 7.5 might be a little young for the chat groups out there -- I think there were more middle schoolers and early high schoolers out there when she was active.

Cogito is only available for kids >= 13 from what I can see on their website.

IGGY is only available for kids 13-18 years old too. I contacted them.

Potential Plus UK (http://www.potentialplusuk.org/) is open for younger kids and does have international family memberships.

There is one more organization for gifted children i.e.
http://www.nagc.org/
The National Association for gifted children is an organization in US for parents, teachers, educators and other professionals who unite to address the unique needs of children as well as for those children who may be able to develop their potential with appropriate educational experience.
The NAGC invest all of its resources to train teachers, encourage parents and educate administrators on how to develop and support gifted children.

Matching the curriculum of student is a big formulation of idea, process and infrastructure. Our education system needs to be restructured to provide educational opportunity matched to abilities, strengths and interests of the student. Certainly healthy communication among the students, parents and teachers will reduce the educational gap with the talent. Process skills like higher level thinking, creative thinking, problem solving and research skill may help educators for developing curriculum for gifted students. The nation's infrastructure to serve our high ability and high potential students is in urgent need of attention. Teachers are required to get training and professional development for gifted and talented education. Polcymakers have to review the policies on academic acceleration strategies which will begin to repair our nation's economy and infrastructure.

I don't consider gifted people as having 'social' problems.

As far as I have seen, gifted people work each day on their passions, interests, goals.

They help everyone. They may never ask for help themselves.

They are always busy and productive. They help society with the work they do. They contribute in their own ways, sometimes with charitable contributions and / or volunteer time.

Much of what I have observed as 'normal' social behavior is exactly what a highly intelligent person would never do.

As far as finding the other gifted children, we are not finding them either because it is like a pyramid and there are few and far between at a point and / or they are not available, they are busy working on their individual projects.

Also, you might observe that the gifted children are more interested in topics that other children are not, so they are reading or listening to info. for 'adults.'

We support, I don't know where you are, but I suspect it would be easier to find them where there is a large concentration of colleges (near Boston - a possibility for OP if that is near them). I think Boston has the greatest number of colleges of any city (and surrounding area) in the US. The area where I live has the second highest number, and there are clearly a lot of gifted kids around here. Some of the HG/PG kids may be tough to see (as they may be working on their own stuff), but some are quite social. May be tougher at a young age to see who is gifted. I'm thinking of HS kids who do research with college professors or who have won national academic competitions, but you won't see those things with the younger set.

There is a legal reason most of these are for 13+. Because of the Children's Online Privacy Protection few web-sites want to enroll children who are younger. Most popular online games officially require kids to be 13 (although many kids just lie about their age and use them anyway -- like facebook) or ask that parents sign their kids up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act

Umm..NO. This isn't the definition I know of for gifted children. And while some might act that way, others do not. Some gifted children have social problems and others are quite social and well adjusted. Some are self motivated and others are not. Some love to help others but not all.

The stereotypical gifted students one sees in the media and books, is a kid who read all the time, wear glasses and/or are physically and socially inept. This is just as inaccurate as your description above.

"Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system (e.g., mathematics, music, language) and/or set of sensorimotor skills (e.g., painting, dance, sports)."

http://www.nagc.org/whatisgiftedness.aspx