Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Child Compelled to Count

Are you feeling a little irrational, maybe?

Well, I'm sure she's a complex person.

Perhaps even transcendental...

We got the cat in numberland from the library too; ds8 has always enjoyed discussions of infinity, probability, estimating and collecting 'stats'; I think maybe more of the 'messy' stuff people have mentioned.
At 6 he came up with a game for the car where we'd count types of cars in different areas of the city and talk about why the numbers were the way they were and other variations on this.
I don't think he's driven to count, but he enjoys it.

Has anyone checked out The Number Devil?? Very awesome.
DS enjoyed this one as a bedtime story a couple years back; might have to try and find it again (libary).

http://www.amazon.com/Number-Devil-Mathematical-Adventure/dp/0805062998

Kriston, that is wonderful, if not entirely unexpected news, about your ds4! Very cool. Do you think the glasses are helping in this arena? If so, good investigating, Mom!

I don't think it's the glasses. He does the math in his head. It just seems to be a sudden explosion of interest and ability. Even his pre-K teacher has noticed it. He lights up when he talks about anything mathy.

(And that's neither imaginary nor irrational! :p )

A couple quick things:

1. I bought The Cat in Numberland from Amazon in Canada (I forgot the web address but it ends in .ca I think). It was only like $18.95 or something.

2. My DS5(ok I'll give him the 6 - DS6, since his bday is next week) who I wholeheartedly believe is a VSL went through such a counting phase (he still *adores* tape measures and the like. been known to break a 25' black and decker). He has a major speech delay, among other things, so I have long assumed he has left-brain weaknesses. dumb questions: is a person adept at counting also good at sequential activities? or not? Isn't counting kinda the definition of sequential? Can a person have auditory deficiencies but not sequential? He is my math boy, but he seems to be as good at calculating as he is at concepts (indeed better than DD7, who is quite the VSL). Maybe he's just a bright kid with a speech delay and not as heavily VSL/weak on left brain stuff as I had thought? I guess I need to re-read upside down brilliance yet again...

Thanks for your very interesting replies. LOVE the math humor! Sorry for my bad "threadiquet" in not replying sooner. (I got distracted by a major school issue yesterday followed by a hot water heater leaking through the ceiling. I guess when it rains, it "pours"!).

DH always says things like he'll be home at approximately 5:03 - I guess I'm living with 2 of them!

Her teacher thinks that she has been slower to take off on reading than her sister because she loves math and English reading often doesn't fit into nice patterns and rules. She doesn't do large addition in her head, but analyzes everything. No middle letter in the alphabet, facts about piano keys, etc. Her favorite Christmas present was a calculator. Her endless curiosity is exhausting. I don't remember that with her sister.

The Cat in Numberland
http://www.cobblestonepub.com/book/KBK62744.html?x=11.8482685089110696166001234659214

Including shipping, it's about $15. I may have to order it for my DS4 who is loves to talk about infinity.

EDIT: Hmmm, ok I have no idea what happened, but the link is now saying $19.95. I placed my order and it charged me $14.95 including shipping. It's still cheaper than $50 though!

mamaandmore - I ordered it from there last August or September, and it took a few weeks to find out that they did not have it in stock and didn't know when they'd be getting it. I hope they have it now! It sounds like you got a good deal! I ended up cancelling my order at that place when I found it from amazon.ca. Here's the link for that in case anyone needs it
http://www.amazon.ca/Cat-Numberland...mp;s=books&qid=1234669303&sr=8-1

Thank you for the heads up! I'll call them Monday and see if they can check stock for it. If they don't have it, this will be the 2nd time this week I've tried to order a book from a company only to find out that they don't really have it- maybe it's a sign I should stick with the library, lol.