Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Levels of giftedness

P.S. And I'm not even factoring in the creativity argument, which I think is important.

One example comes to mind right away, J.
My 2 year old was in daycare at least 5 hours a day. I think many things would have turned out differently if he had had other children to play with who were interested in the same things he was interested in. Perhaps at 2 he was still 'close enough' to his agemates, but by age 3, I'm quite sure he would have benifited from being able to spend at least some of the day with older kids.

And although I agree with the idea that it would be nice to wait for an issues to deal with it, I think you know what the waiting lists are like for some of the testers. 6 months can be a long time for a child who is activly suffering. In addition, it took me at least 18 months to clear away the gifted denial, so it seems likely that it would be useful to help parents of preschoolers get together earlier for support.

Smiles,
Trinity

I've heard it said the some research on 6 month olds is a pretty good indicator of future IQ scores. ((LOL - it wasn't are they talking? are they reading? I think it was, how quickly to they get bored by seeing the same old, same old visual stimuli - that sure would explain alot about my son's early alert and please entertain me years)) Anyway, I think that if we are going to check developmental milestones and offer early interventions, it would make sense to use a yardstick appropriate to the child. Not that I want to lable anyone at 6 months, but oh, to live in a world where that kind of information would be applied kindly and thoughfully! Poor tounge-tied Dottie's - DS!

That would be cool.
Trinity

sorry to ask but I'm new how does the DD , Ds terminology work?

dd = dear daughter
ds = dear son

Thanks! It was obviously son and doughter but thought that the first "d" might have been esoteric.

Thanks.

I find that I am reading (and I guess writing, too) as a gifted adult of a gifted daughter. In many ways I think that I profited by the lack of programs and structure as a kid. I skipped four grades, took university classes in seventh grade and generally did whatever I wanted to. It's fascinating to see the pros and cons of 'standardizing" gifted education options. Luckily my daughter is in a small school with a remarkable set of asynchronously developing kids.

Hmmm...You make it sound like you think I'm obsessed with achievement, gratified3. I don't think that's true or fair.

I, too, think character development and play are vital to a child's development. Of course I do! And I did a good job on those things, doggone it! But giving a child those important things and offering developmentally appropriate intellectual stimulation are NOT mutually exclusive!

Maybe part of the problem is that my DS6 was in many ways a stealth-HG+ kid. I knew he was GT. But I didn't realize just what I was dealing with. And I'm sorry, but there's a big difference in the needs of a kid who's ND or just "a little" GT and one who is really extraordinarily bright. I am having a hard time believing that you don't think so! I don't think I met my son's intellectual needs until I knew just how smart he was. I'm glad you feel that you did exactly the right things for your kids, gratified, but I don't feel I did. More info would have helped me.

I'm not one to dwell on regrets; moreover, my regret wasn't really my point. My point is that there are, indeed, VALID REASONS for some of us to want to know about a child's abilities before school. This isn't just about advocacy, and it's certainly not about status-seeking, as I feel you are implying. (I admit, I'm a bit offended, though trying not to be...)

No. It's about providing a sufficiently stimulating home environment. DS6 has always been relatively quiet and polite and happy to entertain himself. Those are fine things. They make him easy to deal with. But they also masked his level of GTness.

I feel like my point is being trivialized here. You may certainly disagree with me. I can be easy to disagree with. But please don't try to make it sound as if I'm one of "those" hothousing moms with some wacky "parenting philosophy" that differs from your common sense one. Truth be told, I would describe my parenting philosophy just as you do yours. But my son could read at the 4th grade level in K, and I had absolutely nothing on his shelf that was above the 4th grade level; most of his books were a grade-level or three lower than that. I mean, I though having some books that were 4 years above grade level would be enough. I was wrong. And the math...ugh!

Maybe I was an idiot. Maybe I was inattentive. Maybe I should have known. Maybe we weren't providing an adequate learning environment for any kid. But I didn't know, and I'd argue that the learning environment we provided would have been exceptional for a kid who was ND or MG. But it was NOT enough for an HG+ kid. And I know for a fact I'm not the only person who was surprised to find out her child was smarter than she realized.

Do I favor early testing? No, of course not. The only reason we figured out DS6's level of GT was because the K teacher wanted him tested. I didn't have him tested at all. I did no advocacy whatsoever. I wasn't hothousing. I wasn't pushing. But do I have regrets that he languished, when I see how happy he is now that he's not languishing? You betcha.

And I think that's a valid reason to want to ID these kids as early as possible. Through some means. I'd love a better means than testing!

I never needed a test to tell me I had a PG child. I just knew. I guess when they are little you just give them what they ask for and let them lead the way. Before my DD started school we made a weekly trip to the bookstore. I must have spent thousands of dollars on books because she was reading them faster than I could get them. I don't think knowing her IQ score would have made a difference at that age.

I finally seeked testing in order to apply to a gifted school. I had to admit I didn't know how gifted she was, but I knew she wasn't an average kid. I knew a regular school would not be able to provide the challenge she would need.

I hope that had I known her IQ score earlier I would not have done anything differently.

Hi Kriston, I really think that this the key piece of information. My kid was never quiet and he certainly wasn't stealth about his GT. He was the kind of person who at 3 would ask questions relentlessly (and not in that "why? why? why?" monotone that ND kids use). It was more like "Why does that sign say "danger", but the other one says "warning'?" And "why does that sign say 'employees only beyond this point' what do you think is beyond that point? why can't we go there?" And he moved around all the time wanting to know about everything. So I did not need any testing to tell me he was smart and he was such a fireball and so demanding that I did everything he needed just by doing what he asked me to do, including checking out the 6th grade books from the library because he asked for them. He does the same in school--he keeps all the teachers on the ball and doesn't let a mistake go unnoticed. Nope, he's not even polite! So I cannot regret anything, but I don't think I can take credit for that--it was DS's doing.

But your kid seems to have a completely different temperment and I think that changes a lot. I know I am frequently guilty of assuming that other people's children will respond like my child (my "n" of 1 to use statistical speak) does and I am frequently wrong, which isn't statistically surprising. LOL.