G&T Mom - It's so insightful hearing of others making the Math into something more than it is. It's comforting knowing others are experiencing this yet make me worry for the impact this will have on Math for my children. I'm thinking Math is a lot about do it this way. I wonder if our gifted teacher sees this complicating Math as creative or just not getting it. I would love to send her a note but I'm afraid it might be perceived the wrong way. I'm just not sure.

My child does not have any reading or speach issues. He just has a fast brain that wants to learn

Chiming in here to say I see the same thing in DS9. He's been accelerated too, and is having trouble slowing down. I was actually thinking of starting a thread about it!

I don't know if harder work is the answer in his case. I'd be grateful for input, though.

His problem is that he doesn't pay attention to details. I wonder if it's a maturity thing. For example, his math teachers agree that he learns concepts very quickly and that he has a very strong understanding of them. The problem is that his computational work is subpar. So, he knows that the decimal point needs to be in x position, but he makes a mistake because he's rushing and his columns skewed to the left or right and a decimal point moves. Alternatively, he'll make a simple mistake in long division when doing a conversion problem. In other subjects, he rushes to finish and so doesn't do as well as he might.

I've tried to give him step-by-step instructions (1. Copy formula. 2. Plug numbers in. 3. Do operations. 4. Check work: are signs correct? Does answer make sense?). This approach worked earlier this year, but I seem to need to repeat it more than I have been!

Overall, I do think it's a maturity problem.

Val

Descarte's Cove is not a curriculum. It would be more appropriate as a Problem-Solving adjunct to a regular curriculum. My DD 13 is taking CTY's Algebra I now online, and I use Descarte's Cove as a fun break from "regular Math." It is challenging for her at this level.
Hope this helps.

I realize this might not be an option for kids not homeschooling, but I've had good luck at reducing the number of hurried "dumb" mistakes DS8 makes when I give him fewer, harder problems. Too many problems--even if they're challenging--and he rushes to get done or gets overwhelmed. But if there aren't that many to do, he slows down and focuses better. (Well, most of the time, at least...)

We also have problems with keeping columns straight. Graph paper or requiring as part of the assignment that he draw in the lines for the columns on each problem helps.

This doesn't address the issue of reading comprehension, obviously, but maybe doing something analogous with reading could work? Give a shorter, harder passage to read? The "columns" could be comprehension questions given at the start of the reading assignment, maybe?

Trying to help, even if I fail...

Oh yes. Seen it and done it.

When Miss Underchallenged jumped from 4th to 6th grade, suddenly she became organized and learned to follow directions. She is not perfect, and she still goes too quickly or guesses at things that defy logic, but I see genuinely huge progress in many areas which we struggled with last year. She *has* to follow directions, *has* to know which class she is going to next, *has* to actually TURN IN homework.

I'll bet your daughter will make rapid progress as well.

Sorry, can't offer any advice to the bulk of your post but just a thought regarding the WISC IV results.

My son was tested a number of years ago using the WISC III. Are the subtests in which your daughter scored lower the ones that use speed for bonus points? Does the WISC IV still use these type of subtests? If so my son had a similar outcome. He reached the test ceiling on all of the subtests except the 3 that use speed. In our case the psychologist explained it was due to the fact that he would check over his work before looking up. She also stated that these types of tests disadvantaged children who were impulsive and therefore likely to make mistakes when pressured. Maybe something to think about.

I hope this helps.
matmum

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in. I know that in my own case in school...I spent a lot of time able to guess the answers. In fact I graduated from school never really learning to study effectively. I was certainly not achieving high grades despite the fact that I was in AP classes and gifted pull out all through school, including some college level courses in high school. I didn't lack motivation as much as I feared failure. I actually felt I didn't deserve the gifted label and felt at some level out to prove just that. I was frustrated at why I didn't know all the answers automatically, but also felt I didn't want to put all the time and energy into learning something the "hard" way.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, but it's the best I can remember of myself.

Now in my daughter, I see the path in which she's headed and I wonder how to help her. She learns easily and is tested at 5 years above grade level in reading and comprehension and 2 years above grade level in math. It's easy to see that when your that far ahead of your peers, you don't learn to learn.

Your daughter is born primed and ready to learn, she just new at it being effortless.

I love all the response you've had, this board is so informative.

CrazyDaisy