As far as reading goes, she likes the typical stuff like Magic Treehouse, but she thinks it's really easy. She'll sit down and read a whole book in one sitting. I probably need to get to the bookstore and get her some better stuff. I just know from comparing her to my older daughter (who is only 20 months older) that she is so much more fluent. It was so frustrating when my older daughter was trying to read and her little sister could do it before her. And just as a comparison, my older daughter scored 123 on the CogAT, so almost qualified for testing, and is tracked into the advanced math class as well.
I have a brother 3 years younger who taught himself to read about the same time I was learning to read, at age 6. Yup, I can see why a parent would try and sandbag the younger. But in the long run, I think it's better to aim for a family where everyone is allowed and appreciated to be who they are. Did it undermine my self confidence? Yes, it did, but then on the other hand, we played hours and hours of boardgames, and the fact that I could beat my younger brother half of the time meant more to me than then the reality that I could beat age peers all of the time. So when it came to job training in a male-dominated field, I had more than enough self-confidence, which I trace back to competing with younger brother.
I wouldn't say that you have to have them read aloud 'head to head' but I would start bringing home real books from the library for 'whoever wants them' and see if you can get either one of them hooked on actual literature for children. I love 'Little House on the Prairie' and 'Phantom Tollbooth' anything by E.B. White and the books in the OZ series. Books published before 1970 have a better chance of being kid-appropirate in subject matter.
Kerrip,
It is again one of those cruel tricks played on gifted families, that one one sits us parents down and lays out the situation. If I had funding, I would travel throughout the US and tell moms: "Ok, the books that are currently being written and sold as good for beginners are good for most kids, but you need to be exposing your children to books with strong characters, excellent language and the beginnings of a plot much earlier than the other parents do."
Magic Treehouse series is one of the best of it's type, but still ((cringe!))
My guess is that once you take the sandbags off (maybe off of both daughters - afterall, it isn't how well one read's aloud that really matters, it's how deeply one dives in!) and make a conscious effort to encourage your daughters to talk to strangers on a regular basis, in a year the WISC might pop right up to where you want it.
My mom was pretty brutal in training all of us kids to talk to strangers. If we happened to be in a restaurant, we didn't eat unless we could order from ourselves at an obnoxiously young age. If we were waiting in line, my mom would strike up a conversation with any available adult and then pressure us into 'showing off' for the grown up in line (usually she picked little old ladies who were charmed) as in,
DDM: Beautiful Day, isn't it?
LOL: Yes, nice change after the recent hurricane
DDM: My daughter know all about how hurricanes form, here dear, tell this nice lady about hurricanes.
me: well, um, there are these wind currents (and so forth)
Whenever relatives or special friends of hers with older children would come to visit, each child was expected to 'entertain/show off' one of our special skills - from playing a song on the piano, to explaining the mating habits of penguins,or singing TV jingles. My mom usually chose what we did with leading suggestions. It was embarrassing but validating at the same time. DDM made it clear that we were only doing our part to help the Adult get to know us, which was part of why they came, afterall.
DDM also had me checking out our grocery order, holding the money was fun. She also sent me into the library at about age 7 to pick up one of those OZ books for my younger brother and she was generally was willing to make a PIA of herself to give me chances to interact with adults, and she was great at coaching. I did a bunch of that with my son without even realizing how abnormal it was.
In fact I always forget how unusual that part of our upbringing was. DDM was clear that her kids were NOT going to hide their light under a bushel. With my son, I tried to add further guidance that once kind of behavior works with Adults and a different set of behavior works with Kids. I had to figure that out myself the hard way ((wink!))
shrugs and more shrugs,
Grinity
