Hello. Please forgive me if I am posting to an inappropriate forum/board. I just stumbled across your forum and I have been feeling very overwhelmed lately and need to find answers and was hoping some of you might be able to provide direction (you all sound very knowledgeable!).
I have had a few people tell me they think my 3yo is gifted. People have ALWAYS told me "he walks to the beat of his own drummer", etc., etc. He tracks with many traits of gifted children, from my limited knowledge. And giftedness runs in both families.
Anyway, my son has "definite difference" on many sensory areas, he's highly imaginative, extremely talkative, very busy, has always preferred older children, incredible memory, mimics things verbally to a tee, wonderful sense of humor, knew the correct names of pretty much every truck, tractor, and machine in existence before he turned 2, but my concern is that he seems not the least bit interested in learning "academics". He is so bright, and I am shocked that he can't or won't learn the alphabet or numbers by sight. Also, he seems to have trouble with puzzles. It seems like these are items that he would excel at if he were gifted. (He will spend hours immersed in "construction work" or science experiments or playing little people).
He is very social, but seems to be in his own world alot (he seeks out peers to have discussions with, but starts rambling about his imaginary friends and they look at him like "what is this kid talking about"). Consequently, he talks out loud to himself alot! His preschool teacher recenlty suggested I move him to somewhere more structured and with older children (referring to his lack of emotional control, rigidity to change, and inability to focus in all the "chaos" of this particular school-it is a child development lab school on a college campus and there are a TON of children and students just doing whatever they want for 3 hours). However, she didn't mention anything at all to me in the way of giftedness. Another concern is that he has always seemed to get anxious or stressed very easily and often, and I don't want him to go through life feeling that way.
Anyway, I could go on and on about stuff, but my main question is where do I start to find out what is going on with him? I really, really want to make sure I place him in a school that is right for him (now and in the future) and that his sensitivity issues don't impact his learning, etc. Who do I call to find out if he really is gifted? What things do I look for? How do I learn the best way to raise him if he is gifted? (I really don't want him to become the next family member who's giftedness is overlooked, if this truly is the case. Nor do I want any learning disabilities overlooked/misdiagnosed). I've noticed people on the forum have mentioned lack of resources. What IS out there? We live in San Luis Obispo, CA, which is a smaller community.
It is so hard for me to talk to people I know about this because I feel they think I am either overprotective/looking for things to worry about, or just bragging about how great I think my child is... Sometimes I wonder if he really is gifted, then shouldn't a teacher or doctor have noticed it and be the one telling me?
Well, thank you for any help any of you can provide to me.
Leah
