I don't know if I am gifted because I was never given an IQ test in school. This was years ago, and there were no gifted classes back then anyway.
At high school reunions people tell me that they remember me as one of the "smart" kids. I was bright enough that I usually made straight A's with little effort and in spite of attending a high school where I often worried if I could safely walk to my next class. I learned well in spite of having problems with anxiety and extreme shyness. I just read a lot at home and did most of my learning there. This was before everyone had computers in their homes and access to a wide variety of information.
Being bright, possibly gifted, allowed me to score in the top ten out of hundreds of applicants for different government jobs and also a private company where there was a lot of competition. I scored higher than some people with more education than I had. I scored similarly to my husband on some tests which surprised me because he is obviously much smarter than I am.
Unfortunately, my way of learning is different from my son's, especially with math. I was able to learn the school's way without coming up with or asking about alternative ways of solving problems. If I was told "this is the way you do this problem" then that was the way I did it and I did it without stopping to daydream about something else in the middle of the problem. My son always wanted to argue about math and do it a different way than I showed him. He would ask me questions that I didn't know how to answer. Until I had this child I really thought there was only one way to solve math problems and I didn't learn to think outside the box. We didn't do much math last year at all because I didn't know how to deal with it, yet he has been doing two lessons a day now for the last month on Aleks Middle School Math 1. Handwriting problems added to his difficulties last year and any time he had to do something like long division it was a nightmare. He prefers to do mental math whenever he can. I finally tried Aleks and that is working very well for him. I think if I were really gifted than I would be able to figure out how to help him with some of his 2E issues.
Maybe I was only gifted at test taking. I would like for my son to be able to test well also and I really wish I knew how to help him with that. But I didn't have the handwriting difficulties or problems with fatigue or sensory issues that he deals with. He is scheduled to take the Explore test in January and I wish I knew how to help him prepare for that. I think he might have trouble filling in bubbles on a separate piece of paper. I think he will have trouble with the length of the test. Because of his sensory issues I think he might have trouble focusing on the test in a room full of other test takers. I think he might get too tired to concentrate before he is finished with the test. He is used to working for about 30 minutes and taking a break to move around at home. I don't know if I should ask for accommodations. Since he is homeschooled he has no IEP.
I always thought I couldn't really be that bright because I don't have the "gift of gab" that my son and husband have. Because of my husband's intelligence and people skills he has had people tell him that he should run for mayor or some other office. Strangers have told me that my son might be a "politician" some day for the same reason. They are so much alike. When they speak it is obvious that they are very intelligent. I am very aware that my nine-year-old sounds smarter than I do. When he hears a story on the news he is better at retelling the story than I am. Yet I always made high scores on vocabulary tests. Tests just don't tell the whole story.
