THis thread reminded me of this post at The More CHild blog.
http://themorechild.com/2007/12/26/why-elementary-teachers-overlook-the-verbally-gifted-child/I not only think of a highly verbal child as a great reader but also a great thinker. I remember just being puzzled by DS's VCI on the WISCIV and his verbal scores asking myself "What does it mean?" Does it mean he knows a lot of words? After reading here and other places, I came to think that it was more making connections, critical thinking. . . . . . Probably b/c I'm not a computation wiz. Perhaps we're more impressed w/ skills/abilities we don't ourselves possess?
Totally agree with this. Thanks for the link as I was reminded of that post also, but didn't bother to look for it.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this because I have kids who test the same but seem to me to have different abilities and I've tried to figure out what I mean by verbally gifted. For me, it would be insight and critical thinking about topics that are way, way more abstract than typical for age. So not only the ability to read science, but also the ability to design a really great experiment at 7 and criticize research design in other work by 5. Or when asked any question with an obvious black-and-white type answer, always seeing the pitfalls in the obvious and choosing complications and layered gray. But it is also vocabulary which is atypical for age (a recent fun word was "emetic" used correctly in casual converation), and comprehension in texts. I've taught college humanities and realize that many college students don't read that well when the text is complicated and subtle distinctions are made. It really is unusual to do that well in early elementary.
