I know I'm late coming to this thread but I've read through the responses so far with great interest. About a year ago when I first came here, Ruf's book was the first thing recommended to me. I got it and it did help a lot. It was fun to hear about the other kids and it also was a little eye opening that maybe DH and myself weren't just "hard workers" as I also thought but possibly higher up on the gifted spectrum than we thought (after know more about giftedness and comparin test scores that I know I've had, at least, it seems to confirm this). So I'm thankful in that respect. It showed me that I needed to learn how to be more of a hard worker and that I was in fact coasting by a lot of the time.
As for how it relates to DD. I read it with a grain of salt, but then again I knew already that it was possible to have even large delays in your milestones and turn out gifted (because that's exactly what happened with DH). But I could definitely see how a parent who had a kid that for whatever reason was a slow starter could read that book and get the wrong impression. But then again, I doubt that parent would be as likely to pick up that book, you know?
So as for the online test... I guess, sure it has its flaws, which most of you have pointed out well already but I still think it could have some uses. We're not going to fork over the money ourselves, because, well, I'm cheap! But I could understand why somebody would do so. I'd rather pay for real testing when DD is a lot older and it's needed for school (if we go that route).
I also wanted to add....
This said, I know a few people who exaggerated their children's speech ability and one in particular couldn't remember half of what she told people.
LOL. But this is me too. Not with the exaggeration thing, but with the memory. I just have a lousy memory. People have caught me changing my story and I just say, "Well, the way I told it first must be the truth." I
don't lie, but my memories fade rapidly.
That sounds EXACTLY like DH. When it comes to work related things his memory is great but for DD's milestones, watch out! I've heard him talk to other people and they are all over the place.
I've actually kept records of them so I have a good idea of when she did everything but he can be anywhere from 1 month to half a year off! He certainly doesn't do it on purpose, because he'll go both directions with them, it's just that he doesn't worry to much about them.
