Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Link Dr. Ruf

Thanks! I also just found www.dyspraxiawn.org.uk that explains what is going on in the brain.

We asked our OT about protein supplements because my daughter's boyfriend, who is into bodybuilding and used to work at a health food store, recommended something called Muscle Milk. The OT said she didn't think protein supplements were really necessary if he gets plenty of protein in his diet, but she did recommend omega-3. None of this stuff is cheap.

She didn't say anything about trying therapeutic listening and my son doesn't have language or auditory processing difficulties so I don't know if that would help him.

In therapy sessions, she has him do a lot of swinging activities and since I don't have the equipment she has this is difficult to do at home. All we have is a backyard swing and a therapy ball and a bicycle that he still can't ride without training wheels (partly because of lack of muscle strength and because I had trouble getting him to practice). She said he needed to learn to ride a bicycle even if it is just for a short distance, so he has to ride it around our circle driveway which I am sure is kind of boring. He complains a lot about having to do this. He only sees the OT once every two weeks and I don't see how this will help when dance and piano lessons for the last four years haven't fixed his problems. I don't know how swinging could possibly help him learn dance routines any faster and this is his main area of difficulty, but I am hopeful that he might improve in some things. Since we homeschool we can already work around most of his other problems by letting him type instead of having to do a lot of writing. I would like to ask the professionals on the UK website some questions but I don't know if they would answer me since I don't live in the UK.

I already let my son take breaks to do physical activities throughout the day and this was one of the things she recommended.

Someone recently asked what Ruf Estimated levels were - so I'll bump this up:

The best way to read up on them is to get her book - losing our minds, gifted children left behind by Dr. Deb Ruf

If you are impatient - a really not detailed enought link
to help you estimate your child's level of giftedness. The checklists start about halfway down the page.
http://www.educationaloptions.com/levels_giftedness.htm

gives you a general idea.

Be warned that it's no good in proving your kid isn't gifted if you don't meet the usually milestones - really small sample size, although if your kid does meet the milestones it a 'quick and dirty' way to get an estimate of IQ scores.

I like them for quite early readers who won't test well, or for doing a 'first approximation' so one knows one isn't crazy, and that one has to 'travel' for a meaningful IQ test.

Sadly, if a child has 2E issues, there isn't any checklist like this that is useful, that I know of - of course if the child is performing 3 grade levels above their agemates, that's the final word on 'are they gifted.' They just plain are! We tend to grow up in gifted families and think that any child getting one-to-one attention would perform above grade level, but we are quite wrong.

Grin

Grinity

You can supplement for Omega 3 by eating more fish, eggs that are enhanced and Costco has fish oil tablets that are not that expensive. As I reach middle age and deal with the big M word, fish oil is de rigeur.

Ren