Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Testing and social obliviousness

Edited for privacy

Can't help with the testing question. But wanted to say that my dd4 is the same way. I got proof of it when I subbed for her teacher last week. There were 5 girls and 2 boys in her class that day. All the girls hanged out together, so did the boys and dd was by herself. She was very happy and did not seem to mind at all that she was by herself. In fact when I gently suggested that she join the others she said," yeah I thought about it. But I did not want to follow x (the leader girl) and decided to do my own thing." I let her be. It did bother me a bit but my mom reminded me that I was the same way as a kid. Even now I don't have friends but I am extremely happy. Some people just don't need to be part of a group to feel comfortable. They don't belong in a herd. At least that is the way I look at it. Maybe ask your dd how she feels and if she is unhappy with her social situation, you can help her with her concerns. Hth

The Rainbow Loom was a great way to help our daughter fit in better socially in a new class this year. Her intelligence paid dividends because she was able to follow the more advanced patterns on places like YouTube and now even makes her own 'charm' designs which she has given friends.

We did the testing purely because we wanted to better understand why she appeared to be getting isolated socially and was displaying extreme over excitabilities as well. Testing opened our eyes (and, frankly, our sphincters LOL) we are glad that we did it because it helped us to better understand our daughter and provided us with the empirical data needed to get educators to better understand her as well.

Yes, I think the rainbow look is helping her, too! But, this means I am going to have to learn to be more socially aware myself. I am also oblivious, but, like my daughter, I do want to be liked and have friends. I was just never that great at it.

Getting the testing sounds like a good does then. She also displays over excitability. Sometimes she falls out of her chair at the dinner table telling us a story.

Just a word of caution - social obliviousness is not an inevitable characteristic of high intelligence. Your DD could have a treatable condition - it is not unusal for exceptionalities to co-exist such as autism and ADHD.

Fortunately, psychologist are qualified not only to test IQ but to diagnose disorders. On the other hand, your DD may just be an introvert or just a bit delayed socially.

Instead of spending money on more testing, I'd put it towards group therapy. If you live in a decent sized city you should be able to find social skills groups. These are often directed towards autistic kids, but the goal is the same.