Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Link Dr. Ruf

Here's a link that shows what kinds of schools would be exected to fit a (non2E) gifted child, according to the child's extimated gifted level.

I find it really reasuring to have it all here in "black and white" from data that can be collected before school even starts.
http://www.pagiftededucation.info/documents/LevelsofGiftednessPresentation.pdf

And another Dr. Ruf 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

I sure refer to these links quite often. Silly thing is that my son learned to read at a perfectly ordinary age 6. But he was like a human lie decector for Santa, and the Tooth fairy, etc. I wish I could remember more details. Instead of puzzels, he had a computer program that did puzzles by moving the mouse around. I sure don't remember how many pieces they had. He always hated mazes - there's the possible visiual problems for you. That's why I say that any measure of gifteness that your child does well on establishes a floor, not a ceiling.

Love and More Love,
Trininty

Trinity,

My DD8 totally opposite. She loves mazes, did them at an early age without any difficulties, same with puzzles. She would actually flip them over so you could only see the shape of the piece, not the picture. This created enough challenge for her. But she is very imaginative and still believes in Santa and toothfairy. Although she wondered at 5, why people would go to Disney to see "bunch of people dress up as cartoons". I find this very interesting how children develop at different rates in different areas.

Jeni

I have an adult friend who is profoundly gifted and strongly visual-spacial. She always flips puzzles over to solve them. She says its because she finds the pictures too distracting. If she is just dealing with the shape of the piece it's just the right amount of information, but she finds all the colors overwhelming and unnecessary.

Jeni,
He was also like a human lie detector with his Grandparents who told him that he couldn't have a 2nd ice cream sandwich because there weren't anymore. Too bad for them that their freezer was on the bottom of their frig, and although he was just barely walking and most of his talking was pointing and grunting and "No! No!", he opened up the door and showed them the box. ((tears of laughter)) Great fun watching my own parents outsmarted by my toddler! I had warned them many times that fibbing wasn't a good stratagy with this one, I was just a first time mom - what did I know?

I still heavily monitor TV news, as it seems almost nothing goes "over his head."

Smiles,
Trinity

Hi E!
Here are the Ruf Links. I enjoyed the book, but the links will get you started.
smiles,
Trinity

Thank you, Trinity. Our son is level 5.

The part about "high school level grade equivalencies" - does Ruf mean that part of the achievement test (like the WIAT-III) which lists that information? Or something different? We just got our results for the WISC-IV and WIAT-III yesterday so I have all of that information top of mind.

E

Thanks for the links.

According to the checklist I'd say dd is a level 4. Of the 30 behaviors listed on level 5 dd has 21 of them. So maybe she's a 4.5? hehe.

Funny story about block design; dd had the WISC IV test recently. She has never like puzzles, even as a small child. It wasn't surprising that the one area she scored low on was block design. So she came home that day and told me how she only got about 1/2 of them. She proceeded to go get 4 wooden blocks from her brothers block set. She drew the patterns on them that were on the test and proceeded to practice. She made me think of patterns and time her (like was on the test) By the next day she had block design mastered! There wasn't a single design I could come up with that would stump her. Its interesting to me how she learns and how quickly she processes information.

Now she still believes in Santa and the Tooth Fairy! Either that or she's totally going along with the ruse! She did ask about them both when she was really small, maybe 2 or 3? Asking how it was possible etc. I love the "magic" of Santa and so I did not tell her it was pretend. I simply told her that Santa is real to those who believe. So she may be one of the few who is still holding on to that belief!

Tammy, I thought our son would tank on the block design. It turns out that he solved ALL of the problems in that section. However, he finished the hardest problem about 30 seconds after she had to stop the clock, so she couldn't count that one toward his score. I was really surprised that he did well...he must have inherited his father's analytical skills.

E