Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment DYS application question

Well, we are filling out the forms for DYS, either I am in GT denial, have a bad yardstick, or I�am over analyzing things. In the discussion questions, especially 2, 3, 5, & 6 about describing our DS6�s ability/talent??? I am at a loss. He is good at math and reading, but not a prodigy. He writes neatly, but is not writing books. He has interests, but nothing where he has surprising depth of knowledge. He is overall very balanced. He loves Legos, but so do most kids. He built the Eiffel tower mostly himself (for age 16) but dad did help on the repetitive tasks. He built a knex rollercoaster, the directions are little hard to follow, but he used the directions. He loves games, we play the Pok�mon card game, chess, monopoly, life, blockus, and some scrabble, and even a middle earth version of risk. I don�t see any of these as a talent, like music. He does play the electric guitar a little. I don�t see any prodigious talent; he is about 3+ years ahead in math, and about the same in reading, and about 1-2 years ahead in writing. I guess I think they are looking to have their socks knocked off, and I see nothing that he does that will do that. For those that have filled out the form maybe you could send me some guidance.

Edwin.....

You my friend just described an entire page of ability. There are VERY few 6 yo's that can build an Iffel tower or a rollercoaster. Even fewer that can play chess or scrabble. You are overthinking the process, maybe you need to spend an afternoon with a roomful of ND 6yo's to realize your DS' special qualities.

My answers weren't very earthshattering, on the outside my DS6 is pretty regular. Most of what I wrote were about things he said, things where adult reasoning was used etc...

Good Luck!!

Yeah, Edwin, don't stress yourself out. If you are submitting strong IQ and achievement scores, they pretty much speak for themselves.

Good luck.

A glass of wine or two makes the application much less daunting Write down things he did which really surprised you. I bet there are some.

Thank you, everyone. I guess when its part of you everyday life, things seem quite normal. I think I will try the wine. And we have been lucky that he attends a school with DYS children his own age and in his own class. So things just seem "normal".

Hope to see you *on the other side* soon, Edwin.

Oh, p.s. You probably already did this, but maybe one of his rec's can come from one of the other DYS parents you know.

When I applied for my dd6 I thought the same thing. She was ahead, like you describe, but nothing "prodigious". I too, was worried about there not being anything "out there" to put on the application. I agree that if you write the activities you describe as well as have the tests to back up his ability you will be fine. They accepted my dd without any one "special" thing that she does. I guess she's just well rounded and that's ok too!!!!
Good luck to your son!

Laura

I never thought about the DYS mom, My DW and her are becomming good friends, we did ask his current teacher for a rec. I will bring it up when I get home.

Thank you Laura, it gives me some piece of mind. It's funny when you read about music, math prodigies, this is what you expect. Or a very laser focused child on one subject with great depth.

He just loves playing Pokemon card games with the other boys in his class, and his favorite subject at school is recess.

Oh Edwin, do you have my kid's long lost twin? He's almost 6 and can't find another kid in his class to play Pokemon with so I'm stuck playing all the time! We also play Stratego, Risk and Battleship all the time. Recess is also his favorite subject, along with free-choice lego building time. He doesn't have a "thing" either, which actually had my DH in GT denial for a long, long time.

We're in the process of deciding if we want to re-test, apply via portfolio or scrap DYS all together. He misses the IQ cutoff by a few points and has so far, not been really attentive enough to do achievement testing.