Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Spurts and slow-downs

Hello -

This quote is from another thread. I am curious to hear about other folks who have experienced this pattern (especially in the 5-6 year age range)

My Ds5y4m has develepoed A LOT of skills in the last year on the gross motor side - bike riding, ball sports, swimming, etc. - but not so much with subjects like math and reading. I am wondering how much is attributed to the change in environment (summer camp and swtiching schools) and how much to "compartmentalizing". He used to be so into math and books. now it is much less intense. especailly math.

Any similar patterns out there? And pardon me if you've shared your stories before...

Hi EastnWest,

I have a dd exactly the same age. I have noticed something similar. Except in our case, instead of gross motor, dd5 seems to have blossomed in the arts/craft/creative department. She used to beg for math workbooks and trips to the library. Now she wants markers, scissors, pipe cleaners and glue. She's drawing treasure maps and creating costumes out of construction paper. None of this interested her in the past. I think it grew out of one of the "stations" in her kindergarten room. She's also writing a lot more on her own, something she's been unwilling to do due to perfectionist issues with spelling words correctly.

It has prompted a minor case of GT denial for me (could she really be that gifted if she seems uninterested in picking up a book to read?). But I'm trying to focus on the fact that she was really average or even actually a bit behind in the creative department (if that can be measured ), so it's nice that she's catching up in that area instead of pulling ahead even more in some of the more academic ones. I keep telling myself the same thing I tell her several times a day, "It's not a race! "

I've definitely noticed that over the years with my kids. I read that when a big leap is occurring, changes in neuronal pathways can cause some things that were previously mastered to become fuzzy. I think this occurs particularly w/ learning to crawl, walk, talk etc.

My son who is almost 6 was obsessed with math facts last winter. Then he went 6 months without even mentioning it and he seemed to have forgotten everything he had taught himself. Lately he has picked up a little more interest but his real passion is science now - something that until 2 months ago he only had a mild interest in.

Yup. When they go with something, they just explode. The latest is DS5 with math. He went from counting and barely reading numbersin Dec. 2008 to now doing 2-digit mutiplication problems in his head and telling time to the minute. 9 or 10 months, and he's like a totally different kid!

This makes me both more and less worried that he's not yet reading. More worried because if he were an ND child, then of course he wouldn't be reading yet. But my GT denial is pretty much shot, so could it be an LD or a visual issue? We're checking these.

Less worried because maybe he's just on a math spurt, and when he's ready to read, he'll go from 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds there, too.

Hi Kriston,

Sounds like our two are on opposite paths - When Tigger (6.10) started school almost 2 years ago we thought he was smart in a general way but in the space of a school year he went from early readers to Charlotte's Web (with no teaching that we are aware of) - just picked up books and read. So when he was moved schools at our first meeting we told them we thought he just had strengths in reading and spelling but just as soon as we said that - wham he found math and telling the time (which drives me mad as there is no such thing as an estimated time in our house now -it has to be to the exact minute, my head hurts, I'm much slower than he is!) We also had a fascinating bath last night where we covered off all the times tables and he wants to learn the 13's but what I found really interesting is that he hasn't learnt them all off by heart yet but I grilled him on how he works them out just as quick and it was really amazing to hear his different methods depending on the sum. Anyone testing him on his tables would not realise that they are not memorised.

What,s the betting when your DS is ready he'll pick up books and just read and then you'll think like we did that he's just been kidding all along and has been secretly reading for ages.

Also we do notice that if he is having a growth spurt and eating more there is less focus on wanting to learn new things.