Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment late blooming gifted, common or not?

I have two children, a second grader a kindergardener. When my kids were preschool ages I had many friends whose kids were around the same ages and I am not exaggerating, almost every single one of these kids was so advanced compared to my children! My friends had their kids in montessori preschools and most of them told me that their child was in the gifted range. Now as you can imagine I felt concern for my young preschool aged kids because they seemed so late with everything, from potty training to socialization to even talking and then once they talked it seemed like it took a while to talk well with decent grammar. When my eight year old started kindergarten he couldn't even hold a pencil and the teacher couldn't tell if he was right or left handed (turns out he's a lefty)! Anyway, I accepted the fact that my kids were dull to average in intelligence and that everyone else had these gifted kids.

Well fast forward just two years from there and my son is in second grade in a good public school. Somehow and I don't know how, he is testing at a fifth grade reading level and an eighth grade math level. He has been struggling with kids wanting to copy off of his paper and then later they bully him and call him 'nerd' and 'weird'. He tells me all he wants in life is to be average. All the gifted kids we knew now seem so much less advanced. My son was even told to tutor one of the gifted kids. Ironically, one of those gifted kids now bullies my son and calls him 'nerd'. My friends still think they have the gifted kids and still think my children are dull, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I don't like their assumptions of superiority especially when I don't consider them to be very intellectual.

So what I don't understand is why there is so much emphasis on kids doing things early.. From my experience kids who are early to develop end up being average in intelligence later on. As an analogy, even animals seem to mature very early compared to humans as if humans need a slower, but longer maturation to increase intelligence or develop optimal cortical formation. Preschools promote early learning, give false hope to parents that their children are gifted and then make a good profit. The teacher recommended him for the gifted program, but all the slots were filled up, presumably by the kids who were labelled gifted before kindergarten.

Nothing is as simple as it appears I have found. I also have realized that it is really difficult to gage what other kids are doing. That is, just because I don't see a kid with a Harry Potter book in his hand, doesn't mean that he is not reading it at home.

While many of the early bloomers are indeed gifted and will continue to be so, some of them have been completely turned off by a lack of challenge in school. There are others who were "hothoused" in the earlier years, evening out as other catch up in reading or math.

Then there are some like your kids who had other interests in preschool and were not early readers for example. Looking back, can you tell that they were smart? For instance, my girls were by no means early on the academics (although my oldest did start reading at 4, she had NO interest in letters before that, she did not count to 100 early on, etc.); but I was aware that they were very smart from the things they said, their complex pretend play, etc.

What is the deal with your gifted program? I would not take a "no" that easily. How do they identify gifted students? How are spaces allocated? I can see them turning him down for this year, but I have a harder time understanding that they would be no space for him ever. Can you talk to the gifted coordinator for your district? Check online to see their policies or ask for those in written format.

There are those who are late bloomers. Our dds are in a gifted school and I have heard of parents enrolling one of their children but not another, then suddenly, the other one starts to take off academically, and they realize that s/he was gifted as well.

They put my son on the list, but I have the feeling that there are others on this list too and I don't expect many spaces to open up.
As far as my kids showing signs of higher intelligence early on, I have to say that they almost seemed like they had a low IQ. I did all the 'right' things, reading to them, talking from the time they were infants, but both were slow. My daughter didn't even start verbalizing or understanding language until after age 2. Every child I encountered who was her age at the park was developmentally further along. Some things gave me hope that they weren't somehow disabled. They both loved jigsaw puzzles and worked on them together. Also, my son had a great knack for video games, playing very well for a small boy and my daughter was great with all the television technology that my husband has set up.
The whole thing is strange and I have to keep reminding myself that my 'slow' son is actually bright and maybe even more.

Chalk up at least 3 of my kids as late bloomers, of the somewhat 2E variety. In particular, I distinctly remember the conversation with the school psych telling me that my then-3 y.o. was severely developmentally delayed. While that was shocking to hear, I had to surpress a laugh inside, because I knew he was a bright boy. In fact, he's still blooming now at 7 y.o. - he isn't finished yet, by a long shot

This late blooming, in combination with the early deficits, has resulted in an internal struggle for me. Because there was so long that the world focused on what they could not do, I have a hard time shutting myself up about what they can do, i.e., I have a hard time not bragging. I want to shout it from the rooftops, if you know what I mean.

Check out some of Silverman's Visual Spatial writings. From what I was told about my youngest dd, these types of kids can make very huge leaps in their abilities. They have many "peaks and valleys." This might be one reason for the later blooming.

This is currently true for my other dd, who tested extrememly high on IQ but just now has started to show her academic abilities with great leaps of growth. Her MAP scores have just jumped like crazy. She seems to be showing her Giftedness more each day and it's amazing to us how much different she is from Sept. until now.

Connie: I think a lot of parents put their kids in "learning" environments really early because they want the structure and to make sure their kids are getting something academic out of school. At least that's my impression of the folks I know who have their children in Montessori environments for preschool.

Personally, I think that kind of structure isn't age appropriate. I opted for play-based preschools b/c I felt that was best for his development. I did naturally incorporate learning into play, read all the time, etc., but that's just how I am. What I found most interesting with my younger son, who is a kindergartner reading at grade 3 level, is that his preschool teachers didn't even know he could read. Even though he's so far ahead academically, I sometimes just think that it's not so much that he's gifted, but that he's motivated to be an equal to his brother who is two years older. I often call him a case of "older brother syndrome."

Sounds like your friends aren't really very nice people. My second-grader has had to deal with a fair amount of bullying as well, dating back to kindergarten. It's sad that bullying starts so early. I have been lucky in that my son has had teachers who have changed some things around to put a stop to the bullying. If your school isn't doing this, it should be. And it certainly shouldn't pair your son up with a child who is bullying him. That just makes it worse.

There is no pre-k school that is skill-appropriate for Mr W (27 mos). Montessori, because of its different approach and flexibility, ended up being the best compromise - essentially we enrolled Mr W in Montessori as the BASIS for a play-based approach for him.

When we were looking for a place for him, we got some push back from other schools that some things were not "age appropriate" when we queried them about flexibility in learning paths. They saw him as an object to be placed in a abstract hierarchy, not as a human being.


Within his first week there, Mr W's teachers and the school admin approached us to tell us that he was very advanced. This validated our perception that they saw him as a kid who wants to learn and not as an object. They notice new milestones about 2 weeks after we do.

FWIW, that has been our experience too, with our fourth child currently in a Montessori preschool. While a lot depends on the implementation of the method, for our kids (some of whom have had huge disparities between strengths and weaknesses) it's as close as we're going to come to ideal. The flexibility for the individual student has been critical for us, as well as the hands-on, visual approach to learning.

I am waiting for them to find the "late reader, but then takes off like a rocket" gene. My Ds both have it. Neither really read until near the end of 1st grade, in spite of very good verbal skills and much encouragement at home and school. But once they started reading... within 12 months, D2 was reading Lord of the Rings (the whole thing!). And she finished 3rd in the Midwest Academic Talent SAT CR in 8th grade for her age group. I read late as well, but have been a voracious reader ever since the day I figured out that G-O-A-T spelled "goat" (really, I remember the light bulb going on!).

I have also noticed that there are years when D2 makes great leaps in learning, and other years when she is just more average. The "great leap" years are breathtaking, that is for sure. But we have learned not to expect them every year and in every subject

Whenever I see late bloomers, I feel the need to mention the story of my uncle.
Aged 2, my uncle fell out of the window of a two story house. He survived, but spent years in and out of hospital, and my grandmother was informed not to 'expect much' and under any circumstance she must not attempt to 'teach' him - letters, numbers etc. He went through elementary school 'behind', failed important examinations and was put in the 'slow' stream.
Today, of Grandma's four children, he is the one with the Phd., the author of numerous successful books, accomplished musician, linguist and all round academic.
We'll never know if the accident is what led to delayed achievement of if he would have been a late bloomer anyway, but the story always gives me pause.