Hi,

I'm new. My elder daughter is very intelligent. She is also diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome; she has some social delays and some sensory processing issues.

First, I want to make sure that I am correct to be following the gifted and talented line of inquiry.

Penguin, is very intelligent and has always demonstrated a large vocabulary. She also has an astute memory. Currently she is 6 years old, is finishing up kindergarten, and has recently completed her first reading and math NWEA tests. She topped out on the reading test, scoring at the upper end of 5th grade - the limit. I'm not surprised by this because when we sometimes read the New York Times Science section together. She reads it faster than I do and asks very detailed questions. She is obviously synthesizing new information with her already extensive background knowledge. Science and nature are her aspie style special interest areas.

While Penguin has not had any formal math instruction, she scored at about the mid 2nd grade level on her NWEA. She has an amazing ability to hold numbers in her head and enjoys creating gigantic problems for the family to solve. A typical diner conversation will have her ask: "What's 7 + 12 + 3 - 2 + 4?" Then she'll let us know if we got the answer correct.

Does this sound gifted to you?

If so, what steps should I take from here? Our school district does not hIave much of a gifted program. They don't identify kids as being gifted until at least 3rd grade because until then all differences could be attributed to nurturing.

Thanks!

Well it never hurts to investigate when something catches your interest.  The Giftedness trail of articles will be written about people's experiences.  Some things you read will have you nodding in agreement.

Does your kid sound gifted?  You've said twice she's very intelligent. I'd say yes.  I guess there's levels of giftedness.  

I guess you're asking if you should worry about nurturing giftedness when you should be focusing on remediating difficulties.  I looked for an article that says you should do both because that's what I think. 




http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10665.aspx


Since I don't know you, your lifestyle, your concerns I don't really know what step your on so I can show you hoagies.com list of 2e consultants if your looking for a professional, or point you to the gold guy on the left sidebar of this page underneath that searchbar that says the Davidson institute for talent development (it's a clickable link), or pour myself a beverage and sit here and swap stories about our kids.  Mine's a preschooler. But I have been educating him for 2 years.  We do daily word problems I get in the e-mail from www.bedtimemath.com.  If he gets antsy on a long car ride we all take turns making and answering word problems.  Sometimes his makes sense sometimes they don't.   Sometimes he does simple math on his hands, sometimes in his head, sometimes he's wildly innaccurate.  It's funny 'cause someone we see around sometimes  found out my son will be going to school this year so he was teaching him 2+3=? , 4-2=?  using his fingers.  After awhile my son asked what's 6+4-1=?  I don't know if my son knows the answer to that.  It's hit or miss.   I've showed him a row of digits to add or simple two part word problems but nothing with mixed operation.  I thought, "does he know you can do that or is he being silly?"

I guess playing and being silly means "let's play math quiz" at your dinner table or in my car.  I would say that's cool.

I think the important thing to focus on is - How does she feel about school? Does she enjoy it? Is she bored? Is she learning anything?

I think it's important for kids to know that school is for LEARNING. It seems silly, but we realized this year that our DS8 thinks that school is a place where you go to tell people things you already know!! He honestly didn't understand that the other children were actively learning new things while they were there. This has led to some unfortunate problems, one of which is perfectionism, and the idea that only a 100% is a 'good' grade. We had him tested and luckily got him a spot a local charter school which will allow him to work at his own pace/level (well, we HOPE so! He doesn't go until this fall.)

If your daughter has an ASD diagnosis, you can probably get a full neuropsychological eval covered by your insurance - that should result in a full set of cognitive scores that will help you see where her strengths and weaknesses are. The school should (whenever you setup an IEP) do a cognitive and achievement test with her. Just because they don't have an official G&T program at her age, doesn't mean you can't fight for her to have an appropriate education.

My personal experience with this (DS9 is finishing 4th grade, gifted/AS) is to spend the early elementary years working very hard on social skills and whatever else from the AS needs work, because the opportunities for gifted kids take off after 3rd grade, and you can do her a great favor by helping her get the social skills to do group work even with gifted kids.

We did this through private therapy for the AS; it was a great investment.

DeeDee