Thank you all so much.
"there's no such thing as being over-intelligent"~ lucounu
This statement made me smile.
I wrote another response to the first reply I received, that one has not posted yet because of my newness here, but when it does it is long and contains a lot more detail.
I have been spending the majority of my morning pouring over information here. I have read numerous articles about giftedness, profound giftedness, and even PGG.
I am so happy to have landed here. = )
I am a little puzzled by some of what I have learned so far. I am reading about how the profound level of gifted often involves children who are learning academics at a rapid rate. For example a 6 year old learning algebra, or a 18 month old reading at a 3rd grade level.
I have not seen anything like this with my dd. I have noticed an uncanny ability to remember things. For example she recalls memories of her 2nd birthday party in detail. Or a comment that someone made in passing years back (when she was two) and she repeats it and I ask, "where did you hear that" and she will say, "don't you remember, a long time ago, such and such said it when we were doing such and such" and once she lays it out for me, I remember exactly what she is talking about. (well, most times anyhow)
DD also enjoy science shows, discovery channel, animal planet. Also reading book about (especially) earth space science. I recall her asking to go to the library for books about planets at age 3. She retained an awful lot about planets in a short amount of time.
She seems to understand or at least think about things from these areas a bit more than even most adults would. For example when she was 5 we were in the car and she heard the song by REM on the radio "it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine" and she asks me, "Mom what do you think they mean by, 'the end of the world'?" and so I answered the best I could explaining that different people have different beliefs and ideas about that. That some religions teach things, even older religions some different things, and that some scientists have theories. Some of these theories agree with some religions and some do not. (I have gotten accustomed to answering this way to many of her questions, first saying, "I don't know" then adding, "this is what I do know, and often no one really knows for sure")
Her reply to my answer was, "so you mean how some scientists think the world might end because the sun will someday grow so old it will die, and it might explode. If it exploded it might create a black hole, and a black hole would have so much power it would suck the Earth right in?"
A bit surprised, but I responded, "yes that is one theory"
to which she added, "but don't worry mom, that would be a really long time from now when we aren't living on this planet anymore."
And then just like that the discussion ended. LOL
Now I know this is awfully advanced thinking for someone her age at the time, but I also knew she got the idea by watching a show on discovery science about quantum physics and black holes. I suggested to my husband after that maybe we should think more carefully about which shows we let her watch in this genre. Simply because she does seem to get more of it than one might expect, and I would hate to have her (she isn't now, but at some point) worrying about life/death/humanity sooner than she needs to. However, I am not too convinced that monitoring her access to information is actually going to keep her from that. After all, she has a really good grasp on gravity, the tides, cycles of the moon, eclipses, and random things like that, that can be pretty hard to understand.
So, is she actually exceptionally/highly/profoundly gifted? Maybe just moderately/highly gifted? I wouldn't have thought there would be much difference between them all, but from all I have read here today, it seems like it is pretty important to understand that there are significant differences.
She reads really well, not sure how above level it is. She has an amazing vocabulary. Really amazing. She is good at math, but certainly not teaching herself to do Algebra. I do not think she can even do more than simple multiplication in her head. Which, I guess multiplication is a little above level for her. Although, I must say her level on concentration on a task or subject which does interest her is impressive. Impressive to the point that other have seen and commented to me about it.
I am just wondering if she is gifted, but not the kind of gifted I have been reading about all day. Or maybe she is and the environment has not been such to better enrich and encourage more development. Any thoughts?
