Originally Posted by Val
[quote=Dandy]
Personally, I've been wondering if a HG+ kid can be consistently cognitively challenged in a school environment. The material just isn't that hard (for a HG+ kid). By cognitive challenge, I mean stuff that's hard to understand, not just lots of homework. Increasing the volume of the workload doesn't make the material harder to understand.

For many or most HG+ kids who are paying even a bit of attention, most everything makes sense on the first pass. I'm not saying they absorb the information completely, just that the ideas make sense. In that situation, all that's required is a bit of cramming during lunch or on the bus or while watching TV or whatever. Presto! Another good grade.

Suddenly, a kid meets something that doesn't make sense on the first pass. Now a bona fide cognitive challenge may exist, but it's isolated and the child has no idea how to approach it. Complicating the problem, he has only his limited experience to interpret what's going on. If geometry is the only class that's ever posed a problem for your son,he may decide that he's reached a limit. In this situation, it's natural to misinterpret what's going on (Example: "Those other kids are doing better than I am in Geometry, so they must be smarter than me."). Remember that based on his lifetime experience, getting a good grade results from being smart. Yeah, I know he's got a B, but it's from homework and he sees how the other students are doing on tests.

This is the part where thinking in a new way comes in. A student who always gets the basic idea on the first pass may have no concept that it's even possible to look at something that's completely baffling and figure it out by simply staring at it and thinking. This is very different from the idea of "studying," which, to a HG+ kid, can mean "cram it in" or "do the worksheets as quickly as possible." There's a subtle difference between studying and thinking in a new way, but it's a savage one. Until a person actually groks the idea of "stare and think in order to understand," he'll be hindered by misconceptions about his abilities. And yet, once he gets the idea, he'll have made a huge cognitive leap. See? Subtle, but savage.*

Schools do not teach this idea to HG+ kids.


*With thanks to Truman Capote for this phrasing. He was describing the difference between writing that is merely very good and writing that is true art. See Music for Chameleons.


This is so true! They are so used to getting things the first time they hear it they just don't know how to go about figuring it out. My son gets very frustrated and he won't let us help him. Partly because he thinks he knows everything and he doesn't need help. Trust me I am working on this with him as well.

I am very glad that we accelerated him this year to 4th grade. He still really doesn't need to work hard at anything. After being put in a Math Plus class (for gitfted students) 1/2 through he is being challenged a little bit more. There have been just a couple problems that he had to look at longer. He just doesn't do well. As much as I wanted him to be challenged so he doesn't become lazy and he learns how to work for something early on he really has trouble with it. In the end he ends up leaving to calm down and coming back to it later. At that point he still won't let us help him but he normally has figured it out by then.

He expects to know it right away. I hope he figures out a way soon to learn how to learn and deal with the things that don't make sense the first time. He is still young so I hope we made the change early enough.

I would love to hear suggestions on how to teach a child to learn or see things differently when they are used to knowing things very easily. If anyone out there has ideas I would love to hear them!!

Regarding Geometry... This was the only Math class I struggled with. I do think it is different kind of thinking and you are either good at it or not. Just my take. I got through the class never really learning it. However ended up fine with everything else. It will be intersting to see how my son does with it.


DS9 Gifted / ADHD