DS7: Suspected?
I knew pretty early that DS7 was GT, but I figured he was MG.
At 8 months, when he couldn't say much more than "no" and "truck," he very scientifically figured out the rules for playing with Hot Wheels cars in the house by trial-and-error: he banged one on the wall with his right hand, I said "no" and he stopped immediately; he changed hands and banged on the wall again, I said "no" and he stopped again; etc. It was very clearly *not* a case of testing limits or ignoring me; he was trying to understand precisely what I was saying "no" to. Once he figured out the rule, he NEVER broke it. NEVER! The idea that an 8-month-old could be that logical, that precise in his understanding and compliance at a time when most BABIES (since he was still really just a baby!) don't even get the concept of rules and following them made his GTness pretty obvious to me. It was the first time I thought to myself, "Huh. I don't think he's like most kids."
He has always showed remarkable persistence and patience. At around that same 8-mo. mark, he was trying to spin those Fisher Price stacking rings (the kind that look like fat plastic donuts). DH and I used to spin them to keep ourselves entertained while DS played, and he took it as a personal challenge to learn how to do it, too, apparently. He spent HOURS each day working on it, though naturally we tried to find something else for him to do, since there was no way he had the coordination to do it. (Not yet, anyway...Give him time!) It was amazing to watch his focus! Surprisingly, after a couple of weeks of practice, he figured out a way to spin the rings that actually worked better than the way that DH and I did it. DS's spins lasted longer.
That has been the hallmark of his brand of intelligence: he has an engineer's mind, so he doesn't necessarily do things faster, but he does them better and earlier than he should. He's a problem-solver for sure. His solutions tend to be brilliant in their simplicity. I can imagine his inventing something that people adore and can't imagine how they lived without, yet so cunningly simple that they all say "Now, why didn't I think of that?" It's how DS thinks.
He also learned all his letters and numbers by age 16 months (knowing many of them long before that) because of an obsessive focus on wooden letter and number puzzles. He was reading "real books" by 3.5yo. Still, I always thought he was MG. It wasn't until the testing that I realized I was off the mark on the LOG...
DS7: Tested?
He was tested (using the CogAT and the WJ-III) and IDd as GT by the public school with no effort on my part thanks to a WONDERFUL K teacher. I was just happy he was IDd; after all, I was still thinking he was MG. So I didn't even see his scores until he was in 1st grade (with a NOT wonderful teacher...) and having behavior trouble--something that was utterly unlike him! I finally saw his WJ scores and freaked out! Not MG!
He looked like a candidate for DYS. Things changed all of a sudden!
We tested with the SB5, but had a bad test day thanks to not nearly enough sleep and an illness developing (and probably a bad test fit to boot). He tested as HG+ according to the expert tester, but he couldn't say where DS fell on or above that HG line. The tester recommended re-testing on the WISC, or honestly, we'd have dropped the whole thing. We really didn't want to spend the money or chase a score. It's not like us. But after getting LOTS of help and advice from this forum, we chose to retest on the WISC, and DS7 was ID'd for DYS. I'm very glad we chose to re-test, and I think I would have even if he hadn't gotten DYS-level scores. Testing gave me a much better sense of what I am dealing with.
So his first testing was at age 5y8mos (I think?), and his final testing on the WISC (with no plans for further testing) was at 6y7mos., I think.
*****
DS4 has not yet been IDd or tested. I do now suspect he is GT--more so lately, as his math interest is booming! The boy loves math! (He's adding and subtracting every chance he gets, and he's even been learning the times tables along with his big brother. Hard to miss how unusual that is, right? Even with GT denial in full swing!
) But I have no idea what LOG he is. For now, I'd guess MG, but it could be higher than that as there are some complications to his ID...
DS4 has some recently IDd "visual immaturity" issues that have possibly been masking his GTness. He just got glasses, and we're watching him closely.
I plan to ask the school to test DS4 in K next year. And with child #2, I'll ask to see the scores right away (!!!). We'll figure out what to do from there.
He doesn't present as obviously GT as his big brother. But the math thing is hard to ignore...
I'll get back to you!
