Hi -
I'm writing because I have a DD4 who has just been identified as highly gifted, and I'm not quite sure where to start in the process of determining how best to meet her needs.
Background: She will begin kindergarten next year, and I have been exhausting myself going to open houses and school tours and talking to parents with older kids about their experiences. One of my friends has 2 of her kids at a school for gifted children and talked to me about the school. I was initially wary of getting DD tested, because I didn't understand the process; however, after my friend explained to it to me, and what we could learn about DD's strengths and weaknesses, I thought it might be a good idea to have it done.
DH and I approached the evaluation with no expectations for her to be identified as gifted; in fact, in my mind, I had already written off the gifted school as a possibility, because although we certainly thought (and still do!) that DD is bright, we did not think that she would meet the 145 cut-off for admissions. However, when she exceeded that score, I was kind of thrown for a loop. We have a follow-up scheduled with the psychologist next week, so I'll have more information then.
About DD4: Overall, she is a happy child. She interacts with other children well, but definitely prefers older kids; she still can't stop talking about her 9-year-old friend from camp. That said, this year she's not been connecting with the kids in her class as well and really longs for a best friend.
Strengths: She loves learning about EVERYTHING, especially science. She loves "Bill Nye, the Science Guy" and has really been enjoying watching "NOVA Science Now" with DH. She becomes obsessed with different topics, like viruses, atoms, volcanoes, etc., and clearly understands and can explain complex abstract processes. Unfortunately, there's only so much I can help her with this!
She also seems to have an aptitude for learning languages and is fascinated by different cultures. I'm not fluent in Spanish or French, but have been teaching her what I can and she has absorbed it all; she's also very interested in learning Chinese (since the Olympics!) and Russian. In addition to the gifted school, we will also be applying to a dual-language immersion program and an IB program in our area.
Weaknesses? She's just beginning to read, even though she's known her alphabet since she was 2 and has been writing letter/words since she was 2.5. Quite frankly, this is one of the reasons why I wanted her to be evaluated--I was worried that there was a processing problem. Also, although she's been counting to 100 for over a year, she's really not connecting with math processes (addition or subtraction), so I'm not sure what's going on there, either.
Anyway, apologies for the long intro. I look forward to connecting with others who dealing with navigating the gifted waters!
