Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion How does a high VCI present day to day?

I still have one foot firmly planted in denial land myself. I think some gifted children prefer to drive slower despite the horsepower they have under the hood. They are like the old grannies driving under the speed limit in a big powerful car. Maybe it's fear, or maybe it's just they prefer the pace of 'normal' childhood.

Every once and a while, like during testing, they put the pedal to the metal because it's a safe and fun place to do it. Then they get these expensive speeding tickets we parents call test results.

Thanks for everyone's replies, it is very interesting to think about the various ways our kids can present. Things are looking up now, but for the two years prior to the last 6 months our whole family has had a pretty rough trot. During that time this DD, being the middle child AND the easy child, has really had very little attention or assistance. She's pretty much never had support to read or write when she asked for it at home (I was too busy vomiting or tending to a screaming baby) and preschool just don't do that sort of thing. Even us reading to her at night has been reading to her with her older sister at her (4 yrs) older sister's level. Sitting in the same room listening to a novel being read out is not really as conducive to learning to read as sitting and reading picture books and point to words as go. I feel bad about how she's been neglected academically, but life is what it is.

She has also spent the last two years at a preschool that is deeply, DEEPLY entrenched in it's play based learning pedagogy. The preschool is part of the private k-12 school she will go to, they do have lots of bright and gifted kids, a lot of high achievers and lots of good outcomes. But they certainly have a very gently gently approach to starting kids out. The children do come to their first year of formal school extremely ready to function in a classroom and with very well developed pre-literacy skills etc. But the preschool teachers would faint at the idea of taking early literacy to the point of say, actually reading. And DD knows this. The psychologist she saw yesterday said that it was extremely clear that DD believes that preschool is strictly for play and of course she won't engage in the extension work the preschool teachers now want to do with her - because preschool is about play not work! A buck short and a day late to change the rules. This is her last week though and next term she starts formal school.

She's gotten the message loud and clear at home and at preschool that she should just play and keep herself busy. And having been adaptable and sunny natured since birth she has made the most of her lot. Now we just need to gently reverse some of that.

We started working on reading and playing the piano about 10 weeks ago, when we had her tested, and in that time she has made a year or more progress with reading. Her drawing and colouring in (which have paid no attention to what so ever) has leaped dramatically ahead, though not at preschool of course. And she's happier.

The plan is to push school hard to NOT go quite so gently, gently with her at the start and not to give her the idea that school is just more play time. We'll give it six months and see how it goes. If she hits her stride then good, and school have already agreed to put her into year one after two terms of K. If school doesn't work out i guess we will be homeschooling.

The observation that she's happier should reassure you that you are on the right path. It sounds like you have a good plan in place. Well done!
Grinity

I have no idea how to describe how my son presents, besides crazy. LOL! He didn't have early speech, but he definitely leapfrogged (as my husband likes to call his development)His first word was at 13 months, "hi!" and then his second word was two days later, "exit." (He loved exit signs.) His speech exploded after that and he was speaking in clear sentences by 18 months. He has always been very easy to understand, never having any problems with pronunciation. He did go through a stuttering phase, but it was probably because his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain.

He's a talker, for sure, and does sound much older than his age. Other than that, I can't really think of anything.

He scored 147 on VCI, I am a bit confused as to what exactly this measures, it sounds like a mix of things. I didn't get his subtest scores. Still trying to decide if I should bug the psych for them, when the only use would be to satisfy my curiosity.

Thanks Grinity, I think it will be ok - one way or another. And I do also feel kind of relieved to see that there is a reason she doesn't seem that out there (because she's not achievement wise).

I think you will see great results when you go at her pace!

Amber we cross posted! It is hilarious the things babies prioritize as first words! My youngest I suspect has a speach impediment, her speech is well behind her sisters' at this age but her receptive language seems like it may be in advance. But the random words she has managed to get very clear - hungry, water (not to drink but to play with), hat (LOVES hats), shoes (also loves shoes)....

Both my first two had "More" as one of their first words "More Banana" being the first phrase for DD2 (the DD this thread was about).

My DD Wisc verbal was 144 with ceilings in all subsets. I have deemed that her reasoning ability is documented in that score. It is like being in constant lawyer land with her. She takes seemingly unrelated bits of information and composes arguments or deduces complex outcomes that are right on. She loves to read, but what is difficult for the reading is her ability to read just a bit of a story and already figure out all of what is going to happen. This leads to reading more complicated (advanced) material. This is a bit problematic as that material is often not age appropriate. However, her advanced reasoning skills have led to a more global view and inclusive of more adult themes. She quite clearly is not emotionally ready to participate in those themes but her intellectual power forbids them from being "hidden" I use to read all the books that she was reading to try and stay on top of it....but that is not possible anymore and we have deals about when certain topics come up we talk about them. She was an early clear talker that when I tried to fly with her under two I had to bring her birth certificate with me to prove that she was under two. I have a second child who is showing those same reasoning skills with less ability for clear articulation and it is really defining the difference between intellectual power and body/muscle awareness. My first is very athletic, my second is no where near as talented with her body. My second at 2.8 months asked me recently on a hike. "Why are there no mosquitoes?" I said its raining and she responded, "So the rain will splash their wings and they can not fly." I am not sure whether that is an advanced statement for a two year old or not but it seems like a clear example of that reasoning that I am trying to describe. I had one that my older kiddo did but now I can't remember it...

DD#2 was an early and advanced talker, she too always had excellent diction. Even when she spoke with simple words she had an innate ability to convey exactly what she wanted to you to understand, so she had very little frustration over not being understood. People often commented how unsuaully happy she was for such a determined little child. As a baby and small toddler she was always determinedly trying to achieve something but that did not lead to nearly as many meltdowns as you would have expected.

It's when she talks about the random stuff she is thinking about that you do see what is going on in there. But she doesn't have those talks with many people. And indeed she has always had advanced gross and fine motor skills too. As you say flower, it is interesting how much harder it is to make sense of a small child who can't/won't speak but for whom that does not necessarily reflect what is or is not going on inside. My third child is quite the little puzzle at 16 months old, I have no clear sense of how she is tracking.