Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy probably a dumb question

My whole view of this issue was warped when my friend's son who likewise was reading MTH chapter books at 5 tested not gifted. His mom pushed for the testing(he has an older sister who is gifted) thinking he was indeed gifted (incidentally her daughter who did test "gifted" was not reading chapter books at 5). I was floored when she told me the results came back and he was not in the gifted range. She said he is doing well where he is in school and is bright so she is fine with it and doesn't suspect any LDs or 2e issues.

LOL - That's a warped yardstick you've got there. There is no average chess playing level for 5 or 6 year olds - unless you count using the pieces to stage battles!

Yes, MG 5 year olds can learn how the chess pieces move, if they are interested, but not average 5 or 6 year olds.

Short of getting an IQ test now, or using Talent Ignighter, you can't know for sure how your child will test, but it's reasonable to expect that your son will qualify. BTW - do you know what kind of test they use to identify kids? Is it a group test or in individual test?

Smiles,
Grinity

Individual test, but I don't know which one they'll use. It seems to vary, but will not be the COGAT.

Ok, check (no pun intended ;p ) ...the doc couldn't calculate DS's IQ but I think he's MG. He wasn't playing chess at 3, but at 6 he played it well enough to beat his older sister and even me a few times (in my defense I thought "he's 6... how good can he be... might as well start dinner while we play") ....and presto: "Checkmate, Mama!!!" (oops) ;p

DS has beaten me, but I'm really terrible; I am very apathetic about the outcome, and I daydream while I play. Still, it's embarrassing.

Also, at this point I have less experience than he does, having played probably less than 20 games in my whole life before my kids became interested. However, one would hope I might have some more mental maturity or....something!

LOL My dad taught me when I was a tween/teen? I forget how old. I still remember the first time I beat him - it finally dawned on me to slooooow doooown and assess each piece. I haven't played that much though and am still pretty "entry level."

I remember one day DS(then 6) and DD(then 7) were playing chess together at the coffee table and DH sat there watching them, just shaking his head, stunned. (He was one of the "cool" kids who cut class in school and I was the honor roll nerd). It was pretty funny to see mom's nerd DNA prevail!! heh heh.

My eldest, DD17, did the after school chess in K/1st (so age 5 or 6). She was pretty good and routinely beat 4th graders. She never was very interested in chess though, so she never learned any tactics/strategies. She always has had the ability to look a few moves ahead, and could beat adults at Connect 4 at age 5 or 6.

She is likely MG based upon FSIQ and other testing. She is still fairly good at chess, though she goes a few years between games. Last year (11th grade) she was on a school trip and there was a chess board in the hotel game area/library. A friend challenged her to a game, warned her that he was pretty good at chess, and within 10 minutes she had won. It is interesting that she has always been good at chess, since I think of that as a math type activity. She is not into math, and languages are her strength.

One day I looked at chess and said to myself "hey, this game is finite! No wonder computers can beat people at it!"

Now, I bet no computer could ever beat a human player at a 40 x 40 game of go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)