Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What Should Everyone Know about Gifted Education?

QT, those are frequently comorbid. It is precisely the sort of thing overexcitabilities exists as a term to describe. Though, particularly i this context, I'm thikning I don't like the "over" part. That kinda implies a flaw rather than a state of being.

Though not framed in the terms of a myth, I'd add:
For the teacher, that kid staring off into space may not be inattentive but may rather be attentive to a degree you can't imagine. They aren't just learning about that one event in history, but are contemplating the implications of it to other situations and future events and what other information they might like to expand on in that context. Give them space to do it, they are self motivated to accomplish what should be the highest aspiration of teaching. Enabling is easier than controlling.

Gifted people aren't just full of internal richness, but often experience the world in richer detail with a greater awareness of emotions, sounds, visual distractions, smells, etc. Be aware of the sort of distractions that may keep some kids from operating at their appropriate level.

The People is an interesting movie from 1972.

I'll bite. Truths:

1. The responsibility of the teacher is not simply to educate the child, but also to provide an environment that explicitly and implicitly communicates to the gifted child the value of his/her unique perspective.

2. Sensitivity arising from preternatural maturity of thought process and OE can be misinterpreted as immaturity.

3. Giftedness presents in early childhood. Meeting the child at his/her level is necessary at all ages, not simply starting in grade 3 or later

4. It is NOT the responsibility of the young child to actively seek out enrichment or accommodations from teachers. These should be forthcoming and commensurate to the child's ability and interest without the child having to make a spectacle of himself/herself in front of classmates to access an adequate education.

5. Parents who sensitively feed child-led learning are in no way damaging their children or causing them to lose out on childhood.

Although it's pretty obvious what's intended in each case, people should say whether their statements are in "truth format" or "myth format".

True, but I will make a stronger statement. When the schools fail to teach children at their level and parents make up for this by afterschooling, the schools, not the parents, are primarily responsible for the children having less free time. For example, my rising 6th grader is ready to study precalculus, but the school district won't do so for several more years. So he may have to take EPGY courses in addition to school math. I do not consider his vegetating mathematically for four years an acceptable option.

That makes the math class in school a form of free time.

I recommend napping during that time.

No, it certainly isn't acceptable. Good elaboration.

I'm particularly sensitive to sound. I've been noted to be one of the very few people at a loud party or concert complaining about ear pain. I've also demonstrated an ability to quickly and correctly identify sounds easier than most. This sensitivity also manifests itself in music and an ability to do a variety of voices and impressions.

DW is particularly sensitive to smell. She is strongly repulsed (and sometimes even nauseated) by bad smells that most people can tolerate. She's also demonstrated an ability to quickly identify various smells. This sensitivity manifests itself in cooking (taste is over 90% smell), as she's a trained and gifted chef.

DD exhibits BOTH of these sensitivities, and expands on DW's by being rejecting otherwise delightful dishes that others consume and suffer from mild food poisoning.

I had a coworker who suffered from headaches due to the usually imperceptible flickering of fluorescent overhead lighting, and insisted he had to wear a cap in the office. Based on my experiences with him, I'd say he had to be at least MG.

Except that, unless taking a nap was what you actually wanted to do with that time, it isn't exactly "free."

One thing that used to drive me nuts at school was that I never could fall asleep at my desk, no matter how badly I needed it (see the sound sensitivity above).

Then do whatever you feel like as long as it doesn't bother other people.

If the school has a problem, that's their problem.

I don't know about the statistics, but I have significant aural sensitivity, and some visual sensitivity too. I really can't stand the sound of my own breathing, so I tend to breath in a way that is silent... which I think increases my sensitivity to other sounds. When everything is quiet at night, I can year minor ticking or dripping sounds that are quite far away as if they were close. It's like my hearing re-calibrates to a level of sensitivity that others can't reach. I much prefer to sleep in pitch-black silence.
I have also proven my ability to discern audio differences thought to be imperceivable by many experts in the sound reproduction field, through abx testing. I have also failed to discern differences which are claimed to be easily perceptible by the manufacturers of expensive audio components. Somehow those differences that are so obvious to many in simple A/B testing tend to disappear with abx testing.