Hello all - I am totally new to this. I don't know the forum jargon or abbreviations so forgive me if I'm lengthy. I'll get the hang of this quickly I promise. I found this forum after doing a search on tics tonight (my 6 year old has had a ton lately).
I was a gifted child, reading at age 2, exceptional memory, advanced vocabulary skills, vivid imagination, talkative, socially awkward & all the classic characteristics. My mom & dad both had high IQs, but they were separated & both struggled with alcoholism so my grandparents raised me. I was tested once when I was 5 by the school system & my mom says my score was 135 or 138 but not sure which. Our district didn't have a true gifted program, so I was skipped a grade & admittedly it wasn't the best thing for me. In 7th grade I took the SATs & scored high. They sent me to Joseph Baldwin Academy for Eminent Young Scholars at what was Northeast Missouri State Univ when I was 13. I recall I had a lot of tics, weird rituals I'd do, a mild case of OCD. Kids thought I was weird, I never fit in, I hated school, disliked my teachers who were condescending & always questioning me & my thought process. I barely graduated because I cut school so often & got in lots of trouble. I got pregnant when I was 16 & became a single mom.
My DD is 17 now & in 12th grade. She walked by 10 mos, talked by 1 yr. She had an extensive vocabulary. She's now a straight-A Honors student, Honors Society & has earned Honor Roll every semester of high school. On top of a full course schedule, Honors & AP classes, she has 2 jobs, & sports. I never had her tested because she hates them. She's brilliant, but bombs every test. She doesn't like restrictions or being timed, she's hard on herself, highly emotional, an overachiever, a perfectionist with OCD tendencies & is very short tempered.
12 years ago I married a man who was also a gifted child. He was musically gifted, highly sensitive emotionally & also skipped a grade.
We've had 3 more children & all have shown signs of being gifted. Our DS just turned 6 this month. He was walking by 10 mos, talking full sentences by 1 yr, singing his alphabet & spelling by 2. He has an incredible memory, especially directions, places, faces, stories. He memorizes entire books & tons of song lyrics. He just has to hear something once & he can retell it months later. When he started K last year he was the only one who could count to 100, do math, read & spell on day 1 (the teacher told me they were only required to learn how to count to 50 by the END OF THE YEAR & by then he was counting into the 1000's & doing math). He's in 1st now & is levels above in reading. He's very hyper, can't sit still, always talking, very physical, gets bored easily & is now starting to have a lot of tics - eye rolling, weird noises, writing certain letters backwards, etc. Reminds me a lot of myself at that age.
Our 4 year old DS also walked by 10 mos, talked by 1 yr. He was extremely shy, until recently. He would cover his face with his hands when people would come over. He's no longer shy, but still covers his ears when he doesn't like loud noises or certain sounds. He hates shirt tags & has tugged on them since he was a baby. He's sensitive, cries over little things, & gets very emotional. He plays imaginary things for hours if you let him, makes up elaborate stories, & draws incredibly detailed art. Every picture has a story that he'll tell you. When he was 2 he would place a piece of paper in front of someone & draw upside down (so that they could see the picture, not him). He draws cartoons exactly as they look on tv.
The new baby is 7 mos old. She has hit every milestone early, was crawling by 5 mos, standing at 6 mos & is now learning to walk. She's going up the stairs - I got gates & she tries to open them. I'll catch her trying to lift the latches like we do. She mimics noises, sounds & faces - if you stick your tongue out, she sticks hers out, you say DaDa, she repeats it - she amazes me.
Does it sound like they are gifted or is it just me drawing from my own experiences? Am I jumping to conclusions? Should I test them & when? Do I talk to their Dr or someone else? Can I stop the tics? I'd appreciate any & all advice. Thanks!
