Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums 8 year old computer programmer

I see Stamp BASIC in your future...

http://www.parallax.com/ProductInfo/Robotics/tabid/229/Default.aspx



JB

Good luck. I'd be open about your objectives. Just start with the closest CC and take it from there.

If they blow you off, you can enroll yourself under the radar, and then take him and have him do the work. Once he proves himself the the prof, then you should be able to get the prof and the dept head/dean to make an exception. The academic deans usually run the school for the most part. I'd make friends with the academic secretaries if you can.

WWOOOOOOOOOWWW!!! CooooooooooL! Oh yeah, he would like that! ^_^

Thanks all.. I will definitely let you know what happens, and thanks again Austin for the suggestion.. it's good to know how to go about getting him in! ^_^

~me

Ok... the University here got in touch with me today. She was nice, but after being told about the autism, said that there was no gifted program at the school and couldn't do anything for him... and she got my husband's email to send us some autism links. She also kind of acted like he was just a regular computer tinkering kid. If you know what I mean?

You would think after 9 and 7 years of having 2 autistic children that I've seen enough autism links. UGH!

I'm thinking I'm going to have to somehow go around this situation in some way... Yes, he was diagnosed with Autism, BUT I would say he is very high functioning, if not recovered now, and CAN communicate well, and sit in a classroom setting. grrrr...

I'm overwhelmed and just not sure where to go from here. I do not want him to miss out on any opportunity to further his gift. He is SOOO smart, I can not do him justice on the computers. Daddy and Mommy are not computer lightweights either.. we know that he is advanced.

Cricket

Hi, Cricket,

I've had luck in getting help from all sorts of people just by asking directly. I'd suggest looking at the University website and finding the professor or (student or grad student - that's your best bet there - particularly if you'd pay for tutoring/hanging out together on the computer) and email saying I have this amazing son who ... Disclose as little or as much as you need to get them to meet and interact well with your son when they meet and see what happens.

The other thing I've done is advertise on the local University student job site. I was looking for babysitters who love science, but you can post for someone to teach my 9 yr. old (!) whatever it is you think is the next step. And since you can write the listing, you can get in all the amazing stuff he already knows and that he's a great guy, etc., etc.

Oh, one other thing, our local University allows the community to audit courses for a relatively small (considering the price of tuition) fee. Can't participate, but can sit through the lectures. Maybe there's a school nearby that offers the same thing. Probably not a great solution, as computer programming certainly sounds hands on to me, but there might be something useful.

I apologize if you've already done all this, but maybe it will help someone else.

Hey, kcab. We were typing at the same time. Oops! BTW, most colleges and universities have open courseware now. Just search for the course/topic you're interested in.

Downloading some MIT courseware right now.

I'm working on the kids Homeschool Curriculum right now anyway.. so I'll just include some of these MIT classes into DS's schoolwork.

This really helps! Thank you so much... he will learn advanced courses of his interest this way, and not be held back by lack of material/knowledge on our part..

It would be nice to get him college credit for later, but the main thing is getting him the knowledge he desires and helping him to go further!
The MIT link seems to be a solution for that!

I'm currently browsing the courses... and downloading some. ^_^

Thanks all!!!!!!

Cricket

This is fun. Got me in a lot of trouble once. But kept me busy all summer, too.

http://www.corewars.org/index.html

And another thing to add to the mix.

http://www.obitko.com/tutorials/genetic-algorithms/

And another thing he can play with.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CellularAutomaton.html

Thanks!

oh boy is he going to be busy this year... ME TOO! When I teach, I try to be totally involved with what they are doing... so I end up having to learn what they are learning as well.

OH GOSH! O_O