Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Regarding "losing our minds" Ruf

Hi all ,

I had noticed that this book "Losing our Minds" gets referenced in this forum so I decided to purchase it to see what it was about. After I read most of it and picked myself off the floor, I relized how smart my two DD's may be. I was wondering has anyone read this book, then had their child tested, by Ruf or her method and come up with the same level of giftedness that you did? I guess I'm trying to find out how accurate this information is?

Well, I read the book and thought DS7 was a solid level 4. After I picked myself up off the floor, we had DS7 tested by a different tester from Ruf and his scores and level of work qualified him for the DYS program.

So while I see some problems with Ruf's methodology (such as that it's fairly limited anecdotal evidence she's using to draw her lines), I think it is useful for just what you're doing with it: ending your GT denial and getting motivated to get more information.

I would never use Ruf to decide that a child was NOT HG+, but I think the book can be quite good for helping parents to realize that a child might well be HG+. So ruling in, not ruling out, if that makes sense...

We had a round of tests that showed gifted but not nearly as gifted as my gut told me. I was thinking maybe I was nuts, but Ruf's book gave me reason to trust my gut. We retested a couple years later, in part because of the confidence that that book gave me, and his scores were much higher than the first round and exactly where I thought they should be.

I agree with Kriston that there are problems with methodology and generalizability, but it provided me with an important reality check when I needed it.

The thing that I am curious about, is that at the beginning of the book, she talks about pg kids being more common than was previously thought....she uses stats that are very different than those I have found elsewhere (like on hoagies). I wish I knew which stats were more accurate -

But I did love this book. I had no idea that so many of the cute and funny things my kid did were actually signs of giftedness.

Before buying the book I found a limited list of Ruf's levels and thought the same thing about when my DD was an infant. I never linked the weirdness of it all to gifted. Than I bought the book and was amazed by how much my DD resembled the information in the book. I, too, have posted questions trying to tie in Ruf to examples in threads so I can get a better understanding of what she comprised in her book. And think this question is up there with my curiosity. I know where I think my DD lies in the levels but she is still too young to test so time will tell how far off I am on my judgment.

Though I suspect there is a lot of people that lived/lives in denial I think there are a few, such as myself, that stumbled on the gifted term early in their children's life. AKA toddler years. I don't think I was living in denial but more not really sure how to classify DD development. I will admit that I was closed lip when it came to talking to her ped. b/c I just didn't think she would believe me or think I was nuts especially since DD was so shy in public. But knowing she is gifted and having Ruf's book has really opened me up and now I have evidence (to an extent) to back up what I have experienced. So now I have no problems discussing DD in detail with her ped. and with DD no longer being so shy the ped. was witnessed it for herself.

Yes, that's another strength of Ruf, I think. Good point. For those not in denial, but not sure quite what's up either.

I think Ruf's "statistics" have to do with the circle she was exposed to and the population demographics.

In New York, many upper middle class, highly educated parents test their kids for Hunter, the gifted school. 20% of the kids tested, test at the 98th percentile or above. Clearly, in the general population 20% of children do not test at the 98th percentile, or it wouldn't be the 98th percentile. But in the population that tests for Hunter, parents that want their kids go to the gifted school, 20% score very high.

In the citywide schools, 20,000 kids took the test. On the Upper Westside, where you have many highly educated people, many kids score in the 99th percentile on the OLSAT. In the Bronx, not so many.

Though I think that starting with a high IQ does not necessarily mean a life long love of learning and motivation so that the intelligence flowers into something extraordinary, because it can just as easily stagnate into a stump.

Ren

I sort of expected my son to be gifted, I had no clue that there was more to gifted than 'smart' and 'does well in school.'

Ruf's term 'level of gifted' 'LOG' explains so much for me - like why my kid is compared to kids in public school in the top 5% and looks like a defective version of bright.

My son wasn't an early reader, but is 'Davidson YS' gifted. I'd like the think that if I had gotten ahold of this info earlier, or seen Ruf herself, she might have supported my 'belly-worries' that his reading was lagging behind the rest of his intellectual development, and that there were visual issues going on. Even my most gifted-friendly friend though I was 'being hyper' for being concerned that a kid who knew all his letter and their sounds at age 2, wasn't reading more than 'exit' and 'start' at age 5.

So, although my particular kid tests higher than Ruf Levels, I still think that Ruf has an important piece of the puzzle.
I agree that I wouldn't use the book to 'rule out' high LOG giftedness. ((Although I did use the book 'Genius Denied' to do that very thing. The Force (of denial) is strong in this one.))

Smiles,
Grinity

Ruf works in MN now. Is the book about NY? I don't remember one way or the other...