Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment So do ALL GT kids have lower WMI and PSI?

For DS12, having a low-average PSI didn't protect him from underachievement one bit. He did equate smart=no effort for many years, and still shuts down occasionally when he starts to think that he 'won't be the very best.' He mostly felt FRUSTRATED! He knew that he could think 'better' than the other kids because of all the comments about how he was great in class discussions, and even in 2nd grade, he could tell that they comments the other kids made were 'rudamentary' by his self-standards, but because he was slow at things like 'looking words up in a dictionary' he felt that there was something wrong with him.

I think he saw it as the 'Transitive property of Stupid.'

If I think that kid over there is Stupid, and they can do something much faster than I can, I must be really Stupid.

Now you know that my kid didn't get that attitude of judging and comparing from ME. I consiously taught him that everyone is good at something and deserves respect and to be valued. I really think that it was just so scary for him to be in years and years of school that taught material below his readiness level. One of our biggest difficulties, is growing up and being without a workable Reference. Mine drew his own conclusions. I'll spend the rest of his childhood trying to get him to see more and more shades of grey, and he has already made great progress, but I so regret leaving him in those poor fit classrooms for so long.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

I have been following this thread for a long time. So here it is:

DS7 just got tested. His WMI is 138, but PSI is 109. GAI is 146. Not all GT has lower WMI and PSI. He just memorized the time table. It took him about 5 days. He quickly move onto double digit x double digit multiplication. With some encouragement and bribe, he made it. I wish I was like him.

Bronxmom,
Seems like you are getting the crash course in 'maybe my kid isn't so weird after all' - it's been lovely to read throught this thread and watch you be delighted. Yippee!

Seems to me that we have to broaden our definition of play. For a kid with 'brain on fire' play may look on the outside like what other kids do 'because Mom makes me.'

Then there is work ethic. I don't know if at age 6 it's so important to spend time on the 'challenge areas' but I take a 1/3s: 2/3rds approach. For every 2 educational experiences that are sheer joy, I want my DS to be getting some of the types of challenge that he has already become reluctant in. One good days, I can take a unit studies approach and suggest ways that he can get practice in the challenge areas in the service of the joy areas.

An example:
We started Afterschooling in 4th grade, and at that time, DS would pretty much hid his love of learning from everyone but me, even his Dad. Then one day I came home and DH told me that they had spent the afternoon together with DS spending hours making graph paper because he had gotten curious about graphing the curve x=y squared, and they didn't have any graph paper, and DS decided to make his own.

DS had always be reluctant to do fine motor stuff like handwriting, and he had certianly never been willing to show that much intensity for learning in front of his dad. It was a very exciting moment and a nice pay off for the hours and hours of struggling that had come before.

BTW - Last year, DS's handwriting went from terrible to 'just fine' - do I think that him spending 2 hours of making his own graph paper help lay the foundation for this? Amoung other things - yes!
Love and More Love,
Grinity

Interesting. I see the close-to-average WMI differently for DS7.

He doesn't need to repeat things often to learn them, but he has trouble holding things in his head and manipulating them. This is why mental math hasn't been his strong suit. He does better if he can write things down so that he doesn't ahve to hold things in his head.

Again, I suspect this is a difference between issues with input and issues with output.

Wow that's great!
Yum Yum!
So, LOL, not all have low WMI AND low PSI, some just have lower one or the other! All of the ones who end up posting here, anyway...

I wonder if the relatively low PSI will show up, perhaps when he not the first person to answer in the group?

Like Kriston's ds, mine (also with average Working Memory) seems to have trouble keeping things in his head... We use Singapore Math and I think the emphasis on mental math has been a good challenge for him, though he struggled at first. Years ago, working with multiple digit addition and place value, he'd only be able to keep one place value at a time in his head. It still frustrates him, and he strongly prefers pencil and paper for math.

His long term memory is great, though. Some information seems to go straight there! (The kid can recite more bits of information about WWII and dinosaurs than I've ever heard and has an incredible visual memory for artistic detail.)

I think we have a new acronym...TPS. Sounds like a good logic error exercise to cover with gifted children, their teachers, and their parents.


I've been thinking about this and how it ties into what Grinity said about the 1:2 ratio.

How much opportunity is there in a typical classroom for children with high GAI to engage in abstract thought and incredible insight?

When learning becomes too heavily weighted on effort and repetition, does competition and besting others replace the joy of abstract thought and insight?

Does any of this tie into DD6 telling me she spends much of her time at school daydreaming?

My DS7 is much the same way, Z. He remembers stuff from years ago and is a fact vacuum for stuff he cares about.

He's less detail oriented in terms of art, but that may be lack of talent more than perception!

Thanks (L)inky!

I was pretty sure that a few of us would relate to that one, but it was still scary to admit aloud.

Inky!!!!!!

You wrote:


Yes! Yes! Yes! That has what I've been thinking all along about my DS. He's always been a difficult one to pin down. It's not like he's 2-4 grade levels ahead like many here...he's usually about 1 grade level, close to 2 grade levels. But I would look at the stuff he was learning at school through papers brought home, and it was all just stuff ....no real critical thinking, thought provoking topics. I think that is what his mind was craving. I've been trying to interject more of that into our HSing b/c sadly, I think it's still lacking for him but with 2 other siblings and a DH is gone most of the week, I find I just want to get the basics done.

OK, you've committed me to redoubling my efforts in this area!