Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Characteristics of gifted kids?

Well, I'm sort of in gifted denial I guess. I mean, 2 years ago we had a teacher who though DD13 was just "okay" at math, and now we find out that her math SAT scores put her far above most high school students who take the test. So "HG", according to the folks here, sounds even more likely than MG. Gosh, she's smart and has crazy knowledge, but 1 in a 1000? Can someone maybe provide characteristics for me to look for and ways I can help her? (I'm still in too much denial to consider further testing/DYS)

Losing our Minds by Deborah Ruf was very helpful for us in sorting out who our DS9 might be. Her book is referenced here a lot.

Bassetlover,

Can you tell us more about your daughter? Has she been taking math at her current grade level thus far? I'm no pro but I am curious about your situation and what advice you get from others.

Good luck with your DD!

Dittos on Losing Our Minds... If I picked the right link this sound give you a baby spoon of the book:

http://www.pagiftededucation.info/documents/RufEstimatesofLevelsofGiftedness.pdf

The book is a helpful denial shaker as I like the correlation of Level of giftedness (LOG) to school needs. It validates some gut feelings of "this isn't really working." Of course, if you get past that feeling to a solution let me know!

Well to Elizabeth, she has not skipped any grades in math, but she has complained about that and got a near perfect score on a Texas 2002 EOC Algebra I test. Regardless, she will have to take it next year (in 8th grade). Unless, of course, she takes the official 2009 test in the summer. To the levels of giftedness, thats really the thing that puzzles me. Even children at school that are in the gifted class thinks that shes a genius, but my poor memory tells me that she had very little significant milestones early. But she was my 3rd child, and I gave up on the whole recording dates thing after my 2nd. Anyway, she was not the first gifted child. Maybe I was just used to it? I guess the reason I started the post is because of the fact that she showed very little signs of giftedness as a child.

She talks to her dog. Strange? She has a special voice for the dog and they have "intelligent" (meaning not baby talk, real talking) conversations for minutes, and sometimes in French. ("basset hounds are french dogs mom! so I might as well practice my french on her.") Would that be a "characteristic" of a gifted child or just an imaginative one. (I don't consider her too imaginative, though.) Shes 13, by the way, so I think shes a bit old for that.

Sorry if you've seen this posted before - I put it in at least one other thread, it's a good list of characteristics without trying to remember 13 years back...when did she roll over??
I was bad about recording this stuff for my ds8 as well. It doesn't do much for pinning down a level of giftedness and this is certainly not what most states in the u.s. use to qualify kids for programs, but it is interesting.

http://nswagtc.org.au/info/identification/characteristics.html#checklist_menu

Kickball, thanks for the link to the Ruf book.. I have to get it. It looks really terrific for those of us whose kids don't always fit the mold from early on and are also having school fit issues.

Bassetlover, my DS10 doesn't seem to fit all of the early milestones either. Some, but honestly, he was such a challenging child behaviorally that I was most often focusing on the troublesome behaviors, not the precocious. (I'm sorry to admit.) DS was a real pill--I think a lot due to sensory issues for us. I don't think he slept through the night until he was 3 1/2 or 4.

Sounds like your DD is wonderfully imaginative and I don't think it odd at all that she talks to the dog. My DD9 does also and I'm quite sure the dog understands!

Good luck with the math fit for next year. I'm trying to figure out the whole math thing with him right now as well so perhaps that's why your thread caught my interest. Maybe your DD should take the test this summer so she can pass out if scores confirm. I'm not a pro but that's probably what I would do FWIW.

Well, what about memory? DD is incredible at recalling odd facts that she does not even remember learning, and remembers stuff from a long time ago, but when it comes to short-term memory, shes hopeless. I mean, probably not below average in memorizing number sequences/words, she may be a bit above average, but definitely not what I would expect from a gifted child, and certainly not photographic like one would falsely assume by her incredible memory of trivial things. (such as the name of the hotel we stayed in on our trip to Washington DC, 3-4 years ago, and it was not a famous one, like "The Ritz") Lastly, she is horrible (!) at remembering instructions. I'll tell her to do something, she'll start doing it, and hours later I ask her about it and she just stares blankly.(and thats what I meant about hopeless). What experiences do you guys have regarding memory in MG/HG+ children.

FWIW I just read the Ruf book, Losing Our Minds and thought it was fabulous. It really helped jog my memory on milestones along the way for DS10. I still don't remember the really early milestones but it did help bring to mind a lot more toddler and older events in which I thought "this can't be normal." If you haven't read it I'd highly recommend it. You may recall some things too.

Re. DS's memory--it's pretty amazing, particularly about the things he's passionate about. He no longer remembers every type of dinosaur, names, periods they lived, etc. as he did when he was a toddler but knows a lot more about WWII than I ever have. He does remember odd little things that happened years ago that I don't recall anymore but my DD9 is the queen of that trait. But then again I don't remember what I had for dinner last night...