Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy x

h

The short answer is yes. A child can be gifted in Math and not in English or vice versa but this usually aligns with a MG child. Then you get into how advanced is a MG child in their area of advancement? Most will do fine with AP classes at their respected grade level.

As for HG+ children, someone correct me if I'm wrong but I understand they are advanced in all areas. They might be stronger in a specific subject because they are more passionate about the subject but overall they are advanced.

I feel this is a difficult question to answer because it's going to come down to the meanings of words and how things are assessed - "gifted", "2e" and "area" for example. You're already drawing a distinction between emotional and behavioural advanced development on the one hand and advanced development in academic areas on the other hand, and I'm not sure how one would do that rigorously; for example, studying literature at a high level requires readiness to engage with it emotionally. These things are inherently linked in complicated ways. Similarly motor skills certainly aren't always advanced along with advanced cognitive skills, but they can easily be limiting factors in what one can achieve, whether on one's own tasks or on achievement testing. There's a tendency to cut areas down and down to exclude everything except "pure mind" and then imagine assessing that but this has its own dangers...

However, maybe one contrast I see in my DS is relevant to mention. He's average (at best) at art - he doesn't have the fine motor skills to do more-than-age-typical work, but also, I have not seen any sign that his motor skills are a limiting factor for him in art; he seems quite happy with what he can do. This is in contrast to his writing, where clearly he wishes to express much more than he can get onto paper, and gets frustrated. To me there's a significant difference between how he is in art and how he is in writing. Suppose for the sake of argument that he'd assess average in both (last year I think that would have been true, although his writing has had a spurt and it might not be true now). Then... hmm, then what? Does that make him an example of the kind you're looking for?

Hmm. Well, I know that we have some HG+ people on this board who admit to struggling with spelling.

I'm not sure if artistic ability fits here, but I expect we have some HG+ people who can't draw or paint.

It's possible that a bit of research into abilities of notable and HG+ historical individuals would find that some were globally gifted and some weren't.

Val

I really wasn't thinking art when I made the blanket statement and some of the people who admit spelling struggles also mention LDs.

I could be off, but I found it hard to believe that all non-LD HG+ are gifted in sports/arts as well as academic areas.

Yeah, but this is exactly what I meant by saying it was going to come down to what we mean by words. Why not art? And what *exactly* do we mean by an LD, anyway? There seems to be a danger of circularity - we define the things we mean down to a set which require the same competencies, and then say, oh look, the same people are good at all of the things in this set.

By that logic, you may as well say that kids need to be with age peers (I think you mean in homogeneous grouping?) because the typical kid isn't gifted.

If your kid isn't typical, then it doesn't matter what would be best for that (non-existent hypothetical) typical child - it matters what would be best for the specific child in question.

My MG big girl is gifted verbally and excels in math and science - both subjects she has a passion for. She *only* reads at a 1st grade level (she's almost 4.5) and doesn't really have a passion for reading yet. She does enjoy spelling and I discovered that she is good at it too.

I don't know what to make of her in regards to reading though.

Maybe I'm learning something here, but is it a general practice to lump art and athletics in with the term gifted? Gifted for this board is above intelligence with ranges from MG to PG. I always have considered this separate from the topic of artistic and/or athletic abilities. I guess I'm saying it is apples and oranges.