Spin off... if your child gifted?

[bumbershoot]

This is visual spatial skills not academics, but this reminds me that one morning last year DS's teacher handed DS her phone and asked him to beat the level of Angry Birds for her.

At the local homeschool convention, there were employees of Great Wolf Lodge who set up a booth, b/c they give homeschool-group discounts. One of the ladies was playing Angry Birds, and she kept giving her iphone over to the kids who would stop by, because they would get her to the next level when she was stuck.

(and just in case that's taken wrong...I'm quite sure she hands the phone over to school-schooled kids, too, and I'm sure they do just as well as the homeschooled kids do, in helping her get to the next level. I just thought it was funny that it just proved that kids are awesome with technology!)

 

[chris1gill]

it really isn't to make fun of those with gifted... at least that's not why I started it.. I really do what to know how you found out that your child was gifted... what these tests are that they've been given... like I said I dont think I know any really gifted kids. there seems to be a lot here... please tell me about them..

In a condescending way you asked if they graduate Harvard at the age of 10. It is disingenuous to pretend that you do not know the label is given based on a Psychologist's review with an IQ exam administered. Maybe an Internet search would be helpful, then again maybe not.

 

[kirbydog48]

no my child is not gifted but is condemned to work his whole life for those that need special treatment in school and still will not be able to work their whole life.

hah!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Poll coming

Okay I'm not gifted and can't remember how to make them into polls anymore...

Did your child graduate Harvard at 5? become a dr at 10? cure a disease at 12? lets hear about all those gifted kids we have here on the dis...

Children who graduate college at the age of 5 are not *gifted,* they are *child prodigies.*

There is a difference.

 

[HelenePA]

Okay peeps if you read the thread it was spun from you'd see why I needed a laugh.. I have many pages to catch up on.. I was out last night enjoying time at the fair with my family... Do we have any child prodigies here? I'm not sure i'd like a 5 yr old who is smarter than me...

 

[CathrynRose]

Why do posters just assume "gifted" means you are lying about your precious snowflake?

Here we go again....

Right?

BUT (and I haven't read through the thread, so perhaps it took a vicious turn....) my son broke a Track record, at his High School that had been there since 1976. Does that count?

I still wish I had my camera when his team mate told him. UGH! He knew he had a chance at it, cuz he kept coming to close to it. So when he finished, and his team mate came running up to him nodding his head fiercly, chills just ran through me. My son was just WOW! Elated!!!!

But, honestly - his face is totally etched in my brain (just now, brought a tear to my eye, as it did then....so, so, so cool )

 

[Wall-E1]

gift·ed/ˈgiftid/Adjective
1. Having exceptional talent or natural ability

weird (wîrd)
adj. weird·er, weird·est
Of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange.

My son can fart on request. Does that make him gifted or a weird?

 

[golfgal]

Right?

BUT (and I haven't read through the thread, so perhaps it took a vicious turn....) my son broke a Track record, at his High School that had been there since 1976. Does that count?

I still wish I had my camera when his team mate told him. UGH! He knew he had a chance at it, cuz he kept coming to close to it. So when he finished, and his team mate came running up to him nodding his head fiercly, chills just ran through me. My son was just WOW! Elated!!!!

But, honestly - his face is totally etched in my brain (just now, brought a tear to my eye, as it did then....so, so, so cool )

Cool---what event??

 

[Ciao Mickey]

gift·ed/ˈgiftid/Adjective
1. Having exceptional talent or natural ability

weird (wîrd)
adj. weird·er, weird·est
Of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange.

My son can fart on request. Does that make him gifted or a weird?

That makes him weirdly gifted.

 

[CathrynRose]

Cool---what event??

What does that mean? Like "which thing?" (I'm not athletic... LOL!)

200 Meter Hurdles.

He was bad-*** to watch. So exciting.

ETA - and you know what I always found "cool", if you will - all the other boys doing hurdles, were tall. My son isn't a big kid. He's got Greek, Italian & Puerto Rican genes. He's a small dude - but he ran like the wind. **whoosh* And would just fly over those hurdles. Cracked me up.

 

[MoonFaerie]

What does that mean? Like "which thing?" (I'm not athletic... LOL!)

200 Meter Hurdles.

He was bad-*** to watch. So exciting.

ETA - and you know what I always found "cool", if you will - all the other boys doing hurdles, were tall. My son isn't a big kid. He's got Greek, Italian & Puerto Rican genes. He's a small dude - but he ran like the wind. **whoosh* And would just fly over those hurdles. Cracked me up.

Track meets are fun in a boring sort of way, IMO. Like it's awesome watching my kid compete, and the events themselves are exciting and close. There's all that down time in between events though. DH's pep talk to DD is always "Run like your butt's on fire!"

Anyway, congrats to your son!

 

[Aisling]

Do we have any child prodigies here?

I wish there would be a reality show about child prodigies. I'm so fascinated by them.

Erik Demaine (born 1980) Became an assistant professor at MIT at 20 years of age.

Ainan Celeste Cawley (born 1999) passed Chemistry O level at 7 years and 1 month (the youngest in the world) and studied Chemistry at tertiary level, at a Polytechnic, from 8 years and 4 months old

Sho Yano started college at nine years old and graduated summa cum laude at 12 years old from Loyola University

Michael Kearney earned the first of several degrees at 10 years old. He became a college teacher by 17 years old

Stephen A. Baccus began studying law at 14 years old, graduated University of Miami law school at 16 years old, and passed Miami bar exam at 17 years old.

 

[CathrynRose]

Track meets are fun in a boring sort of way, IMO. Like it's awesome watching my kid compete, and the events themselves are exciting and close. There's all that down time in between events though. DH's pep talk to DD is always "Run like your butt's on fire!" Anyway, congrats to your son!

Very nice!

Yes! Like it's exciting when your kid is in it, but the other ones...*yawn* AND, the cross country? **yawwwwwn** "How many laps do they have left!?!?!? Gawwwwd........"

And thanks. He was just so excited.

 

[Magpie]

I wish there would be a reality show about child prodigies. I'm so fascinated by them.

Erik Demaine (born 1980) Became an assistant professor at MIT at 20 years of age.

Ainan Celeste Cawley (born 1999) passed Chemistry O level at 7 years and 1 month (the youngest in the world) and studied Chemistry at tertiary level, at a Polytechnic, from 8 years and 4 months old

Sho Yano started college at nine years old and graduated summa cum laude at 12 years old from Loyola University

Michael Kearney earned the first of several degrees at 10 years old. He became a college teacher by 17 years old

Stephen A. Baccus began studying law at 14 years old, graduated University of Miami law school at 16 years old, and passed Miami bar exam at 17 years old.

Don't forget David Dalrymple!

His mom used to hang out at the P&P board. She was really helpful with giving me a sense of perspective when my daughter was the only reading toddler I knew (not half as unusual as I thought). And she was very supportive when we were going through the initial testing and trying to make the best educational decisions we could.

There was another mother on that board whose kid also seemed like a real prodigy, but over time her stories got increasingly stranger (apparently her child would only work under the cover of night, and not in front of anyone else), and it eventually came out in the news that she'd faked everything. She stuck him in college at age six, but she was actually the one doing all the academic work! He was eventually removed from her care due to psychological abuse, and given to his father.

It was sort of a intellectual Munchausen-by-Proxy thing.

It was partly because of her that I ultimately decided to go the non-academic, laid-back route with my daughter. And I'm glad I did! David's mum told me something once, that I have since told my children many times, "Genius isn't what you are, it's what you do!" That's advice to live by, imo. That and, "Gifts aren't obligations." (Which is something I came up with myself, in reaction to my mother trying tell me that I had a responsibility to use my intellect for the good of humanity.)

Honestly, though, if we defined "real giftedness" as just being child prodigies, then there'd be no gifted classes, as there's at most a couple dozen of these people in all of North America. Of course, then we'd have to invent a NEW word to describe that top one percent of the population whose intellectual abilities require a depth and breadth of education beyond what's normally offered in the school system. (But whatever they are, they're not "gifted".)

 

[golfgal]

What does that mean? Like "which thing?" (I'm not athletic... LOL!)

200 Meter Hurdles.

He was bad-*** to watch. So exciting.

ETA - and you know what I always found "cool", if you will - all the other boys doing hurdles, were tall. My son isn't a big kid. He's got Greek, Italian & Puerto Rican genes. He's a small dude - but he ran like the wind. **whoosh* And would just fly over those hurdles. Cracked me up.

Cool---we don't have 200 meter hurdles here (they run 300 meters--why, I have NO idea). If he is interested in running in college, good hurdlers are HARD to find.

Track meets are fun in a boring sort of way, IMO. Like it's awesome watching my kid compete, and the events themselves are exciting and close. There's all that down time in between events though. DH's pep talk to DD is always "Run like your butt's on fire!"

Anyway, congrats to your son!

I agree-love to run in them, hate to watch them (ran track in high school and college) .

 

[CathrynRose]

Cool---we don't have 200 meter hurdles here (they run 300 meters--why, I have NO idea). If he is interested in running in college, good hurdlers are HARD to find.

.

Good to know, now that he's 20 and has absolutely no intentions, at all, on ever attending another day of school as long as he lives.

As you can tell - I'm thrilled.

So, is he "gifted"? Gifted with a stubborness that only his mother could love (because she had it herself.... )

 

[GraysMom]

it really isn't to make fun of those with gifted... at least that's not why I started it.. I really do what to know how you found out that your child was gifted... what these tests are that they've been given... like I said I dont think I know any really gifted kids. there seems to be a lot here... please tell me about them..

Hi Helene

What I've encountered in PA school districts (as a student, teacher, and parent) is that if a teacher suspects a student might be gifted, they refer them to the gifted & talented teacher at their school, who typically administers an intelligence test (sometimes given by the guidance counselor or school psychologist instead) to see if they qualify for the G/T program. In the district where I used to teach, the G/T teacher would teach a few lessons (one every week or so for 3-4 weeks) on a science concept and ask higher order thinking questions. She would take note of students who really thought outside the box and also any students I had told her I suspected might be gifted, and then do further testing based on those results.

DS6 may or may not be gifted. His kindergarten teacher told us she wanted to refer him, but if he didn't pass the test (they take 0 tests in kdg and he wouldn't have any idea how to actually take a test properly) he would have to wait a full calendar year before he could be tested again. She simply made a note on his records so the first grade teacher can keep an eye on the situation for next year. The district I grew up in didn't start G/T classes until fourth grade.

 

[HelenePA]

We dont have tests in K either. I'm not sure when the gifted program starts here.. dd8 will be going into 3rd and I"m pretty sure she'll be referred for the reading program and she should ace any spelling b's they have.. I have NO idea where she got her spelling abilities from but it sure as heck wasn't me or her dad.. She is gifted? Personally I just think she's very smart.. much smarter than I was at her age! I still dont know if we should have red shirted her or not.. her bday is exactly one week from cut off date..

Last year she did some type of state testing in 2nd grade.. we never got the results of those tests back? I was VERY curious as to how she did. It wasn't the Psaa's or what ever they are called she'll do those this year.

 

[KiminChicago]

Both of my kids were in the gifted program at our elementary school. Testing was done at the end of 2nd grade -- but I'm not sure what test the kids took.

The way it was explained to me, the gifted kids in our school are not determined strictly by IQ, they also have to demonstrate the ability to think logically and to make connections that most children their age don't. Both DS and DD love puzzles, any kind of puzzles. DS started doing Sudoku puzzles in third grade. Their favorite gifts last Christmas (other than gift cards, lol) were the logic puzzle books I tucked in their stockings -- they love to do them on long car rides.

That being said, neither of my children is a child prodigy, they just think differently. DS is starting HS this fall in all honors classes and DD will be in advanced classes in middle school. I don't care if they are called gifted or not, all I know is that they do well in school and stay out of trouble, so it's all good.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

I have one who struggles in school and one who is in the G.A.T.E.S program for gifted kids. I don't see him graduating early from high school or college. He seems normal to me he just makes straight A's and they tested him and put him in GATES. He is not a little genius or an inventor though.