What are the appropriate steps to identify a gifted child?

[ZueZ]

Hello,

I am new in this forum and I am hoping I could get some help on how to deal with our situation right now. I hope you could be patient in reading the below.

I have a son who is 8 years old. He is a great, sweet, thoughtful and over-the-top considerate boy. The questions that he might be a gifted child came about through a friend after telling this story. When he moved to a new school during 1st grade in the middle of the school year, we started getting invitations from his teacher to talk about his performance in school. We got them at least 3 times in a matter of 6 months. The teacher's concern despite my son being extremely good with his academics, was that, he has trouble concentrating on her lectures. He is either talking to his seatmates, doing something else or just plainly not listening. During half of this school year, he finished, earlier than scheduled, his language course as there was no need anymore and he had to advance with homeworks from 1st grade to 3rd grade in mathematics.  The reason for that was, he told me, he easily gets bored with the lecture after 1-2 times of discussing it and always wants new things.In the end, he finished the school year as the top student in his class despite language barrier.

After the incident, I started questioning more about gifted children. Then I started recalling some events in his last 8 years:

1. I remember my son when we was around 2.5 years old, he could identify and

    memorize the color and names of flash cards as much as 20 items.

2. When he was in kindergarten, the teachers told me it is a pity that my son has

    trouble following rules inside the class because he is doing very well with academics.

3. At the age of 6, he won a spelling quiz and could count up to 100.

4. He also knows a lot about the universe or science in general, that sometimes, I don't

   even know.

5. When we moved to Germany, after 3 months, he could start communicating in

   german language and on the 6th month, is almost fluent.

6. Above all, he is extremely sensitive and sometimes acts almost like an adult in some

   aspects that both me and my husband wonder why it is so.

Question is, we don't know if he is a gifted child or perhaps just smart. One thing that is for sure, we are having a hard time dealing with him with what he wants and how he prefer things around him.

What is the best way to deal with him as he is extremely emotional and sensitive? Apologies for such a long message but it is difficult to relay as actually there are more to tell.

Thank you very much!

ZueZ

[Mom31]

I don't have an answer but would like to hear what the other mothers say.

[FarmerBeth]

I can't really tell from this if your son is gifted, but he does sound like he is getting ahead of the class work (and despite a language barrier - I'm taking it his instruction language isn't his first language) and he's getting bored.  If testing for giftedness is needed in your region and school to accommodate him with work at his level, then it could be good to get some formal cognitive testing.  You could also try informally discussing with the teachers (without using the bored word) that your son needs to be challenged in certain subjects in order to be fully engaged and get the full benefit of instruction.  Use concrete examples of work that he excelled in and what sorts of things keep him engaged.  Also keep in mind that his difficulty concentrating could be due to a special need that is not directly correlating with higher aptitude or higher acquired skill.  If his behavior shows he has difficulty with this in more than one type of setting or with more than one teacher, you might want to look at testing to gain insight as to what is going on with his concentration as well.

[Linda on the move]

Gifted is defined as having an IQ above a certain score, so giftedness is determined by a qualified person giving the child an IQ test. IQ can be measured in several areas, and testing varies with how many areas are measured and how those various scores are then interpreted.

As far as dealing with emotional sensitivities, I don't think there is a "do X" kind of answer. Rather, figuring out how to deal with different specific situations as they arise. I think you would get better responses by posing exact examples and letting different parents talk about how they would handle them.

That being said, I'm very big on non-violent communication. http://www.cnvc.org/Training/NVC-Concepts

[whatsnextmom]

He's getting to an age where the school will likely have some method of testing him. If they don't do it automatically, you can request one formally. It's hard to say from your list. He could be, he might not be. Picking up a new language like that is pretty typical of kids being fully immersed in a new language. They are still wired for rapid language absorption unlike adults. The other stuff shows he's a bright kid but much depends on the enviroment and expectations he's around. For example, in our area, counting to 100 and ability to spell at a certain level is a kindergarten requirement so pretty normal for a 5 to 6-year-old. However, I think Germany delays academics so if this is something he picked up out of the blue, maybe. It's just hard to say but if it's any consolation, my youngest is gifted but wasn't particularly obvious like my DD was at the same age either.

School is tricky. Sounds like he could use some differentiation but it's difficult to get if he's getting into trouble at school. I'd reinforce that if he wants more appropriate work in school he'll need to really focus, do the current work excellently and show that he can be an independant learner. Also talk to his teacher. If he's showing mastery of the current material, he should have options to help him avoid repetition. Can he read his own material, is there a computer he can do accelerated math, can he get his own spelling lists, ect. It sounds like they moved him up in the mathematics homework, maybe they can move him up so he's doing the 3rd grade math in class too. This sounds about right as 8/9 is 3rd grade age in our area.

As for the emotional sensitivities, it's really case by case. Both my kids have certain buttons that we've learned to manage but it's a lot of trial and error. I wish I had more to offer but talk to the teacher about the possibility of differentiation in the class. 

[LisaGreene]

Get your child's IQ tested so that you know what you are dealing with. The school should be able to do this, but if not, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone privately. It certainly sounds like your child is gifted, or at least very bright. Knowing where he lies on that scale will help you determine how to educate him going forward. For example, if he is highly or profoundly gifted, a public school may not be appropriate.

The concentration problems could be another issue altogether, but it could also simply be that he feels he doesn't have to listen to something he already understands. Reading the book Raising Gifted Kids, by Barbara Klein, will give you great insight into the mind of the gifted child and how they learn.  

If you do find that your child is gifted, think about ways to keep him challenged. Many gifted kids that aren't challenged will start having behavior issues when they get bored. If your local school isn't able to keep up, try some alternative methods of education. Montessori is great for gifted kids. Skipping a grade may be an option, but a difficult decision due to the social aspects. Then there is always homeschooling. 

[Tigerle]

Are you still in Germany now? What grade is he going into this fall? 3rd or 4th?

If you are in Germany, there will be no formal identification process through the school, nor will it help to request one through the school. You can get testing through the local school advisory center or privately at a gifted research center at university or through a psychologist, but it will likely not help you with your school situation in elementary school because there will be no gifted programming before 5th grade, nor will there be differentiation available due to a gifted identification. He's shown he is a high achiever in the classroom; if the teachers are at all willing to differentiate they'll base it on that, not on private test results (they may not care or even question the validity). A lot depends on the state you live in.

For a child who is very clearly working way above grade level, they would probably suggest a grade skip, but If he is in 3rd now, they will likely not advise a grade skip into 4th, because that is when tracking decisions are made, and if he is in 4th, it will be hard to find a secondary to take him without the formal tracking requirements achieved in 4th. Depending on which state you live in Germany there may, however, be officially designated "gifted-friendly" elementary schools, where he might not find much different programming, but at least some understanding, so if he runs into trouble in school frequently, it may be wirth checking that out - it's only worth it if he is going into 3rd grade now, however, as you will have a hard time changing schools in the middle of 4th grade.

The good news is that being a high achiever, tracking is automatically going to get him into an academically more rigorous environment in college prep school by 5th grade anyway - just how rigorous depends on the state you live in, again. There may even be a college prep with a self-contained gifted track starting at 5th or 6th grade in the area you live in, so if you decide to pursue testing in any case, you should check out now whether the results would be accepted by that school, so you won't end up having to get him tested twice.

PM me if you like.