Addressing the Special Needs of Gifted Children, #9

[OTMomma]

A new thread for all parents who have gifted children, or think their kids might be gifted. This is a safe place to chat, exchange ideas and even do a little bragging without being told "No, way! A child of that age can't do THAT"

Please do a brief reintro of you and your dc, as I think there have been many new faces lately. :)

[OTMomma]

I'm Laura, Mom to Mya who is 3.75 will be 4 in July. I'm not sure how gifted Mya is- but she has great problem solving and interpersonal skills. She can type her name and a few other words on the computer- she loves the computer.

We are currently homeschooling and plan to continue that path for the next few years. I like the unschooling theory, but we are also doing the Five in a Row books right now- since dd loves being read to, she's really enjoying the program.

[psyche]

I'm Deirdre, mother to ds1 who just turned 4 years old & ds2 who's ten weeks old.

I don't have much information about ds2 yet, although he has been sticking out his tongue when I ask him where his tongue is for over a month (stupid baby tricks, I guess). I also think he's beginning to sign "milk."

Ds1 is a high-energy, high-needs kid. He's not only good at problem solving but he also has a frighteningly good memory. Last week, for example, I found a kid spoon that I'd tucked into an odd spot after a picnic at least a year ago. I rinsed it off & gave it to him, telling him that I just found his cat spoon. He looked at it for a second before saying, "Toronto cat spoon." My jaw just about hit the floor because we did buy it in Toronto.... two years ago. He's always coming up with these random memories of rather inconsequential things that happened long ago, yet he usually can't count reliably through the teens each time so he's a maddening contradiction. (We're raising him bilingual & he's been a bit behind the normal language curve. Also, I suspect he enjoys driving me nuts by stumbling over "13" - if only he'd use his brains for good rather than evil.) He just finished his first year at a Montessori school, which has been a really wonderful fit for him.

[ChristaN]

I'm Christa, mom to two girls who will be 8 and 6 this fall. My older dd has been formally identified as gifted through her school and independent testing that we had done. She is a very uneven kiddo, tempermental, intense, wonderful, but challenging. My younger dd has not been assessed and I do not know if she is gifted. I am assuming that it is likely, though, given that she started speaking at 5.5 months and generally has developed on a similar curve dd#1.

[Cinder]

Wow, Cinder- it sounds like whatever you have been doing is working fine for Janelle. :) You may have some hard choices to make in the future- about wether to homeschool or skip grades or other things like that- but you don't have to do any of it this week. If it were me, I would look for another alternative to headstart- Headstart might work out fine. But some gifted children are a really bad fit for programs like that that are teaching things way below their level- some kids are bored others have problems socializing with their peers. I would try to find a friend or grandparent who can keep her, if after going to headstart a few times you realize its a bad fit.

I don't have any friends that SAH and mil was just diagnosed with cancer Friday, so that's out and my mom lives 3 hours away right now and is moving 7 hours away in August...I chose headstart just cause it's in the same building as the Early Intervention program, so I'll still be there, just not in the class room with her (*I* might have a tad seperation anxiety problem here... :innocent ). If it weren't for Caid (my son) I have always planned on homeschooling, it's just that I'm not qualified in the slightes to be an OT, ST, or special ed teacher and he needs all of that right now...I was ok with Janelle just going with us to his classes, but he seriously didn't get anything out of them since Janelle was always right there answering for him, helping him, etc...

[Cinder]

I'm Jillian, 26, 27 in August. DH is Ryan, also 26, 27 in July. We are parents to two great kids. Janelle Ashlynn is 3 and will be 4 in September. Kincaid Chance was 2 in March.

We've been through a lot with Caid...he talked and signed really early, like first real word at 6 months, around 20 words by 9 months. Then at 10 months he started having seizures and completely stopped talking, signing, everything. By 18 months he had around 2 words...now he has about 30, but things like "EYE" means "I want to colour with crayons"...so only things DH and I can understand, and no signs. He also has cognitive delays and SID which he gets OT for. We have his seizures mostly under control with medications, but every time he gains weight he has seizures again till we adjust the dose.

Janelle is a basically healthy little girl...she has an official diagnoses of ADHD and OCD...she had severe sleep apnea but we have (hopefully, we won't get the true results to her follow up sleep study for another couple of weeks) corrected that with a tonsilectomy. We've also dealt with Failure to Thrive off and on her whole life, and at 3 3/4 years old she is 28lbs and 37"...She's a brilliant kid, taught herself to read, add, and subtract, knows over 300 signs (she wants to speak sign language...)...just loves to learn and is always coming up with something new and shocking us all.

[loraxc]

:wave

Mom to "Froglet," almost 2.5. Froglet is currently figuring out addition and subtraction and has become obsessed with poetry. She is constantly memorizing new poems and reciting them, and also plays with the words a lot and changes them around in entertaining ways. She is also very interested in rhyme and rhyming right now, and continues to have an off-again, on-again interest in sounding out words. AND she is very busy being a very challenging 2yo, too. ;)

I am currently desperately looking for inexpensive ways for us to get out of the house and with people more, as we have belatedly realized that she is an extrovert at heart and needs more contact with people to be happy.

[*Lisa*]

:wave

Hi. I'm Lisa, Mom to 3 1/2 year old Sarah. I don't know if she's "officially" gifted or not, but she's definitely academically precocious :)

She is currently in a workbook phase--we've been spending hours a day working on those workbooks that you can buy in discount stores. The most recent one we've been working through is for second graders, and that seems to be about the right level for a lot of things (although she doesn't have the writing ability to write her own answers yet). I'm pretty tired of workbooks, so I'll be glad when she's ready to move out of this workbook phase :lol We've also been spending a lot of time doing Mad Libs.

Sarah's a really sensitive kid. I'll be in the middle of reading what seemed to be an innocuous book, and she'll break down in tears.

[alegna]

:wave

Angela, mom to Savannah. 22 months. She's been sight-reading a handful of words since around 18 months. She's currently up to around 20-25 with some that are hit and miss. Recognizes all letters and numbers up to 20. Understands the concept of numbers up to 5 I think- still figuring that out.

The silly goose LOVES flashcards. Oh if you knew what an anti-flashcard person I am. I abhor them. I looked forever for words and simple pictures together when she started recognizing words, because she loved print. Ended up with a set of flashcards. She BEGS to play with her cards with mom or dad. Sigh.

-Angela

[OTMomma]

I don't have any friends that SAH and mil was just diagnosed with cancer Friday, so that's out and my mom lives 3 hours away right now and is moving 7 hours away in August...I chose headstart just cause it's in the same building as the Early Intervention program, so I'll still be there, just not in the class room with her (*I* might have a tad seperation anxiety problem here... :innocent ). If it weren't for Caid (my son) I have always planned on homeschooling, it's just that I'm not qualified in the slightes to be an OT, ST, or special ed teacher and he needs all of that right now...I was ok with Janelle just going with us to his classes, but he seriously didn't get anything out of them since Janelle was always right there answering for him, helping him, etc...

Sorry my suggestion didn't help. I do totally understand not having your dd at the therapy sessions, and it sounds like she may not need to spend a very long time at the headstart anyway, as she can come and go when you come and go for therapy.

[Cate]

Hi, I'm Catherine, I just lurked on the last thread, but since we're doing introductions I thought I'd say 'hi'.
Jenna will be 4 in july... She's never been officially declared gifted... She knew her colours at 9 months, read her first words, and started learning to identify and write her letters at 18 months. Then she started learning phonics at about age 2, and learned to sound out words. She's recently gone into denial though, and refuses to admit she can read (though she sounded out gingerbreadman for my mother this weekend). She's currently going through a math phase, and has become obsessed with addition and subtraction, and has figured out the pattern to counting, so can count easily and recognise numbers into the hundreds.
Callum doesn't seem to have the academic prowess of his sister (though he just turned 1 this week, so I suppose I should give it time), however, he's started singing, and playing the piano with a deliberation that I've never seen even Jenna use. He has a natural sence of rhythem and can tap out the beat to any song he hears. He also loves to draw. I guess he's my artsy type :).
I'm very glad to have found this thread.

[eilonwy]

:wave Wow, there are lots of new people on this thread! :lol

I'm Rynna, 28 (I'm nearly thirty! :lol I find that so amusing...), mom to BeanBean, 3.5; BooBah, 2 on Saturday, and Bella, nearly 3 months. :love I'm also (once again) homeschooling my nice ChibiChibi (9) and will hopefully have her sister, BizzyBug (nearly 6), too. :love I'm absolutely smitten with them, I just think that they're the most wonderful people on Earth! :love None of these children has been formally identified as gifted, but I still believe that every one of them is, for loads of reasons. I could be entirely wrong, but I don't think so. :lol

BeanBean-- started speaking *very* early, and hasn't shut up yet. :blah Right now, we're working on improving reading skills (he's not what I'd call a fluent reader at this point) with a blend of explicit phonics and sight words. He's very into math right now, and I'm looking forward to starting Miquon with him and his cousins. We did Singapore sporadically last year (last year was a *mess* around this house, for too many reasons to discuss here), but he still seemed to pick up a ridiculous amount of information. My goal for him this year (as far as I'm concerned, the "school year" begins July 1st) is to find a Suzuki teacher who's willing to barter services. :innocent I think he'd really love playing an instrument. He also says that he wants to take a cheerleading class, and if I can find an inexpensive place to take a 3 or 4 year old boy for cheerleading lessons, I'll sign him up. :D

BooBah-- She's not as verbally adept as BeanBean, nor as extroverted. Very advanced physically, she's a bit of a daredevil and does things which absolutely *horrify* other parents on the playground. I work very hard not to laugh when another mother *freaks* out at something which BooBah has been doing for a year or, in some cases, longer. :lol BooBah can write several letters, recognizes almost all of them (she has trouble with "M" and "N," she mixes them up, etc), and loves to count and sing. When BeanBean is working on reading, BooBah will often come and join us. She's learned a lot this way! It's very cool to watch. :D I wouldn't be at all surprised if she started reading next year, but, as with everything else, it will have to be on her own terms. BooBah's currently potty learning. It's a lot easier now that I've learned the secret: she hates the "baby potty," and wants to use the toilet "aw by MYSEWF!!" :lol

Even though she has loads of words, I have concerns about her hearing so BooBah is going to be evaluated by Early Intervention. I could be crazy, but better to find out sooner than later, right? :lol

Bella-- Super cute and mini! :love She's interactive and fun, but still just a bitty bit of person. By this age, her brother and sister each had several milestones under their belts; Bella is following her own path. Right now she makes pre-speech sounds, and grins like crazy when she wakes up in the morning. I'm casually working on EC with her, and she's really amazing about communicating her needs. :D I think that if she could see a bit better, she'd have picked up a few signs by now. (BeanBean and BooBah both refused to sign; when I tried showing BeanBean "milk," he said, "Yes, I want a nursie." When I signed with BooBah, she laughed at me and said the word, but made her own hand motions for *me* to copy. :lol) Bella will see an opthamologist next week. :thumb

ChibiChibi-- My oldest niece, and a sweet girl with a mess of a life story. She's extremely bright, but when she becomes bored she puts her brilliant mind to fascinating and occasionally destructive use. Very charismatic, children inevitably follow her around wherever we happen to be. :lol She says that she "hates school but loves homeschooling," and has refused to take a break from formal academics despite having loads of fun summer activities to occupy her. Last week I took her and my children to the state park, where they had a fabulous time. When we got home, ChibiChibi wanted to do "homework." I told her it was dinner time and then bedtime, and she snuck out of the room to do workbooks! :nut I promised her that I'd find something for her to work on, because she likes to keep busy. :thumb I've decided that I'll try to place her using the diagnostic tests in the Miquon series, and then just cover the subject areas with which she has difficulty. Once she's confident in all of those areas, I'll probably start teaching her Algebra, which, from all I can tell, is the next logical step after completeing the Miquon Math Labs. :thumb

Chibi's been doing lots of reading lately, and writes book reports of her own accord. :shrug Right now, she's very interested in animals of all kinds, but most especially pandas, amphibians (I'm a big froggy fan :love), and anything native to Australia.

BizzyBug-- Formally diagnosed with Asperger's at age 4, BizzyBug is a fascinating little girl. She's very sweet and loving, but often too demonstrative (hugged all her classmates). She has many of the typical Asperger's problems (inability to read body language, no sense of danger, severe SID, poor eye contact, etc) and some of the more fun ones as well (hyperlexia, never forgets *anything*, etc). This year in kindergarten, she made no progress at all academically and her speech seems to have declined dramatically. She recieved no special services from the school district, they refused to even do an IEP. Her teacher spent a ridiculous amount of time with her, because even under the easiest conditions, BizzyBug is a lot of work, but she still didn't learn a single thing all year. I'm really hoping that my sister will come to her senses and pull her out of the district before all hope is lost.

That's the kiddles in a (very large) nutshell. :D I think they're great fun. :lol

[eilonwy]

ChibiChibi went to HeadStart. She had a good time, and they were all too glad to have a child there who could set an example for everyone else. :rolleyes Seriously, though, they were constantly sending home letters applauding her, :love There was no academic pressure on her at all, so she helped the other kids out; she memorized all of their names in the first two days (people skills are really her thing), and could read them all by the end of the first week, so she helped the teacher pass out the "name cards" (they varied with the season) each morning. :lol She said "may I please?" and "thank you," so the other kids learned lots of fun things from her. She was the smallest child in her class (severe reflux issues), and made friends with the tallest; a shy little girl who just didn't know how to jump in and play with the others. :love

I wouldn't expect a gifted child to learn any thing in HeadStart, but every kid loves a water table and they had the best blocks. :lol

[Henry's_Mamma]

I'm Amy, 34 now, 35 (oh my!) in July. Dh was 35 in May. Ds, Henry, is 2 years, 7 months old. He's never been formally tested, but we believe it is highly likely that he is gifted. He has a HUGE sight vocabularly (it must be into the hundreds at this point), and can read many early reader type books like "Frog and Toad" with minimal assistance. He has some grasp of phonics although he will often try to guess a word before "sounding it out," but does a pretty good job of doing that when prompted. He has an incredible memory and a ton of energy. He's easily bored, and I have trouble keeping him engaged. He recognizes and can read/write (we use foam numbers, so really just laying the numbers out) numbers well into the hundreds and is trying the thousands out now. He's fascinated by addition and subtraction and has just realized the concepts of division and multiplication (loves when you take 2 of something and cut them in half and have 4 -- thought that was amazing). He uses the computer to type and can type many words. His fine motor skills are probably age appropriate, although coming along. I think he's too much of a perfectionist and too easily frustrated when what's in his head doesn't show up on paper.

Henry seems to be about age-appropriate in gross motor skills, interactive skills, and generally being a 2 year old. I think he is often bored and frustrated by his peers who don't share his interests (the "academics" plus music and musical instruments). If we can swing it financially, in another year or so we may start him on an instrument via Suzuki, just because he's so enamoured with instruments.

I'm considering doing some more formal "schooling" with him in the fall, just because I think he'd love it. In September he starts a one day/week Mom's Morning Out program that is entirely play based. They do lots of play and arts/crafts, and I think the peer interaction and fine motor skill work will be good for him.

Nevertheless, his gifts scare me a lot. I wonder what we will do when he's age ready for school. As a November baby, he will not be eligible to start kindergarten until he is almost 6, and by then he might be ready for middle school. :lol Until then, we'll play it by ear.

[psyche]

As a November baby, he will not be eligible to start kindergarten until he is almost 6, and by then he might be ready for middle school.

Or above! My husband's cousin began college at nine.

(Although I don't expect my children to be anywhere near that level, I'm curious about such extreme acceleration.)

[catgirl]

Hi, I'm Penny, Mom to Ben who is now just 7. We've never had him tested and he is a study in contradictions - talked late (started just as he was turning two), by which time he could read a bunch of words and type several of them (but was not hyperlexic in the ASD sense); started reading phonetically the week of his third birthday but doesn't like to read much now although he reads at 6th grade level; didn't show any real early talent in math (although he could instantly recognize quantites up to about five when he was two) but then blew through K-3 math in his so-called kindergarten year (we're homeschooling) and now enjoys converting base 10 to binary and other cool stuff like that. His first language is really music - he's a gifted pianist who plays with great maturity. We're currently trying to figure out if he has ADHD or is just insanely energetic and self-directed. He is clearly gifted to some degree but it's very hard to say to what extent. I rarely post because of lack of time, but I find this thread very comforting!

[lucysmom]

I'm Lisa & my daughter Lucy is 21 months. Has known all letters for a long time, knew most shapes and colors at 12 months, can spell her name (L-U-C-Y-LUCY!), knows what many words start with (D-Daddy! M-Mommy! A-Astro!), counts to 13, sight reads maybe 50 words, has a huge vocabulary and a remarkable memory. (Tonight she informed me that "Kathy" gave her the toothbrush she was using. I thought "huh, is Kathy the name of the dentist?" and asked my partner, whose childhood dentist we took her to a couple of months ago. Yep -- Kathy. Lucy probably heard the woman's name once total and we have not discussed it since.)

I like her quite a bit ... not only because she's smart, needless to say, but it sure makes it fun.

Or above! My husband's cousin began college at nine.

(Although I don't expect my children to be anywhere near that level, I'm curious about such extreme acceleration.)

I went to college at 11 & loved it. Let me know if you want to discuss the experience ...

He also says that he wants to take a cheerleading class, and if I can find an inexpensive place to take a 3 or 4 year old boy for cheerleading lessons, I'll sign him up.

Right on!!!

-- Lisa

[Cinder]

She was the smallest child in her class (severe reflux issues), and made friends with the tallest; a shy little girl who just didn't know how to jump in and play with the others. :love

I wouldn't expect a gifted child to learn any thing in HeadStart, but every kid loves a water table and they had the best blocks. :lol

Thanks, I hope it goes well here too.

Severe reflux issues have been a huge cause of Janelle's failure to thrive problems as well.

I'm worried about stuff like cheerleading only being offered to girls. Caid wants nothing more than to be just like his sister right now...he is enrolled in creative movement for the fall cause he was so jealous that Janelle got to take ballet last year and he didn't (he wasn't, and still isn't actually, old enough for ballet)...I don't know what he will do when Janelle wants to do something that is only offered to girls.

[eilonwy]

Honestly, I'm going to lose my mind if I hear one more thing about how anything and everything that I do with my kids is wrong, counterproductive, stupid, impossible, or just a waste of time. :cuss I feel like I constantly have to be on the defensive on Learning at Home and Beyond, and my kids aren't even "scary" gifted, as far as I can tell. For crying out loud, BeanBean's 3.5 and not reading fluently, and I've personally met lots of kids who were reading better at two (hell, I was one of them). Why is it so impossible to believe that a child might enjoy listening to a story that lasts more than 5 minutes and doesn't have loads of shiny pictures before he's 9? :cuss It's not like I'm telling them that *they're* scarring their kids for life, why can't they afford me the same courtesy?

[ChristaN]

I was going through dd#1's baby book last year when I was filling out developmental milestones on a form for the psych who tested her and I wrote under "favorite activity" on the 9 month old page that her favorite thing was listening to me read her books and that she cried whenever I stopped reading. She'd listen to me read for 30-40 minutes even as an infant. I have no problem believing that a 3.5 y/o could like to listen to stories longer than 5 minutes. Actually, I would probably think that something was askew with a 3 y/o who couldn't sit still that long to listen to an interesting story, although that probably isn't fair either.

I really think that it is a backlash against the belief that seems to be ingrained in parents that "gifted" is a result of parenting. Therefore, if someone else's kid is doing something different than the norm, it reflects badly on your parenting. That's really too bad b/c I know that I didn't make my dds gifted by something I did (other than maybe donating the genes).

[loraxc]

Honestly, I'm going to lose my mind if I hear one more thing about how anything and everything that I do with my kids is wrong, counterproductive, stupid, impossible, or just a waste of time.

I hear you. *sigh* I don't have anything to add, really, just...I hear you.

I'm enjoying reading all the new intros. :) I was rushed when I wrote mine, and have been feeling the desire to add that in addition to appreciating Froglet's unique gifts, we also have some concerns. We feel there is some cloudiness around whether some of her more unique and quirky traits are because of giftedness or because of another issue, specifically something "spectrum-y" like ASD or Asperger's. Froglet still refers to herself as "you" and to us as "I" or "me." She uses a lot of repetition in her speech (echolalia) and sometimes parrots things back verbatim that we have said to her to communicate her own needs (for instance, if she fell down and hurt herself while out of my view, she might come to me and say, "Honey, did you fall down?") Her memory at times goes beyond "Wow, neat" to "Is this a tad spooky?"--for instance, she can recite entire 40-page books in a sort of robotic fashion. We also wondered about hyperlexia when she learned the alphabet so early and showed intense interest in word memorization at 18 months (which has faded, interestingly). Her pretend play seems rather limited and basic compared to her other activities.

However, she was evaluated for a large motor delay and concurrently for signs of ASD (at our request) by our local Early Intervention program and they were very definite about not seeing any signs of ASD. So--we don't know. :shrug I do see some eerie similarities between her manner of speech and what is described as autistic speech at times, even though she is also capable of perfectly organic, two-way conversation.

She is an unusual kid, in any case, and we haven't teased it all out yet, for sure.

[*Lisa*]

Froglet still refers to herself as "you" and to us as "I" or "me."

Loraxc--I can't speak to most of your concerns, but DD did this until she was older than Froglet is now. I don't remember exactly when she switched over, but it felt REALLY late (sometime when she was three maybe?). It concerned me a bit, but it worked itself out in time. It certainly made for some interesting conversation ("You need a num" when she wanted to nurse, for example).

Her pretend play seems rather limited and basic compared to her other activities.

This was the same for DD when she was Froglet's age, but now she's really been doing a lot of pretending over the past few months (she'll be four next month, and we have cast of imaginary friends). Hope this helps--

[Cinder]

I was going through dd#1's baby book last year when I was filling out developmental milestones on a form for the psych who tested her and I wrote under "favorite activity" on the 9 month old page that her favorite thing was listening to me read her books and that she cried whenever I stopped reading. She'd listen to me read for 30-40 minutes even as an infant. I have no problem believing that a 3.5 y/o could like to listen to stories longer than 5 minutes. Actually, I would probably think that something was askew with a 3 y/o who couldn't sit still that long to listen to an interesting story, although that probably isn't fair either.

Umm, yea, one of my sons IFSP/IEP goals is to listen to a story being read to him for longer than 2 minutes...and he is only 2, so I'd say a 3 year old should definitely be listening to 5 minute stories if it is worth being put in an IEP for a 2 year old.

[Cinder]

I hear you. *sigh* I don't have anything to add, really, just...I hear you.

I'm enjoying reading all the new intros. :) I was rushed when I wrote mine, and have been feeling the desire to add that in addition to appreciating Froglet's unique gifts, we also have some concerns. We feel there is some cloudiness around whether some of her more unique and quirky traits are because of giftedness or because of another issue, specifically something "spectrum-y" like ASD or Asperger's. Froglet still refers to herself as "you" and to us as "I" or "me." She uses a lot of repetition in her speech (echolalia) and sometimes parrots things back verbatim that we have said to her to communicate her own needs (for instance, if she fell down and hurt herself while out of my view, she might come to me and say, "Honey, did you fall down?") Her memory at times goes beyond "Wow, neat" to "Is this a tad spooky?"--for instance, she can recite entire 40-page books in a sort of robotic fashion. We also wondered about hyperlexia when she learned the alphabet so early and showed intense interest in word memorization at 18 months (which has faded, interestingly). Her pretend play seems rather limited and basic compared to her other activities.

A lot of this sounds a lot like my brother who has aspergers...My mom denied it though and refused therapy and with no therapy or anything till college age (when he seeked it out himself) he has done perfectly fine in life...he is the manager of a group of HUD apartment complexes and also works nights as a manager at burger king, and has quite a few very close friends.

[OTMomma]

Rynna- I am so sorry that the homeschoolers are giving you crap. My dd has been willing to sit still to listen to chapter books since she was 2. I sort of think the homeschooling forum is overly full of "unschoolers" who think their way is the only way. They also apparently don't have the type of child who you have to basically "feed their brains", as I see it. I can't fathom what their children must do all day.

[darien]

Rynna- I am so sorry that the homeschoolers are giving you crap. My dd has been willing to sit still to listen to chapter books since she was 2. I sort of think the homeschooling forum is overly full of "unschoolers" who think their way is the only way. They also apparently don't have the type of child who you have to basically "feed their brains", as I see it. I can't fathom what their children must do all day.

:nono Oh my! I know you didn't mean to be as judgemental as that sounds. :innocent

The theory of unschooling does not preclude lessons, assignments, workbooks, or whatever. The caveat is that whatever goes on should be the CHILD'S idea, and that the child can choose to change or end it.

Again, in theory, unschoolers control the rate, level and content of their own education. Doesn't that sound beneficial for a child's "brain feeding"?

I won't presume to speak for others who call themselves unschoolers, but MY unschooling ds has plenty to do all day. He helps me with the little ones, takes care of his pets, reads, builds, listens to music, plays outside, cleans up-- just about every day. He's doing what he wants to be doing (except the cleaning :wink ), and learning as he goes.

He also takes karate, plays team baseball and basketball, attends a playgroup, and belongs to a book club, a service club, and a Pokemon club. This summer he's attending 2 camps-- chess and wetlands exploration. That's what my unschooler does all day.

Bottom line, no one should give Rynna crap. Everyone can get behind that, right? :Peace

[darien]

Does nobody love me now because I ranted a bit? :duck:

I'm Darien; I have 2 ds's. Taro is 9. He's a (rising) 4th grader by age, 5th grader according to district records, 6th grader according to his last portfolio. :dizzy: He loves reading, electronics, lizards and babies-- not necessarily in that order! He's very verbal, imaginative and sensitive. Definitely an outside the box thinker-- I'm not sure he knows there is a box. :lol

Jiro is 20m. He's also very verbal (loves books, rhyming and puns), but much more physical than his brother. He's already obsessed with sports! He's not as advanced as Taro at the same age, but he does speak lengthy sentences using a large vocabulary. He knows his shapes and colors, some letter sounds. And he's adorable. :love

[catgirl]

Froglet still refers to herself as "you" and to us as "I" or "me." .

Ds did this till soon after he turned three. I remember him at dinner one night pointing to dh and saying "I'm Rick!" and then at himself and saying "You're Ben!" Dh started saying, "No, Ben, you're.." I stopped him and said, "Don't even bother, he's not ready to get it yet!" I figured it would work itself out eventually, and it did.

[OTMomma]

Darien- I didn't mean there is anything wrong with unschooling- but there are some people who feel if you aren't unschooling, and that is by their definition, not necessarily true unschooling- that you are doing things "wrong". There are some parents out there who believe that any parent led learning is wrong. Personally, I think parent led learning is great if the child is interested. I understand some unschoolers believe that is great- but there are some who are very vocal about other opinions. Its just like the people who say every baby should be family bed- that solution also doesn't work for everyone.


I did put unschoolers in quotes because I don't think true unschooling requires such strict rules and is open to interpretation. And I think John Holt would be OK with that.

I also apologize that you took my post so personally- it was not meant as an attack on any individual or their choices. I think unschooling is a respectable choice- I just don't think it should be forced on others.

[eilonwy]

That's just it-- I love unschooling, in theory. The reality of it just doesn't work for me or for my kids. :shrug There are plenty of unschoolers with gifted children, too. It's not unschoolers or unschooling in general that I have problems with, but I think that going any further would probably violate the UA.

I'm sick. :( I should be in bed, but I'm stalling. :dizzy: Today BeanBean was playing with something and counting out loud to himself. He got to ten and stopped, so BooBah chimed in, "ewevin!" :lol So cute!

[Daffodil]

Hi, everyone! I'm mom to 3 1/2 yr old Lindy and 6 1/2 month old John. I was identified as gifted when I was a kid, and Lindy certainly seems to be gifted also (though not as amazingly so as some of the other kids here). She's the kind of kid who is really reluctant to try anything she isn't sure she can do right, so it's hard to know exactly what she's capable of. For instance, she knows how to sound out simple words, but is currently not very interested in trying to do it. Her big interests these days include pretending to be Lassie, moving worms around, throwing things into water, and Magic Schoolbus books and videos. So far, John is an incredibly cute but otherwise unremarkable baby.

Oh, and to Loraxc - Lindy reversed "you" and "I" until she was 2 1/2, and her cousin kept doing it until she was even older.

[loraxc]

Thanks for all the posts about your little you/I switchers. One theory we have is that since DD learned to speak so early, she sort of got "stuck" in some early linguistic stages. I also believe she is a "gestalt" language learner--that is, she learns things in huge chunks and only later breaks them down to individual parts. It is clear, anyway, that the manner in which she learns is somehow different. At times I am unsure if her enormous memory is a gift or a compensation strategy.

But the EI people basically patted us on the heads and said, "You're crazy--she's wonderful." They were all giddy over her performance on some test they gave her (I forget the name at present). I don't know. I do believe ASD is an enormously wide spectrum, and that some (many?) people possess some traits without being truly diagnosable. I think only time will tell with Froglet, but I would love to continue to talk with other parents whose kids are a bit like her. There was, by the way, a fascinating article in the rather weird "Cookie" magazine about a child who was misdiagnosed as ASD and later rediagnosed as gifted. Has anyone else read it? I don't have a link, but I might be able to put up a scan.

[allgirls]

I love the introductions...great to meet and learn about everyone.

I am Carolyn, mommy to 4 and it's my third, Sophia that brought me to this board...gifted, I dunno...smart out the wazoo that's for sure though. She started identifying letters at about 10mos and that's when I knew something was different. Just when I think maybe she's just a fantastic almost 3 year old she does something brilliant and nearly shocks my socks off.

She has amazing language skills, a huge vocabulary and loves talking to older kids and adults more than kids her own age. She goes to a local preschool for fun and her class goes to age 4...she's one of only a few who can print her name...she's been trying for a month..she still needs guidance with the scale and all but she's getting it...she will be 3 in July.

She's not reading but she's mad at herself because she cant...yesterday she got her own library card which is my effort to get her to let me read to her again because she insists she needs to read herself. She has gone through this phase before but it's lasting longer this time..she did let me read the 3 books once to the baby but since then it's all been her.

she is fantastic with language..she rhymes really well...makes up little rhymes and songs.

She loves music...but really isn't a big fan of kids music. Her current favourite is Diana Krall...the first song she memorized was American Woman by the Guess Who.

My littlest one Martina is also pretty clever...at 3 months she was clapping her hands to patty cake and she seems pretty clever..she is a much more laid back baby than Sophia was...Sophia seems to be conquering her shyness as she grows up but is still skeptical of over - exhuberant people. she prefers quiet talkers.

martina is crying..must run

Ok...I am back finally...So we are taking Sophia out of her preschool and I am working towards homeschooling so have decided to try it for the next year...starting a bit formally in September to see how it goes. Junior kindergarten will start for her the following September so I want to see if I can actually do this and if we actually want to do it this way. And more importantly to gauge what level she actually should be in at school. I will let her lead but plan on several activities such as Kindermusik, dance, swimming and some "school" activities as well. There is also a playgroup at the early learning centre once a week. It usually has a theme at different weeks and we take major advantage at that. It's nice socially for us both and runs to age six.

I am hoping to just continue homeschooling while she is young and find a suitable school for her when she's older...where we are moving now there is a school that apparantly has a gifted program...I am yet to find out what that means though.

Cheers
Carolyn

[Cinder]

But the EI people basically patted us on the heads and said, "You're crazy--she's wonderful." They were all giddy over her performance on some test they gave her (I forget the name at present). I don't know. I do believe ASD is an enormously wide spectrum, and that some (many?) people possess some traits without being truly diagnosable. I think only time will tell with Froglet, but I would love to continue to talk with other parents whose kids are a bit like her. There was, by the way, a fascinating article in the rather weird "Cookie" magazine about a child who was misdiagnosed as ASD and later rediagnosed as gifted. Has anyone else read it? I don't have a link, but I might be able to put up a scan.

I read that article...

Also, there is a book, I think it might be called Maverick Mind? Anyway, it's a GREAT book about a kid who was very severely autistic, at least to everyone but his mom...and his mom broke through to him...

[Henry's_Mamma]

loraxc ... I know we've said this to each other a few times, but the way you describe Froglet reminds me incredibly of Henry. I swear sometimes we're talking about the same kid! He is also still mixing up you/me/I, but every so often he gets it right. I'm not worried; it'll come when he's ready. Frankly, I think, like Froglet, he's just stuck in the pattern for the moment.

***

It became profoundly obvious to me today what a different child H is. We were at the dr's office in the waiting room. I pulled out a new to us Dr. Suess book from the kids' book bin and H and I sat down to read it. He decided on the second page or so that he was going to read it, and read it he did, with minimal help from me. When we were about half-way through the book another child, about age 6, came out into the waiting area and pulled out "Green Eggs and Ham." He was reading it to himself out loud and really struggling. It was such a strange vision to see the 2 of them in the same room reading, and the 2.5 year old reading more clearly. I felt a little bad because I think the kid realized the age difference but didn't now how to react. Nevertheless, it is a lot of fun to have a 2.5 year old read to you -- and understand what he's reading.

[catgirl]

She's the kind of kid who is really reluctant to try anything she isn't sure she can do right, so it's hard to know exactly what she's capable of.

A friend of mine with several very gifted children (one of whom is especailly like this) calls this "passive perfectionism"!

pretending to be Lassie, moving worms around, throwing things into water, and Magic Schoolbus books and videos.

:lol An excellent list of activities - she sounds very well-rounded!

[darien]

I also apologize that you took my post so personally- it was not meant as an attack on any individual or their choices. I think unschooling is a respectable choice- I just don't think it should be forced on others.

I didn't take it personally, per se... it's just that people seem to assume either that Taro sits in front of the TV all day, or that I've actually got him working in a sweatshop somewhere. :irked: So few people seem to "get" unschooling. I guess I was a little sensitive. :o No need for you to apologize!

[annettemarie]

Hi there! I'm Annette and I have three little ones--Michael (7), Katei Grace (5), and Nicholas (2). Michael was homeschooled for kindergarten and first grade up until November, when we put him in school. He absolutely loves school. I hate the fact that he's thriving there, but he is. We're keeping Katie Grace home, at least for kindergarten, and playing it by ear with homeschooling her.

Michael (and I'm going to focus on him for the moment) has always been a kid-and-a-half. Extremely verbal, musical, precocious. Loves language. He plays with words like other kids play with toys. He's always been intense and had some anger management issues. We just started seeing a psychologist to help develop a plan for dealing with the anger.

Today Michael was tested for the gifted program. They used the Weschler IQ test. I'm a little overwhelmed by the results. :lol

He was scarily bright in the verbal stuff. The test took an extra half-hour to administer because he actually talked his way to an answer on the spatial/math stuff.

However, he scored extremely low (like 79 IQ) on one or two areas, which really brought his mean IQ down. She's going to try to do it factoring those sections out, because she thinks he needs (a) OT and (b) a vision test. One of the areas was coding. I'm not entirely sure about what that is. The other area was those little blocks. This doesn't surprise me. Those little blocks confused the hell out of me as a kid too.

So, I came away from today feeling just...overwhelmed. Here, I have this kid who I always thought was brilliant, and I have someone else saying, yep, he's brilliant. But I also found out he had some issues. He was in OT this year and I am going to try to get the school district to work with him over the summer. And he has an eye doctor appointment tomorrow.

So, I guess I'm coming here with some questions. Is it "OK" to have verbal giftedness, but not spatial? Should I try to build up the spatial reasoning skills? And how do I do that?

And I'm worried. My husband has dyspraxia and I'm worried Michael will be labeled with it as well.

Oh, and as I was leaving, the psychologist said, "I know you're thinking of homeschooling, but you should consider sending Katie Grace to school as well." Apparently she was in at Katie Grace's kindergarten screening (I was covering my bases) and she said that Katie Grace is really bright too. And I said, really? Because when I look at her and look at Michael, she seems pretty average. So add that to the list of things I'm worried about: that I've somehow let my first overshadow my second, and that she's gifted too and I've missed my chances to nurture it.

[lckrause]

Annette--when my son took his IQ test lo these few years ago, he also scored REALLY low on a few sections. I believe the timed block design was one of them. By "low" I am talking like a 7 out of a 19. I found that the WJ-III achievement tests were a better indicator of his strengths and weaknesses.

Rynna--our local park and rec has a cheerleader program in the fall and a cheer camp in the summer. The cost isn't too much. You might want to check that out. Also, maybe the Y?

I haven't had time to keep up on MDC lately, so here's my intro. I'm glad to see so many new people on this thread. :) I'm Lisa, 33 (34 in September), single mom to Hollis, 10, and Annika (Nan), 8.

Hollis is my academic. Brief timeline--began to write letters (O and X) at a year, started recognizing words and spelling as a toddler, read at 2, was doing middle school level work by age 6 or 7, and now at age 10 is covering a high school curriculum. His strengths are math, science, geography, and history and his weaknesses are arts and literature, although his fiction comprehension has increased immensely in the past couple of years. I've often suspected Asperger's but have nothing clinical to back it up. He is a very quirky kid, though. In his own words, "I feel different ALL the time." :o His interests are wide-ranging but besides all that science, math, and history include fairly typical 10 year old stuff. NASCAR, baseball, Harry Potter, Pokemon cards, computer stuff, etc. Oh, and he is learning Japanese and Latin. Latest "gifted" moment: when he wrote a message to me in binary and was quite disappointed that I needed a translation. :lol

Nan is my artist/athlete. She has always been physically and artistically precocious--walked at 8 months, was drawing recognizable pictures as a toddler, stuff like that. She's 8 now and a dancer and gymnast. She's good at both but I think the dance is going to win out eventually, as she seems to have more passion for it than the gymnastics. She LOVES ballet and will probably be starting at a ballet school in the fall if we can find one that fits her schedule. If not this year then next year for sure. In the meantime she continues dance at her regular studio. She has the summer "off" which means she only has gymnastics once a week, two weeks of ballet camp, and a week each of cheer camp, dance camp, and performing arts camp. :dizzy: Academically, she's ahead of her peers but nothing mind-blowing. She funnels the majority of her energy into her dance and her drawing. Her interests are reading (just finished The Wizard of Oz), consuming vast quantities of food, and, um, DANCE.

We are homeschoolers, former hardcore unschoolers. The unschooling wasn't working for us anymore so we switched to a more eclectic/structured format last fall. We've done that on and off this year. Currently we are "on" :lol but were "off" for about 2 weeks while Nan had her dance recital and the kids went on vacay with their dad.

Well, that's all for now. Unlike Rynna I am not a Kirlian thought typist so this took me forever to write! :wink

[OTMomma]

He was in OT this year and I am going to try to get the school district to work with him over the summer. And he has an eye doctor appointment tomorrow.

So, I guess I'm coming here with some questions. Is it "OK" to have verbal giftedness, but not spatial? Should I try to build up the spatial reasoning skills? And how do I do that?

And I'm worried. My husband has dyspraxia and I'm worried Michael will be labeled with it as well.

I think it is perfectly fine to have verbal giftedness but not spatial reasoning. As adults most of us pick carreers that work towards whatever our talents are, and do very little of our weaknesses- for example my job requires very little spatial reasoning. ;) However, if you want to help him enhance those skills enoucaging playing with blocks and legos and building toys, will address that. Espeically if you get those legos with the picture of what to make, and help him figure out how to put it together.
Just as a warning, most schools only do OT over the summer with the most sever of children- but you can sometimes get private OT through insurance.
And from personal experience, there are some labels in our family I don't want my dd to have, and I make a point to not put it on her medical records that those things are in the family. If she's ever in a situation where it would help for me to mention it, I can bring it up then- but I don't want her to be labeled with something just because there are a few reasons, and its in the genes. I want them to diagnose based purely on her. I hope that makes sense. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

[loraxc]

Henry'sMamma, I do think Henry and Froglet are indeed similar (although Froglet is not really reading yet--Henry is pretty amazing). I would love to meet him. I didn't know he was still confusing I/you too--that is so interesting to me. I actually have a vague, fuzzy theory that there are "types" of gifted/quirky kid, and maybe H and F are the same "type," you know?

I can email scans of that Cookie mag article (about the child diagnosed with ASD then diagnosed gifted) if you or others are interested--PM me. Be forewarned that it is a somewhat intense read--the author was obviously devastated by her son's initial ASD diagnosis. Also, there is some stuff in it that could be seen as dismissive of AP. I found it very interesting, though, and the child sounded a LOT like Froglet.

Is it "OK" to have verbal giftedness, but not spatial? Should I try to build up the spatial reasoning skills? And how do I do that?

When I took an IQ test in 4th grade, my spatial scores were so low that even though I only got one thing wrong on the verbal section (and the vice principal famously told my mom, "I didn't know that one either!"), my overall score was borderline for the GT program. As an adult, I still have very poor spatial skills--NO sense of direction, can't draw in perspective, etc., etc. I was at least 11 or 12 before I reliably knew left from right, and I also have difficulty recognizing faces. Actually, I suspect I have what is called a Nonverbal Learning Disability, which you may want to research a bit. I would say this: I compensated and managed fine, because these issues are not all that important to academic success... but it would have been good for me to have worked more on improving those skills. I still have very little self-confidence about certain spatial things.

[EXOLAX]

So, I guess I'm coming here with some questions. Is it "OK" to have verbal giftedness, but not spatial? Should I try to build up the spatial reasoning skills? And how do I do that?


It is my understanding that this is more common then "all around" giftedness. It is not rare at all to find children who are gifted in certain areas. We have a friend whose 7 year old daughter is indeed a gifted artist, but wouldn't be considered gifted in other areas. I think that children can have a perpensity toward one thing or another; either based on their own interests, environmental influence or genetic predisposition. It could also be basically that they find something they are good at and do it more, only accelorating their advancement in that particular activity.

Our eldest DD has always been advanced in fine motor skills, anything to do with them, but has also always been much more timid about hard motor skill activities. Kids can excel in many different areas, I think it is truly important to recognise each and every child for their uniqueness and advancements in certain areas; finding programs to accomodate their needs, desires and areas of giftedness.

[annettemarie]

Thank you all for your words and suggestions. I'm taking them all in. :)

Michael had his eye appointment tonight. His vision is mostly fine, but we discovered he has severe red/green color blindness. I'm trying to figure out where this piece fits into the puzzle.

[ChristaN]

My dd's scores on the WISC-IV were all over the place too -- from the 99.9% to the 25% (block design was the one where she scored that low like your ds). Her full scale IQ came out in the moderately gifted range b/c the lower scores dragged her down considerably, but the areas where she did well were like WOW! The psych who tested her also recommended an OT evaluation for visual motor weaknesses and sensory integration issues.

We did have an OT evaluate her, but I have to say that I really didn't agree with her dx. She felt that some things which are common in gifted children (such as dd being somewhat ambidexterous) were signs of disfunction and diagnosed her with SID and dyspraxia after a 20 minute evaluation in which none of her scores were below avg for her age :scratch The OT eval. was much like the IQ test where she scored from about avg to equivalent of the teenager (she was 7 at the time).

I still don't know if there is something "wrong" that needs correcting or if she is just highly asynchronous. Another OT totally disagreed with the first and said that, while dd does exhibit some signs of sensory over responsiveness, she doesn't believe that they are severe enough to warrant a dx of SID and she doesn't believe that dd has dyspraxia. I truly don't either b/c not only does she not have any of the symptoms, her development and behavior are at complete odds with that diagnosis.

What we've been doing is just trying to get her more physically involved in her world. She's taking yoga, swimming more and trying to integrate her body more with her mind. It can't hurt. I want to focus more on her strengths than her weaknesses.

[eilonwy]

Red-green colorblindness could completely screw with that little block test, especially if he had to do it on a green desktop. Those blocks are red and white, the pictures are red and white with black lines separating the individual "blocks;" if he's completely red-green colorblind, he wouldn't have been able to see where one block ended and another block began on the page in most lighting, so of course he'd have had a lot of difficulty replicating the patterns. You should make this known to the person who administered the test, because it completly invalidates the result.

As to spatial issues: I've always thought that I had them. I have to actually *work* to do things like that block test, I have to consciously think about them instead of just rattling off answers. The shrink who administered my test in 7th grade kept telling me to relax, I could take my time, but I couldn't; I had to move quickly because it had to be *perfect* and I didn't want to "time out." It was so hard, and I was upset by the end of it. The shrink was shocked, he didn't understand why I was so hot and bothered about this, and I couldn't explain it. Overall, I scored very well on that test, but not nearly as well as I did on the other sections. It wasn't enough to have a major effect on my overall score... or maybe it was, and the test just couldn't measure it. :shrug Yeesh, I'm practically having a panic attack just *thinking* about that test.

[ChristaN]

I was the opposite -- that block test was so easy for me that the tester's jaw about hit the floor. I remember putting them together and then pulling them apart and putting them back together in a mirror image of the pattern and asking her which way she wanted me to do it. Her comment after she closed her mouth was something along the lines of, 'I've never seen anyone put those together so fast one way let alone two.'

I thought that I remembered the blocks being red and white not green, though. In any case, I was kind of surprised that dd did so poorly on that section b/c I see her being very similar to myself, but I guess not in that regard. Her really strong suit seemed to be abstract reasoning followed closely by verbal. She was basically above the ceiling for abstract reasoning -- 'earning one more raw score point than needed to obtain the highest score possible' according to the tester.

[Henry's_Mamma]

My father has significant red-green color blindness (which I thankfully didn't pass to my ds -- hoping for the same with ds#2). He says that those 2 colors appear as shades of brown to him, so depending on the depth and tone of the colors and what surrounds them, it could be very difficult to see subtle differences in black, brown, and, of course, the reds and greens. There are lots of compensation skills that can be taught (red light is always to the top or left on a traffic light), but it needs to be brought up a lot as he goes through his education/testing, as green/red are the most vibrant color wheel opposites so are used a lot when looking for contrast.

[SweetMamaMe]

Hello, everyone! I am a WAH/SAHM to a sweet, crazy, almost 3 year old girl. I am guessing she will test as gifted, if we have her tested. Her pediatrician started documenting some of her abilities in her file at 14 months and told us to be prepared to have her tested at 4. Most recently she has said to have her tested now as she suspects she is highly gifted. I never asked her, but I wonder if I have to have her tested if we plan on homeschooling? And why now, instead of 4? It was a sick appointment, so I had my mind on other things. Anyway, she's amazing, fun, temperamental, spirited, and goofy. She LOVES to tell jokes. My daughter, not her pediatrician. HA! I look forward to chatting with everyone here.

[annettemarie]

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and tips about the colorblindness. I think we are going to find a--um, a developmental optomistrist, I believe it's called?--so we can be sure the problem is color-blindness and not some other tracking/perception issues. :)

[loraxc]

SweetMamaMe, I'm wondering if your ped gave any reason to have her tested at 4 or 3? I'm not sure why that would be necessary, unless you are looking to have her enter a gifted preschool. Testing children that young is really a crapshoot, since they are still so unpredictable. Some of the other posters here have had frustrating experiences testing young kids.

Our ped was actually the first one to really call our attention to DD's "difference," and she always brings it up, but she's certainly never suggested testing. I consider that outside her purview. Actually, I was fairly angry when she told us at DD's one-year WCV that we needed to homeschool because the public school DD is zoned for would make her miserable. I'm over that now, but I felt she was overstepping her boundaries somewhat, honestly.

[SweetMamaMe]

Loraxc~my dd's ped suggested the same (homeschooling) or Montessori schooling. She also commented that dd probably wouldn't do so well in a standard preschool. I didn't feel she was stepping out of bounds, personally, in our situation. Maybe she was assuming we would just enter her into a gifted preschool. Then again, there really isn't a preschool for the gifted around here, other than a Montessori school, which is VERY expensive. Homeschooling is looking better and better, if I can keep up with her. My friend, bless her, gave me some of her kindergarten file folder games to use on her. They are GREAT and she loves them. We have been spending so much at the local teacher supply store because she goes through so much so quickly. I make educational things for her as much as I can, but MAN it can get tough getting creative sometimes. It seems as though she's really the happiest when she's learning or absorbing.

[lckrause]

Welcome to the thread, Mama. :) I agree that you probably don't need her tested at this age unless it's for some specific program. We have always homeschooled, and although I had my son tested a few years ago through the school, it wasn't very helpful since he didn't cooperate fully and the school didn't know what they were doing. If I had it to do over I would just skip it.

[SweetMamaMe]

Thanks for the info, girls! So good to know!

[ChristaN]

We had my older dd tested at 7yrs. 4 months. We only did it b/c she had a very bad first grade experience the year prior and the teacher felt that she was lazy b/c her speed wasn't in line with her ability. While her 2nd grade year was going much better and her speed didn't seem to be a problem, we wanted to know what we were dealing with in order to head off future issues.

My younger dd will be 6 in Sept and starting 1st grade this fall. We have not had her tested yet and I don't know if we will b/c there has been no need. I hate to "do" something for one kid and not the other b/c dd#1 has been formally ided as gifted by the schools based on those scores, she could join Mensa or other similar groups based on the scores, etc. I don't know if any of that really makes a difference, but that may be another reason to test dd#2 at some point just to offer her the same opportunities in case the test scores in some way benefit her, but we're not there yet and it isn't in the budget right now. Private assessments are not cheap.

[eilonwy]

We have been spending so much at the local teacher supply store because she goes through so much so quickly. I make educational things for her as much as I can, but MAN it can get tough getting creative sometimes. It seems as though she's really the happiest when she's learning or absorbing.

:lol Your daughter is nearly three, right? You've got the entire internet at your disposal, and (hopefully) a library available to you. If she really loves workbooks, do all the super cheap ones (a la Walmart) first, and then see what you can find that might last a bit longer at the teacher supply stores or Rainbow Resource (excellent prices, even if they are a bit hyperChristian in general). Go for things that will last longer, like blocks and math manipulatives. I could have spent several thousand dollars by now, but I haven't. :lol Being poor forces one to be creative. :D

[SweetMamaMe]

Wow! Thanks for the info! I haven't heard of Rainbow Resource and hyper-Christian works for me! :wink I do make a lot of stuff, but I also work from home and am limited on time sometimes, so the premade things come in handy. Thanks, again!

[Solange]

not playing

[ChristaN]

Your son sounds a lot like my older dd. She's still got training wheels on her bike and she'll be 8 in August. Although she is getting a little more comfortable in taking physical risks. We enrolled her in a sports camp this summer where she has yoga classes, karate, tennis, etc. all available, but she can decide which ones she wants to do on the days she is there... and we joined a club where we can take her swimming regularly. It seems to have helped to let her take things at her own pace -- let her get in the pool and swim if she wants but not to push swim "lessons."

She is also obsessed with things and knows more about them than adults, but for her all things ocean are her passion. She is currently reading 20,000 leagues under the sea and was quite upset that the author referred to a whale as a fish. She went on this long diatribe about the differences btwn marine mammals and fish. My little one needs me, so I've got to go, but I was amused by all of the similarities. To me, those idiosyncracies are what say "gifted kid" more than the developmental milestones.

[MyCalling]

Hello everyone! I have 4 children and know that my oldest is gifted in many ways. He is a born leader beyond just being the oldest, he is the master of persuasion and very gifted verbally, logically, and a great problem solver. He is great with numbers and judging distance and speed...he could hit a baseball pitched to him at 21 months. He learns new things at lightning speed and is very sympathetic and emotional.

Now, on to the reason I'm here...my second son. I know he is a visual-spatial learner and I am nothing of the sort. I don't really understand where his stregths lie except that he could finish a 100 piece puzzle at 2 1/2. Is it common that giftedness is passed down to all offspring in some form? Or am I looking for something he may not possess? I don't know how he learns, why he reacts to things, or anything I understand with my oldest. I know that I cannot teach my second son anything. I mean, nothing I tell him sticks, nothing I explain is in a way he understands:bang ....yet somehow he tosses out all this knowledge I don't know where it came from. Is this normal, or is he gifted in ways I just don't understand yet?

[allgirls]

I would say..and I am just guessing...that your oldest son is gifted and is very much like you, the second is gifted in a different way..learns differently...I would also think there is someone in your familiy he is like as well.

They both sound fascinating..

welcome to the board!

[Augusta]

Hi I'm Sandy, mom to Mason 3.75 yrs. I've known he was "different" since birth. He was always very alert and aware. He reached some milestones early, others right on time and some even a bit late.

It was actually difficulties at nursery school around his third birthday that got me interested in reading about young gifted children. His teachers didn't know what to make of him. They hinted at something being wrong and very always voicing concerns about one area of development or another but wouldn't come right out and say what they were thinking. Right before we pulled him out of the program in March they decided he should have a language assessment as well as a fine motor assessment. They agreed that his cognitive abilities were very advanced but that we shouldn't be reassured by that. All of this seemed like crazy talk to me. I recently read someone describing a child who wouldn't try to do something unless she knew she could do it really well as having "passive perfectionism". I hope I got that right. Anyway, that describes Mason perfectly. He doesn't want to try the scissors because they're awkward. He doesn't really like to use markers and try to do shapes or letters. He doesn't even ride a bike yet because the second he feels the petals arent' going he jumps off. They saw the scissor and marker aversion as a fine motor deficit. He also often prefers to play on his own which seemed very distressing to his nursery school teachers. I tried to explain he's an only child and isn't used to being around other kids all the time. They felt he was very "egocentric".

We took him out of nursery school (he'd been going 3 mornings a week for 10 months) and I started to really take stock of Mason's abilities. I had always just read to him a lot and played with him. He LOVES books! He started learning his letters around 18 months and counting to 10 without much direction. So, at age 2 - 3 he knew letters, upper and lowercase and could put the alphabet in order, could count to 20 in french, had memorized the authors and illustrators of all of his 100s of books etc. None of that seemed out of the ordinary to me for a kid who was between 2 and 3. What I didn't realize was that at age 3 1/2 he could read 100s of words by sight, do simple addition and subraction and was very easily picking up things like the properties of goemetric shapes, knew all the planets and their order.

Mason is also very sensitive, emotionally as well as to his environment. He gets overstimulated easily and that can result in tantrums. He has a HUGE imagination and is always pretending one thing or another. Hi language development as been very unusal but at age 3.75 I would say he's quite articulate and has a large vocabulary. He's very active and doesn't stop all day but his activity is usually directed at an activity and he can focus on something he's interested in, like playdough or trucks, for an hour.

Well, I guess that's my intro. Sorry its so long.
I've been reading the gifted child threads for a few weeks now. I've loved reading about all of your kids. They sound so amazing.

[catgirl]

I recently read someone describing a child who wouldn't try to do something unless she knew she could do it really well as having "passive perfectionism".

Yep, that was me! :)

He also often prefers to play on his own which seemed very distressing to his nursery school teachers. I tried to explain he's an only child and isn't used to being around other kids all the time. They felt he was very "egocentric".

My ds was/is like that (and he's also an only child). The playing alone can be just an introverted personality (and there's nothing wrong with that!), and both that and a preference for adults are more common in the gifted. Unfortunately they're often misinterpreted as being signs of "social problems" or "social immaturity".

It's interesting you bring this up, actually. The other day at the beach my son spent a small amount of time playing happily with a kid he met, a larger amount of time playing happily on his own, and a lot of time socializing enthusiastically with the off-duty lifeguards (under my close supervision, of course!), who apparently found him hysterical. He also joined in a long and fluid game of something like beach dodgeball, and every time he was out he sat down and chatted with the older kids instead of those his own age.

I used to worry about this stuff but now I see it's just who he is!

His language development as been very unusal but at age 3.75 I would say he's quite articulate and has a large vocabulary.

Oh, do share! I have one of those.

Well, I guess that's my intro. Sorry its so long.
I've been reading the gifted child threads for a few weeks now. I've loved reading about all of your kids. They sound so amazing.

You've checked out hoagiesgifted.org, right? You'd probably find a lot to interest you there, too.

[Anglyn]

Ok, maybe someone here can help me out. DS1 was id'ed as g/t in kindergarten. He has a wonderful elementary school, then we moved. He was already signed up for preAP in MS, well, the new MS didnt have that. The only accomadation made at all was to skip 7th grade math and go on to eighth. He made A's in it. In eighth grade he got an algebra teacher who he just clashed with, and he wasnt the only child that said she refused to teach, she just worked the problems on the board without discussion or explanation and expected them to get it. At the midpoint, I put him back in eighth grade math because the stress wasnt worth it. He was crying over this class. They only had her for math at all that year so he had the same teacher and barely made C's in a class he passed with A's last year. The principal says its him "not trying as hard".

Now I find out that texas law says a MS student CAN take HS classes while enrolled at MS, so He COULD have gone to the HS for math, science etc.

As far as I can tell this district has NO g/t program what so ever. I found a gifted child dev.center online that has an advocate who specializes in dealing with the schools, but they charge 100 bucks an hour just to speak to her!

So, does everyone here just have little ones or has anyone got some experiance with the school system? What are my rights? He is getting bored with, and cynical about, school and last year has behavior problems that I had never seen before. Im worried he'll end up like my brother, who was extremely gifted but had such a hard time in school that he dropped out and still is basically anitsocial.

[ChristaN]

Have you looked into Stanford's EPGY program (http://epgy.stanford.edu/)? It is a distance learning program for gifted youth and has some really neat offerings. Another possibility is to contact the Davidson Institute for Talent Development (http://www.ditd.org/) and see if they can provide you some guidance. They are totally free of charge if your child qualifies.

[EXOLAX]

Thought I'd tell you all about our little "trained monkey". First let me say we are not "marionet" parents. We are not pulling strings making our children act, do or say things. I assume like most the parents here we are just following our children's lead, but I will add to the thread my vent on people's perceptions of our child, and it's impact.

Our eldest turned 5 in March. Unlike most of the children on this board she was not an early talker but she was an early signer, and a lazy verbal speaker. She had a vocabulary of over 90 signs by around 19 months when we stopped counting. She could say words, but choose to sign them (so different from her now 2 y/o sister who has been signing and speaking sentences since 18 mos). Like most of the kids here she is a sponge, and has the memory of an elephant. She wrote her name w/o us even knowing it when she was an older 2. Apparantly she had seen me write it enough times that she just picked it up and did one day. I had no clue. She remembers everything, and spooked us as a toddler as she'd seemed to have some kind of ineherited memory. :wink (walking up to a fire hydrant when she was just over 1 and signing water, seeing stop signs and signing stop, etc.). Also like others she's very advanced in fine motor skills (as I said in a previous post) and timid about physical activity. But, she seems to have turned on a corner on that one and in just the past couple weeks is taking more and more risks and wanting to do more and more (learning to roller blade and wanting to take the training wheels off her bike.) She would rather help the 11 year old neighbor do chores then play with the 4,5, and 6 yo's.

At 5 she challenges us to keep up with her and keep feeding her info. She's had a year and half long obsession with space and the concept of infinity. We invested in a telescope just to keep up with her and to embrace her passion, and every night she waits to see if it's clear enough so we can get it out and find a new star that she can add to a star map that she created. She's been making drawings of Jupiter, and comparing where the moons are each night and how many dust clouds she can see around it and their position. She can't wait for halloween because it means we'll be able to see Mars.

This leads me to my vent. At night we get out the telescope and bring it down to the end of our driveway. Neighbors stop by and take a peek at whatever we are viewing as they walk by and we all have fun with it. But DD sees someone new walk up and she gets excited and it's wonderful to see her enjoying herself so much and she goes off on a rant on this or that... "We're looking at jupiter! You can see 7 of it's moons, and they've changed positions from last night because of their rotation!" She'll rattle off names of some of the moons, and ask the adults if they know the name of our moon (then she calls up to it and signs a little goodnight Luna song) and she rambles on in child like excitement. She'll settle down and get back to work on her star map; simply a big piece of paper she drew the moon on as she saw it through the telescope. She thought the paper was too empty and wanted to add stars, but she had to see them through the telescope "stars actually in the big dipper, the little dipper, the queens chair (Casiopia, her favorite) or some other constellation mama!". So off she goes, looking at stars, grabbing her flashlight, picking out the 'right' color, drawing it and writing the name.

This draws so much attention that I could scream. "Look what she's doing!" "Honey, come look at this!" "How old are you?" "Are you really doing that yourself?" "You must work her hard" "What school is she going too?" "Our kids can't do that..."

The last disturbs me the most, but the attention it gets is annoying and I worry it can take away from her childlike interest in it and twist her motivations (work for praise, not personal satisfaction). I'm also frustrated by the initial assesment of our parenting, pushing her, pulling her strings, the whole marionet/trained monkey routine. I want to wave my arm above her to prove there's nothing there, and announce that there is no music box playing for her to dance too. I love the sharing and it really seems to only push her interest more (as we research answers to questions people ask as they stop by). But I don't want her to feel like a trained monkey if she's being treated like one.

Ok, that's my vent. Can you tell we had the scope out tonight and it's on my mind? I'll probably be over it in the morning, as DH says "Who gives a crap what other people think?". But I worry it could have an impact on her. People think she's a trained monkey, they treat her like one....

Sorry so long, and for spelling errors. I'm to tired to go back and review. ;)

[Solange]

not playing

[Augusta]

xaloxe...
Your little girl sounds so wonderful! I know what you mean when you say "trained monkey". I find people sometimes trying to get Mason to "perform" at parties (he's 3.75 yrs). It helps to remember that abilities like your daughter's are so uncommon. It really blows people away. They really can't help themselves. Still, your frustration is understandable. I always wonder if Mason knows he's a bit different or how he feels about the things people, including me, say about him. Sometimes he even blows me away and all this stuff is pretty normal to me now.

catgirl....
When I say Mason's language development was unusual it's one of those things that are so hard to describe.
He didn't talk early. He definitely had many words by 14 months and they just kept building exponentially. But, he didn't really use them much. If you asked him what something was he would tell you but he didn't go around naming things like crazy. Around 22 months or so I remember being approached by an "Early Identification" person (these people seem to be everywhere in Ontario) at an Ontario Early Years Centre. She was commenting that Mason wasn't talking much as he played playdoh (she observed him for all of about 5 minutes). She let me know that he should have 20 words by now and I should consider getting him assessed. I told her he knew the names of well over 20 animals (and what all their babies were called), nevermind just 20 words in general. A few minutes later Mason was playing with this toy giraffe that wouldn't stand up straight because a leg was bent. He looked at me and said "that's awkward".
That example certainly doesn't sum it up but its just an idea of how a professional could quickly screen him as needing assessment and I, as a parent, am saying that I think he's doing just fine. He didn't use sentences until around age 2 and a bit. But, as people pointed out to me, he did say things like "it's broken" before the age of 2. He was never one to use phrases like "want more". With Mason, if he couldn't say it correctly, he didn't say it. He seemed to go from barely talking to "I want some more salad please". So there was that period of a year, between 2 and 3 where it seemed sometimes he didn't say a lot even though he did have a lot he could say. Also, he didnt' say mommy until he was 2 which stressed me out beyond belief. I had to chalk it up to the idea that he never really needed to call me or address me by name because we were together 24/7. He used names for daddy, papa, grandma etc. Just not mommy. Of course, when professionals are hinting at something being wrong, its easy to get stressed out over little things. He did a fair amount of repeating back what was said to him and he wasn't particularly conversational until after the age of
3. But at the same time he's the kind of kid whose wheels are constantly turning. We've just had to trust that all things will come in time. Is that about as clear as mud?
Mason is bugging me to use the computer.....

[eilonwy]

Welcome, newbies! :wave

BeanBean's all about math lately. My mother was giving me crap again yesterday because he's not reading fluently yet, but my instinct says to back off; he's just not interested in reading right now, except to play with starfall a bit. Math, however... he's all about that. His favorite show is Cyberchase, and yesterday he was flipping through one of the Miquon books which we bought for Chibi saying, "Hey, I know what this is, this was on Cyberchase..." every few pages. It was adorable. :lol

Still, I'm about ready to strangle my mom. She just doesn't understand why BeanBean isn't reading yet, and she thinks that I should be doing more to teach him because he *should* be reading fluently by now. (Remember, he's three and a half years old; he'll be four in November.) Now, it's not like any of her other grandchildren were reading at three, though three of her five children were. Apparently, the fact that I taught myself to read at two (the youngest of my siblings and the only self-taught) means that my children should be reading easily and fluently long before their fourth birthdays. Is that cracked or what?! I just want her to leave Bean be, he's very happy and he really is learning all kinds of fun, interesting things. I don't think that the world will end if he's not reading fluently in the next ten minutes (though I must admit, it would make my life easier). Before she started giving me crap, I was thinking that I'd like to have him reading by the end of the summer, but since she started in I'm much more inclined to leave him alone. :mischief Very mature, I know, but that's how I feel about it. :blush

Wednesday, we visited a friend of the family and her son, who I haven't seen in a good 15 years. He's married now and has a little boy, 20 months old, and of a size with BooBah. :love The little guy got a real kick out of BeanBean, followed him around and wanted to get his attention. It was so cute to watch. BooBah kept hugging him, she was very excited to see a person her size. :lol This guy kept telling his wife about what extraordinary children my siblings and I were, and I didn't really know what to say. It was kind of awkward for me, I mean what do you say to someone who actually *remembers* what you were like at four years old, and isn't making things up? I found myself saying, "Um, well, yeah," a lot. :blush Very articulate, eh? :bag: Really, though, I just had no idea how to respond. BooBah was chatting away and he was like, "Can she read yet? You learned to read at that age, didn't you?" "Um, she knows some letters. Well, yeah." :blush :stammer I've never been in one of those situations before, I had no idea what to do! His wife just kept saying, "wow, that's really cool," but she didn't really know what to make of it, either. On the one hand, the fact that he'd known me and my siblings when we were very young and he was old enough to remember (he's 12 years older than I am) meant that he wasn't at all shocked to hear the things that were coming out of BeanBean's mouth, or to see BooBah talking a mile a minute. On the other, I just had no idea what to say. I try so hard to be normal around people I've just met...

[annettemarie]

So, how do we help kids who don't necessarily want to be in the spotlight? When Michael was tested, he sat in the lobby drawing while I spoke with the psychologist. When I came out, he was all pouty, and I asked what was wrong. He said, "Everyone keeps telling me I'm going to famous one day. I don't want to be famous. I want to be just plain Michael" :(

[eilonwy]

:yikes: That poor little guy!

I'm sorry, but saying that sort of thing to a little guy is just uncalled for, in my opinion. It's just not professional, you know? I'd be really :irked: by that. :cuss

[eilonwy]

I am losing my mind, slowly but surely. :dizzy: :nut

Bean is off of Starfall, and is now playing with giant lantern batteries (and I have to admit, they're *fun*, even if you're only pretending to use them as actual batteries :lol). BooBah is still refusing to wear clothing; the underpants that she likes are all in the wash, and she doesn't want a diaper. She's got a green crayon in her hand, and I"m sure she's going to write on a wall, but she's being stealthy at the moment. :lol I guess I'm not supporting their gifts at the moment, but at least I'm not pushing them or making them out to be "more" than they are. :lol

[loraxc]

Or he walks up and says "Hi I am a cockroach-spider-butterly...how are you?"....but says I am a Blue Morpho, Queen emperor, trap door, brown recluse, so on and so forth and most of the time the adult is like what kind is that which leads him to say they live in the rain forests of the Amazon, or you can only find them in the dusty deserts of Arizona....so on and so on.

He needs to come over and play at our house. :thumb DD was pretending that her plastic wolf was eating butterflies the other day, and her prattle to herself went like this: "Now he's eating a monarch...now he's eating a gulf fritillary...NOW he's eating a green hairstreak....now he's eating a brown hairstreak...He finded a zebra longwing!! Oooh, a sleepy orange!" :lol

She also is forever quizzing me/correcting me on the names of weeds in the yard. :rolleyes I can't keep them straight. It's a little embarrassing. :o

Most of the time people seem to be delighted by her (it helps that she loves adults and is very friendly to them) but we do occasionally get the "That's freaky! Whoa! How does know that??" comments. It's easier to deal with now because I assume that she isn't getting weird ideas from that, which I probably shouldn't. With an older child...hmm.

[allgirls]

Augusta~I am in Ontario too and had a similar incident at an early years centre...lady that ran the centre got the developmental sheets out(nipissing?) because Sophia was very shy. I went through the sheet with her and Sophia was doing everything on the sheet for her age and I picked up the next sheet of the next age group and I could check of a whole bunch on that age group as well(except some motor skill ones) Plus she was recognising letters, colours and shapes that weren't on the sheet. She hadn't suggested assessment but she obviously was wondering...of course she just had to talk to the playgroup leaders and she would have known better..she wasn't as shy with them. Now she's not shy there and the administrator knows and is constantly amazed by her.

I bought Sophia a workbook...a kindergarten one...I put it away and then it was rainy out so we took it out..she loved it and we finished it...it had patterns and matchings...circle and draw lines to stuff..she did really well. I may get another one.

I love her poetry and songs...the other night she was singing "every body knows I loves my toes" I am still trying to find out if she heard it somewhere or if it's an original lyric.:lol She is rhyming a lot...often nonsense words...freddy seddy, geddy meddy deddy" stuff like that. She makes up great stories...I love her stories..so much detail too. and they have great order..they have beginning, middle and ending.

She will be 3 on Sunday...it's been an amazing three years!



imaginary play is still her strength. but she's getting addition and subtraction now too. I bought some poker chips for math..she loves them.

Eilonwy~you are doing right by focussing on what he is interested in no matter what your mother says.

annettemarie..that's horrible what that psychologist said to Michael...Sophia would be terrified of that. She is not an attention seeker at all..sometimes she will scream if people make a fuss over her doing something "smart"

Trained monkey...lol...my cousin's wife is the worse..she comes here with her son..he's so cute, same age as Sophia and she is like "he said mommy is beautiful say it, say it C...say "Mommy is beautiful" I swear he says it say it for mommy please say it" she does this allthe tiem...he never says it:lol But I can't say to much..she's so proud of him...gotta love a proud loving mama:thumb

[EXOLAX]

Or he walks up and says "Hi I am a cockroach-spider-butterly...how are you?"....but says I am a Blue Morpho, Queen emperor, trap door, brown recluse, so on and so forth and most of the time the adult is like what kind is that which leads him to say they live in the rain forests of the Amazon, or you can only find them in the dusty deserts of Arizona....so on and so on.


We have the correction thing going on here as well. She will correct anybody, thankfully most adults have been responding positively, except for some extended family who either take it personally or think she's being "smart" (in a negative use of the word). She's also very open about her feelings and we've allowed, actually asked, her to tell us if she feels we are being unfair or using a tone of voice she is uncomfortable with. When she was 3 we had issues with this and had to teach her to say "I feel X when you speak to me in that tone" versus "I don't like your voice" which set people way off. Sometimes I honestly feel we are asking too much of her in that respect, simply because most adults don't know how to communicate their feelings they assume a child is being a smart a$$ when they communicate theirs.

We have also had issues with friends. I feel uncomfortable speaking of the things she is doing to many of them who automatically compare their own kids. But, I feel our kids all have different interests. So what if our DD Can show you where a bunch of constellations and stars are in the sky. She doesn't know much at all about dinosaurs because she is totally not interested in them. KWIM?

We don't do much "structured" learning. Almost all the things we do are hands on and through experience. I get really frustrated with extended family as well who make comments like "Can you imagine how much more she would know if you actually did work books, flash cards and more text based work with her?". It's not what we're about, it works for some people but not for us. Plus, I'm not in a competition with anyone. It doesn't matter to me when our kids will learn to read for example because we know they aren't going to be illiterate. So what if they aren't reading at 6, and so what if they are reading at 4? For us too it's all about following their lead. I feel too much pressure can backfire.

FWIW - we do a very delayed and very selective vaccine schedule. They are both very bright and very different. While they both have above average language and fine motor skills, our newly 2 year old is pumping on a swing where her 5 year old sister just learned about 3 weeks ago. LOL, pumping didn't work for her at all, I switched and told her to pull with her arms on the chains and she got it within 5 minutes. I could slap myself for not thinking of that sooner.

[Solange]

not playing

[loraxc]

Solange, look what we have where we live:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies/rainforest.htm

DD thinks it is HEAVEN ON EARTH.

[allgirls]

Solange, look what we have where we live:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies/rainforest.htm

DD thinks it is HEAVEN ON EARTH.

We have a butterfly place near us too...but I am a littel skeeved about it..I like to look at butterflies but they are bugs and that many bugs in one place and I am afraid my dd will sense my nervousness and she will take on my fears...she's a sensitive girl that way.

both my girls are afraid of dogs...anyone have kids that are afraid of animals? It just seems so odd to me.

[Karry]

both my girls are afraid of dogs...anyone have kids that are afraid of animals? It just seems so odd to me.

Lucas is afraid of most animals right now, mainly dogs. He really doesn't like the little dogs that jump up. My other two kids love dogs and will go up to dogs to pet them. Lucas hangs back and if the dog approaches him he starts crying and wants to run away. :( Is this not normal for a 5 yo?

[Karry]

I realized I haven't introduced myself on this thread yet. We think my oldest may be gifted. She will turn 7 later this month and will go into 2nd grade in the fall. She was a very early talker and knew her colors, numbers, letters, shapes, etc. at around 20-21 months of age. She was also speakng in complex sentences before age two. She has always been high needs and still will throw the occassional tantrum. School has been easy for her. She is reading well above grade level. The school she attends has a gifted program that starts in 3rd grade. I was debating whether I should have her tested early, but I'm going to hold off for now. I'm going to wait and see how 2nd grade goes, and then I'll reevaluate.

My older ds just turned 5. He talked later, and learned things like letters and numbers after age 2. He had advanced motor skill instead. He was running and climbing at 10-11 months. He starts kindergarten in the fall, and is close to being able to read. I have been following his lead, and have not done anything other than read books to him. He knows all the sounds of the letters, but isn't interested in sounding out words yet.

I enjoy reading this thread and all of the cool things your kids do. :thumb

[*Lisa*]

Originally Posted by allgirls
both my girls are afraid of dogs...anyone have kids that are afraid of animals? It just seems so odd to me.

Yup... My almost 4 year old is terrified of dogs. She says that it's the barking that scares her (and not knowing when they're going to bark).

[annettemarie]

So, I'm curious to know what other mamas of school-aged kids are doing this summer, if anything.

Michael is going through a Harry Potter phase (well, we all are :) ) so we have Hogwarts Summer School. I've written about it on my LJ here (http://cariad2.livejournal.com/), but we do different "subjects":
Transfiguration: Cleaning
Herbology: Outside/gardening
Muggle Studies: Summer Bridge workbook and journal writing
Potions: Cooking
Charms: Art and Music
Magical Games and Sports: Um...games and/or sports
Defense Against the Dark Arts: Devotions
Common Room: Either "writer's workshop" (Michael is really into writing) or an exercise video/something fun

I'm trying to teach Michael some more traditional ways of doing math. His school uses Everyday Math and he has a really hard time with it. It's very spatial--lots of grids and pictures--and he really does better with just "plain math".

Katie Grace is doing ballet and Michael is taking a Narnia fantasy art class. We're trying to get him some OT this summer and also have him signed up for some library programs.

[Karry]

Annettemarie your Hogwarts Summer School sounds like lots of fun. I have two school aged kids, and they were both in summer school. My oldest took three different classes, one was arts/crafts, one was reading and one was math. It was mainly fun stuff. My middle dc took two classes, one was getting reading for kindergarten and the other one was cooking up a story. They would read a story and then make a snack that went with the story.

Summer school just ended this past Thursday. I don't have much planned for the rest of the summer except for a vacation. We'll probably just read books and go to the science center. I also plan on putting Lucas into gymnastics again. Kacey wants to play basketball. I'm going to look into starting those activities once we get back from our vacation. School starts in the middle of August, so we only have 6 weeks of summer left. :dizzy:

[ChristaN]

School starts in the middle of August, so we only have 6 weeks of summer left. :dizzy:
Same here -- the kids will be back to school August 17th. I agree that the Hogwarts school sounds really fun! My dds would love that and what a great way to get them to help around the house.

We have some small family get-togethers planned in the next week and I am trying to make up my mind as to whether we splurge and spend $ we really shouldn't for the kids and me to go to the Mensa World Gathering in FL this August. We are thinking about going just for two days or so. They have a neat Kids Trek program and I could go to some interesting conference sessions. It is the week before school starts, so would be a nice end of summer thing.

[lckrause]

Harry Potter School! That's awesome. I wonder if Hollis would go for that or if he would just think I was cracked. :lol He LOVES Harry Potter.

What my kids are doing this summer:

We continue our "regular" academics through the summer, but regular means only an hour or so a day max. Hollis will be doing a "try five sports" camp through the Y in August for a week. This is the first time he's wanted to do something like that so it's pretty cool. He even showed the paper to his dad all excited about it. He is definitely starting to break out of that shell and become more social! I'm so happy he wants to PLAY with other kids and I hope he has a good time and doesn't get overwhelmed, as it's 6 hours per day. I'm putting four contact numbers (his dad, me, my mom) on the form just in case. :lol The five sports are tennis, flag football, soccer, lacrosse, and golf. Sounds like a great mix for him. He loves all kinds of sports. :thumb

Nan is continuing her gymnastics through the summer, once a week for two hours. She's also doing ballet camp for two weeks and performing arts camp for one week in July, and cheer camp and dance camp for a week each in August. Yes, I am totally broke, but it's worth it to keep her occupied and exercising. She's been, um, a tad on the tetchy side ever since her dance ended at the end of May. I wish her studio continued dance through the summer, because then I wouldn't have to pay for all these "camps." :lol Next summer we are going to skip the (overpriced and not her main interest) performing arts camp so that she can attend all three weeks of the ballet camp instead. But I'd already put down a deposit on the performing arts camp before I found out about the ballet one, plus the PA people snuck her in under the age limit because they really like her. So we can't really back out.

Hmm, as usual I've managed to stretch three lines of info into two paragraphs. Oops.

[lckrause]

We have some small family get-togethers planned in the next week and I am trying to make up my mind as to whether we splurge and spend $ we really shouldn't for the kids and me to go to the Mensa World Gathering in FL this August. We are thinking about going just for two days or so. They have a neat Kids Trek program and I could go to some interesting conference sessions. It is the week before school starts, so would be a nice end of summer thing.

Christa, I think that sounds cool and I think it would be worth the splurge. And I'm not just saying that so that someone else will share my misery in dropping hundreds of dollars on "extras" this summer. :lol

Lisa

[lckrause]

He also often prefers to play on his own which seemed very distressing to his nursery school teachers. I tried to explain he's an only child and isn't used to being around other kids all the time. They felt he was very "egocentric".


This comment by the teachers cracks me up. Isn't being egocentric the very definition of a three year old? :lol I don't know very many three year olds who are completely selfless and philanthropic. :wink Seriously though, that strikes me as an odd thing to say about such a small child.

Mason sounds kind of like Hollis, who also had unusual language development. Actually, neither of my kids talked much until they were nearly 3. It's a family pattern... my mom says I hardly talked either until she put me in nursery school at age 3 (September bday so newly 3) and then I HAD to. LOL.

Karry, your kids seem similar to mine in their interests/abilities. My oldest is the academic one and my youngest is the motor skills one! It's a pattern that continues today.

Can't find who asked the question about kids being afraid of animals, but Nan was terrified of ants until age 5 or so. If one got near/on her, she would freeze and let out this unearthly high-pitched shriek. :eek She's over it now, thank goodness, and actually enjoys watching ants. My have gone to those butterfly places with their dad and liked them. I've never been in one, though.

ETA: Just read about the bike riding stuff. Hollis didn't learn to ride a bike w/o training wheels until he was 8 or 9... can't remember but I'm thinking it was probably 9. However, one day he just decided he wanted to do it and literally within 10 minutes was riding the bike by himself, steering and everything, with NO help from me. So sometimes kids just learn stuff when they want to and that's that, LOL.

[Solange]

not playing

[Augusta]

This comment by the teachers cracks me up. Isn't being egocentric the very definition of a three year old? :lol I don't know very many three year olds who are completely selfless and philanthropic. :wink Seriously though, that strikes me as an odd thing to say about such a small child.

Mason sounds kind of like Hollis, who also had unusual language development. Actually, neither of my kids talked much until they were nearly 3. It's a family pattern... my mom says I hardly talked either until she put me in nursery school at age 3 (September bday so newly 3) and then I HAD to. LOL.

I know! That's what I said to them. Mason does prefer his own company most of the time but he does have a few good friends that he loves to play with. He likes even tempered children who don't do a lot of squealing or aggressive playing. He gets set off by kids who cry alot or even those who are loud when they're excited etc. If there's someone he's really interested in playing with he'll play, if not he'll play alone. He's selective. Nothing wrong with that. It was like they were constantly looking for a reason to give me to get him assessed. They couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to get him assessed and treated my like I was in denial or something.
With his language they started with "Did you notice he talks alot in the third person?". He was a few months shy of 3 yrs. I asked them if they noticed that they constantly spoke to the children in the third person. "Bring that to Lisa. Pass that to Joan". They didn't see how that was relevant. Then it was "Well, he's not speaking in the third person anymore but he's echoing a lot". Okay, and..... Then it was "He's not echoing anymore but now he's talking in storybook language ie. It's time to play outside, Mary exclaimed happily" It just went on and on. Each major issue they brought up would last a few weeks or a month and then fade away but they always had something new to replace it with.
Finally I went in for a meeting with them and told them to lay it on the line for me because I was stressed out enough by their comments that I was going to the doctor. They wouldn't come out and say anything specific but many of the "red flags" they pointed out suggested autism. Absurd! Still, when someone hints at something so serious it... I was worried! Went to the doc got a referral even though the doc thought everything seemed fine. I decided after a few months of having him home and closely observing him that I wouldn't send him to the ped specialist. I think he's a spirited child who also seems to be on the gifted side. Too tough to say to what extent because he isn't one to show off his abilities. We discover things about him in passing. Eg. he'll read something we didn't know he could read or he'll say he wants 10 of something and I'll give him 6 and he'll pipe up that he needs 4 more.
My husband and I were considered in the gifted range as far as being eligible for programs in school but I didn't have any extraordinary abilities or anything. My husband is a sharp business person and is strong in math. i don't know. Mason is far ahead in ablilities from where we both were at his age. He lags behind in stuff like dressing himself, which he just started doing recently at 3.75 yrs. He still doesn't pedal a tricycle despite being very coordinated and agile, always has been. He has an aversion to using anything that marks a page. He'll start and if his line gets wobbly or anything, that's it. He's done.
This is way too long.... Can you tell I have no one who to talk to about this stuff!

Sandy

[Augusta]

My attempt at quoting didn't work out. Hmm.. what did I do wrong?

[ChristaN]

To fix your quote, change the "QUOTE] " at the end to "[/QUOTE]."

[loraxc]

"Did you notice he talks alot in the third person?". He was a few months shy of 3 yrs. I asked them if they noticed that they constantly spoke to the children in the third person. "Bring that to Lisa. Pass that to Joan". They didn't see how that was relevant. Then it was "Well, he's not speaking in the third person anymore but he's echoing a lot". Okay, and..... Then it was "He's not echoing anymore but now he's talking in storybook language ie. It's time to play outside, Mary exclaimed happily" It just went on and on.

I am so interested in this, as my DD has gone through (is going through) all these verbal stages as well, and we have been somewhat concerned about it. She actually was screened for autism by EI, and they said no way, no how, although they did notice the language peculiarities. I'm semi-convinced that this is how some kids learn language ("gestalt" learners) and that it is particularly common in gifted kids.

So, has Mason grown out of these patterns yet? I have to admit that we are having to try hard not to be annoyed by DD's I/you switching, especially since she sometimes gets it right and sometimes wrong; it makes it hard to understand what she wants. An interesting note: DD also gets other pronouns backwards, such as switching she/her and they/them, and sometimes uses "he's" or "she's" instead of his or hers. To me this shows that it isn't about "not having a theory of mind" or the stuff they use to explain autistic pronoun reversal, but about some other pronoun/grammar issue.

[EXOLAX]

Oh I am right there with you on this one...



ACK! Slap me too!:lol I just did this myself with ds the other day....no lie.....had him use him arms instead of pump and presto! worked like a charm......ohhh it is the little things in life..eh?
I have a soon-to-be 2y/o dd and she is nothing like her brother whom I speak of. Her enviroment was a lot different though for her first two years of life compared to her brother's(long story). She has had no vax'ing at all. She is waaay ahead of him physically like you speak of, but shows no *signs* of giftedness like her brother has. Yet.....that is...lol....


loraxc
Where do you live!!!!
Can we please come play!!!!:lol

ROFL! What is it with these kids? Our youngest is nothing like her older sister either. Our eldest seems to have a natural tendency toward empathy, where her sister doesn't. I think at this young age some kids may show prominent signs of brightness and others may not come through until they are older. Our youngest is also very bright, but willfull where her sister is a "rules follower". It makes for interesting parenting.

We'd love to have you come and play! Are you anywhere near Ohio? Is anyone here?

[eilonwy]

You know, BooBah figured out how to pump with her arms almost instinctively, it was as though she was remembering how to swing rather than learning. BeanBean, at 3.5, still hasn't figured it out. Moreover, he has no interest in it, whatsoever, and is content to be pushed on a swing (if he wants to be on it at all). :lol I haven't let BooBah near a bike yet, mostly because she's too short for any bike I've ever seen, but I know that wouldn't stop her and I'm worried she'd hurt herself badly. If anyone's ever seen a bicycle that would comfortably fit a child with an 11" inseam (at most), let me know! :lol

[Augusta]

loraxc....

Mason is going to be 4yrs at the end of August and he's outgrown these little language quirks. The third person stuff he used mostly if he was labelling a feeling ie. Mason is so sad. He wouldn't say "Mason wants a drink of water." He would use &q