I am just curious because I am not that familiar with the whole giftedness concept so I would like to learn as if so why do you perceive your child as gifted at for instance 3.5 years old as my child is.
I would consider her very bright, smart, creative, and unbelievable problem solver at the same time sometime trying to fit 5 lbs monkey into a two inch hole and cry because it does not fit...
is a gifted child some sort of genius that can compose at this age or is it simply a child that has abilty to learn fast what is presented and utilze it quickly in life and has no learning dissabiities of any kind? Is it about having sharp mind or just being intelligent? without being extremely creative otherwise? or being creative but not so much intelligent would quallify?
is it the whole package?
does being extremally goofy and having huge sens of humor and playing tricks.. very funny ones at 3.5 count?
is a gifted child some sort of genius that can compose at this age or is it simply a child that has abilty to learn fast what is presented and utilze it quickly in life and has no learning dissabiities of any kind? Is it about having sharp mind or just being intelligent? without being extremely creative otherwise? or being creative but not so much intelligent would quallify?
is it the whole package?
does being extremally goofy and having huge sens of humor and playing tricks.. very funny ones at 3.5 count?
Can I say none of the above?? A gifted child does not have to be some genius... I think you are thinking more along the lines of a prodigy. Yes, a gifted child is a child that has the ability to learn faster, and utilize it and maybe see/experience the world differently, BUT a gifted child can STILL have a learning disability. That is called twice exceptional. Learning disabilities to not mean a child is not gifted. We had a kid in my high school who was gifted and very dyslexic. My oldest has been in speech since she was 2 1/2 (6 now) for a severe pronunciation issue, and she has been identified gifted.
Giftedness can present itself differently. My oldest had NO interest in letters/numbers or anything academics, BUT was asking questions about death and God when she turned 3. She was listening to books for 2+ hours when she had only turned 2... she is firmly entrenched in imagination, but is very mathematical... lots of symmetry and inate mathiness in things she draws.
DD2... at 2 she would tell me that /p/ /o/ /p/ was POP!! She began reading without any instruction when she was 3.
My oldest was tested gifted. There is NO question in my mind that dd2 is gifted. I'm just hoping the dopey group testing at the school will confirm it, otherwise we have a problem for K.
My ds... who is 1... no idea if he is or isn't, b/c his style is very unique from his sisters.... he is very hands on and exploratory.
At 3 1/2, for gifted.... some basic things.... imagination, problem-solving, some are VERY verbal (some aren't), curiousity... just the ability to pick things up far faster than the norm.... those are all things that 'could' indicate gifted.
The one thing I've learned about gifted children, is that no two of them are the same.
My daughter was a VERY early talker, learned to read very early and began somewhat complex mathematical equations very young as well. Yet she struggles with motor skill issues.
Other gifted children were very late to talk, and excel in completely different areas than my daughter does.
I think the one component is an obvious acceleration in one or more areas of their life.
They really are all different. You're better off going with your gut feeling here, until you get your child tested (if that's what you choose to do).
My ds1 is just over 3.5yo, and he's reading at about a Grade 1 level (mostly self taught), starting to write (just last month), using the computer to navigate PBS kids, Nick Jr, and Starfall etc. He grasps simple addition... He has a great memory, comprehension, sense of humor. He can also be really particular about things being done in a specific sequence, and loves his rituals (at night he eats dinner, has his bath, and then has to eat a bowl of cereal!, then brush teeth, put on pyjamas, and then get into bed- he can't do it any other way). He breezes through Kindergarten level worksheets- he reads the instructions himself, and refuses to color inside the lines
He loves his TV shows and movies (age approriate and screened by me first since he's quite sensitive) and memorizes bits of dialogue and then uses it in conversations. Sometimes he makes up his own songs... He recognizes the songs he knows within hearing the first few notes. He has a great imagination and invents games which usually have a mix of real life and fantasy- for example our index fingers are worms, and we drive imaginary cars to a picnic, and then his worm has to go to the grocery store to buy food for the picnic. He's also a bit of a perfectionist, and takes it hard when things don't work out the way he planned or when he can't do something to the level that he expects he should...
So far that's been my experience... But as I first said- they really are all different... There is no sense in comparing, but it's great to share our experiences with our little precocious ones...
We also suspect our almost 4 year old is gifted. There are some websites out there that list some of the traits of young gifted children.
Some of the things that I see in our son are the following: intensity, creativity, curiousity. He has an excellent memory. He began to talk at 7 months and to use sentences by about 14 months. He learns very asychronously - learning how to read some words before he knew most his letters, counting in patterns before he could count from 1-10. He loves science, prefers complexity, is very hands on, visual spatial. He will build legos for 3-4 hours at a time. He has a very vivid imagination and plays games that most of his peers don't understand. He has a great sense of logic and is a good negotiator (tough as a parent!). When he is interested in something, he wants to go really deep. For example, right now I'm in the hospital on bedrest pregnant with our third child. He wants to learn everything he can about babies, birth, and all of the medical equipment. Last week he watched a nurse change my IV and I think he asked at least 25 questions.
While some 3 year olds may barely grasp that there is a baby in mom's tummy - or perhaps that the baby has an umbillical cord that goes to their belly button - my son wants to know everything he can about the placenta and the amniotic fluid, about how the baby got in there and how the contractions work to get him out, etc.
Another thing we see is that he is highly emotional and sensitive. He seems to feel emotions intensely and to try to understand things that many young children never think about (global warming, death, God).
So that's a little of our experience. I agree that at this age there is no one standard. As kids get a little older, the definition of "gifted" usually has something to do with IQ or academic achievement.
Originally Posted by Catherine CK
They really are all different. You're better off going with your gut feeling here, until you get your child tested (if that's what you choose to do).
My ds1 is just over 3.5yo, and he's reading at about a Grade 1 level (mostly self taught), starting to write (just last month), using the computer to navigate PBS kids, Nick Jr, and Starfall etc. He grasps simple addition... He has a great memory, comprehension, sense of humor. He can also be really particular about things being done in a specific sequence, and loves his rituals (at night he eats dinner, has his bath, and then has to eat a bowl of cereal!, then brush teeth, put on pyjamas, and then get into bed- he can't do it any other way). He breezes through Kindergarten level worksheets- he reads the instructions himself, and refuses to color inside the lines
He loves his TV shows and movies (age approriate and screened by me first since he's quite sensitive) and memorizes bits of dialogue and then uses it in conversations. Sometimes he makes up his own songs... He recognizes the songs he knows within hearing the first few notes.He has a great imagination and invents games which usually have a mix of real life and fantasy- for example our index fingers are worms, and we drive imaginary cars to a picnic, and then his worm has to go to the grocery store to buy food for the picnic. He's also a bit of a perfectionist, and takes it hard when things don't work out the way he planned or when he can't do something to the level that he expects he should...
So far that's been my experience... But as I first said- they really are all different... There is no sense in comparing, but it's great to share our experiences with our little precocious ones...
Wow! The parts that I put in bold describe my (a little over) 3.5 yo DS! He also sings really well, amazingly in tune to me, and a lot more so than his almost 4.5 yo sister. He doesn't read or write though, although he knows all the letters and their sounds and counts to 20 (and to 10 in Dutch, my native language).
As far as the computer goes, I never taught him anything, he just figured it out watching me do it, he's been doing this for almost a year now. He also uses his fingers when playing around on the piano, but I think that's just b/c both DH and I are musicians, so he's exposed to a lot of music.
I just have never even thought of the possibility that he might be gifted. I know that my Dad is gifted, but I sure am not! I'm a decent musician and composer, but I don't consider myself gifted, I'm certainly no Mozart... LOL
My DS is actually quite behind in gross motor skills, and has been diagnosed with hypotonia; he didn't walk until almost 2. I don't know. I just try to do what's best for him, try to create an environment where he can thrive. He actually doesn't do well with structured instruction, as in a class setting, at all.
It's so nice to hear from someone with a similar experience to ours! I don't know anyone else like that in person. My ds also figured out the computer by himself, over a year ago
This was at the time when all his playmates were in the stage of banging aimlessly at the keyboard...
Ds is asynchronous, but his he doesn't have any major delays, for which we're grateful. He's been going to toddler time gymnastics since he was 18 months, and now he also plays non competitive football and has dance lessons. Other than that we have some playdates, go to the park, museum, zoo etc. Every trip to the grocery store is an educational trip.
He does not do well in structured settings either. That's why we've decided to homeschool- something I would have never seen myself doing a few years ago! Lisa Rivero's Creative Home Schooling book is written for parents of gifted children, and it has helped me clarify my own vision. Basically, gifted kids already know what they want to learn, so you just have to provide them with an environment where they can learn and "go deep" at their won pace. My ds went through a bird phase, and the kiddie videos just didn't do it for him. So we got BBC'c Life of Birds for him to watch, and he loved it. We also got a photo guide book to local birds, and he learned to recognize more than half in the book- when he was 2.5yo (we actually got him on video!) Then when we went to visit a local bird sanctuary he was amazing everyone by identifying the birds correctly
The hard thing in all this is that he doesn't really have any peers. There are children he likes to play with, but they don't have the same interests, or don't understand his games, or don't understand why he sometimes reacts emotionally to certain things (loud noises etc). And for me- I find that I either don't talk about his abilities much or try to downplay them a bit because I get weird looks and people just assume that I must be really pushy and I make him do all these things... That's why I'm glad I can post here!
We're thinking of having him tested when he's around 5yo (as recommended by A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children) just so we have a baseline... There are no schools with gifted programs here, so we'll probably end up homeschooling all the way...
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