gifted...?

how do you know if your child is gifted?

DD is definately a bright little girl but i dont know if id say shes 'gifted' but worry that if she IS gifted and i dont take appropriate steps to support her then she wont reach her potential IYKWIM?

she was 3 in november and is able to write her name do basic maths (1+2=3 etc) can understand the days of the week, alphabet, some phonetic alphabet sounds (like 'M' makes a mmmmm sound, and what does mummy begin with? M ) and has an amazing ability to remember songs, rhymes etc after only hearing them once or twice. would you call this gifted (in an academic sense) or just a little girl who finds learning fun?

i find the distiction confusing

how do you know if your child is gifted?

DD is definately a bright little girl but i dont know if id say shes 'gifted' but worry that if she IS gifted and i dont take appropriate steps to support her then she wont reach her potential IYKWIM?

she was 3 in november and is able to write her name do basic maths (1+2=3 etc) can understand the days of the week, alphabet, some phonetic alphabet sounds (like 'M' makes a mmmmm sound, and what does mummy begin with? M ) and has an amazing ability to remember songs, rhymes etc after only hearing them once or twice. would you call this gifted (in an academic sense) or just a little girl who finds learning fun?

i find the distiction confusing

I don't think it matters too much about the academics, as long as you support her interests and help her to be happy and secure as a person, then that is reaching her potential.

Most people with gifted kids need to help the kids specifically with behaviour and managing difficult and intense emotions that are way beyond their typical age. The easy part is supporting academically, although this can also be difficult with satisfying their endless curiosity.

It is not necessarily required to know whether your kid is or isn't gifted, as long as you meet their needs.

Knowing about giftedness can help to meet their needs, because you can understand what they need from research and you can connect with other parents who understand and who are not misinformed and competitive, or who refuse to listen or who do not like your child because they feel personally threatened for whatever reason.

Knowing about giftedness has a lot of merits, but if you are not sure but can research what it is, then there is probably no rush. If you have a gifted child then this will be clear with time anyway.

She does sound gifted, but then I do not know her. My kids had a lot of academic things like your daughter, and they also had emotional issues and behavioural issues that were linked to giftedness. They also have Sensory Processing Disorder, as do I, which is theorised to be the same as the overexcitabilities Dabrowski linked to gifted people.

Hi,
I hope this can shed a little insight into the gifted question...

http://www.adasa.com.au/wordpress/?page_id=317

And to answer the question... "how do you know if your child is Gifted?"

For me it was a combination of nearly all of these characteristics, day care centres telling me that she was "Extremely advanced and doing things beyond her age" and that she was Extremely emotional.....

Then once we established this, we had testing done to confirm (and to try to gain early entry to school)

Hope this helps a little. smile smile

It is very confusing in young children - hence the reason we didnt know - obviously DH & i arent gifted.. LOL but, we have learnt a lot about it since being on this path.

It is a fine line to walk when they are so young as some children are just sponges & soak everything up around them, but doesnt necessarily make them 'gifted' - IYKWIM - more that they are aware of thier suroundings more than other children of that age bracket. Often when they start school/preprimary, things even out - but sometimes not & then she may really start to show the signs of giftedness in camparison to her peers. Sometimes in toddlers - say, 3,4 even 5yr olds, 'giftedness' can be mistaken for a child that remembers things just by repetition - you know like how we learn the alphabet, with that stupid song & how we are always counting to our kids, 1-10, but we never do it in the reverse, so children can count forwards but not backwards. Toddlers that have older siblings already at school, overhearing them doing their homework, can also help towards this - you may not think htat they are listening/understanding & sometimes they just repeat what they ahve heard.

Dont get me wrong - i am by no means saying that your DD is not gifted, obviously i am not a professional & i dont know her - i guess i am just trying to say dont sweat it yet - she's only 3. If she was one of those super freaky children that could play the classics on the piano & was already reading shakesphere, then sure, you need to do something.

As you may have read in my previous posts, i am not one for hothousing my children & will let nature take its course - each to their own tho & i certainly dont begrudge any parent of gifted children that want to help them reach their full potential. At 3, i would be more inclined to just offer the resources on topics/subjects that she is interested in.

I 100% agree with what Windmill has to say on this topic wink

- obviously DH & i arent gifted..

Sorry Chiliwoman, but I have to disagree. Although I know you were kind of joking smile Giftedness is genetic - there is no other way your son could be gifted - plus doesn't your daughter do wierd things with her food and have other gifted traits too? - plus I could pick you easily as a gifted person from when I first joined this forum, and before your son was even identified as gifted through his school testing.

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thanks for the replies smile

she can count backwards too and i caught her writting her brothers name this morning. i dont think she really has any emotional issues accept shes a drama queen and cant stand someone else being the center of attention lol when we go to the park she climbs on the biggest rock she can find and performs a song as loud as possible and the bows for the applause hahaha...cracks me up

i think ill just keep an eye on her and try to give her any information she wants..shes facinated by music and was actually getting a nice sound out of my violin the other day.

im getting a bit confused because i help her to write the letters if she asks and i encourage her alot because she wants me too..when i tell people shes beginning to write they get up me and say things like oh no shes far too young for that she should be playing school can come later...well she does play, constantly, but SHE wants to learn letters so wy should i say no? wacko

what 'testing'? like IQ testing?

Sorry Chiliwoman, but I have to disagree. Although I know you were kind of joking smile Giftedness is genetic - there is no other way your son could be gifted - plus doesn't your daughter do wierd things with her food and have other gifted traits too? - plus I could pick you easily as a gifted person from when I first joined this forum, and before your son was even identified as gifted through his school testing.

is it genetic? i didnt know that... maybe DH and i have a recessive gene haha grin

Lol lol it isn't recessive as far as I know smile

I know all about the "pushy" thing - to them, letters and counting and reading books IS play. It is what comes naturally to their inquisitive natures, it is just another realm of normal and another realm of childhood curiosity.

Feel free to join the gifted facebook group, we know all about those judgement issues there! Well, I know all about it anyway. You never even have to say anything,, if your kid is advanced people start accusing you of all sorts of things straight away. "How do you know that"? "Oh, they are just parroting", "How many times did mummy have to tell you that to make you remember?", "What are they going to do at school?.", "I'd rather have an average child than a goody two-shoes" etc etc - and people wonder why I end friendships!

I am 24 and have 4 kids. I have a lot of knowledge and have worked a variety of jobs, not for credit, praise, awards or anything else tangible. For myself and to feed my brain and my soul. I love my life. This IS my version of fun, just because other people don't see my life as fun doesn't mean they know anything about me or my choices. My partner is constantly accused of doing things out of a sense of "duty", as if I tricked him into having 4 kids or something, and then pushed him into going to uni blah blah blah. People cannot accept when a small minority of the population may actually be different WITHOUT a superiority issue. Apparently, other people having a life or interests different to the norm must mean we all think we are better than everyone else.

what 'testing'? like IQ testing?

I do not know that much about testing, and I have not tested my kids and likely never will unless they ask. But I would suggest Gifted Minds if you are interested, IQ is also relatively accurate, a gifted psych will also be able to help and there are all types of tests which I do not know anything about.

I'll come on later with a link to Gifted Minds, you could search though probably easily.

Hello Gypsy Kylz,

Yep, i do mean "testing" as in IQ testing smile

We did it to try and get early entry to school, but it also helped us to understand our child better.

As far as i am aware, for a school to do anything to accomodate a gifted child, (For eg. Grade Skip, Subject acceleration, G&T programs ect,) testing has to be done...

I was told by the NSW Dept of education that for early entry i would have to start the testing, (to allow enough time for processing), at least 3 terms before my child was to start school.