the smartest child I ever knew

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was my student, let's call him Avery. He had a 170 IQ and that was probably low. He taught a few math classes for me. He was bored sensless with most material I gave him and if the material was above him, he was snotty about it and pretended not to see it on his desk. He also came to school with a butcher knife, thought he was a dinosaur, talked baby-talk and didn't have a single friend. You could feel bad for him, but in all honesty, he often couldn't relate to empathy. I taught SPED, kids with emotional issues.

This is not to say all gifted children are coming to school with butcher knifes, but it's not usually a picnic for a child with a disability -- or a child a few standard deviations above average. High suicide rates too. It's a LOT of work for the parent on either end of the bell curve.

When my mother tells me DS is a genius (ha -- he's not, though he is social and verbal for a boy), I tell her to bite her tongue.

oparcm

I've had a student like that and I teach sped.  I agree with you 100%.

KoriBrett

A lot at the very least have issues adjusting to real life with real people - they're mostly socially awkward at best. ?Not all, but most. ?Dh is one of them. ?At age 10ish he took an IQ test b/c they thought he was slow. ?He scored so high they couldn't score him - and it turned out they'd accidentally given him the age 21-24 year old test. ?They wanted to study him. ?He says he felt like Little Man Tate a lot.

He has Tourette's, ADD, OCD.... and all he ever wants to do is be normal, read, and write his stories. ?He's sometimes not that great with the kids because his brain just can't function at a high enough speed to keep up with them LOL

marrymemylove

Yeah but you don't have to be gifted to be above average. Average is not a very high bar in elementary school or younger (the age of most nestie kids).

I was above average but in no way "specially gifted". I got in the top 1% of the state in a HS entrance exam biased toward bright kids, I got tertiary entrance in the top 1%. I never got less than an A for anything all through school until year 11 (got a B there). Sure I was above average.

But not freakishly so, still on the bell curve.

I think people confuse above average with off the charts. JMO.

If the child of smart parents with proper education ISN'T above average I'd be worried. Average is pretty low. 

femmegem

I agree. Hence my response to that post below. My BIL is probably a genius and he's lonely, mentally ill, and can't take care of himself (he's older than DH- in his mid- to late-30s). I don't want a genius child. I really don't.

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mmml: I realize the difference, though like any definition in education, the definition is often dynamic as the pendulums (and policies) swings.

The child in my class WAS considered gifted b/c gifted is "significantly above average."

In the US, there is no Federal law to fund gifted programs or provide services. A few states do have services in place.

And average can't be 'pretty low' -- it's average.

Brideofranken

I have what is considered a 'genius" IQ level- whatever that means, and I am as socially akward as a person can be- I usually act too cool for school to feel more comfortable- but mostly I try to avoid being around people in social settings-I have had to stop shopping at certain stores b/c I became too familiar with employees there, and it makes me uncomfortable...( hows that for a weirdo confession?) I take medicine for this ( but not when pg or bfing....)

 

buffalo_buckeye

My dad is a member of Mensa and intel and he is definitely socially awkward. He jumped around in careers and is always looking for the next big thing (windmill power, stocks, new products to design). I think today he would have beenput in a high functioning autism group. I used to think being a genius was this great thing but it really means very little. I would rather be well rounded and good at most things than a genius.

Ciarrai

nevermind

oparcm

Well said buffalo!  I couldn't agree more.  I just want my dd to enjoy life, be respectful and responsible and treat ppl with dignity.  If she does these things, she will live a life that would make me proud.

marrymemylove

vccake - average CAN be very low. Its a poor measure because it has no indication of the spread. 

Imagine a perfect bell curve. MOST people are in this big bubble in the middle,  and average is right at the top and the tails are identical both sides. THEN average would be a fair measure. Kids are not like that. There's a HUGE back tail of kids with educational problems, those who could be smart but never get taught or directed or who have emotional problems. There's the kids who don't work there's the kids who don't know how. There's the abused kids. There's the kids with bad teachers, or those with slack parents. All those affect performance.

Then there's a SMALL tail off the top with the crazy geniuses and a slightly bigger group of seriously talented but not genius kids.

Given the disprorportion in the size of the tails average is going to fall on the LHS of the middle of that bump in the curve. So more people in the bump are above average than below average, and average is lower than median.