Anyone have a child who is gifted?

susan1017

I have been approached by my DDs pre-school teacher that DD is showing signs of being gifted and I should have her evaluated. She gave me a developmental checklist to fill out and I am a bit stunned. I had no idea that many of her personality traits fall onto to the list of signs that she may be 'gifted'.  DD has always been on the front end of the curve and I knew she was very bright but this took me a little by surprise. She also suggested that I get her into a program that will start teaching her to read.

I am torn. She is barely 4 years old (will be on 4/24) and loves to learn and explore. She loves letters and numbers and she even has started to add and subtract on her own. I asked her teacher if they started basic math and she said no. She makes VERY astute observations and blows us away with how she uses language. DH and I encourage her and we work with her as long as she brings it up. When she is done 'playing' school we let it go. We by no means push her to do things she doesn't want to do but I can also see how she needs more than her preschool program or what we know how to do at home.

I think she would love the extra school time BUT she is so little and I think there is a benefit to letting her just be. I am not sure what to do.

If you have a gifted child, how did you get started with enrichment programs?? I would appreciate stories from parents on the pros/cons of getting your child started early academically. 

TIA

 

Mominator

I always knew that my oldest son was gifted even at an early age. They don't do testing here at the Pre-School level. DS was finally tested in 1st grade. By then he was already reading at a High School level. He was so advanced that they didn't know what to do with him in the regular class and used to send him down to the Kindergarten class to have him read to the younger kids. Unfortunately, the school district that he was in at that time was not a very good one and due to lack of funding amoung other things they were unable to offer him any type of enrichment programs.

He transferred schools in middle school and now is in the school district that I graduated from. I already knew that they had a fantastic Learning Enrichment Program (I was in it myself) so now he has started with that.I am thrilled to see him finally able to learn above and beyond what the regular classroom could provide me because he was always very bored in school.

My DS is just one of those kids that doesn't have to crack a book and is good at everything. He consistenly scores in the top 5% of all of the state standardized tests and has all A's in school with little to no effort. I'm honestly hoping that High School will be more of a challenge for him because my fear is that if he is bored in school he will not want to continue on in higher education.

Honestly, I have found no cons to the program that he is now in other than the fact that I wish that he could be offered more. He does a lot of independant reading at home, which helps. I should also add that he is a very gifted athlete so he is all in all a very rounded student, definitely not a Poindexter (for lack of a better word).

HTH

 

JOEBunny

Being gifted in school gave me lots of extra opportunities, special field trips, smaller classes, better teachers who challenged me.  My 3 of my nephews are in he gifted program and have similar experience.  IME, I think it also helps teachers treat you better. 

KoriBrett

DH was evaluated in 2nd/3rd grade and scored so high on IQ tests and things that they wanted to study him.  (they accidentally gave him the one for 21-24 year olds, he scored so high they couldn't actually score it)

DD does all the same things yours is doing and will be 4 on the 18th. 

All DH wanted to do was to be left alone to feel normal with his friends.  We both feel that we want DD to be a kid as long as she can.  She tends to feel pressured by her friends, is a total doormat with them, but is bored out of her skull at daycare.  For our DD, it's better for now at least that we keep her around the people she knows.   Once we get to 1st grade and beyond, then we'll see how things are going and if she wants and needs to be challenged more, we'll do it.  For now?  We practice a few things with her and make games out of them, and let her play.

susan1017

Thanks, Mominator!

I started letting her watch scientific shows on discovery and animal planet and she LOVES them! Again, there is only so much to do at home. There is a kids science museum in our town that has summer camp programs and I am looking into it for her. They walk the beach and collect things, learn about the ecosystem and wildlife. It is all age appropriate and hopefully I can get her in and start with that.

She is starting to figure out some reading skills on her own like that each letter has a sound and I can tell she can 'hear' the sound in the letters and she is starting to string them together.  If she learns to read, I can start her on books on subjects she loves and she can help herself a little more

Our town has an excellent gifted program and school system in general but they dont really get them started until the 3rd grade. I think once she is older she will be OK where we are but that is a long way off. She really is the type of child that needs to be engaged. She is great at independent play and has benefited so much from educational shows and games but I think she is moving beyond these things and she has been asking for more.

Thanks for sharing your experience with your son! I have a long way to go and not even sure where we stand at the moment!

 

susan1017

Thanks, everyone!

emilykristene2006

DD is in a 3 year old program at a religious preschool. She'll be 4 on the 15th of this month. Last year, the director told me I should have her evaluated. The county has a program where they test the children in different areas and the director told me I should schedule her for it. I took her a few weeks ago and was told she is gifted. I really thought she was normal and just like her peers.

I put her in school when she was 2 because I could not keep up with her. She knew all her shapes, colors, letters and numbers at 18 months. She was also counting in spanish at 18 months. 

So many people tell me they can have a better conversation with her than with most adults. 

When she was 27 months I showed her once how to spell her name. She copied it after me showing her only once. Riding a tricycle at 2, swinging at 2 swimming under water at 2. She learns everything by watching you do it once. Her first day of gymnastics, the teacher asked if she has been doing this a while. 

She has been sounding out words for a while. When I wrote CAT out and she sounded it out, I looked at DH shocked.

I am looking at different options for schools. We have Magnet Schools and Charter schools here. I am also looking at getting her in piano lessons.

I don't want her to be bored, but I also know about Kori's DH and my cousin. My cousin just wanted to be normal. 

We are just going to take it slow and hopefully she won't get bored.

GL!

MichelleWP

My 13 y/o is gifted - he taught himself to read at 4 and was reading at a 12th grade level by 6 (they don't test beyond 12th grade, so that was the upper perimeter). Our area doesn't really offer TAG or Enrichment programs beyond normal AP classes in HS, but in elementary school they were good about giving him above grade level opportunities (we had the option of skipping a grade, but didn't feel he was socially ready). We've done a lot of summer camps/activities - he's going to a computer programming camp this summer, etc. I made the decision to let him move in with his dad starting next school year because there are a lot more educational opportunities for him, especially in the math/sciences which are his interests, he scored in the 98% on the exam for gifted placement.

susan1017

emilykristene2006:

DD is in a 3 year old program at a religious preschool. She'll be 4 on the 15th of this month. Last year, the director told me I should have her evaluated. The county has a program where they test the children in different areas and the director told me I should schedule her for it. I took her a few weeks ago and was told she is gifted. I really thought she was normal and just like her peers.

I put her in school when she was 2 because I could not keep up with her. She knew all her shapes, colors, letters and numbers at 18 months. She was also counting in spanish at 18 months. 

So many people tell me they can have a better conversation with her than with most adults. 

When she was 27 months I showed her once how to spell her name. She copied it after me showing her only once. Riding a tricycle at 2, swinging at 2 swimming under water at 2. She learns everything by watching you do it once. Her first day of gymnastics, the teacher asked if she has been doing this a while. 

She has been sounding out words for a while. When I wrote CAT out and she sounded it out, I looked at DH shocked.

I am looking at different options for schools. We have Magnet Schools and Charter schools here. I am also looking at getting her in piano lessons.

I don't want her to be bored, but I also know about Kori's DH and my cousin. My cousin just wanted to be normal. 

We are just going to take it slow and hopefully she won't get bored.

GL!

OMG, I could have written this word for word. She was talking in sentences by 18 months old, knew all her letters and numbers by 22 months, drew people with faces, bodies and limbs at 2.5. She would laugh at jokes even before she was verbal and hit all her physical milestones months in advance. She potty trained herself at 27 months for goodness sake!!!! And the list goes on...there are so many subtle things that she says or does that just make you do a double take!

This being my only child at the moment, I thought it was all normal too. Now I am starting to see a difference with her peers and it is becoming something for which we need to develop a plan. I too do not want her to become bored and disengage. We probably wouldn't choose to have her skip grades if offered either at this young age. I guess I have lots of research ahead of me!

Thanks again to all the posters! 

jlw2505

My sisters 2 kids are both above average (sorry I just don't love the gifted term) and they worked with the kids at home, they went to a preschool that really worked on the education side of things and then started Pre-K at the private school they go to now.  (Niece is in 3rd grade and nephew is in kindergarten).  It is an amazing school and I would love to send my kids there but am nowhere close to having the money.  The school pulls the kids out that either need extra help or who are way ahead of their class to give them more one on one attention.  An example of where they are is that my nephew reads at a 3rd grade level and my niece at a 6th grade level.  Math they are about there although I think my nephew is even higher as he does it all in his head and struggles with writing it down. He gets the right answer, just has a hard time showing you how.  Both kids were reading wonderfully before they started school.  They have taken a private Spanish class the last year or two and my BIL takes to a Spanish camp one weekend each month.  They are also involved in other things like swim class, gymnastics and piano lessons so its not all educational type stuff.  My BIL is very analytical and gets them thinking like he does which I think helps as he does often while they are doing fun things like playing games.  Drives me nuts sometimes - I recall when I was on bedrest, my nephew was over (my mom was watching him) and we were piled on my bed playing a basic kid game (Shuts and Ladders I think) and he wanted to play with more than 1 dice and he had all these crazy rules - all things my BIL does with him. I couldn't even figure out what he was talking about.