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It was obvious. My child could read his letters before he was 2yo, (letters and numbers, capital and lowercase), and he could read time on a watch with hands at 2 1/2, including adding and substracting within 5 minutes increment.

 

I had him tested so he could start school 'a year early' (he missed the cutoff date by 2 weeks). We were turned down because of his emotional state. He's still lagging emotionnally btw. But that test put us on the homeschooling path.

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All three of my kids met their developmental milestones, especially the cognitive and fine motor very early. They all spoke their first words by at least 10 months and all spoke in sentences including use of pronouns by 12 months. Letter recognition, shapes, numbers, colors, etc... all came easily and early.

 

My oldest has been tested through Johns Hopkins CTY but that's it.

 

I did have my youngest evaluated because she met her milestones way ahead of her older brothers and had an uncanny ability to learn everything before anyone thought to teach it to her. I felt like I was holding her back rather than helping her meet her potential. She also is an "old soul" and had worries about existential concepts (God, death, aging, her place in the world) not long after her 2nd birthday...which we are still dealing with at almost 6yo. The testing pretty much just confirmed what I already knew but it was nice hearing it from a professional.

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Can I jump in here as my first post? :)

 

Becca only turned 5 last week, so we've never had her formally tested. She's always been extremely active and eager to learn, whether it's physical or mental skills. My goal was to have her reading before Kindergarten and she's picked up that skill and run with it. I almost feel that I didn't actually "teach" her to read at all, I just facilitated her learning. I gave her the K12 evaluation test back early Feb. and she was at a mid-first grade level for reading and even math. She's in a Mother's Day out preschool program (2 days a week, 4 hours a day) and her teacher has commented that she seems a bit bored and is far ahead of what a kid her age is usually doing. She's channeled that into being a little leader in her small class.

 

She is a constant surprise to us.

 

Sylvia just turned 3 last week (they're 2 years and 3 days apart), but she is very ready to follow in her big sister's footsteps. She's getting in computer skills, knows her numbers, letters and letter sounds, and is zipping through Hooked on Handwriting. She intently wants to know what each word on a page says and we're pretty sure she'll be reading before she's 5 as well. Sometimes she can even solve little verbal riddles before Becca does!

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With Huck, other people were telling us he was amazing before we finally caught on:). He's my oldest so I just thought this is what kids do. Um, not quite. He was putting together words on his own using his alphabet blocks or magnets by 18 months. Many things he just knew, like counting to 100 or a lot of science facts. He was reading Roald Dahl by 5 1/2.

We did have him tested at around 5 to see if there was an alternative school option for him but the professor who oversaw the test had no recommendations for us other than to homeschool. So here we are.

As for Tom, well, I think he'll be bright as well. Maybe not in the same class at Huck but he's already showing an aptitude for math concepts. I think his kind of smarts just aren't as obvious.

I do like the anonymity that comes with Huck being 8. By that I mean that his talents aren't as obvious. It's not like he's 3 and reading the signs on the playground. I found that hard to deal with because other people just didn't know what to make of him (or me!). That was a hard time for us. We felt very lonely, both Huck and myself. Sometimes it's good to be able to blend in and not have to justify or explain. KWIM?

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I do like the anonymity that comes with Huck being 8. By that I mean that his talents aren't as obvious. It's not like he's 3 and reading the signs on the playground. I found that hard to deal with because other people just didn't know what to make of him (or me!). That was a hard time for us. We felt very lonely, both Huck and myself. Sometimes it's good to be able to blend in and not have to justify or explain. KWIM?

 

Please, bear with me :) I'm asking you because I've seen other people mention things like you do in the quote above and I wonder about it. My ds 5 read signs at 3 as well, but I didn't feel like people didn't know what to make of him. Even now when we are at a doctors office for example, and he is reading a magazine or newspaper, or explaining his aortic bicuspid valve or what stenosis is I think people find it cute and I suppose surprising, there isn't anything to deal with, unless I'm obtuse,very possible :001_unsure: What do people do that makes you uncomfortable? If anyone else can answer this feel free.

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I have not had my dd formally evaluated, but she started learning to read when she was two, so I figured that was a pretty good indicator. She has continued to work ahead of grade level in most subjects. I've also had a lot of "aha!" moments in reading about gifted children and thinking, "Man, that's my kid all over!"

 

Our dd also shares a lot of the "quirks" that other parents on this board talk about, including hypersensitivity to certain types of sensory input. That we are having her evaluated for because it causes her distress that we don't know how to help with. We're on an endless waiting list to see an OT at the local clinic, but we're working on other options as well. That's not always linked to academic acceleration, of course, but it's not uncommon either.

 

There's a line from a book on giftedness - I think it was Gifted Children: A Guide for Parents and Professionals - from a little girl about why she didn't enjoy school: "I already know all the lessons and I don't like the custard." It's become shorthand in our family for the experience of being, or parenting, or being parented by, someone gifted.

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What do people do that makes you uncomfortable? If anyone else can answer this feel free.

 

Cute and surprising aren't a problem (unless it's either repetitive ad nauseum or to the point of making him into a public freak show) What has bothered me most in the past are people (parents) who either wanted DS to play with their kid to "be a good influence" or who wanted to quiz me on what I had done "to make him like that." Urgh. In either case they're going to be sorely disappointed, and I would feel just awful taking part in their treating their own child that way -- like they could change them into someone else by the right recipe of something or other. ew.

 

So to answer the OP, I actually had no idea early on -- his "big" early milestones (gross motor and speech) were quite late. And I wasn't actually noticing the milestones that were early (fine motor and attention span in particular). But when he was two I picked up a couple workbooks (Explode the Code and Singapore Earlybird Math) "for later" and he blew right through them and wanted more. I figured they were just easy, but he hasn't let up yet... lol

 

We did have an evaluation done because of some "quirks", and it basically quantified what we already knew... also it turned up some interesting and useful information aside from "he's smart" and that the quirks were just quirks. He was six then.

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What do people do that makes you uncomfortable? If anyone else can answer this feel free.

 

When our dd was younger - age 3 and 4 - we had quite a few people simply refuse to believe that she could actually read. It was confusing to her, since she was too young to understand that something perfectly normal to her was highly unusual to everyone else. And it also felt to us like we were being accused of exaggerating her abilities or, in a few cases, of outright lying. We had to prove to a couple of librarians that she was indeed perfectly capable of reading chapter books and didn't need to be shown to the picture book section.

 

We also encountered people who seemed to feel threatened by dd because their own children weren't able to do what she was doing. They responded by accusing us of being "those pushy parents" who force academics on their children. We pointed out that we couldn't have stopped her from learning if we'd tried, but that concept was so foreign to a few people that, again, they basically accused us of lying.

 

This is a hot button for me emotionally because I had a teacher in elementary school who accused me of lying about reading adult novels (Gone with the Wind was one, I remember). She insisted I couldn't possibly have read them, that I must have seen the movies instead, etc. etc. The same teacher eventually told my mother in a parent-teacher conference that she knew I was smarter than she was and there was nothing she could teach me. She was so threatened by me that took to humiliating me in class for things I had no control over and that had nothing to do with academics. I dealt with this kind of thing repeatedly, at every stage of my public school career. Those experiences have made me very protective of my dd around people who seem threatened by her intelligence.

 

Does that make sense?

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... that your child fit into the "accelerated learning" category? At what point did you realize that your child was different from the norm? Did you, at some point, choose to have an evaluation done and at what age?

 

Thank you. :)

 

My older son is accelerated because when I gave him a placement test for algebra in the fifth grade the test said he was ready for algebra. Indeed he has been working in a very rigorous algebra program. I think that means he is accelerated in this one area only because sixth graders in public school aren't doing this sort of thing and I've noticed that a lot of people say that their kid isn't ready for algebra in the sixth grade from these boards. I don't know if this means he is necessarily gifted. He's not accelerated in any other area.

 

I have a seven year old who I do think is gifted in math even though he is not as accelerated as his older brother. For example, once in the car he asked me to teach him the multiplication table. I explained that it was repeated addition and gave him some examples but left it at that. A few weeks later I said "now let's learn the six times table" as we sat down to do math and he rattled the whole thing off non stop and then said, "I know this already mom, because you explained it to me." He figured out the mutiplication algorithm on his own and he learned long division with only two examples. This morning he figured out how to determine the area of a right triangle without any explicit instruction at all.

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Our oldest is in this category. I really thought all of her "advanced" academics were just "normal". She was our first, what did I know? Friends would tell us "oh my goodness, she is so smart". We would smile and happily say "I know!" and then move on. She was in PS through 3rd grade. Teachers would explain that she is 1st in her class and very bright and that she "should be moved up a grade".

Finally, we asked her principal, well how smart is she? The answer we got was, "brilliant, just brilliant".

She still takes our state tests (in April) and scores 99-100%.

I fell so blessed. I hope we can continue to cultivate her mind.

HTH, Moki4

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I know longer remember everything my eldest did early or when, but will give some examples. I started teaching her shapes at 13 months. By 14 months she could identify the ones she knew out in our environment (so it wasn't just memorizing the toys and pictures). She may have done so sooner, but her word for circle, for example, was hard to understand. When I took her to the doctor at 18 months her speech was that of a 3 year old. I did not teach her colours at all until she was 18 months and started to point to each individual colour in a drawing of a striped scarf. Not only could she name at least 8 colours within 2 weeks, she could separate colours in a black and colour pattern, etc. She new at least 12 by 2, plus counted and knew a number of other things I can no longer remember.

 

Something she did that I didn't realize showed she was accellerated (due to her being my first) was bring a drawing to me at age 3 that looked like a monster. Taught enough to know to ask her what her drawings were, I did. It was a drawing of a face complete with teeth, eyelashes and many other features.

 

As for my second, it wasn't as readily apparent, but like her sister she could write her name at 3 (apparently that's a 5 yo skilll, but I'm not sure what age it is), she was drawing animals and people in motion at 5 (on her own with no instruction.) There are various other things, too, but she doesn't wear this on her sleeve the way her sister does.

 

As for my ds, finding out he was was actually a surpise because at one point in his life he was labelled behind in everything. But he not only had poor eyesight and low muscle tone, he's on a different developmental curve than average. When I was reading characteristics of gifted kids, he had more than his sisters. Then a friend of mine who was a ps teacher pointed out things she noticed. He's not ahead in academics (he hates them) but definitely in deep thinking and concepts. He was asking very deep questions at 4 that most 4 yo's do not ask, for example, and would have to go very deep into subjects of interest. One was, at 4, how fire made light. He wasn't satisfied until we got the the atomic level. Similar with his interest in flight. When I first started to teach him to read he was slowed down because while learning to decode he was also doing critical thinking about the story and asking a plethora of questions about it. Kind of hard to teach cvc and basic sight words and all those questions at the same time!

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What do people do that makes you uncomfortable? If anyone else can answer this feel free.

 

Well-- when people make strange comments to their own children in front of you and your dc-- the kind of comments that seem to belittle both their child and mine. We get all the chuckles & complements too, just not from those who feel compelled to view it as a competition or as a self esteem thing. I seem to have had a lot of this in the past year, dd8, it is slowly driving me very batty. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to vent!

 

I had friends who work w/children pull me aside and inform me that dd was advanced. I dismissed it and didn't really think about it until I started hs. My first post on this board was something like "Dd just finished Saxon 1&2 in 10 months at 5yo. Am I doing something wrong? Can this be right? Have I just ruined my child??" Some very kind person gently told me that my post should be on the accelerated board. This is where I came and was reassured all was okay, & left feeling much relieved & had plenty to think about. :lol: I really was distraught at the time.

 

My biggest challenge is keeping her challenged and believing her when she says "I already know that!!!!"

 

I haven't had her formally tested, and feel it isn't necessary right now.

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Lots of other people answered your question too. And I do appreciate you asking me to clarify my experiences. I have had experiences like others have shared. Specifically, my ds's ped refused to believe me about his intelligence and said to not worry about it because all kids "level out by grade 3". :confused: I personally think he was intimidated because he had a son 1 month older than mine.

On the playground other moms steered way clear of us and my son just didn't understand why he couldn't play with the other kids. The moms made it clear to their children that we were not "normal". And a few even accused me of pushing him too hard! It made me mad. It hurt my feelings. I already battle with shyness and that so didn't help because I was trying so hard.

Also, Huck has been quizzed. "Okay, you're so smart, what's this?" He felt intimidated and embarassed to be singled out. On a funny note though, the last time I remember this happening was at my husband's company picnic. One of his co-workers asked Huck what the square root of 8 was. To which he replied, well it isn't a whole number but if you give me a few minutes I can figure it out. It'll be less than 3." The look on the lady's face was priceless.

We also have issues with my in-laws accepting Huck. That is really unfortunate because they're really missing out on a fun, witty and smart boy. Their loss.

We used to get a lot of how did you do that's. Which was frustrating to me because I really do feel that Huck has a lot of inate ability which I've just nurtured.

It's not all negative though. We have a great group of friends and many relatives who do understand and appreciate him. I just like for people to get to know him BEFORE they find out about his abilities because it gives them a chance to really know him not just what he can do.

Hope this helps answer your question. :001_smile:

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When our dd was younger - age 3 and 4 - we had quite a few people simply refuse to believe that she could actually read. It was confusing to her, since she was too young to understand that something perfectly normal to her was highly unusual to everyone else. And it also felt to us like we were being accused of exaggerating her abilities or, in a few cases, of outright lying. We had to prove to a couple of librarians that she was indeed perfectly capable of reading chapter books and didn't need to be shown to the picture book section.

 

We also encountered people who seemed to feel threatened by dd because their own children weren't able to do what she was doing. They responded by accusing us of being "those pushy parents" who force academics on their children. We pointed out that we couldn't have stopped her from learning if we'd tried, but that concept was so foreign to a few people that, again, they basically accused us of lying.

 

This is a hot button for me emotionally because I had a teacher in elementary school who accused me of lying about reading adult novels (Gone with the Wind was one, I remember). She insisted I couldn't possibly have read them, that I must have seen the movies instead, etc. etc. The same teacher eventually told my mother in a parent-teacher conference that she knew I was smarter than she was and there was nothing she could teach me. She was so threatened by me that took to humiliating me in class for things I had no control over and that had nothing to do with academics. I dealt with this kind of thing repeatedly, at every stage of my public school career. Those experiences have made me very protective of my dd around people who seem threatened by her intelligence.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Yes, it makes sense and of course I have experienced some of those things too, although librarians down here generally don't show anyone to any section, we even check ourselves out for the most part, can you imagine? I generally don't go around discussing my son's abilities, part of that is protection I'm sure, but when we experience doubts or jealousy from time to time I just shrug it off. Thankfully your daughter is being homeschooled and will have limited opportunity to go through the humiliation you did.

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Yes, it makes sense and of course I have experienced some of those things too, although librarians down here generally don't show anyone to any section, we even check ourselves out for the most part, can you imagine? I generally don't go around discussing my son's abilities, part of that is protection I'm sure, but when we experience doubts or jealousy from time to time I just shrug it off. Thankfully your daughter is being homeschooled and will have limited opportunity to go through the humiliation you did.

 

Yes, and how about the name calling? I made a point of not doing as well in high school as I could because I was just so sick and tired of that. Plus I thought school was a big waste of time for the most part and just enjoyed having friends. I was definitely peer oriented, not parent oriented by that point.

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What has bothered me most in the past are people (parents) who either wanted DS to play with their kid to "be a good influence" or who wanted to quiz me on what I had done "to make him like that." Urgh. In either case they're going to be sorely disappointed, and I would feel just awful taking part in their treating their own child that way -- like they could change them into someone else by the right recipe of something or other. ew.

 

Yes, people want to know, but I believe it is not because they want to change their child into something they are not, but rather they want what is best for their child and they doubt themselves.

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Well-- when people make strange comments to their own children in front of you and your dc-- the kind of comments that seem to belittle both their child and mine. We get all the chuckles & complements too, just not from those who feel compelled to view it as a competition or as a self esteem thing. I seem to have had a lot of this in the past year, dd8, it is slowly driving me very batty. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to vent!

 

Yes, it is sad when people make comments along the lines of, "Why can't you be like so and so and do such and such." Sad and very uncomfortable.

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I really appreciate all the responses. Thank you.

 

Our 2.75 year old is our fifth child, so I think we've moved beyond the point of jumping to the conclusion that our child is particularly special just because we are personally enamored with her cuteness.

 

She knows her letters, uppercase and lowercase, as well as the sounds they make. She has worked at sounding out words in Bob books. She has a basket full of blocks with letters on them, and has assembled attempts at words and tried to sound them out.

 

Since she has been part and party to the homeschooling of her older siblings, and is read to often, we have just assumed that this is somewhat normal and to be expected. Today, however, she brought a reader to me and opened it randomly. She said "What's my answer, Momma?" and I responded absentmindedly, "I don't know. What's your question?" She pointed to the book and said "It says 'called Rachel'." That is precisely what the book said. I was shocked. I still am.

 

She loves numbers and counting and sorting. Two of her older sisters (ages 7 and 9) have oral math lessons with me. Our toddler always sits with them and listens in. Three or four times she has given the answer to their addition problems (flash cards) before they could answer. A couple of weeks ago, we were writing simple addition questions on a white board and she piped up that 10 plus 4 "... is pourteen, Momma" in an impatient tone, without hearing the problem. She only saw it written.

 

She recently climbed onto a chair while I was cooking and pointed at the digital timer that had been stopped. She said "Dat's seben". (She talks a blue streak and carries on conversations, but still doesn't enunciate properly.) The timer said 05:02 and she had added the digits and come up with 7. That same day, an oral addition question for her older sisters was "What is 4 plus 3 plus 1" and she replied "Eight!" before the older two could answer.

 

These things have all occurred in the last several weeks. Although we will not push her and are not racing out for curriculum to use with her, we also don't want to ignore potential or frustrate her.

 

Do these things sound "accelerated" to those of you on this board?

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This is a hot button for me emotionally because I had a teacher in elementary school who accused me of lying about reading adult novels (Gone with the Wind was one, I remember). She insisted I couldn't possibly have read them, that I must have seen the movies instead, etc. etc.

 

I got detention in fifth grade for reading Jane Eyre in science class. The teacher pronounced the title wrong and was not impressed when I corrected him.:tongue_smilie:

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Lots of other people answered your question too. And I do appreciate you asking me to clarify my experiences. I have had experiences like others have shared. Specifically, my ds's ped refused to believe me about his intelligence and said to not worry about it because all kids "level out by grade 3". :confused:

 

Yes, this statement is very much touted about by all sorts of people, I believe I've even read it on these boards. Sometimes it's true and sometimes not.

 

On the playground other moms steered way clear of us and my son just didn't understand why he couldn't play with the other kids. The moms made it clear to their children that we were not "normal". And a few even accused me of pushing him too hard! It made me mad. It hurt my feelings. I already battle with shyness and that so didn't help because I was trying so hard.
This is very strange. I think I would have found another playground.

 

Also, Huck has been quizzed. "Okay, you're so smart, what's this?" He felt intimidated and embarassed to be singled out.
I would give him the permission to say, "I prefer not to." (from Bartleby, a favorite quote around here, sometimes unfortunately :001_rolleyes:)

 

It's not all negative though. We have a great group of friends and many relatives who do understand and appreciate him. I just like for people to get to know him BEFORE they find out about his abilities because it gives them a chance to really know him not just what he can do.

Hope this helps answer your question. :001_smile:

Oh good. Thank you for answering.
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We have had several evals done mostly because of being part of a medical study. First eval was at 3 turning 4. The second was when he was 6 and I sat in on all of that testing. One thing I told the tester was that I was not interested in his compliance level or his attention level and that I expected the psychologist to continue even after my son had missed the three questions that put a ceiling on the test. With IQ test when you have miss the third question that is the ceiling.

 

So what happened was my son, who had a compliance problem would on purpose miss the first 3 questions while muttering this is stupid..... The psychologist would then try a piece of candy or a sticker to get my son to work, all things my son considered lame motivators. Since the neuro and I really want to know his true ceiling the psychologist tried discussion. Only problem was ds was smarter than the Ph.D. who was testing him. Doc noticed that he liked playing with one of her expensive therapy toys so she offered that. He sat there with a cold blank poker look on his face staring straight into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity and then asked if she would add in another expensive therapy too. She said yes and he promptly capped the sub test he was working on. Which meant that he did not miss a single question. Every sub test for the rest of the day went that way miss the first 3 negotiate for an expensive toy if negotiations went his way cap the test. Next day I arrived with plenty of Play-mobile toys to use as motivators. After that I made character the highest priority in our hs. Which has paid off immensely!

 

It has been hard for us because of the LKSv and that being twice exceptional does not always show through as being gifted. Folks either think they are brilliant or dumb and odd. My sons both connect well with adults or with kids either much older or younger. They have a small group of bright or gifted boys in their scout troop with whom they have formed close friendships. Which is a major blessing because it is something they never had before.

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We've never done an IQ test, I don't see any need.

It is obvious that DD12 is reading well ahead of grade level when she reads original works of Shakespeare at age 8 and can tell you just what's happening.

There is no doubt that DS10 knows a lot of science when he and DH (doctor) can talk for hours about the human body, and each learn a lot from each other.

Most 9yos don't write on the level of DD9, nor with the passion she does. And most 9yos don't decided that they need to know algebra right now and then read every algebra book, including my old university textbooks, in the house.

DD3 reads fluently on a fourth grade level and reads almost anything she can.

 

There are many more examples of my children's accleartedness but if I keep going I'll just brag, brag, brag.;)

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When our dd was younger - age 3 and 4 - we had quite a few people simply refuse to believe that she could actually read.

 

 

I've had a lot of that sort of condescension with Becca's reading abilities. People think, "Oh of course she's 'reading' - she's sounding things out or she has the story memorized." Nobody seems to truly get it unless they see her first hand, whip out a book she's never seen before, and start reading it with no problem. She reads things that can't be sounded out. But even my mom (super proud grandma!) didn't really understand until we went to visit her.

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I thought my son was just a regular kid until he got to K and his teacher brought it to my attention that he was advanced. When she started probing about milestones, I then realized he did some things very early. In K, he was in a private school that did PACES. My son finished the K PACES by October of the school year. He knew his ABC's by 18 months (I have a tape of him singing them; it's so cute!) and he taught himself to read by age 4. My dd was reading fluently by 4 and completed the SSRW K by October of the school year, too.

 

It was harder with my son as he was in PS after K. Happily, his 1st and 2nd grade teachers were on to his abilities and kept him focused and challenged. It was when we got to 3rd grade and the "gifted" program that his love of learning fell apart and school from then until I pulled him out at 9th grade was torturous for us all. My dd has never been in PS. My mother is a school diagnostician and helps me with advice and suggestions for keeping dd challenged.

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People think, "Oh of course she's 'reading' - she's sounding things out or she has the story memorized." Nobody seems to truly get it unless they see her first hand, whip out a book she's never seen before, and start reading it with no problem.

 

Hee hee. The only time my son was evaluated, he walked into the psychologist's office, headed for the bookshelves - while avoiding all toys - and read the psychologist's book titles. In French and English. University level books... He was 4yo and 3 months.

 

Needless to say, the psychologist was a bit taken aback. :smilielol5: :lol: :smilielol5:

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Yes, people want to know, but I believe it is not because they want to change their child into something they are not, but rather they want what is best for their child and they doubt themselves.

I'm afraid I wasn't completely clear there... I really have had parents literally want instructions on how to make their kid like mine. It's very, very creepy. I'm really not criticizing normal parents that have a moment of doubt, or who are surprised by what he's doing and wonder if they've underestimated their own kid. That's not a problem at all. It's the really creepy parents who follow me around not taking "he came that way" for an answer. The ones who make you feel like you've been "collected" instead of befriended. They want constant playdates despite the fact that the kids don't like each other and don't have anything in common, and they want to know every detail of everything you've ever used, what you fed them when they were babies, heck, even what you did when you were pregnant!

 

Maybe they, too, just want the best for their kids, but they're creepy and I don't want any part of that kind of "best". Nor does DS want the job of being an "improving" playmate for someone he doesn't even like, and who doesn't want to be "improved".

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We have given him permission to say he prefers not to answer. We wholly support him in his decisions with people. It's difficult at this age to teach him to say this though without that sassy tone in his voice, KWIM? :)

And we have found other playgrounds. I honestly think it has a lot to do with where we live. We're in Las Vegas. What an odd place it is. Though we've learned to love it, the folks here (including us, I guess) are definitely birds of a different feather.

We're definitely learning as we go!

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I think I gradually came to this realization starting about age 1 until age 5.5. My ds is 6 & a few months now. He didn't get negative social reactions from adults. The comments just added up over the years - pediatrician, "I've never seen such a large vocabulary at this age", 1.5 yrs; surprise that he was reading at 3.5. I did start keeping some of his milestones to myself and dh and really only sharing with my parents - this has been as much to protect him from comments as anything else. I don't see that it's of any matter outside of our family at this point. A playmate or two accused him of lying when he read signs and things over the last couple of years but the parents were very good about it and we generally go with, "some people have one skill and other people have another." And I genuinely feel that way. I am waiting for test results but the Dr. summarized it as he has never seen higher skills in some areas (verbal maybe?) but we are in a smaller population here. There are also some classic fine-motor and linear/auditory weaknesses to work on here. As I read about "gifted" (I prefer "accelerated in some areas") and found that this was a common pattern, it was really helpful to me in HS'ing and understanding things. The testing for us was really to make sure we were basically understanding what's going on with our ds and to have the results in case we want to use an accelerated online math curriculum that requires such results.

I remember that when I learned of the term "hothousing" I kept more things to myself also. I mean, my husband and I watched the Terry Jones' Crusades documentary about 7 times just for fun! we enjoy discussing math and science topics and demonstrating basic physics to our ds. it's just how we are. Some people might want to label that though so I watch my tongue as much as I can unless I know I'm around friends who get it. My friends generally do - they enjoy the History Channel and Discovery shows as much as we. - Jill

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My younger son was easy. He read his first word just before he turned three. He had an extraordinary vocabulary (and still does). He became officially accelerated this school year. He is in kindergarten, reads at a fifth grade level, and is using second grade materials for language arts and math.

 

My older son was a puzzle. He has learning and sensory problems that made it very difficult to tell just how bright he was. He couldn't read or count to ten at the end of first grade. I got the first inkling that he was brighter than he seemed when he actually placed into the second grade math book after a summer of tutoring in math (counting and so forth). Then he whizzed through that book in three months and the third grade book in another three months. He did another two years of math in third grade. He has since been evaluated and found to be gifted with dyslexia.

 

So there you go.

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My 3 are pretty normal for my family. My mother did make sure that I knew they were fairly bright, but it didn't show to the outside world until they were about 3 because they didn't talk until they were two and didn't talk well until they were about 3. I did get some comments from strangers, but they didn't read early (except the youngest), and were rather shy, so it wasn't something that was obvious. The doctor, several doctors in fact, made the mistake of asking my very young children if they had any questions. Sigh. And the assistant in kindergarten said my youngest was "scary". He isn't a genius, though, and there were at least a few other children in each of my sons' classes who were equally bright. Neither of my older ones were accelerated at academics. In fact, my middle one is on the slow side. It began to dawn on me that my youngest was accelerated when I realized I was still teaching him together with his older brother and his older brother was in high school. Not that he produces the same output on paper, but he's quicker orally (just because my older one is a slow thinker) and the input is the same. I realized the older one was accelerated in non-academic areas when he flew to Japan by himself to go peacewalking with some Buddhist monks for 3 months. I think my oldest son would have been about the same amount accelerated as my youngest, but he was in public school. It is easy to wind up accelerated if you are one of only two students.

-Nan

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When my son was about 6, a vision therapy doctor measured his reading with a device that measured how quickly his eyes moved across the page. Afterwards, he quizzed my son on what he had read. My son refused to answer him. The doctor looked at me compassionately and said, "I'm sorry, but he's not reading at all."

 

By that point in my son's life, he had read hundreds of books, and we had had many intelligent conversations about them. I told the doctor that he certainly did read!

 

I explained to my son how important it was for him to answer the doctor's questions; then I instructed the doctor to retest my son. He did. This time, my son answered the questions. The doctor was amazed. He actually apologized to us. He said my son's eyes moved across the page so quickly, he just assumed my son couldn't possibly be reading. When he realized that ds actually HAD read that fast, he calculated that his reading speed was post-college level.

 

My son is 10 now. When we read silently side-by-side, I can't begin to keep up with him. He turns the page long before I'm ready. Sometimes I think he's kidding me he's reading so fast. But the comprehension is there. Shrug and smile.

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