What makes your child gifted or accelerated?:)

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

What makes your child gifted or accelerated?:)

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

That sounded negative- but I mean it positive, like what skills or special gifts do you recognize!

[angela in ohio]

Accent on the "what" and not the "your", huh? ;)

 

My 11 yo dd is a hard worker and thrives on learning new information. her area of strength is vocabulary and reading.

 

My 9 yo dd is a math whiz (she knows math concepts, including the algebra things I have thrown at her, before she has been taught them - it's freaky :))and a great problem-solver.

 

My 5 yo is gifted spiritually first and foremost, and just ahead overall so far (we'll find out what his particular strength in academics is eventually, I'm sure.)

 

That said, they all have "negative" gifted traits, especially second dc who tests the higest as well.

[Jenny in Florida]

http://www.hoagiesgifted.com/gifted_101.htm

 

This is a great site for parents just trying to figure out the whole gifted thing, with lots of links to lists and resources.

 

--Jenny

[Scarlett]

My son....he is almost 8. I don't know what the true definition of 'gifted' means. I don't want to be one of those parents who thinks her average kid is gifted. When I first came to these boards I thought he MIGHT be gifted, but now I think he is just very bright. ;) He has what seems to me freaky math skills--and yet won't memorize his math facts.:confused: His vocabulary has always been very advanced. He was speaking full sentences before he was 18 months old. He LOVES science. He LOVES to read. He 'gets' puzzles of all kinds. At age 4 he could figure out instructions to put toys together faster than I could (ok, so that might not be saying much.)

 

The other night in bed, I had drifted off to sleep and he was wide awake. He wakes me up, 'hey mom! I know how you can tell if 3 goes into a certain number?' I groggily said, 'how?' He says, 'well, 3 times 2 is 6, and 6 times 2 is 12 and 12 times 2 is 24 an 24 times 2 is 48 and 48 times 2 is 96 so voila! 3 will go into 96!'

 

I said, 'very good. How many times will it go?'

 

Slight pause. (I knew he would have figured it out)

 

I said, 'wanna hear a trick?'

 

yes, he says.

 

I said, 'how many times does 3 go into 9?'

 

3 he says

 

How many times will 3 go into 6?

 

2.

 

So how many times will 3 go into 96?

 

Excitedly, and instantly, '32! Wow Mom that is a cool trick!'

 

So we went through a bunch of examples of similar division problems.

 

I mean...what kind of kid lies in bed figuring numbers at 10 p.m. ?

[Old Dominion Heather]

Well, my eight year old is and always has been obsessed with numbers. He doesn't need to be taught any of it, just gets it on his own. You show him how, he's got it. You describe it out loud, he has got it. Or he may just figure it out on his own. He started sitting down and listening to books on tape for 3+ hour stretches and crying if I turned it off when he was four.

 

My five year old started reading when he was two. That was right before he learned to ride his bike without training wheels, when he was two. He reads so well that I try to avoid him reading in front of his friends... I never taught him to read though. He just started doing it. He is ahead in math, but nothing like the level of his brother. Likewise, his brother reads very well for his age, but not as intuitively as his younger brother.

 

The youngest guy is two. I think that he will be just as gifted. He started humming the entire Imperial Death March from Star Wars when he was about 15 months old. He will tease us and has an unusual awareness of jokes and sense of humor. He'll make up a joke and then say "I tease!". He listens to what I read the older boys and asks questions like "Where Bilbo go? Bilbo go to work? No.... trip. Bilbo go trip!"

 

All of my kids have been late talkers, interestingly. I was very worried about the oldest. He never said more than two words together until he about 2 1/2 years old, then he just started speaking in long sentences like "That big truck has no lights on it back there!"

[KAR120C]

That sounded negative- but I mean it positive, like what skills or special gifts do you recognize!

For DS it pretty much boils down to his being really hard to challenge. He just seems to rise to any occasion, which while it's great and all, makes my job more difficult! LOL We do a ridiculous amount of work, at a ridiculously high level, and still there are days when he doesn't even seem to bat an eye.

 

Of course there are days when he can't find his own nose, but I think that's the age... LOL

[PariSarah]

9yods is just very, very quick. He "gets" something immediately, with the bare minimum of explanation. Once he's heard of it, or read it somewhere, or seen someone else do it, he knows it cold. He's pretty globally gifted in this manner--like, he can do it in sports (not physically speaking--strategy-wise), all the different academic disciplines, music, everything. He doesn't really figure much out on his own, but you don't really need to do any teaching, either. You just explain it once, and he gets it and keeps it.

 

He is also particularly adept with anything language-related. He can mimic syntax, accent, and vocab with alarming precision after just spending an hour in someone's company. He didn't speak much when he was young (he didn't say Mama until he was 18months--I could have killed him), but when he did, it was perfect. No mispronunciations, almost no grammar errors (brung or teached or he gots). His functional vocabulary has always been off the charts. He reads on grade level in his second language. In English, he's just scary.

 

6mods is very gifted too, in many ways. His screams could shatter glass. He's an accomplished eater, of a wide range of purees. He's a very effective manipulator of his environment--he sure knows how to get our attention and to get us to do what he wants! He's not such a gifted sleeper, but he's catching up.

[EKS]

My 11 yo is bright but has dyslexia and some other issues that make it difficult to see how bright he really is. He flew through elementary math in three years and we started algebra in 5th grade (he didn't learn any math in 1st grade because of problems at school). In hindsight, we should have used that 5th grade year to sharpen his arithmetic skills but he was anxious to move on. Anyway, I guess that makes him accelerated. He also has been reading on a high school level despite his dyslexia since he was 9. And we are just finishing Hake Grammar 8. So these are tangible signs that he is accelerated. He is also behind in spelling and writing and right on level in other areas, so he is a mixed bag.

 

My 5 yo is more even in his abilities. He started reading when he was 2 and now reads on about a 4th grade level. We are doing K12 Language Arts 2 and he is able to do it easily, though I only have him do some of the writing himself. He is also in Singapore 2A. So I would say that academically, in general he is functioning at the level of a beginning 2nd grader with good reading skills. He is more obviously gifted than his brother, mostly because he expresses himself so well verbally. It will be interesting to see how homeschooling progresses with him.

 

So what makes my kids accelerated is that they work ahead of grade level in some subjects. But I don't really know if either of them is officially gifted, the 11 yo because his IQ subtest scores are all over the place, and the 5 yo because he's never been tested, though I assume they are. I've often suspected that most bright children could be where my children are academically with the one on one attention of homeschooling.

[chai]

I don't know that dd is gifted as she has never been tested. When I looked at the lists of gifted traits in the past, she appears to be HG.

 

DD's most telling trait is her comprehension. She understands really complex issues and can talk about them because she does well with reading, writing and vocabulary. (She talks a lot!) She is ahead in math (I think because she comprehends quickly), but she doesn't have that extra gift with numbers that some of your kids have.

 

She also has an excellent ear for music and pitch and sings really well. I don't think of it as musically gifted, but certainly talented.

[JeanM]

Well the easy question to answer is what makes my children accelerated is that some of the material they use is above where they should be for their ages.

 

As far as giftedness goes, my older ds has had iq testing done and is officially "gifted" by tests. One way that both kids show that they are gifted is by how fast they catch on to things. My older ds has a very good memory, except for how to spell words. And they both have large vocabularies and tend to sound much older than they are. Honestly, my younger ds has always turned heads more than older ds, just because he is small for his age. Older ds is large and people tend to just assume that he is older than he really is.

 

Their behavior is not "gifted" though!

 

Jean

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

My son didn't test gifted when he was evaluated at 4yo. He missed by one lousy point. That single point is the reason we homeschool. He's a late birthday, and would have turned 7 within weeks of starting grade 1. Ah! I can't even imagine what this would have been like. But because of that missed point, he wasn't allowed to start kindergarten a 'year' earlier.

 

By 10 months old, he could recognize his letters. We'd ask him to find a 'd' on a page, and he would point to it. By 18 months, he was reading license plates out loud, but he didn't speak a word otherwise. No 'mama', no 'papa', etc. By age 2 1/2, he could read time on a watch with hands, and calculate time additions to the minute. He also started talking in full sentences. By age 3 he could count up to 10, and back down to 0 without blinking - the microwave taught him the countdown! :rolleyes: By age 5 he was reading Harry Potter - yet not allowed to be in Kindergarten.

 

Now he's 10, finished with pre-algebra. He inhales math and sciences. He's fluent in French - his mother tongue - and English. He's handling his 4th year of Latin (well, year 1 is Prima Latina, so not much meat there, but he handled it at 6yo) and his 2nd year of Greek. He's begging to learn Hebrew, and Mandarin because of the different alphabets, just like he begged for Greek. He's not terribly advanced (usually by 2 or 3 years) because I get resources in French and English. Each sees a subject with a specific angle. So he enjoys learning, but I sorta slow him down as much as I can.

 

 

My daughter? Well, academically, she's not accelerated. I sometimes feel she's slow, but I have to make sure I don't compare... However, wherever she goes for a sport, like dance, ballet, gymnastics, swimming, synchro, etc the coaches go crazy on her. "She could become professional, make sure she's on the competitive team. She's the best I've ever seen. " Etc... You know, it's weird. It gets annoying after a while. I feel like telling the coaches "can't you just coach her where she is now, and not think about your team????" Anyway, she is indeed on a gymnastics competitive team. At her first competition ever, she got the gold medal (at that age, it's cumulative, not per apparatus). But we're not taking her to national levels. That would be 25 hours of training per week, and we're not willing to do that.

[Scarlett]

6mods is very gifted too, in many ways. His screams could shatter glass. He's an accomplished eater, of a wide range of purees. He's a very effective manipulator of his environment--he sure knows how to get our attention and to get us to do what he wants! He's not such a gifted sleeper, but he's catching up.

 

Yer funny my friend!

[dangermom]

I have two girls, 7 and 4. I would say that both are probably moderately gifted; not geniuses or anything, but pretty bright. They'd be in the GATE program in school.

 

The 7yo is an excellent reader and likes to write her own stories. She's always been good at fine motor skills work like drawing and writing. She's mostly doing 3rd-grade work this year, and Latin. It makes me happy to see how quickly she grasps a lot of math concepts--she must get that from her dad--but one reason we homeschool is to try to avoid the "girls are bad at math" idea that everyone seems to absorb by age 10.

 

The 4yo has always been a bit mechanical. She loves puzzles and hangs over her dad's shoulder if he's taking a computer to bits. She's learning to read, has the ability, but is taking her own sweet time about it since she'd rather play knights. I suspect that she will turn out to be good at math and computers, but who knows?

[nutmeg]

She has a photographic memory, an insatiable curiousity, and comprehension beyond her years. Additionally, she is extremely sensitive, an independent learner, and a homebody. She gets it, whatever 'it' is, the first time she learns it, but will continue to ask questions about it, rephrasing questions days later, repeating entire conversations as she plays it over in her mind. She cannot do math silently, but will disappear into a novel with nary a peep. She can spell words she cannot define or pronounce.

 

She turned 10 yesterday, is finishing up Singapore 4, whizzing through grammar (R&S 6) and does Spelling Power just for fun (level I). Yesterday she presented to our co-op a 12 stanza poem she wrote on the Viking invasion of France. She'll finish her AWANA book next month; it will take these 5 months simply because she doesn't want to get too far ahead of her friends.

 

And she worries she doesn't know enough.:rolleyes:

[Baseballmom]

Nutmeg, that's funny about the Awana book. Apparently my son doesn't care about his friends. He finished his Awana book before Christmas.

[Donna]

My oldest is pretty globally accelerated. He met all his developmental milestones early with a strength in language. He read at 3yo and enjoying Harry Potter by 4.5yo. He, now at 12yo, enjoys reading adult level books, classics. He is doing high school geometry and will start Alg 2 in a few months. He is a great athlete- black belt in taekwondo and is a competitive wrestler. His drum teacher is using the same materials he uses with his adult students and though he rarely practices, he always learns what he is taught and improves. He is a natural born leader and has always been very mature for his age.

 

My middle son (10yo) is the most generous, thoughtful kid. He would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need. He met his gross motor skills very early (sat at 4m. crawled at 5 mo, walked at 9mo) and spoke in sentences by 12months like his brother. He rode his bike without training wheels at 2.5yo and tied his own shoes before his 3rd birthday. He is a very creative kid, constantly coming up with new inventions for this or that. He is accelerated in math and though he is ahead of grade level in reading by 2years, he hates to read. He is doing really well with guitar and also has his black belt in taekwondo.

 

My 5yo dd met her developmental milestones, except gross motor, faster than both her brothers. She was using sentences at 10 months. She began reading spontaneously, without formal phonics instruction at 3.5 yo and could read anything. By 4yo she was reading Little House type books and anything else she could get her hands on. She learns math by taking whatever I teach her and extrapolating on it by asking questions and experimenting. She completed 1st grade math in 4 months and 2nd grade will be done in 5 months. She is extremely talented on violin and can play anything she has heard once or twice plus can name the note for almost any sound she hears musical or environmental. She has figured out numerous violin techniques on her own like slurs, fiddle ornaments, and bow sharing through experimentation and trying to make her songs sound just like what she has heard.

[freethinkermom]

It is such a hard question to answer. Anyone that spends five minutes talking to either of my boys can sense it. They absorb knowledge and are better spoken than most adults. It is like their brains are always turned up to eleven.

 

We have had testing done. The results put both boys solidly in the profoundly gifted category for academics. Ds6 may also be gifted in visual arts (drawing, etc.). Unless being really, really good at guitar hero counts, then there is not a drop of musical talent in anyone in our family.

[KAR120C]

It is like their brains are always turned up to eleven.

This one goes to eleven! ROTFLOL!!!!!

 

Unless being really, really good at guitar hero counts, then there is not a drop of musical talent in anyone in our family.

What... that doesn't count?? :p

[ArwenA]

DD9 is gifted with a logical/mathematical brain. She is also an advanced reader and gifted writer. She learns new things quickly.

DD6 has a wonderful ear, she can tell immediately if an instrument is in tune (this isn't always a gift. She decided to drop out of a choir that she mostly loved because some kids didn't sing in tune).

DD3 is always keen to learn and is very kind and caring.

 

I generally consider DD9 to be my accelerated one. She's academically accelerated and I guess I still need to realize that there's more than one way to be smart.

[naturalmom]

I haven't tested my ds5, but when he taught himself the concept of multiplication, figured out his own methods for adding 3-4 digit numbers, and whizzed through the math books so that we're now in Singapore 2A Intensive Practice...I know he is at least accelerated.

 

He also is interested in numbers. Before he turned 5, he'd figured out how calendars work and counted down the days from about 46 days away. One day we're sitting in the car and he tells me that if you add all the numbers from 1-10 you get 55. He then continued to progress up to 25 - all in his head. He does this sort of thing a lot. He's fascinated with time, and tries to find something special about various times: 5:55 because he's five; 8:44 because 4 + 4 is 8, and so on.

 

He fits a lot of the gifted characteristics that I've read, but I don't know if we'd ever test - just not enough money to do that!

[Jill]

It is like their brains are always turned up to eleven.

"but this one goes to 11..." LOL! that makes me think of haberdasheries oddly enough.

 

My son is a bit ahead of the curve in reading and math and has a very good memory especially for history and science facts - something his father also has - but it's a big reason we went with WTM. He thinks about math concepts unprodded "Mama, I figured out that seven times seven is the same as seven times five plus seven times two: forty-nine!" and enjoys the whole process. This past fall after inquiring here, we changed to practicing facts by alternate means. we play lots of games, e.g. Operation Station and Learning Resources games, math blaster, Quiddler (spelling too but you add scores), Monopoly and various other games where he is also scorekeeper. After all, he's still a little kid and playtime can well be learning time.

 

In general, I like this accelerated area best, I get overwhelmed by the other areas.

 

It cracks me up when I read about kids reading Harry Potter at 5 and 6 because my son's not really interested though I can't wait to read the series since I haven't yet! agh! I will probably just have to read it on my own. Sure, a 4th grade level book on the Trojan War he'll read and then give us, his parents, a thorough report.

 

He also has excellent pitch and rhythm (people have commented on it since he was 1.5 yrs old) but I have yet to be able to really implement music lessons. He's a self-learner and I haven't explored how he might unschool piano - maybe starting him in Suzuki piano instead.

 

He is also very physically agile and active - hard to keep up with at times. We set up a trapeze, a punching bag and a rope ladder in our basement so we can have PE even when the temps outside hit negative 10F. (there's another thing, he "gets" negative numbers, has for a year and understands the multiplication rules for them when he asked us to explain.) He needs a good deal of exercise each day. We also play some DanceDanceRevolution and the mini-games that came with it like HyperDash which is a racing game.

 

And he's a lego-maniac :p

- Jill In ND

[Nan in Mass]

I hang out here not because my children are gifted (they're just brightish and, well, odd), but because mine match this bunch of children better than other children. They chew holes in their shirts, take off for months with Buddhist monks, can't bear depressing modern literature, ... I feel like *I* fit in better with the mothers here. The descriptions of everyone's children make me feel less like mine are way out there. Everyone here is flexing homeschooling the same sorts of ways we are. And there are lots of good tips on how to cope with the other odd stuff, like not being able to bear to watch movies until you are in your teens.

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

Groan... mine... sometimes I think it is a mistake to sleep with them, especially as they get older...

[Jill]

 

They chew holes in their shirts...

ltm. Mine was doing that last weekend - chewing on his shirt. First time I'd noticed it. I confessed to him that I used to chew on my hair.

[Nan in Mass]

When I forbid my son to do this because his shirts were becoming rags a few days after we bought them, he ingeniously turned them inside out and backwards and chewed on the tag instead. This worked fine until he outgrew it. I recommend it. ;)

-Nan

[KAR120C]

When I forbid my son to do this because his shirts were becoming rags a few days after we bought them, he ingeniously turned them inside out and backwards and chewed on the tag instead. This worked fine until he outgrew it. I recommend it. ;)

-Nan

I'll have to try that! only I'm not sure how many of DS's shirts have tags either -- he usually cuts them out... :rolleyes: I was thinking of threatening to make him buy his own! Hey... maybe I could teach him to make a shirt from fabric, and all the work he put into it would discourage the chewing? Or at least it would be his job to repair them... LOL

[mktkcb]

My son is one of those extremely difficult gifted types. He is 11, and doesn't chew his shirts any more (he did when he was younger), but still puts stuff in his mouth all the time. He has been very obviously bright since birth, and very definitely musically gifted since birth as well. He is incredibly intense, argumentative, insatiably curious, immature, and passionate about many things. He hates anything that involves a pencil, or is called school, but will happily spend his day playing chess, collecting stamps, doing algebra games on the computer, playing music he has heard by ear on the piano, doing his Japanese computer program....etc. Now I don't LET him do that every day LOL....he has to learn to use that pencil, after all. He is fairly advanced in math, is starting algebra this year in 5th. He has a phenomenal auditory memory, and perfect pitch (I knew it for a long time, and his piano teacher at camp last summer confirmed it). He loves any and all of the critical thinking press games. I think of him as my "imposter" LOL. Meaning that I've lived with him so long, and every day is SUCH a struggle, self control/meltdown/frustration level - wise with him, that I often don't think of the gifted part. Then he'll go off to piano camp and blow them away, and I'll have the teachers telling me how smart/gifted he is etc. And all I worried about was him not saying the wrong thing, or getting in trouble for something. It is an emotional rollercoaster sometimes. He gets everything very quickly, and has little tolerance for being bored, but otoh, he hates hard work. Sigh. I literally never know what a day will bring forth. I can't imagine life without him, though. He definitely brings spice to life, and marches to his own drummer. He fits the hoagies cheetah list very closely, but I don't think he would qualify as hg. I've never had him tested.

Kayleen

[CLHCO]

because I don't feel I'm really working with a driven "gifted" child but he probably is gifted in at least an area or two. He was way ahead in many areas as a toddler and his behaviors suggested intense study of all things mechanical. I taught lots of toddlers and had a couple before he came along and there was something remarkably different about him. As I've found happen with a lot of preschoolers, the amazing things stalled around 3 to make way for being obstinate. :p

 

However, musically gifted has never stalled. At this point he's 7 and plays violin. Although he's not really ahead when it comes to technique, his ear is amazing. He has absolute pitch, which means he can tell without looking what notes are being played on a piano, even when you play a chord and not individually. He once copied the first several measures of an aria from Handel's Messiah onto a computer program we have "just because it's beautiful". He copied the condensed orchestral score and vocal part.

 

He's a fast learner when it interests him. He's obsessed with astronomy and has been for the last 3 years without any sign it's fading to move on to other things.

 

I only have to wonder why God put such potential in the hands of a disorganized mother who doesn't always work with him the way he really needs to be. :( But since I figure He knew what He was doing, I'll just be thankful.

[Nan in Mass]

We cut the tags out, too, but we bought a new batch of shirts because the old new batch a week later were just too awful to wear. And I'm totally not picky about things like this. Strangers comments about mice were beginning to get to me, though, perhaps because some of my older son's shirts had identical looking holes in them because he would throw up (carsick - stress - strange food - ...) and we would throw the yucky clothes on the deck until I could get to scraping them off and putting them through the washing machine, and the racoon would come and do part of the job for me. Anyway, when I gave him the new shirts I told him no chewing and this was his solution. Almost every aspect of our everyday lives has been modified somehow to make the children more comfortable. I guess I must have been pretty successful because nobody, even our close extended family, knew how high strung my children were until they sort of exploded as teenagers because they insisted on managing themselves and they didn't do as good a job as I had. I'm all for making small changes like this to make everyone comfortable GRIN. It doesn't exactly make for children who are like everyone else, though.

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

I forgot to add - At the time, I thought his teeth were probably moving and making him uncomfortable. Now I'm wondering if the highstrungness is something like sensory integration problems (about which I know nothing). Perhaps you could show your son how to sew in a fake tag of rag? It wouldn't require high level sewing skills and if he did it himself, you wouldn't be bothered by it. You could cut up one of the most ragged teeshirts for the fake tags.

-Nan

[Storm Bay]

Dear "Lux",

 

I--Caring about being "speedy" vs caring about "exploring the possibilities".

 

Getting through vast amounts of material in a linear fashion, vs. making big leaps, often not in an orderly fashion (gasp) or in a linear mode (horrors!).

 

I like to go fast. My son likes to go deep. I like to cover a lot. He likes to cover a little, a lot.

 

Most "gifted" programs are actually "accelerated" (bright) programs, by the way. This is why we homeschooled initially.

 

I hope this gives you some things to think about.

 

While you think about it, remember two other things:

1. Gifted or bright, character counts more.

2. Gifted or bright, a kid is still a kid.

 

These are some interesting points. There have been a few discussions on this on the old AL board. Not all gifted kids like to go deep when they're young, but some really do. Some kids' giftedness lies in their ability to think things through and it can hurt them in testing because they don't go fast. I have kids who like to go deep into their own interests, and they don't like school work, which is why they're not as far ahead academically as they are capable of doing. But I want them to develop their passions and thinking skills, and make them get their academics done. I even let my 12 yo take 2 years to do Algebra 1 (she started it at 11) because she's always hated math. Thankfully, my 9 yo now loves history and wants to read as much as she can on what she's studying--but the fiction has to be historically accurate, lol.

 

Some do like to go very, very fast when it comes to school work. My dh is very big on the character part, and I agree. I also agree about most of the "gifted programs"--they can be a big waste of time for some kids, but helpful for others.

[JennW in SoCal]

Like Nan, I like visiting here because it seems like a better fit with my square-peg kids and our experiences homeschooling. Only one of them has been tested, my oldest, who is one of those kids with the frustrating combination of being gifted with learning disabilities. It was easy when he was little to do school in unorthodox ways, and it is still easy, but I worry, and he worries too, about his ability to handle the expectations of a typical college class -- something he will be facing in the fall.

 

He is someone who goes deep into very narrow fields of interest. And I would describe his giftedness, or acceleration at the moment, in being more comfortable with adults than with other teens. He works with adults and has their respect and trust.

 

My younger son has always been very low maintenance, with the exception that he has to talk and talk in order to bounce his ideas off of someone. He is a thinker and an observer of the world, and someone who loves books and loves learning. Is he gifted? I don't know, but he is another fairly atypical kid.

 

Tactile sensitivity has always been a challenge with them both. Neither of my kids could tolerate jeans until they were about 12 or 13!! Tags were always cut off, and my youngest despises shoes (we live in San Diego so shoes are not a necessary part of life!) Can't remember when they stopped chewing on shirts -- it was the collar of the tee shirts, right below the chin that were the object of much chewing!

 

Interesting discussion, as always, with you ladies!

[Donna]

CherylCO,

 

What is the name of that computer program, if you don't mind sharing? I have a dd who would simply love it.

[CLHCO]

My husband found it online. It's free and called Finale Note Pad, I believe. I don't have it on our new computer, unfortunately. I'll have to have him find and download it again. It has some limitations but it does have a lot of neat options for a free program.

 

It made my son angry at times because when doing the piano part there were instances where he had stacked notes of different duration and it'll stack notes but they must have the same rhythm. Not quite smart enough for that but again, a free program so we adapted the rhythms.

 

You may try doing a google search for finale note pad and see if it comes up.

[KAR120C]

I forgot to add - At the time, I thought his teeth were probably moving and making him uncomfortable. Now I'm wondering if the highstrungness is something like sensory integration problems (about which I know nothing).

 

You know, I noticed the same thing with DS... his shirt-chewing has definitely "peaked" with losing his front teeth, but he's done with that now and it hasn't ended... I think now it's more of a habit than anything, because he can go for a long time without chewing on shirts -- mostly it comes up if he's watching TV or playing video games... I like the fake tag idea... we'll have to give it a try! :)

[Blue Hen]

What makes your child gifted or accelerated?:)

 

From the earliest days my oldest was far ahead with his verbal skills then his peers. He amazed adults at his day care center by having lengthy adult-level conversations with them at all of 18mo. His verbal skills still far excel all folks I have ever known (and tests back it up too). A short conversation with him leads the newcomer to remark to me that I have a very brilliant child on my hands; always. It is just so evident.

 

He is also dedicated or obsessed with science be it astronomy or biochemistry or physics or nano-technology. He enjoys building, re-designing, re-engineering the item

 

He remembers and thoroughly comprehends everything he reads. It is annoying since I have very poor reading comprehension, LOL!! Saying that he's an avid reader doesn't really tell the entire story. He devours books, quickly.

 

Many subjects come easy to him; logic, math concepts although math facts were a struggle at one time, writing, ... He does have ADHD, and the PS wanted us to give up on him ever learning to read or doing math---back when he was in K. So he did have LD's that we had to work at helping him overcome. What a great journey though!

[Luanne]

I'm the one who can't stand tags. I cut them out of all my clothes. I also have to have my socks perfectly lined up on my feet or it drives me crazy. I also straighten out my shoestrings so they are perfectly straight. However, my daughter (who is now 19) is the one who started talking at 13 months of age (complete sentences at age 18 months) and read at age 4. She is now reading "Greek Thought" just for fun. At the age of 7 she begged to learn multiplication and then when she asked me how to do division I told her it was the opposite of multiplication and she said "ok" and proceeded to do it.

[LisaKinVA]

to chew his shirts! Whew! My oldest goes through different "tick-like" phases. I say "tick-like" -- because it's some sort of repetitive event he does without thinking.

 

Currently, he's blinking and making mouth-clicking noises. Drives me nuts, and he's oblivious. Like others here, we've known son was different from a very early age. He was "born old" -- and has reached every milestone well ahead of his peers. None of my others are exactly like him -- but all show very different "signs." Most frustrating effect... uninstalling Norton Internet Security -- even with the parental controls on & password protected. Not sure if he's destined for greatness or a CIA holding cell for hacking (joking a bit there).

 

6yoDaughter -- very artistic. Detailed, advanced drawings more than 3 years ahead of peers. Takes to math very quickly.

 

4yo son -- showed a keen sense of humor at a very young age. He's our prankster. He's also the one who takes everything apart, figured how to open the baby gate before his 2nd birthday. None of the safety devices stopped him. When he couldn't turn the doorknob because of the covers, he just took the covers off. Guess he's destined to be a huge problem solver?

 

1.5yo Daughter. Little Monkey. Has a great sense of language. Knew she was going to follow in her older siblings footsteps before her first birthday (told the children to put their shoes on so we could go, and she toddled off to grab a pair of flip flops and put them on... even my pediatrician was impressed that she could walk in them). She has an excellent understanding of language -- but is content to babble.

[Karenciavo]

6mods is very gifted too, in many ways.

 

He's gifted in the adorable department that's for sure. :)

[Renee in NC]

My 9yo is not accelerated academically, but actually "behind" most of his peers. However, when people meet him, they tend to tell me how brilliant he is. I don't know how to explain it, but my dh says he "thinks too much." He has an amazing capacity for logic and mechanics.

 

At 3, he designed a door knob lock out of tinkertoys.

 

At 4, he took apart a couple of broken CD-Roms and re-built a whole one.

 

At 5, he built an airplane out of wood.

 

Recently, he rebuilt a chainsaw from several broken ones - and it WORKS!

 

He struggles with reading comprehension and writing, and often makes computational mistakes (bit his conceptual knowledge is amazing!)

[fishnoises]

My kids are acclerated in most subjects by at least a year. I wouldn't call them gifted because I just don't know. I give them work and see how far they can go. They are definitely very good at understanding new math concepts. Never had problems with that, but the older 2 are very lazy! They give very little effort--the bare minimum sometimes! They do very , very well in Latin. I think we all have gifts, but some people have a better grasp at understanding new concepts.

And about the tick noises!! My ds is always making annoying noises like that!!!! He bites his nails and is constantly pulling up his socks and scratching himself. And sharpening his pencils!

The 3 yo hates the tags in her shirts, and is always singing. My 10 yo hated the bumps in her socks when she was little, and will go sockless when ever she can. My 6 yo is super sensitive and in lala land most of the day. (We call it lillyland. Scott goes to scottland...)

I just know that my kids are very different from most! More alert and talkative. (Oh dear God they talk so much!!) I just chalk it up to being homeschooled.

[nitascool]

We have 4 children here. I see "signs" of giftedness in the older 3 and #4 (who is only 9 mo is advanced in all her milestones despite being premature). We've tested the older two children.

 

My oldest 7.5 tested slightly gifted with very low processing skills. Basically he has some mental processing issue akin to ADD. When comparing his IQ score with the gifted characteristics at Hoagie's he falls somewhere between moderately and highly gifted.

 

He said his first word at 3 months (though no one else believed me lol). He said Ummy when wanting me accompanied by the sign for mother. He still calls me Ummy when he is tired or ill. At 6 months he said, "Ummy I peez wanna cook." He signed 10 words by 8 months. He designed complex patterns with blocks and Lego's at 12 months and could put a 15 piece wood jigsaw puzzle together in a minute flat. He learned to read "Bob books" at 3. Followed quickly by Easy readers. He read every word in "Hop on Pop" on his 4th birthday and finished "The Magician's Nephew" a week after his 5th birthday. He asked hard questions in his toddler years, such as, "What is existentialism", and "Why does the Monarch migrate" .

 

He currently reads and comprehends materials at a 6th grade level. He prefers fantasy over any other genera. He spells at a 7th grade level. Writes creatively and informationally at 5th grade level except that he refuses to remember to capitalize. He is an excellent artist (for his age), is learning Latin and enjoying it (though he would never reveal that to anyone outside our home). Has just found his one true (academic) passion... Logic. His penmanship is on a 3rd grade level. Works story problems at a 3rd grade level and does math computations at a 2nd grade level. He has the gross motor skills of a Kindergärtner. And he controls his emotions at a Preschool level.

 

He "has to": roll his socks, take the tag out of his clothes, wash his hands at the slightest sign of a mess. He is a perfectionist. He has a very hard time with criticism of any kind... but especially coming from his primary teacher (that would be me).

 

My 6yo was also tested. He scored below average, in the mentally impaired range. He also took a School Readiness test and scored average for a 7.5 yo. He began to mimic people and animals at 6mo, could make the sounds of 20 animals and many household sounds such as the telephone at 8mo and was walking at 9mo. He knew all his colors and shapes at 9mo and could sign 20 words and say 10 words. He could count to 20 at 1yo and could hum any commercial song. At 2 he became the life of the party. His since of humor was beyond his years.

 

He learned to read with a month of instruction (which was a 4 year program)at age 5. His favorite genera is Non-fiction. He is now reading books at a 3rd grade level, but can read and understand 6th grade words when placed in list form. He Spelling on a 2nd grade level and does math at a 1st grade level. He can create advanced poetry (with me as scribe) and narrates on a 2nd grade level. He draws like the average 6yo. He prints on a preschool level. He remembers just about anything he hears.

 

He cries at the drop of a hat and is afraid of loud noises, and bright lights. He chews his clothes when he wears them. In fact, he chews everything. He is usually in just underwear even in the dead of winter. He literally bounces off the walls. He has a lot of "ticks" and odd behaviors. He has been diagnosed with ADHD and SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder).

 

My 3yo learned to walk at 7mo. He started to talk at 7mo in complete sentences and currently uses the vocabulary of an average 6yos. except that he also has a lisp. He loves patterns and began using Lego's at 1yo. He could build a complete model of a Lego car at 1.5yo but could not or would not do a simple puzzle with 5 pieces.

 

He learned his shapes at 1yo and his colors shortly after with out instruction. He knows 15 uppercase and 5 lowercase letters, including their sounds. He colors mostly inside the lines. He can throw a ball better then either of his brothers. He understands and can do the basic concepts in soccer. He can count to 20 and can do some basic addition and subtraction with manipulative's.

 

He can also tell time by 5 minute increments. He repeats and remembers the words in his older brothers Latin, Spanish and Spelling. He also memorizes poetry better then his brothers without actual instruction. He is also very bossy, and very busy.

 

He asks regularly to "do school too". I believe that he could be doing much more advanced work if I actually had time to sit down with him and do it.

[Closeacademy]

I'm ready to reply now.

 

When my dd is not in the midst of a growth spurt of developmental transition--she is a whiz at math and rarely makes mistakes at calculations. She also loves science and eats it up for breakfast. I think if I gave her more opportunity she would be a techno-kid as well.

 

My youngest is a whiz at making friends.:)

[pixelroper]

well of course my child is brilliant because she is mine:D

 

seriously: delves in deep, eats it up, memorizes in seconds, very sensitive, has no trouble drawing conclusions in adv. sub. matter, would read or play the piano all day if I let her and is totally not interested in winning or competition.

I'm notgoing to list all the specifics, she is working ahead in all subjects.

 

right now I'm trying to figure out why she has dozens of "lovely" rocks in gift boxes hidden all over the place...? are they for me?

[mom23reds]

How do I know my child is gifted?

 

He's way ahead of his chronological age in intellectual, a bit behind on social, ahead in emotional. Those differences are what identifies him as gifted.

 

All three of my children were late talkers, but all were instead moving ahead physically early. DD sat at 4 months, crawled at 6 months, walked at 10 months. DS1 was the serious child. He rarely smiled but instead observed the world. He walked at 11 months. DS2 was himself. He has always marched to the beat of a different drummer -- often not acknowledging the other drummer!

 

DD is more of what I think of as a high achiever. Her intellectual, social, and emotional are all about equally developed ahead of her chronological age. DS1 has social issues still (at 11). DS2 I reserve judgement on. He has FINALLY decided to read Harry Potter (in 3rd grade) but has breezed through the first four books is less than a week and is on book 5 now. The others read Harry Potter in late 2nd grade but then had to wait for the other books to come out, unlike DS2 who can blow through all seven books in under 2 weeks!

[Oak Knoll Mom]

:rolleyes:

 

The youngest guy is two. I think that he will be just as gifted. He started humming the entire Imperial Death March from Star Wars when he was about 15 months old. He will tease us and has an unusual awareness of jokes and sense of humor. He'll make up a joke and then say "I tease!". He listens to what I read the older boys and asks questions like "Where Bilbo go? Bilbo go to work? No.... trip. Bilbo go trip!"

 

My three year old is very similar--he's been making up little jokes since he was two. For example--after hearing the song "Toot Sweets" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, he went around singing "toots stink". :001_rolleyes:

 

My first two are bright, but he's showing signs of giftedness.

[buddhabelly]

Mostly, I think my son is gifted because of the amazing things he builds out of Legos and K'nex. They always have a lot of moving parts and uh....I don't really know much about building, but also hydraulics and stuff. He was a very late walker, but would make pulleys and other machines even before he could walk. He was an early talker. I remember once changing his diaper while he talked about "tricks city." He was showing me how the "tricks city" comes in through the poles outside (which he could see from his changing table) and through those wires and then down to the light switch, and then up to the light. Ooooooh. Electricity. I seeeeeee. Now hold still while I get your diaper on!

 

He loves Latin and logic puzzles. The way he solves math problems is not always the "usual" way, but is often clever and almost always correct. His reading comprehension is around 9th or 10th grade. I am way behind him on his reading list because he reads faster than I do. And I am a very fast reader!

 

It has been interesting to see on this thread how many gifted children are highly sensitive. If your children are "picky" eaters, I would like to point out that this is related to sensitivity. It is a texture thing. Also, to the person who said that her child "has to" wash hands after every little mess: that is also part of the same issue. When a sensitive child's hands are the slightest bit dirty, it just drives them batty. My son will only wear seamless socks (Striderite -- online or in the store), cuts tags out, will only wear absolutely smooth clothes made of cotton, and hates "juicy" foods. Sigh. Apparently that includes all fruits and all vegetables except for carrots and steamed broccoli.

 

My son is also gifted in music, which makes my dh and I very jealous because we are not so fortunate. He is playing in Suzuki Book 6 (violin) and continues to enjoy the violin. Do any of you with Suzuki violin players (or piano, or cello, or viola) go to the Oregon Suzuki Institute? This will be our fifth year. The children enjoy making friends with others who love music, and there are no TVs or video games!

 

Julie

[asher]

I guess I never really thought of ds as being gifted until I came here, but it's been a great journey into realizing how he learns and who he is as a person. I've recently learned that ds is highly sensitive. He's also a right brained learner, which has required shifting in my teaching him, as I am very left brained. He is incredibly imaginative and creative. He remembers things in a very detailed way. He loves all things science. He has a crazy sense of humor, like his father.

 

My youngest has an avid, wonderful imagination. She seems to learn things very quickly.

[RebeccaC]

My oldest began speaking when he was 5 months old. His first word was rebel pronounced with as webel. It was the name of our cat. He began walking/ running on his own at 6 months. At a year he was making his own tunes on the piano. He never banged the piano. However at 18 he began to have night terrors and started sleeping only 3 hours out of 24.

 

He had a reaction to the P in DPT vaccine. The cell wall in whole cell pertussis was known to trigger seizure disorders and it did so in both our sons. It triggered something called Landau-Kleffner variant. What LKS does is steals the ability to speak and for the brain to hear language. Soon after the night terrors he began regressing by age 4 our oldest was mute but we also began a new medical treatment for LKSv then and he began to learn to talk all over again.

 

At age 6 I was reading a FIAR book, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening and about 3/4 through the book he refused to hear it. He kept saying I know what this is about it's about death and I won't hear it. When I tried to make him listen he threw a major temper fit and began crying and wailing about death. This freaked me so I started researching the poem and Frost's critic's accused him (shortly after publishing it) of penning a poem on suicide. So for us it has not been acceleration in academics but the depth of thought. Part of medical treatment was IQ testing and that did show a very high IQ but with LD issues due to the LKSv. However the depth of thought is what has set my oldest aside from his peers.

 

My youngest is a math science kids. At two he was taking apart with a screw driver, nail file, or butter knife small appliances, door off hinges, heat vents off the walls, ect........ It would have been nice if he would have put stuff back together again but once he saw how it work he left it as is. He used to drop stuff down vents race down the stairs to see where the stuff went and would try and take apart the heating vents at the place where he thought the vent met the duct work. He too had the LKSv but we caught and treated it early so he did not have as severe a case.

 

Maybe if we had not had the LKSv to deal with the boys would have been accelerated with academics but maybe not since both are visual thinkers and the oldest is visual spacial thinker. So for us it is the depth of thought that marks our kids gifted.