frogpond1 Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 is strange. He doesn't really accept the simple facts normal kids do, for example money. He got real caught up in the fact that the coins have a lot of differences and he examined all the different writing on them and the size of the heads and the fonts etc. and determined the quarters could not all be quarter etc. He had these detailed explainations. So, I'm curious if he is just a rabbit trail kid or just thinks things deeper than my other kids. Math hasn't clicked quickly for him like my other two boys, but he seems the absent minded professor type. I cannot put my finger on it, but the normal little childhood things and toys never really got him. He was completely wrapped up in coffee makers at age 2 and working the microwave. He has to ask "Is this real?" about everything. He is a summer birthday 7 and the 4th born. Maybe I'm just not working as hard with him as my others, but I feel this very different current with him. Anyone have a kid who isn't really accelerated, but you may wonder if he is gifted? I'm just so curious what this little guy will turn out like. I kind of think he is the programmer type of kid, or perhaps an engineer. He has to figure out how it all works inside and out, and yet counting by 3's or 2's is like pulling teeth. He lifts his eyes up like he is looking inside his head when he does math and refuses to use manipulatives etc. even when he probably needs them. It is like he is watching a movie up in his head. My other kids were more concrete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2read Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 There is a wide range of possibilities. Most of what you said sounds like a visual-spatial learner. There is a lot of new research on this type of giftedness http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 Thanks so much. I'm going to explore that a bit with my little guy. I do want to help him learn where he is at. There are somethings in that article that hit the nail on the head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 I noticed the article about high frequency hearing loss and my little guy has had hearing issues that I've always suspected, though he hasn't tested to far off the mark at the dr.'s office and he has really narrow eustacian tubes so he gets swimmers ear and hates having water in his ears etc. Now I'm really curious about the ear thing contributing to this.... I've always been so frustrated that he cannot remember to do what I've told him to do- like stick the hairbrush on the bathroom counter. I'll find it in the Lego bin. Hmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Sure, I have one. He is a very, very deep thinker. He was asking deep questions about God, the universe & Physics at 4. We had to go very, very deep to find the answers to satisfy him. My usual eg is when he wanted to know how fire makes light--we had to get right down the the atomic level. I didn't start to realize he was gifted until I was reading a list of gifted traits (not that that in and of itself is conclusive) for my eldest. Actually, all 3 of mine are, but my middle one is very visual spatial and cannot spell well at all. She often needs to move or hear things twice to get the instructions clear and hates to translate math into language. As for ds, he has vision problems that we didn't know about until he was nearly 4, which I think made a difference in his early years. He's far sighted and has astygmatisms, so he couldn't really see the pictures in books well at all. He's still a deep thinker, but really didn't like reading until now that he's 8. So, unlike his sisters, he's not reading like a Philadelphia lawyer yet. But he was doing critical thinking and rudimentary literary analysis when he was learning to decode words at 6. This was different than my now 10 yo who was so distracted by the pictures that I had to cover them up so she could concentrate on reading. She'd study the pictures in a book first, then go back and read it with me. Ds had to have the pictures covered up first, read, and then see, or he'd have the whole story interpreted and would tell what he'd seen rather than read. He found the writing lacked substance in those early books;). My eldest is more typical in many ways--very precocious learner, and if she had any work ethic at all could be just about finished high school by now (she's 13.) But she got turned off school in ps and has never refound her passion for most subjects. Just for science and art. But not just any science, just chemistry and biology. The years we do Physics, etc, go very, very slowly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 about the pictures and it seems we'll never get to the story, but now I'm realizing there may be something to it. We're using Aesop's Fables by Milo Winter and I thought it was just a stalling thing. Oh, boy my poor 4th born. Today, as we were driving down the road, I started asking him what he was seeing in his head. He started telling me how he was drawing a picture of a guy in his head and I had him describe the guy and then he said, "Oops, I erased him, I have a big eraser in my head too.." and that was the end of the guy and then he started telling me how he can play video games in his head and he was going on and on about how the guy he had drawn earlier was playing the video games against this other guy he had drawn in his head and he described the action between these two guys like he was watching a movie. He struggles naming the days of the week, but he seems to understand the value of numbers so if I say "Two weeks," he'll say "Oh 7 plus 7 mom?" We battle every day trying to get him to remember to put on underwear, and he is a complete stickler about colors and things matching properly- clothes, bedspreads, school supplies etc. This little boy is kind of strange, but I think he's smart because he makes these amazing connections and thinks about things my other kids never thought about. He loves to watch and do what adults do, with computers or vcrs or anything electronic. When he was not quite two he was caught microwaving a bag of popcorn with the correct time etc. and we'd never taught him. He must have just watched us and that was quite scary. He could probably drive the car if he had long enough legs and he can describe all the fuses that are in the glove box and where they go and what Dad uses them for. He refuses to play games with kids unless he watches them first and now I see how that ties in- he learns by watching not by hearing the rules. I have him reading well, he can write his letters well though not always the correct direction etc.- he has his creative bent that I can quite conquer, he can compose a story and retell a story and it seems to be that in the area of Language Arts and history he is fine except for his writing reversals. It is the area of math that it I'm worried I've let him down in. He gets the concepts, but writing numbers is a horrible struggle. 5's, 4's, 3's, 9's all flip this way and that though I think he knows what number he's writing, and telling time is hard because he inevitable swaps the short and long hand. It seems all the simple rote learning that you do in math isn't coming very easily for him. Three quarters= 75 cents is a hard fact to pull out. Today I had him count quarters and then I asked. How much is 2 quarters? "Half a dollar Mom," was the response. "How many cents?" "I don't know." How do I know when it is just a maturity issue and I don't need to panic, or if I really need to spend more time rigorously getting it into his head. The other 2 boys learned math with almost no help at all- they are very naturally mathematical as am I. I teach a 2 day school weekly, so I have to have my little guy in the 2nd/3rd grade class and he really enjoys it, but the other 3 days of the week he is pretty exhausted and cranky right now. I think I really need to find the way to work at his learning style on the other 3 days of the week because the co-op is very language oriented classical style, though we do lots of hands on projects and I keep CM length lessons in my 2nd-3rd. I really think that in my heart of hearts I won't fail him if I let his math take a little slower pace than the others. I almost think it will all just click in the next year, but I can't say for sure. I'm nervous about the SAT's this year. I'm not sure he'll be able to handle that format very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted September 21, 2008 Share Posted September 21, 2008 He sounds gifted in a manner a little like my little one and a friends boy too. Honestly, wow, how fun to watch this one grow up. I often wish I could "see" my dc's world that she sees in her head. It is a fascinating place. It sounds like your son's world is a Leonardo's studio too. Things that most kids have no problem with, mine, like yours, struggles with but you know, like yours maybe, I think it isn't so much that they don't get it but that they are processing it. Does he need time alone frequently? If we have too much commotion going on mine needs to go just be in her head for awhile to process. She actually said once she was happy to be leaving our camping trip because "last time I left my imaginary world, my friends made a mess and it took me weeks to clean up". I think he sounds wonderful. He may bomb on the SATS, mine doesn't test well either but oh how special they are. You already know that. Make sure he has no physical issues like his ears for sure but just enjoy how special he is. Blessings and Smiles, Lizzie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted September 21, 2008 Author Share Posted September 21, 2008 I think I'm going to have my ds 13 design some Lego style directions for my little guy to use to get ready in the morning. My 13 year old is awesome at adobe photoshop. Today I drew a picture of ds 7 and all he had to do to get ready for church. He had trouble deciding what to do first, but he came back to the picture like he was studying his Lego directions. I think it is going to work. He stacked his shoes and Bible so orderly by the door after reading the picture. I think he is organized deep down inside, but he just gets off on all these trails. For example, when he finally picked the only correct shirt that he would wear, he took it into the bathroom and heaven knows what he was doing- twirling it around in front of the mirror? Anyway, a few minutes later I hear, "Mom, my shirt fell in the toilet." But he did finally get on shirt, pants and underwear- which he always forgets, but the picture pointed out. Ughhhh... It was easier on me, I just kept saying- check your diagram. Last night when reading about explorers he had to go off into a whole set of musings to figure out how Lewis and Clark made their leather and did I think armor is the opposite of leather or maybe steel would be the opposite of leather... and then are there really guns that shoot grappling hooks out of them and..... I just have to give this guy a lot more time. I think I'm going to start writing down all the crazy things because in the end these kind of kids are totally hysterical. We are in rapture in the car rides now as he continues his saga of all the little brains running around in his head. I just hope he can make it to adulthood without too much frustration. Right now he is too little to see some of the things I see that could really pull him down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 He sounds alot like my middle son. At first I honestly thought there was something wrong with him, but over the last year (he is 4 almost 5) I have spent alot of time really listening to him. He really does just see the world differently than myself and my other two kiddos do. I have learned to cherish his gift just the way I do my other two kids who are more traditional thinkers. These little guys will find thier place in the world someday! Wendy - Mommy to 3 munchkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 rabbit trails now that I realize they are important to him. Today he was trying to figure out what life would be like if he could feel the earth's roatation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 have learned so much. Now I know why my little guy insists on watching his brother's Algebra lesson and it isn't because he cannot stand to be away from me. It has really changed my understanding of ds 7 and he is excelling now in school with my realization that he isn't just young and shy, but he is quite capable of things I never knew of as long as I make sure he is taught them in a more visual way, or a musical way. The musical think is really helping in math- boy! Spelling though.... where is there a pictoral spelling program??? That is the killer thing here and I dread years and years of spelling issues. Any cartoon spelling books around? So, the book is a godsend and I'm so SO thankful to you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chai Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 have learned so much. Now I know why my little guy insists on watching his brother's Algebra lesson and it isn't because he cannot stand to be away from me. It has really changed my understanding of ds 7 and he is excelling now in school with my realization that he isn't just young and shy, but he is quite capable of things I never knew of as long as I make sure he is taught them in a more visual way, or a musical way. The musical think is really helping in math- boy! Spelling though.... where is there a pictoral spelling program??? That is the killer thing here and I dread years and years of spelling issues. Any cartoon spelling books around? So, the book is a godsend and I'm so SO thankful to you all. I don't have a visual learner, so I haven't spent any time looking into those types of programs. (I am a visual-spatial learner myself, though. :D ) Have you looked at the Calvert spelling program? It has a lot of visual aspects to it--especially the learning games. My dd is using it and I love that it does not require my involvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogpond1 Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 grade words are too hard for his second grade abilities. Maybe it will be fine just going into Calvert next year and working like we are with Logos Spelling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sharon333 Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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