Tuesday, March 22, 2005

How Do You Know They're Gifted?

One of the most difficult problems facing parents of gifted children is getting acknowledgement that their children really do think differently than other children do. And once you get past the parental bragging hurdle, the "gifted" bar is always moving. For example, despite #1 Son being identified as gifted and attending first grade in a gifted magnet school in Colorado, when we moved here, one of the principal's I interviewed actually told me, "Just because he's gifted in Denver doesn't mean he's gifted here." Huh?

The schools are better here than they were in Denver which, #1's kindergarten teacher explained to me, is an "inner-city" school district. (I think that means they're allowed to have low test scores.) But a 150 IQ is the same all over the country, is it not? For those of you who are wondering what, if any, difference there is between the gifted and the A student, there's a great comparison here.

An illustrative story of my own:

At dinner one evening, about three years ago, #1 Son, then 11, asks, "If you were stranded on a desert island, what one thing would you want to have with you? I'd want a monkey to keep me company."

Mom says, "Internet access."

"Ketchup," says six-year-old Chester, the picky eater.

Wolfie (age 7) thinks about the problem a moment, then smiles. "Control of the whole world!" he says, and proceeds to explain how that would help him get back to civilization.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gifted kids are unique. I have two, also. My oldest is gifted in interpersonal relationships and creativity; my youngest is a deep thinker and logical. Here's a link for an alternative to gifted/talented programs offered at school.

http://www.unschooling.com/library/essays/giftedchild.shtml

Anonymous said...

have to add a .shtml to the end of that link. It got cut off.