Curious- other than WPPSI scores, how does someone know their toddler is "gifted"?

[Anonymous]

And what does WPPSI even test? I mean I know "cognitive abilities" but what does it ACTUALLY test- like puzzles, does the tester just ask questions, what happens in that 30 minutes? I think my 3 year old is pretty smart, he has a good vocabulary, seems to have very good reasoning/logic skills, and is a whiz at jigsaw puzzles and stuff like that... but what is "gifted?" I hear people say "my child knew ___ at 15 months"... well, don't they all have the ability to memorize things, like the alphabet? That doesn't really MEAN anything though, right? No flames please, I'm just curious...

[Anonymous]

Well, in our case, we had an inkling because DS knew lots of things at an early age that definitely weren't just memorized, since no one had ever taught him, LOL. For example, he had taught himself to read at age two and a half. (At first we actually thought he had just memorized things, LOL, until it soon became clear that he was reading things he had never seen, and no one had ever taught him except for having read to him a lot). Similarly, he was adding and subtracting large numbers without being taught by age three, and multiplying and dividing by age four. (Again, without being taught--for example, he would just say things like "Mommy, we can each have three cookies" if there were a dozen cookies and four people, e.g.) There were other things, but that gives you an idea. When we finally had him tested (we waited until he was almost five and we had to test for private school), his WPPSI was at the 99.7th percentile. HTH.

[Anonymous]

Plus, the tester is not just asking questions for 30 minutes but evaluating how the child performs with a set of tasks and puzzles. Not jigsaw, but ones that require a bit more out of the box thinking. The test result in the end is meaningless. I like PP's take on it...it's not what the tester is asking that matters (or what that score is) but the early signs that a kid is doing things very early and figuring out math concepts by himself.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP that the WPPSI is pretty meaningless in this sense. My child's scores were the same as 12:18's or possibly even higher, but she never exhibited self-taught skills at this level. I love her dearly, and I think she's very bright, but I would not say my child is gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with PP that the WPPSI is pretty meaningless in this sense. My child's scores were the same as 12:18's or possibly even higher, but she never exhibited self-taught skills at this level. I love her dearly, and I think she's very bright, but I would not say my child is gifted.

I'm right there with you. My son also tested in the 99th %ile. He is a delightful and bright boy but I can't say I can see anything exceptional at the moment that suggests he is "gifted".

[Anonymous]

And, let us not forget, a child can be gifted in just one or two respects, but not others. Music prodigies and chess champions come to mind. You can be gifted yet not globally gifted.

I have a BIL who was identified v. young as a music prodigy, and as an adult still has this ability. However he really lacks what most of us would call logic and reasoning ability -- you know, that kind of mind that gets you a really high LSAT score.

[Anonymous]

My practice gives many tests measuring aptitude, creativity, memory, attention, etc. Our team is often discussing this question. One way we came up with recently is to ask a child a question like "What can you do with this ______ (hat, pan, bottle, etc)? We also use a creativity in drawing test.

Grounded in psychology we focus mostly on the internal processes of the individual mind, we gather observational data from how a child responds to tasks (either structured and norm-based like WPPSI-III or not), so the challenge tells us much about a young child's cognition, gifted or not. How much of their thinking to they verbalize? How comfortable are they with an open-ended problem? How quick are they to respond? Do they offer obvious or adventurous ideas? Toddler's can show characteristics of giftedness, just like they could demonstrate characteristics of dyslexia, but I would highly recommend waiting to label he or she until they had a chance to develop more.

In my practice we believe a child's intelligence is = to his ability to adapt to novel experiences and challenges. For a toddler to have "gifted" characteristics I believe his or her ability would exceed that of at least 99% of other children his age, not only on WPPSI-III but on other challenges such as the one mentioned above, and especially socially. He or she would present with needs that could not be meet in a typical pre-school and would require specialized education to reach their highest potential. As a PP wrote, there is a big difference between having a specific giftedness in an area like music and being "globally gifted," in fact there are many people that are gifted with LD out there that did not begin walking, talking, or any of the typical toddler milestones on time. Such kids may ace the math portion of the SAT at age 8, but can not write an intelligible paragraph.

If your DS or DD is scoring in the 99%ile across the board on all components of WPPSI I would look closely at how to foster their development at the same advanced (gifted) rate, so they would not loose momentum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My practice gives many tests measuring aptitude, creativity, memory, attention, etc. Our team is often discussing this question. One way we came up with recently is to ask a child a question like "What can you do with this ______ (hat, pan, bottle, etc)? We also use a creativity in drawing test.

Grounded in psychology we focus mostly on the internal processes of the individual mind, we gather observational data from how a child responds to tasks (either structured and norm-based like WPPSI-III or not), so the challenge tells us much about a young child's cognition, gifted or not. How much of their thinking to they verbalize? How comfortable are they with an open-ended problem? How quick are they to respond? Do they offer obvious or adventurous ideas? Toddler's can show characteristics of giftedness, just like they could demonstrate characteristics of dyslexia, but I would highly recommend waiting to label he or she until they had a chance to develop more.

In my practice we believe a child's intelligence is = to his ability to adapt to novel experiences and challenges. For a toddler to have "gifted" characteristics I believe his or her ability would exceed that of at least 99% of other children his age, not only on WPPSI-III but on other challenges such as the one mentioned above, and especially socially. He or she would present with needs that could not be meet in a typical pre-school and would require specialized education to reach their highest potential. As a PP wrote, there is a big difference between having a specific giftedness in an area like music and being "globally gifted," in fact there are many people that are gifted with LD out there that did not begin walking, talking, or any of the typical toddler milestones on time. Such kids may ace the math portion of the SAT at age 8, but can not write an intelligible paragraph.

If your DS or DD is scoring in the 99%ile across the board on all components of WPPSI I would look closely at how to foster their development at the same advanced (gifted) rate, so they would not loose momentum.

Do you mind stating the name of your practice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, in our case, we had an inkling because DS knew lots of things at an early age that definitely weren't just memorized, since no one had ever taught him, LOL. For example, he had taught himself to read at age two and a half. (At first we actually thought he had just memorized things, LOL, until it soon became clear that he was reading things he had never seen, and no one had ever taught him except for having read to him a lot). Similarly, he was adding and subtracting large numbers without being taught by age three, and multiplying and dividing by age four. (Again, without being taught--for example, he would just say things like "Mommy, we can each have three cookies" if there were a dozen cookies and four people, e.g.) There were other things, but that gives you an idea. When we finally had him tested (we waited until he was almost five and we had to test for private school), his WPPSI was at the 99.7th percentile. HTH.

I don't believe this. Sorry, but my child test superior across the board and could not do half of this stuff at age 3 and 4. She could add simple numbers. read a little. How could your son possible read something he has never seen, heard? Magic. Please share your secret.

[Anonymous]

Why are you so strongly convinced that another child cannot be gifted in this way, just because yours is not?

[Anonymous]

I'm not PP, and my DC isn't gifted, but I suspect such traits are indeed possible, though rare.

My husband followed that trajectory as mentioned in that post, and there are (8mm?) tapes of him doing this stuff in the 60s. Particularly the reading (*not* memorizing) at age 2.5 and, in his case, doing fractions and percentages when he was 3. He could also do crossword puzzles, and played bridge and chess when he was ungodly young. There are pictures (and 8mm films) of him playing bridge with relatives at the beach when he was 5-6.

I know. Me too. I wouldn't have believed it had there not been pictorial evidence.

I do think this is quite rare, although probably less rare in this city than in most others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I don't believe this. Sorry, but my child test superior across the board and could not do half of this stuff at age 3 and 4. She could add simple numbers. read a little. How could your son possible read something he has never seen, heard? Magic. Please share your secret.

Not the PP to whom you are speaking, but it is possible for children to learn to read without being taught (other than being read to). I did. I was somewhere around 4 when I taught myself to read. Never used phonetics. Eventually, at the age of 12, I was tested and my IQ at that point (tests are a little different these days and I don't know what particular test was administered) was 165.

My verbal development was also atypical. My parents report (and noted in this little notebook they kept) that I spoke a few words around 8 m/o, then stopped talking altogether for the most part, then at 18 m/o started talking in full and compound sentences. I also remember learning long division in preschool (a Montessori program) - which was as interesting and as difficult to me as the task of sewing buttons, which I also recall learning during that period.

I would caution parents to be so quick to dismiss the "gifted" label - just as I would caution parents not to overvalue it. Children with intelligence that tests out in the highly gifted range in particular generally benefit from programs that are structured specifically to accommodate the differences they bring to an education setting. There is a qualitative difference between being 1 out of every 100 people in a given population and being 1 out of every 50,000 people. It makes a huge difference in one's quality of life growing up to be around other children whose desire to learn is as insatiable as yours is, not to always be the "smartest" one, and not to be ridiculed by teachers (which happened to me before I was placed in a gifted program) and/or your peers.

There seems often to be confusion between what it means to be "gifted" and being a prodigy. Gifted and highly gifted are generally used to discuss intelligence levels certain points on the bell curve distribution. Prodigies are the children like Mozart and the modern-day ones who finish college before puberty.

Here are a couple of better websites:

http://www.educationaloptions.com/levels_giftedness.htm

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/IQtable.aspx

All of that aside, as an adult I am far from being a prodigy of any sort. I am intelligent, often see connections between things that others do not and seem to be more talented than most at taking complex concepts and explaining them in simple terms, etc. If you met me, you would not think, "Wow! She's sooooo gifted!" LOL But, as you got to know me, you would probably think I was pretty smart and maybe one of the smartest people you know (at least according to my friends). However, it's only one facet of who I am - just as it is only one facet of who any gifted or highly gifted child is. It's important, but no more important than my sense of humor or capacity for empathy, for instance.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My practice gives many tests measuring aptitude, creativity, memory, attention, etc. Our team is often discussing this question. One way we came up with recently is to ask a child a question like "What can you do with this ______ (hat, pan, bottle, etc)? We also use a creativity in drawing test.

Grounded in psychology we focus mostly on the internal processes of the individual mind, we gather observational data from how a child responds to tasks (either structured and norm-based like WPPSI-III or not), so the challenge tells us much about a young child's cognition, gifted or not. How much of their thinking to they verbalize? How comfortable are they with an open-ended problem? How quick are they to respond? Do they offer obvious or adventurous ideas? Toddler's can show characteristics of giftedness, just like they could demonstrate characteristics of dyslexia, but I would highly recommend waiting to label he or she until they had a chance to develop more.

In my practice we believe a child's intelligence is = to his ability to adapt to novel experiences and challenges. For a toddler to have "gifted" characteristics I believe his or her ability would exceed that of at least 99% of other children his age, not only on WPPSI-III but on other challenges such as the one mentioned above, and especially socially. He or she would present with needs that could not be meet in a typical pre-school and would require specialized education to reach their highest potential. As a PP wrote, there is a big difference between having a specific giftedness in an area like music and being "globally gifted," in fact there are many people that are gifted with LD out there that did not begin walking, talking, or any of the typical toddler milestones on time. Such kids may ace the math portion of the SAT at age 8, but can not write an intelligible paragraph.

If your DS or DD is scoring in the 99%ile across the board on all components of WPPSI I would look closely at how to foster their development at the same advanced (gifted) rate, so they would not loose momentum.

Do you mind stating the name of your practice?

J. Hursey Consulting

[Anonymous]

This thread makes me laugh, although it is VERY interesting! Everyone sounds normal and realistic about their kids, but don't you think EVERYONE thinks their kid is gifted in this city?

[Anonymous]

What is the problem with "losing momentum." Is it a race? Are we supposed to make our kids go as fast as we can?

I agree with the last poster. I don't know any parent in DC who doesn't think his or her child is gifted, and can rattle off all sorts of supporting evidence.

My IQ was 165. No one called me gifted back in the day. i went to school, did well in some subjects, not as well in others -- just like all the other kids in my DC public classroom, who were all gifted as well, I'm sure. What I remember is that I had a pretty great childhood hanging out with friends, reading, being a kid. I have no memory of any child being referred to as gifted. I think it has all become so silly.