S/O: If your kid is truly gifted, what could they do at a young age that made you suspect it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was gifted, genius iq etc. I read through the world book encyclopedia in first grade, was a very poorly adjusted child, got average grades because I'd walk out of class and have no idea what was taught, standardized testing saved me because it played to my strengths. I literally had no idea what was taught in school until they'd hand me the test to take. There was standardized testing at one point in school and i tested higher than anyone else in the grade of 250 students.

Had like one friend my entire childhood, read 10 books a day, posted on internet forums in my teens.

Got my BA and then my Mrs degree and now a much better adjusted stay at home mother of many.

I hope my kids are above average. But not geniuses. It's not helpful in life. I have many unsuccessful brilliant relatives and being emotionally healthy is way more important.

Have you ever been evaluated for ADHD?

Never mind. I just read your other post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was extraordinarily verbal and making unusual connections at a very young age. Example, age three: As sister bounced ping pong ball off various surfaces inside the minivan, son observed, “It’s like echolocation.” Private testing in second grade revealed he was reading and comprehending at the college sophomore level.

that’s just smart, not gifted.

[Anonymous]

My daughter learned to read at 3 years old, she could navigate anywhere any time we were in the car, knew all the roads and where they led, memorized all the presidents at age 3 years and their respective orders, had an advanced vocabulary and began speaking at around 9 months in full sentences, almost seemed to skip the baby phase, she never crawled, but walked at 8 months, she is extremely social and can get along with anyone easily, requires very little sleep, never really napped at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsmith123 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very difficult to suss out without a professional evaluating your specific kid.

I'll just give you my own experience:

Unlike PP's children, I was not reading Harry Potter-type books at 5/6 years old. I starting read by about 4.5, but it was simple books. That said, my parents got me tested for admission to a magnet kindergarten program; my IQ came out at 147.

I never had trouble in school, graduated from a top prep school with honors and from a top research university magna cum laude. Am I gifted? I suppose my IQ would suggest so, but I was certainly not the smartest kid in my high school (though it's an extremely selective high school). If my IQ is 147, I would suspect I went to school with kids who have IQs in the 160s at least.

My 3 year old seems bright and inquisitive, but I'm really more concerned about her becoming a well-adjusted, compassionate and kind adult, than whether she is gifted or not. DH and I do not plan on getting her evaluated, unless it's mandated for a program we think she'd thrive in.

That's really unlikely. Either you are underselling yourself (particularly common with women), or your IQ is very unbalanced, e.g. only moderately gifted in most areas but highly gifted in one area that does not come up often in daily life, like spacial cognition, for example.

PP's description sounds very similar to me, and in fact there were multiple people at my high school with IQs in the 160 range. I went to a public high school near a university and most of the professors' kids were pretty bright.

Same. Even so, I wouldn't say any of those kids I went to school with wre "truly gifted." Just very, very smart (and some with very pushy parents, but not all.) The only child I've ever met who I immediately said was "truly gifted" is actually the child of two of those HS classmates whose respective brains combined in an amazing way. This kid was drawing amazingly realistic and creative pictures when he was 5 years old - as in so good I actually wanted to ask for one to just keep for myself as art. Art-art, not like "what a cute drawing." It was truly astonishing.

I’m the PP who went to a very selective prep school. It was one of Andover/Exeter/Deerfield/Hotchkiss. Extremely difficult to get into.

I had a kid in my math class who contributed to the field of geometry with a meaningful original insight when he was in 10th grade. One of my other classmates curated her own anthropological exhibition when she was 16. She went on to earn a Rhodes Scholarship. Several got PhDs in fields like Physics and Biochemistry from Ivy League schools. The school had to offer open-ended seminars in math and all the sciences because there were routinely kids who would exhaust the entire curriculum (well past AP) before they graduated.

I’m a smart person who did well there and have succeeded in achieving my goals, but some of these kids were/are true geniuses.

very smart very privileged kids. maybe one actually “profoundly gifted.” it’s very rare.

[Anonymous]

PP here, also she could look at a picture, map, solar system and then draw an exact copy without looking at around 3 1/2 years. She is a vibrant but extremely exhausting child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsmith123 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is very difficult to suss out without a professional evaluating your specific kid.

I'll just give you my own experience:

Unlike PP's children, I was not reading Harry Potter-type books at 5/6 years old. I starting read by about 4.5, but it was simple books. That said, my parents got me tested for admission to a magnet kindergarten program; my IQ came out at 147.

I never had trouble in school, graduated from a top prep school with honors and from a top research university magna cum laude. Am I gifted? I suppose my IQ would suggest so, but I was certainly not the smartest kid in my high school (though it's an extremely selective high school). If my IQ is 147, I would suspect I went to school with kids who have IQs in the 160s at least.

My 3 year old seems bright and inquisitive, but I'm really more concerned about her becoming a well-adjusted, compassionate and kind adult, than whether she is gifted or not. DH and I do not plan on getting her evaluated, unless it's mandated for a program we think she'd thrive in.

That's really unlikely. Either you are underselling yourself (particularly common with women), or your IQ is very unbalanced, e.g. only moderately gifted in most areas but highly gifted in one area that does not come up often in daily life, like spacial cognition, for example.

PP's description sounds very similar to me, and in fact there were multiple people at my high school with IQs in the 160 range. I went to a public high school near a university and most of the professors' kids were pretty bright.

Same. Even so, I wouldn't say any of those kids I went to school with wre "truly gifted." Just very, very smart (and some with very pushy parents, but not all.) The only child I've ever met who I immediately said was "truly gifted" is actually the child of two of those HS classmates whose respective brains combined in an amazing way. This kid was drawing amazingly realistic and creative pictures when he was 5 years old - as in so good I actually wanted to ask for one to just keep for myself as art. Art-art, not like "what a cute drawing." It was truly astonishing.

I’m the PP who went to a very selective prep school. It was one of Andover/Exeter/Deerfield/Hotchkiss. Extremely difficult to get into.

I had a kid in my math class who contributed to the field of geometry with a meaningful original insight when he was in 10th grade. One of my other classmates curated her own anthropological exhibition when she was 16. She went on to earn a Rhodes Scholarship. Several got PhDs in fields like Physics and Biochemistry from Ivy League schools. The school had to offer open-ended seminars in math and all the sciences because there were routinely kids who would exhaust the entire curriculum (well past AP) before they graduated.

I’m a smart person who did well there and have succeeded in achieving my goals, but some of these kids were/are true geniuses.

very smart very privileged kids. maybe one actually “profoundly gifted.” it’s very rare.

They are all very intellectually privileged. Not all are socio-economically privileged. Many are on FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was gifted, genius iq etc. I read through the world book encyclopedia in first grade, was a very poorly adjusted child, got average grades because I'd walk out of class and have no idea what was taught, standardized testing saved me because it played to my strengths. I literally had no idea what was taught in school until they'd hand me the test to take. There was standardized testing at one point in school and i tested higher than anyone else in the grade of 250 students.

Had like one friend my entire childhood, read 10 books a day, posted on internet forums in my teens.

Got my BA and then my Mrs degree and now a much better adjusted stay at home mother of many.

I hope my kids are above average. But not geniuses. It's not helpful in life. I have many unsuccessful brilliant relatives and being emotionally healthy is way more important.

Have you ever been evaluated for ADHD?

Yes, I responded earlier. I definitely would qualify. Back then adhd barely existed, and certainly not for girls. I was never wild and rebellious, I spent the day reading books and ignoring the school environment around me, and eventually the teachers just left me alone.
I did well in college - got put in honors thanks to my SAT scores and had some great professors. But could never pull things together enough and didn't have family support that could guide me adequately. And now I'm a happy stay at home mother and probably the most content I have been my entire life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter learned to read at 3 years old, she could navigate anywhere any time we were in the car, knew all the roads and where they led, memorized all the presidents at age 3 years and their respective orders, had an advanced vocabulary and began speaking at around 9 months in full sentences, almost seemed to skip the baby phase, she never crawled, but walked at 8 months, she is extremely social and can get along with anyone easily, requires very little sleep, never really napped at all.

OP here. this is something he has done since 24 months, perhaps 22 months. He has a map in his head of everywhere, and we have lived in many places over the past year so our "maps" keep changing. His mental map is better than me, I still need navigation most the time. This is one of things that makes me wonder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter learned to read at 3 years old, she could navigate anywhere any time we were in the car, knew all the roads and where they led, memorized all the presidents at age 3 years and their respective orders, had an advanced vocabulary and began speaking at around 9 months in full sentences, almost seemed to skip the baby phase, she never crawled, but walked at 8 months, she is extremely social and can get along with anyone easily, requires very little sleep, never really napped at all.

OP here. this is something he has done since 24 months, perhaps 22 months. He has a map in his head of everywhere, and we have lived in many places over the past year so our "maps" keep changing. His mental map is better than me, I still need navigation most the time. This is one of things that makes me wonder.

PP, she is a geography nut. I won the geography bee in 8th grade many many moons ago, so maybe it comes from me! Hahaha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter learned to read at 3 years old, she could navigate anywhere any time we were in the car, knew all the roads and where they led, memorized all the presidents at age 3 years and their respective orders, had an advanced vocabulary and began speaking at around 9 months in full sentences, almost seemed to skip the baby phase, she never crawled, but walked at 8 months, she is extremely social and can get along with anyone easily, requires very little sleep, never really napped at all.

If you don't mind me asking, what is she like now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My triplet daughters mastered quantum computing at age 2.5 yrs, they mastered the piano, guitar, and violin and played a trio at Carnegie Hall at age 3 yrs, they mastered the SATs at age 5 yrs and entered Harvard at 5.5 yrs, completed a rigorous premed/international business program, and then mastered the MCAT/GMAT and went on to Oxford on full scholarships at age 8 yrs, they are there now exceeding my expectations and hope to graduate this spring with their MD/MBA. They pretty much had no childhood, which was great for me because real kids can be so fussy and annoying. So, yeah, my kids are outstanding and I take credit for all of it. I am an amazing mother.

Lol

Boring. This wasn’t even fun to read.

[Anonymous]

People on this board confuse gifted with prodigy.
My kids are gifted. Spoke complete sentences at age 1. Learned to read at age 2. Memorized a 350 page book of children’s stories age 2.5. Read the newspaper at 4. Top of class gifted school. Won national awards at 11. Wrote original article went national then international age 19. Graduated cum laude college.
Gifted.
I know 2 prodigies
1. toured internationally age 5-11 solo violin. Played solo Kennedy center
2. Invented a wireless telephone system for a whole country that is still in use today. Made $20M by 40
None of them have mental problems.

[Anonymous]

My parents specifically didn't allow me to skip grades and I thank them for it, because I was frankly more socially awkward and behind already.

My Dad's sister is a total genius but after starting college early she had trouble feeling isolated and ended up dropping out. She ended up going back later and doing great, but she did need that break so she wasn't the kid in her college classes anymore.

Remember academic advancement does not mean social advancement and those skills are crucial in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People on this board confuse gifted with prodigy.
My kids are gifted. Spoke complete sentences at age 1. Learned to read at age 2. Memorized a 350 page book of children’s stories age 2.5. Read the newspaper at 4. Top of class gifted school. Won national awards at 11. Wrote original article went national then international age 19. Graduated cum laude college.
Gifted.
I know 2 prodigies
1. toured internationally age 5-11 solo violin. Played solo Kennedy center
2. Invented a wireless telephone system for a whole country that is still in use today. Made $20M by 40
None of them have mental problems.

Sorry, but your kids did all that and only graduated cum laude? Where did they go and what did they major in? I definitely wasn’t reading the newspaper at 4, but I graduated magna cum laude with an econ/stats-based major.

[Anonymous]

My husband’s mother used to claim that my husband talked in full sentences as a baby. I figured she was just loony and nostalgic. Then my second child came out and spoke all kinds of words by 8 months, and full sentences by 16 months. I don’t know what truly gifted is, but that child (now a preteen) is very bright.