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:

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.

I made the comment about it being unlikely to find so many 160+. I assumed PP went to the kind of highly selective school you would find across many of the major cities in the US. And, I assumed for the same reason that you did, based on statistics. While IQ isn't going to be evenly distributed around regions (there will certainly more in areas that draw in parents who are themselves very gifted), having multiple within the same school just sounds unlikely.

But after reading the responses, I think it's possible that the PP who went to one of those prep schools actually did find his or herself in a different kind of student body---they may be drawing from such a unique and possibly wide base of students that having multiple 160+ kids was possible. Getting a PhD from an Ivy League doesn't mean profoundly gifted or even necessarily highly gifted, but the geometry kid and the girl who curated her own exhibit sound like they definitely could be profoundly gifted. Most profoundly gifted kids don't have such accomplishments, so if there were at least two like that, there very well may have been some more "normal" profoundly gifted kids there too.

Prep schools are much more likely to have privileged kids, not “profoundly gifted” kids. They are more likely to be found in placed where a Philosophy professor marries a Physics professor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, she also draws very detailed maps of both real and imaginary places just ad lib. She has memorized many songs and can sing them at a perfect amazing pitch, it actually sounds like the original song.

OP again. DS is 2.75 yrs old and he can identify basically the entire discography of a particular band I listen to within the first 10 seconds, sometimes within just a couple of notes, in addition to the songs on heavy rotation on my favorite radio stations. He once got one song wrong (it was very similar to what was playing) and I doo-doo-doo'd the opening notes and he said, "how did the other one go again?" and wanted to compare to see where he went wrong. It's moments like that where I'm like, am I supposed to be doing something more with you?

Same here, she can recognize songs immediately, she has memorized songs word for word and when she sings she sounds like a grown woman. I may find a music class for her as I am not musically inclined in any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Prep schools are much more likely to have privileged kids, not “profoundly gifted” kids. They are more likely to be found in placed where a Philosophy professor marries a Physics professor.

They are not found there either. My kids go to a university-affiliated school with many faculty children. There are many dual-faculty families. Most kids are bright, but UMC bright, not profoundly gifted. PG kids are like lightning strikes, you can't really predict them.

[Anonymous]

I have a highly gifted friend and I am so envious of her abilities. She is amazingly fast at picking up things, like she can take a 30 minute paining class and immediately translate what she learned on the canvas. Or she can read a really challenging book on a subject she knows nothing about and can argue the point even better than the author. So cool!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another formerly gifted kid (plus ADHD) here. As a child I learned things quickly and easily. You rarely had to tell me anything a second time, I taught myself to read at 3 or 4, and I never scored below the 98-99th percentile on standardized tests.

I agree that I would prefer my kids to be above average, but not gifted. I coasted through school and never learned how to work hard or overcome a challenge. Fine as a student, but detrimental in real life and in the working world. An above average kid that learns to work hard and be kind is going to be able to do anything they want. It doesn't take a 140+ IQ to be successful, it takes learned skills and enough intelligence not to struggle through the basics.

I'm the PP who went to a prep school for high school. I agree with you. I had zero challenge in elementary or middle school, and am very glad I went to a high school where I learned how to work hard. College was easy after that, but at least I had the experience of having to overcome an academic challenge.

PP here. My oldest is still too young to tell whether she's above average or "coast through school" smart, but school is something I think about a lot. If she ends up gifted, I do not want her having the same academic experience I did even though I was on paper extremely successful. I don't think pull out G&T programs or select advanced classes are enough to teach those skills, I think gifted kids (or at least ones like me) need to be somewhere like a magnet or accelerated private school. In your experience, do you think you would have been better served in a more challenging environment as an elementary or middle school student, or was high school sufficient?

Yes, this. Wow speaks so much to my own experience growing up. Tested as gifted, placed in pull out gifted & talented program starting in 1st grade in our public school district. As an adult, I often think about how I never learned to work hard until I was in college. I would much prefer more rigor for my maybe gifted kids in elementary school as a result. I do not think high school is sufficient if you also value work ethic and normalizing effort to get something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a highly gifted friend and I am so envious of her abilities. She is amazingly fast at picking up things, like she can take a 30 minute paining class and immediately translate what she learned on the canvas. Or she can read a really challenging book on a subject she knows nothing about and can argue the point even better than the author. So cool!

That is really impressive! I'm a little envious now too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know my IQ, but I did skip 2 grades in elementary and finished high school in just a year. Took the ACT at age 9. Started college at 14, grad school at 18.

My parents tell me they knew I was smart but they didn’t realize how exceptionally so until I was older (maybe ages 7-8). but I don’t think I did any of the things mentioned Up thread. I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books at age 6ish I think. I was in lots of gifted programs but they didn’t start til 2nd grade.

DH didn’t do anything early and is similarly bright.

I haven’t yet noticed anything exceptional about my own kids. They do seem smartish (but I’m their mom haha) but 4 yo isn’t reading or doing math or anything like that. He seems pretty good at problem solving and has a very rich inner life (lots of pretending). I do wonder if he will be super smart but keep reminding myself of all the ultra bright miserable people that I know.

Wow. I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books at 6 too but I did none of these things! I am smart enough but I have always worked very hard too -- except with language (reading, writing, foreign language) at which I've always exceled with little effort. I didn't even test into the gifted program in my school, but ultimately graduated first in my class through hard work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I made the comment about it being unlikely to find so many 160+. I assumed PP went to the kind of highly selective school you would find across many of the major cities in the US. And, I assumed for the same reason that you did, based on statistics. While IQ isn't going to be evenly distributed around regions (there will certainly more in areas that draw in parents who are themselves very gifted), having multiple within the same school just sounds unlikely.

But after reading the responses, I think it's possible that the PP who went to one of those prep schools actually did find his or herself in a different kind of student body---they may be drawing from such a unique and possibly wide base of students that having multiple 160+ kids was possible. Getting a PhD from an Ivy League doesn't mean profoundly gifted or even necessarily highly gifted, but the geometry kid and the girl who curated her own exhibit sound like they definitely could be profoundly gifted. Most profoundly gifted kids don't have such accomplishments, so if there were at least two like that, there very well may have been some more "normal" profoundly gifted kids there too.

Prep schools are much more likely to have privileged kids, not “profoundly gifted” kids. They are more likely to be found in placed where a Philosophy professor marries a Physics professor.

So I’ll just tell you: I went to Andover. I do think the kids there are different than the kids at excellent public high schools or even selective day schools, since Andover draws from all over the world. The only other place I can think of that would be equivalent to Andover, Exeter, and a couple of other NE boarding schools would be a place like Hunter College, which explicitly looks for profoundly gifted kids.

Yes, many of the kids at Andover are socioeconomically privileged, but not all. 50% of the kids are on FA, with the average FA kid getting 80% of the tuition covered.

Obviously I don’t know these kids’ IQs, but just looking at the course offerings—which go well beyond AP in math and science—and knowing what some of the kids did, I do have my suspicions. I am also comparing their intelligence to mine, knowing my IQ. I know they are, in many ways, smarter than me, so I would assume their IQs would be higher than mine. Therefore, their IQs are likely at least in the 150s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is smart and quick and in the G & T program all that. My niece is profoundly gifted. We used to babysit her once a week and DH was in charge while I had a meeting so he showed her his telescope (age 5 I think) she asked for a book on space. He pulls out a book he has but it’s in Spanish so he’s reading it to her in English and she’s looking at the pictures and asks him if the long words in Spanish are like the long words in English because science words all come from the same place.

At age 6 she was in my DDs room looking for toys and instead wrote in and solved problems on 6 pages of her pre algebra textbook (I made my sister pay the fee for writing in the book)

That sounds like gifted/genius to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I made the comment about it being unlikely to find so many 160+. I assumed PP went to the kind of highly selective school you would find across many of the major cities in the US. And, I assumed for the same reason that you did, based on statistics. While IQ isn't going to be evenly distributed around regions (there will certainly more in areas that draw in parents who are themselves very gifted), having multiple within the same school just sounds unlikely.

But after reading the responses, I think it's possible that the PP who went to one of those prep schools actually did find his or herself in a different kind of student body---they may be drawing from such a unique and possibly wide base of students that having multiple 160+ kids was possible. Getting a PhD from an Ivy League doesn't mean profoundly gifted or even necessarily highly gifted, but the geometry kid and the girl who curated her own exhibit sound like they definitely could be profoundly gifted. Most profoundly gifted kids don't have such accomplishments, so if there were at least two like that, there very well may have been some more "normal" profoundly gifted kids there too.

Prep schools are much more likely to have privileged kids, not “profoundly gifted” kids. They are more likely to be found in placed where a Philosophy professor marries a Physics professor.

So I’ll just tell you: I went to Andover. I do think the kids there are different than the kids at excellent public high schools or even selective day schools, since Andover draws from all over the world. The only other place I can think of that would be equivalent to Andover, Exeter, and a couple of other NE boarding schools would be a place like Hunter College, which explicitly looks for profoundly gifted kids.

Yes, many of the kids at Andover are socioeconomically privileged, but not all. 50% of the kids are on FA, with the average FA kid getting 80% of the tuition covered.

Obviously I don’t know these kids’ IQs, but just looking at the course offerings—which go well beyond AP in math and science—and knowing what some of the kids did, I do have my suspicions. I am also comparing their intelligence to mine, knowing my IQ. I know they are, in many ways, smarter than me, so I would assume their IQs would be higher than mine. Therefore, their IQs are likely at least in the 150s.

I feel compelled to point out that 20% of Andover's tuition is about $11K. I would consider someone who can afford that kind of airfare, plus travel to and from boarding school, to be socioeconomically privileged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is smart and quick and in the G & T program all that. My niece is profoundly gifted. We used to babysit her once a week and DH was in charge while I had a meeting so he showed her his telescope (age 5 I think) she asked for a book on space. He pulls out a book he has but it’s in Spanish so he’s reading it to her in English and she’s looking at the pictures and asks him if the long words in Spanish are like the long words in English because science words all come from the same place.

At age 6 she was in my DDs room looking for toys and instead wrote in and solved problems on 6 pages of her pre algebra textbook (I made my sister pay the fee for writing in the book)

That sounds like gifted/genius to me

Ok, but you’re really talking about small differences within the top 1% or so of people here.

Look at this compilation of IQ scales and classifications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_classification

In general, anything over about 130 is considered “extremely high” and most scales don’t differentiate above that. That’s because it’s rare to have an IQ above 130 and certainly above 140.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I made the comment about it being unlikely to find so many 160+. I assumed PP went to the kind of highly selective school you would find across many of the major cities in the US. And, I assumed for the same reason that you did, based on statistics. While IQ isn't going to be evenly distributed around regions (there will certainly more in areas that draw in parents who are themselves very gifted), having multiple within the same school just sounds unlikely.

But after reading the responses, I think it's possible that the PP who went to one of those prep schools actually did find his or herself in a different kind of student body---they may be drawing from such a unique and possibly wide base of students that having multiple 160+ kids was possible. Getting a PhD from an Ivy League doesn't mean profoundly gifted or even necessarily highly gifted, but the geometry kid and the girl who curated her own exhibit sound like they definitely could be profoundly gifted. Most profoundly gifted kids don't have such accomplishments, so if there were at least two like that, there very well may have been some more "normal" profoundly gifted kids there too.

Prep schools are much more likely to have privileged kids, not “profoundly gifted” kids. They are more likely to be found in placed where a Philosophy professor marries a Physics professor.

So I’ll just tell you: I went to Andover. I do think the kids there are different than the kids at excellent public high schools or even selective day schools, since Andover draws from all over the world. The only other place I can think of that would be equivalent to Andover, Exeter, and a couple of other NE boarding schools would be a place like Hunter College, which explicitly looks for profoundly gifted kids.

Yes, many of the kids at Andover are socioeconomically privileged, but not all. 50% of the kids are on FA, with the average FA kid getting 80% of the tuition covered.

Obviously I don’t know these kids’ IQs, but just looking at the course offerings—which go well beyond AP in math and science—and knowing what some of the kids did, I do have my suspicions. I am also comparing their intelligence to mine, knowing my IQ. I know they are, in many ways, smarter than me, so I would assume their IQs would be higher than mine. Therefore, their IQs are likely at least in the 150s.

I feel compelled to point out that 20% of Andover's tuition is about $11K. I would consider someone who can afford that kind of airfare, plus travel to and from boarding school, to be socioeconomically privileged.

Yes, compared to most people that’s absolutely true. I just wanted to ensure that people didn’t think these are all full-pay kids. Andover fulfills all demonstrated financial need from families; admissions is 100% need blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know my IQ, but I did skip 2 grades in elementary and finished high school in just a year. Took the ACT at age 9. Started college at 14, grad school at 18.

My parents tell me they knew I was smart but they didn’t realize how exceptionally so until I was older (maybe ages 7-8). but I don’t think I did any of the things mentioned Up thread. I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books at age 6ish I think. I was in lots of gifted programs but they didn’t start til 2nd grade.

DH didn’t do anything early and is similarly bright.

I haven’t yet noticed anything exceptional about my own kids. They do seem smartish (but I’m their mom haha) but 4 yo isn’t reading or doing math or anything like that. He seems pretty good at problem solving and has a very rich inner life (lots of pretending). I do wonder if he will be super smart but keep reminding myself of all the ultra bright miserable people that I know.

Wow. I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books at 6 too but I did none of these things! I am smart enough but I have always worked very hard too -- except with language (reading, writing, foreign language) at which I've always exceled with little effort. I didn't even test into the gifted program in my school, but ultimately graduated first in my class through hard work.

I’m the PP from above. Yeah I’m not totally sure that I was all that exceptional when I was a little kid. Smart but not off the charts smart.

I graduated with an engineering degree from a top school at age 18. I don’t think I did anything early when I was small though.

[Anonymous]

I thought DS was gifted. He taught himself how to play chess at age 4. He could add and subtract double digits in his head at also at 4. He taught himself how to multiply and divide in kindergarten. He could easily find patterns in number sequences and sports plays. He’s now 10 and definitely not gifted. He is in a gifted magnet program but he doesn’t focus. He misses so much instruction because he seems zoned out. He makes careless mistakes in math, especially with word problems. He did really well on the CoGat but abysmal on the MAP tests. So kids may seem bright early but the rest of the kids catch up and suddenly they are no longer outliers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought DS was gifted. He taught himself how to play chess at age 4. He could add and subtract double digits in his head at also at 4. He taught himself how to multiply and divide in kindergarten. He could easily find patterns in number sequences and sports plays. He’s now 10 and definitely not gifted. He is in a gifted magnet program but he doesn’t focus. He misses so much instruction because he seems zoned out. He makes careless mistakes in math, especially with word problems. He did really well on the CoGat but abysmal on the MAP tests. So kids may seem bright early but the rest of the kids catch up and suddenly they are no longer outliers.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not gifted. He might actually be bored and therefore doesn’t feel like he needs to try. Have you talked to his teacher about whether it’s an ability thing or an effort thing?

BTW, I made a lot of careless mistakes in math too because I would rush. I knew the material really well, so I’d go fast and make stupid mistakes. It was my biggest problem in math throughout school.