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 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.

Oh, the other reason I’d get points off on math tests is because the teachers would make us show our work for every step. I did a lot of the steps in my head and was annoyed by having to show them.

Another example of how someone can get points off on especially math tests even if they know the material.

[Anonymous]

Our DD was just different than her siblings from the second she was born. Yes, she hit the milestones early but so did our 2 other bright Kids. What made her different was how she could apply everything well before we would expect her to. She could be told about one thing and then hours or days later connect it something else. We also realized that because she understood logic, reason, and complex ideas beyond her age we always treated her as if she were much older than her age. She is also very athletic but it’s how she does it that amazes me. She will watch someone shoot a basket or hit a ball, close her eyes and visualize it and then implement within little deviation. She actually told a teammate in second grade to just do it in your brain first. She also asks the most interesting questions and can be very philosophical. She often ponders. For example, last night she told us her theory about atoms. Her sister is studying math and science in college and the little one had developed a theory about why 2 atoms couldn’t be in the same space. The two of them, ageS 12 and 21, argued for 25 minutes about the theory. It was too funny to watch the older one tell her “for goodness sake, stay in your middle school lane. Unfortunately, she is also overly emotional and highly critical of herself. Her siblings who are smart but not gifted are much happier and carefree. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be sometimes.

[Anonymous]

My nephew would look in a mirror and laugh at 3 months old. That was the first sign. There were more but it seems like OP is asking for early signs. You can just tell. They are so different. They do things you wouldn’t believe unless you see it with your own eyes.

[Anonymous]

Oldest is standard PG (ie Davidson, SET) level gifted in middle school. She spoke in paragraphs at 18 months and was full on reading by 24 months. In kindergarten they didn’t really test her, but in first grade an outside university tested her comprehension to be 6th grade which I believe was the ceiling for their test. She started taking the SAT in 5th grade and other tests for high schoolers and routinely scored at the 99th percentile for high schoolers.

Because she was our oldest we didn’t realize most of what she was doing was unusual. Like she could actually count things up to 25 or so at 18 months. Or like before two she understood addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Fractions? Don’t remember teaching her but she just always knew. At 18 months she was like talking to a 5yo in all respects. She listened to long, complicated books before she turned two.

Also she didn’t learn to read by sounding out. She just figured it out and memorized every word. All before turning two.

She is in middle school now and her existence is mostly normal. Her report cards are all stellar, and she gets comments about being the strongest writer in a teacher’s career. But she isn’t considered a wonder kid. She takes math 3 years above what’s normal. She loves to read and on average reads 100 pages a day. We kept track for a year because I was curious a few years ago.

I also have videos of her saying the presidents in order and elements of the periodic table at age 2. Parlor tricks. It was fun because it was so easy. But I cringe now because I know it could appear like we were forcing her. And some parents do which is sad.

[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.

It sounds like your kid has ADHD which has nothing to do with his intelligence. You should get this assessed.

[Anonymous]

It does sound like we are splitting hairs and many of the kids here would be considered gifted versus profoundly gifted. PG is so rare that I think most of the people who make major contributions to society through advancements science or economics, for example, must be average gifted, or "average" as people here are calling them. I think it's important not to diminish them without getting too wrapped up in it. Or any other levels of intelligence for that matter.

I think I have a bright child. I actually have clarity here seeing that she is not PG. I, as a child, read by age three without instruction, checked out adult books starting as long back as I could remember (I'm talking a gritty, historical book in 3rd grade when it was the first time to do grade reports), and everyone who met me was amused by how smart I was. It's weird to write this because I don't feel that smart in day-to-day life. I faired okay. Ended up earning a PhD which was impressive I guess because I came from poverty with no support. But, I've kind of leveled out and missed a lot of good foundational academic skills. I think I may have some niche exceptional talents and might be above average smarts in general. I say this because there are some aspects of my job where I don't meet anyone as skilled as I am, and it comes very easy and natural to me while I see my colleagues working very hard to grasp the same skills, but I don't find this to be the case in all aspects. Most concepts and ideas aren't hard to grasp, but I don't work hard enough to advance my skills as I would like. I hope my DC can learn to continue to love learning. I was uninterested in MS and HS, then muddled through college and HS by excelling when I was interested but never putting in too much effort. I hope my DC can learn to put in the work, and I am working on this myself.

[Anonymous]

Also, I am curious to know if there are any patterns with temperament, sleep, and how parents balanced this constant need for stimulation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does sound like we are splitting hairs and many of the kids here would be considered gifted versus profoundly gifted. PG is so rare that I think most of the people who make major contributions to society through advancements science or economics, for example, must be average gifted, or "average" as people here are calling them. I think it's important not to diminish them without getting too wrapped up in it. Or any other levels of intelligence for that matter.

I think I have a bright child. I actually have clarity here seeing that she is not PG. I, as a child, read by age three without instruction, checked out adult books starting as long back as I could remember (I'm talking a gritty, historical book in 3rd grade when it was the first time to do grade reports), and everyone who met me was amused by how smart I was. It's weird to write this because I don't feel that smart in day-to-day life. I faired okay. Ended up earning a PhD which was impressive I guess because I came from poverty with no support. But, I've kind of leveled out and missed a lot of good foundational academic skills. I think I may have some niche exceptional talents and might be above average smarts in general. I say this because there are some aspects of my job where I don't meet anyone as skilled as I am, and it comes very easy and natural to me while I see my colleagues working very hard to grasp the same skills, but I don't find this to be the case in all aspects. Most concepts and ideas aren't hard to grasp, but I don't work hard enough to advance my skills as I would like. I hope my DC can learn to continue to love learning. I was uninterested in MS and HS, then muddled through college and HS by excelling when I was interested but never putting in too much effort. I hope my DC can learn to put in the work, and I am working on this myself.

OP asked about gifted, not specifically PG. The PG discussions are spinoffs. This thread has gotten so long thats it's become a little tangled, and a few people seem to be conflating the two. But for the most part, that's why there are discussions on both.

[Anonymous]

He cought a tennis ball with one hand before 2 years old. He hit a tennisball with the racquet before turning 4. Has incredible hand eye coodrination. Truly gifted child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does sound like we are splitting hairs and many of the kids here would be considered gifted versus profoundly gifted. PG is so rare that I think most of the people who make major contributions to society through advancements science or economics, for example, must be average gifted, or "average" as people here are calling them. I think it's important not to diminish them without getting too wrapped up in it. Or any other levels of intelligence for that matter.

I think I have a bright child. I actually have clarity here seeing that she is not PG. I, as a child, read by age three without instruction, checked out adult books starting as long back as I could remember (I'm talking a gritty, historical book in 3rd grade when it was the first time to do grade reports), and everyone who met me was amused by how smart I was. It's weird to write this because I don't feel that smart in day-to-day life. I faired okay. Ended up earning a PhD which was impressive I guess because I came from poverty with no support. But, I've kind of leveled out and missed a lot of good foundational academic skills. I think I may have some niche exceptional talents and might be above average smarts in general. I say this because there are some aspects of my job where I don't meet anyone as skilled as I am, and it comes very easy and natural to me while I see my colleagues working very hard to grasp the same skills, but I don't find this to be the case in all aspects. Most concepts and ideas aren't hard to grasp, but I don't work hard enough to advance my skills as I would like. I hope my DC can learn to continue to love learning. I was uninterested in MS and HS, then muddled through college and HS by excelling when I was interested but never putting in too much effort. I hope my DC can learn to put in the work, and I am working on this myself.

OP asked about gifted, not specifically PG. The PG discussions are spinoffs. This thread has gotten so long thats it's become a little tangled, and a few people seem to be conflating the two. But for the most part, that's why there are discussions on both.

I agree. Some people are describing what I believe are gifted traits, but people are saying, no, they’re basic, because I’ve met a one-in-a-lifetime prodigy.

[Anonymous]

My son was doing 100 piece puzzles (new to him) independently at 16 months. He used to amuse our family friends.

Now he's in 8th grade and taking Algebra 2 (which is considered 3 years up in math. At his competitive school he is one of 10 kids out of 600 at this level. His MAP score this fall put him in 12th grade.
He breezes through math intuitively. We've never supplemented outside of school so he's not a kid who spent an hour in Kumon or doing workbooks.

I have no idea whether he's gifted as we've never had him tested. He hates reading and writes terribly. We all have our strengths!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

PP here: I said my kid was smart not me. Magma cum laude.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of very smart kids around here. Somewhere there is a chart that says what smart people do in life. Like college professors IQ 120, specialist doctor IQ 140, partner in a major law firm IQ 145, and so on. Just guessing from memory.
A lot of celebrities have very high IQs. They do a realitively small amount of worth and get paid millions. Now that’s smart.
I think Penn Jillette is supposed to have off the charts IQ. Net worth $200M

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for specific skills and the age they mastered it/started doing it regularly. Some of the things in the "average" thread my kid has been doing for quite a while, but I don't have any other kids to compare him to so I just thought it was normal.

DD1 could name letters at 10 months old, before she could speak. She could name several colors by 18 months. She spoke in complex language by her second birthday. She did not make the grammar/articulation errors that her peers made. She could tell me her left and right before age two.

[Anonymous]

Morons.