DCUM Forum

Anonymous

12/30/2013 21:06 Subject: Re:Mensa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I probably should have clarified her age. She's 7, almost 8. She qualifies based on her NNAT score.

I'm really looking for additional resources and maybe some other kids her age that are "weird" like her. While she has friends at school, she realizes that she's different and being called weird by the other kids is really starting to get to her. I'd like her to know there are other kids out there like her and I thought this might be a place to start. I'm not looking at it as a badge of honor or anything that I would even tell our friends about but just as a place to find some other kids her age that she can fit in with better academically.

Based on what is said on this board I'm not holding out any hope that APP, should she be accepted, will provide what she seems to need in a classroom setting. Again, thinking this could be a place where she can identify with other kids like her.

Is she on the spectrum? Girls are often high functioning, smart but a little socially odd, not as apparent as boys on the spectrum.

Yes skip AAP. We main streamed our son who tested 2 standard deviations above what was required for AAP placement. he likes odyssey of the mind and other sports. AAP is not for outliers. Life is not a large pull-out class. If your DD doesn't learn how to get along with normal people she will struggle in life. Are the bosses the "book" smart people or the "other" smart people? (or frequently not even smart at all!).

I tell my son people aren't going to like him because he's smart, they are going to like him for being a good person. Find people to hang with that she likes. She'll find someone who can follow her non-linear thinking and other quirks. Have her learn to be a good friend before you start looking for smart friends to hang around with.

Agree with this. People skills and learning be part of the village rather than an outlier outsider is even more important for those who are truly the outliers in life.

OP here - while I agree with some of this I also have gotten other warnings from parents that have pushed their kids similar to my DD into being more mainstream and they've pretty much shut down. She currently finds the world fascinating and I don't want to squash any enthusiasm she has in order to fit in. We work with her on basic social skills and I'm comfortable where she's at but I'd still like her to be around other kids like herself so she realizes it's not a bad thing to embrace her gift. She has tried several sports and while she's a normally active kid she's not made for team sports (she's really into rock climbing - I think because it's an individual and strategic physical activity). So just like parents encourage kids to be a part of sports teams where they excel I just want the same for my DD in her area of "talent".

Anonymous

12/30/2013 21:03 Subject: Mensa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As above, check out CTY. Also Davidson Young Scholars. Plenty of kids like yours homeschool, and are able to socialize plenty with like peers much more than school kids.

Thanks for pp and this poster for the CTY rec and Davidson Young Scholars. I'll look into them.

My husband did CTY when the best qualification was test scores. It was a true "nerd camp" and fabulous for the smartie-pants kids who number, like, 3 in each school, you know? But now, it's all about the money and admissions has been quite watered down, I heard. I don't know if anything close to the old CTY exists.

Anonymous

12/30/2013 20:59 Subject: Mensa

Anonymous wrote:As above, check out CTY. Also Davidson Young Scholars. Plenty of kids like yours homeschool, and are able to socialize plenty with like peers much more than school kids.

Thanks for pp and this poster for the CTY rec and Davidson Young Scholars. I'll look into them.

Anonymous

12/30/2013 15:45 Subject: Mensa

As above, check out CTY. Also Davidson Young Scholars. Plenty of kids like yours homeschool, and are able to socialize plenty with like peers much more than school kids.

Anonymous

12/30/2013 14:44 Subject: Re:Mensa

Anonymous wrote:Have you watched her when she is playing games with people? Does she understand game etiquette and good sportsmanship? Is she gracious when she wins and does she understand why it is unkind to make too big a deal about a win? I'm not saying she is at fault, but she is very young and may just need to understand social kindnesses and being thoughtful of the feelings of others.

She had the issues you describe more in Pre-K and K (why can't you read this? Don't you know the rules to the game?) but now in 2nd grade has come to understand how to be a gracious player. She's seems fine when they are just playing but when it's working on anything more academic in the classroom she gets the "your weird" comments. This was a big concern but I think we've overcome it. I appreciate the suggestion/insight though because we were worried about this early on in school.

Anonymous

12/30/2013 14:41 Subject: Re:Mensa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I probably should have clarified her age. She's 7, almost 8. She qualifies based on her NNAT score.

I'm really looking for additional resources and maybe some other kids her age that are "weird" like her. While she has friends at school, she realizes that she's different and being called weird by the other kids is really starting to get to her. I'd like her to know there are other kids out there like her and I thought this might be a place to start. I'm not looking at it as a badge of honor or anything that I would even tell our friends about but just as a place to find some other kids her age that she can fit in with better academically.

Based on what is said on this board I'm not holding out any hope that APP, should she be accepted, will provide what she seems to need in a classroom setting. Again, thinking this could be a place where she can identify with other kids like her.

Is she on the spectrum? Girls are often high functioning, smart but a little socially odd, not as apparent as boys on the spectrum.

Yes skip AAP. We main streamed our son who tested 2 standard deviations above what was required for AAP placement. he likes odyssey of the mind and other sports. AAP is not for outliers. Life is not a large pull-out class. If your DD doesn't learn how to get along with normal people she will struggle in life. Are the bosses the "book" smart people or the "other" smart people? (or frequently not even smart at all!).

I tell my son people aren't going to like him because he's smart, they are going to like him for being a good person. Find people to hang with that she likes. She'll find someone who can follow her non-linear thinking and other quirks. Have her learn to be a good friend before you start looking for smart friends to hang around with.

Agree with this. People skills and learning be part of the village rather than an outlier outsider is even more important for those who are truly the outliers in life.

Anonymous

12/30/2013 14:35 Subject: Re:Mensa

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I probably should have clarified her age. She's 7, almost 8. She qualifies based on her NNAT score.

I'm really looking for additional resources and maybe some other kids her age that are "weird" like her. While she has friends at school, she realizes that she's different and being called weird by the other kids is really starting to get to her. I'd like her to know there are other kids out there like her and I thought this might be a place to start. I'm not looking at it as a badge of honor or anything that I would even tell our friends about but just as a place to find some other kids her age that she can fit in with better academically.

Based on what is said on this board I'm not holding out any hope that APP, should she be accepted, will provide what she seems to need in a classroom setting. Again, thinking this could be a place where she can identify with other kids like her.

Is she on the spectrum? Girls are often high functioning, smart but a little socially odd, not as apparent as boys on the spectrum.

Yes skip AAP. We main streamed our son who tested 2 standard deviations above what was required for AAP placement. he likes odyssey of the mind and other sports. AAP is not for outliers. Life is not a large pull-out class. If your DD doesn't learn how to get along with normal people she will struggle in life. Are the bosses the "book" smart people or the "other" smart people? (or frequently not even smart at all!).

I tell my son people aren't going to like him because he's smart, they are going to like him for being a good person. Find people to hang with that she likes. She'll find someone who can follow her non-linear thinking and other quirks. Have her learn to be a good friend before you start looking for smart friends to hang around with.

Anonymous

12/30/2013 14:30 Subject: Re:Mensa

Anonymous wrote:

Is she on the spectrum? Girls are often high functioning, smart but a little socially odd, not as apparent as boys on the spectrum.

I'm not exactly sure what on the spectrum means, only that I've heard it said on this board in reference to autism. Our ped is a developmental specialist so I would think he would have picked up anything like that. She just seems to learn things very quickly and on her own. For example, she taught herself to read and at age 3 was reading chapter books (Magic treehouse, judy blume type books). She is very into science and math as well. She figured out how to reduce fractions in K (using a game on my phone) and understood the concept of multiplication at the end of K (could do single digit multiplication in her head - not memorized). She also seems to make connections between different subjects easily.

School hasn't always been an easy place for her. She expresses that she knows she doesn't fit in and it hurts her feelings when even her best friend says she's weird and won't play certain games with her.

Over the holidays my mom even came over to me and said it was hard to play this pattern matching game with her because she was doing them too fast and beating her every time. My mom wasn't even getting halfway through her puzzle when DD was done.

I'm just looking for options to let her interact with kids that are similar to her so she knows it's okay to embrace her abilities. She doesn't always get that at school. Any summer program recommendations would be great also.

I think girls are often diagnosed when they are older, later than boys, because their high functioning capabilities often mask there is something wrong.