Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't just IQ. It's also personality. I was a calm, introverted, highly gifted child who just wanted to be left alone. I thought school was a complete waste of time, but I didn't complain. I just did my work as quickly as possible. When I finished my work, I was happy to read quietly.

My son is like my husband -- profoundly gifted, extroverted and high energy. When he's bored, he is going to ask a million questions to find the interesting part of the lesson or he's going to find a way to entertain himself. This is very disruptive to the class. We do our best to coach him on coping with boredom and with finding class situations in which he will be less bored.

I think it is odd that so many people on these boards think their kids are gifted or highly gifted. Seems like everyone is.

*shrug*

I have his IQ scores. I know what type of work he does. I know what the psychologist said. I know what the teacher said. I come from a family of gifted to profoundly gifted people; I know what a profoundly gifted kid looks like.

Why at 8 years or later?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say you have concerns about your child being advanced people say they are probably not that advanced, don't worry. When you try to illustrate that they are indeed pretty advanced people say you are delirious or straight up lying.

No, dearie. When you say your kid is advanced and give examples that don't fit that the kid is advanced or discount others' more experienced opinions on the matter, that is why people say the poster is delirious.

Yes. Without actual IQ results, done at 8 years or later, it difficult to say whether any child is advanced or "merely" passionate and persistent. The "merely" was ironic, of course, before anyone flames me.

I think there's a humble brag factor that puts people off, too. I say this as someone with experience. While the "false modesty" crowd will probably flame me (for those of you who haven't met them on DCUM, there are 2-3 "false modesty" freaks who think all types of modesty must be fake and should therefore be avoided), I think a humble brag about my kid would be even more annoying.

Anonymous wrote:When you say you have concerns about your child being advanced people say they are probably not that advanced, don't worry. When you try to illustrate that they are indeed pretty advanced people say you are delirious or straight up lying.

No, dearie. When you say your kid is advanced and give examples that don't fit that the kid is advanced or discount others' more experienced opinions on the matter, that is why people say the poster is delirious.

Anonymous wrote:Giftedness is typically the top 3-5% of students in a standard statistical distribution for a given population by measure of IQ. While yes, there are some obnoxious and annoying parents out there who think their kid is the best thing since sliced bread even if their kid isn't all that bright, actual giftedness is quantifiable.

Actual giftedness is quantifiable if you define it solely by performance on an IQ test. Which is certainly a measure, but it's not the only measure.

Giftedness is typically the top 3-5% of students in a standard statistical distribution for a given population by measure of IQ. While yes, there are some obnoxious and annoying parents out there who think their kid is the best thing since sliced bread even if their kid isn't all that bright, actual giftedness is quantifiable.

Boredom may manifest itself in many different ways, and might not always be obvious or expressed. A child may instead delve into their own imaginative realm, doodling and cartooning, lost in fantasy and daydreams, reading outside books in class - it may or may not be disruptive, it may or may not lead to a child's unhappiness - those are typically a function of the child's creativity and access to other resources.

As a gifted student, I was definitely "bored" in school, I found the classwork to be tedious and repetetive, not challenging at all, and those were my experiences as well as those of some of my classmates who were also gifted... I skipped school, snuck tons of sci fi and fantasy books into class and read those, basically didn't pay attention in class, doodled and daydreamed... I still ended up on the honor roll, et cetera - without ever really trying. I did end up in a school that had a G&T program, which did at least throw a few more interesting things into the mix - but otherwise was left entirely to my own devices, which were not always constructive or productive.

When you say you have concerns about your child being advanced people say they are probably not that advanced, don't worry. When you try to illustrate that they are indeed pretty advanced people say you are delirious or straight up lying.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worry about the posts that say that school should be wall-to-wall fun. We're basically creating a generation of kids who need to have their entertainment supplied by video games, hovering parents and now, some of you apparently think, the schools. This is not going to create functional adults -- even in the 1%.

A little boredom in school is fine. In fact, it can spur kids -- both normal kids and the geniuses -- to invent mental and other ways to cope. Obviously nobody supports constant worksheets, or classrooms where there is no tolerance for non-disruptive things like doodling. But those are the extremes. I tend to doubt when I hear a parent going on about how some school is being cruel to some brilliant kid. For example, I heard of one extreme case in my kid's magnet where a mom was outraged that her too-cool-for-school kid wasn't allowed to read novels in science class. Really, there are limits to how much teachers can allow while maintaining control of the class. Nobody is such a special snowflake they should be allowed to set an example for everyone else to ignore the teacher too, or allowed to cause disruption.

I vividly remember that a good chunk of second grade for me was filled with an investigation I was undertaking as to who stole my pencil. I had made an elaborate, executive-style pencil stand out of clay and some found ball chain on top of my desk. I suspected the janitor, made some traps, and filled a binder with my findings. I am not gifted, but obviously had time on my hands. I loved my second grade teacher and designed a very plush reading nook in the corner that year with her approval.

Lectures can be boring if you aren't interested in the topic, but school projects is where kids, anywhere, can shine. I loved making books for our book fair in first grade on, and beginning 4th grade we got major projects and I went overboard because I could explore and create. My 4th grader got to pick some of his research topics this year, yet still has little interest in working on them. I don't know why this is, and makes me a bit sad. We're trying to help him, but I don't know the answer.

It is possible that your son has a different learning style. I an relate. I deal with lectures just fine. But hated school projects.

Anonymous wrote:I worry about the posts that say that school should be wall-to-wall fun. We're basically creating a generation of kids who need to have their entertainment supplied by video games, hovering parents and now, some of you apparently think, the schools. This is not going to create functional adults -- even in the 1%.

A little boredom in school is fine. In fact, it can spur kids -- both normal kids and the geniuses -- to invent mental and other ways to cope. Obviously nobody supports constant worksheets, or classrooms where there is no tolerance for non-disruptive things like doodling. But those are the extremes. I tend to doubt when I hear a parent going on about how some school is being cruel to some brilliant kid. For example, I heard of one extreme case in my kid's magnet where a mom was outraged that her too-cool-for-school kid wasn't allowed to read novels in science class. Really, there are limits to how much teachers can allow while maintaining control of the class. Nobody is such a special snowflake they should be allowed to set an example for everyone else to ignore the teacher too, or allowed to cause disruption.

I vividly remember that a good chunk of second grade for me was filled with an investigation I was undertaking as to who stole my pencil. I had made an elaborate, executive-style pencil stand out of clay and some found ball chain on top of my desk. I suspected the janitor, made some traps, and filled a binder with my findings. I am not gifted, but obviously had time on my hands. I loved my second grade teacher and designed a very plush reading nook in the corner that year with her approval.

Lectures can be boring if you aren't interested in the topic, but school projects is where kids, anywhere, can shine. I loved making books for our book fair in first grade on, and beginning 4th grade we got major projects and I went overboard because I could explore and create. My 4th grader got to pick some of his research topics this year, yet still has little interest in working on them. I don't know why this is, and makes me a bit sad. We're trying to help him, but I don't know the answer.

I was bored in school a lot. I was smart, but definitely not gifted. School is often boring. The kids who succeed are the ones who can deal with the boredom and crank things out as necessary. Parents need to do a better job of preparing their kids for what skills are really needed to succeed. Giftedness is not one of them. Being able to focus when necessary and play the system are.

Anonymous wrote:

This area drives me crazy sometimes... We are willing to give MCPS a go for our average child - but we may re-evaluate at some point if needed. I just feel like the pressure is so intense to "be gifted".

There's an awful lot of truth to the idea that there's pressure to be gifted in MoCo. Some of it's certainly the parents seeking validation through their children. Some of it is strategic, though -- acceptance into a gifted program is one way to escape an under-performing neighborhood school. Also, some well-intentioned parents believe, rightly or wrongly, that without acceleration their kids will be handicapped in college admissions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't just IQ. It's also personality. I was a calm, introverted, highly gifted child who just wanted to be left alone. I thought school was a complete waste of time, but I didn't complain. I just did my work as quickly as possible. When I finished my work, I was happy to read quietly.

My son is like my husband -- profoundly gifted, extroverted and high energy. When he's bored, he is going to ask a million questions to find the interesting part of the lesson or he's going to find a way to entertain himself. This is very disruptive to the class. We do our best to coach him on coping with boredom and with finding class situations in which he will be less bored.

I think it is odd that so many people on these boards think their kids are gifted or highly gifted. Seems like everyone is.

Exactly. As another poster mentioned, statistically, it's a very small percentage of kids who are actually gifted. These parents must be obnoxious and annoying for teachers to deal with precisely because they're so convinced of their children's giftedness.

As for the claims of "she understands" and "she comprehends," I think, again, as another poster pointed out, the parents are projecting. But there's no convincing them. they'll just write a million more posts with excruciating detail about what their child does and says on a daily basis and how that makes her a genius, when in fact, half of the time, it's just normal developmental stuff and the kid will be fine in school (not overly bored or under-challenged).

+1. I once read a gifted blog where the mom described taking her kid to the Newseum where the daughter asked something like, "where are all the women journalists?" This inspired a long rave from Mom about how regular kids never say this sort of thing. Right....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem isn't just IQ. It's also personality. I was a calm, introverted, highly gifted child who just wanted to be left alone. I thought school was a complete waste of time, but I didn't complain. I just did my work as quickly as possible. When I finished my work, I was happy to read quietly.

My son is like my husband -- profoundly gifted, extroverted and high energy. When he's bored, he is going to ask a million questions to find the interesting part of the lesson or he's going to find a way to entertain himself. This is very disruptive to the class. We do our best to coach him on coping with boredom and with finding class situations in which he will be less bored.

I think it is odd that so many people on these boards think their kids are gifted or highly gifted. Seems like everyone is.

Exactly. As another poster mentioned, statistically, it's a very small percentage of kids who are actually gifted. These parents must be obnoxious and annoying for teachers to deal with precisely because they're so convinced of their children's giftedness.

As for the claims of "she understands" and "she comprehends," I think, again, as another poster pointed out, the parents are projecting. But there's no convincing them. they'll just write a million more posts with excruciating detail about what their child does and says on a daily basis and how that makes her a genius, when in fact, half of the time, it's just normal developmental stuff and the kid will be fine in school (not overly bored or under-challenged).

Anonymous wrote:
This area drives me crazy sometimes... We are willing to give MCPS a go for our average child - but we may re-evaluate at some point if needed. I just feel like the pressure is so intense to "be gifted".

There are plenty of childen in MCPS who are average. (Indeed, statistically, this must be true!) There are also plenty of children in MCPS who enter kindergarten reading (not just decoding).