Five levels of gifted

[jaq]

Of doing some more research today, and I have stumbled across the most wonderful article ... the clearest explanation yet of the various characteristics you can examine to answer the question: is my child gifted".

CLICK (http://talentigniter.com/ruf-estimates) for article

In assessing its validity, its pretty spot on for us, Annika falling into Level 2. Her reading is out of whack (Level 5 characteristics), but everything else in Level 2 seems pretty spot on. (And her formal assessment showed her language skills were very much ahead of everything else, so that probably computes too.)

[WorkingClassMum]

DD is easily at this level, and partially the next level.

I have decided to accept though that she is probably just smart or quick, and probably not really quite gifted.

I am glad :o (despite earlier critiscism to the contrary) that she is in a 1/2 composite as she is now doing a lot of Grade Two work even though she's only Grade one and started school smack on 5yo

At aged 6 she is reading chapter books, has been reading for pleasure since she was 4 and is very good with typing at the computer - she realised (be herslef) last night why it's called a Qwerty Keyboard.




Level One
These children show interest in many things before they are even two years old - like colors, saying the numbers in order, and playing simple puzzles.


Most of them are good talkers by age three, and by four, many print letters and numbers, recognize simple signs, their name, and know most of alphabet.
By the time they are six years old, many read beginner books and type at the computer, and most read chapter books by age seven.
It is not unusual to find six to eight Level One children in an average classroom, children who are nearly always a few steps ahead of what the teacher is teaching the whole class.

[missie_mack]

I see a lot of the stage 3 and 4 stuff in my son. What was always astounding about my son was how alert he was as a newborn. I remember my mother commenting about this when he was only an hour old. Despite coming from a large family with many of us being fairly intelligent people she says she has never seen a newborn baby like that, especially considering the traumatic birth he had.

And WCM- I get what your saying. Nobody really wants their child to be different to other kids, not entirely. They want them to be bright enough to excel but not so bright they are shunned or are different, or at least that is all I ever wished for my own :o

[TurnedBatty]

I would say hes a mash between level two and three. BS was huge on the numbers, Just before he was three he could count and never stop, doing addition, subtraction, and times tables followed by about four. He is atleast at grade five with maths and reading, and he is in year two now. He did year three work in class last year, and his teacher this year isnt giving him anything extra because "We dont want him too far ahead." :rolleyes:

Very interesting article!





And WCM- I get what your saying. Nobody really wants their child to be different to other kids, not entirely. They want them to be bright enough to excel but not so bright they are shunned or are different, or at least that is all I ever wished for my own :o

Agreed :( Another parent at BS'S school last year was whining about how she hated their teacher because her daughter would never be anything but average while in that class. I liked the teacher for the exact same reason.

[mimsie]

trying to remember back and I think my DS fits into level 3 most comfortably. It matches his IQ score that he got last term too, actually, for anyone wondering about those. He's 11 now and did the test a few weeks ago but those descriptors of ages up to about 6 fit.

He does have major trouble finding friends, too :( that is so so true.

[KatiesMum]

Great article.

My DD seems pretty much at level 2 - except for reading where she is reading easy readers and stuff now (4 + 3months).

I have actually come to the conclusion she is just generally fairly bright - and excels at reading.

She doesnt have some of the behavioural and other associated things with gifted children. She didnt do some of the things very early, walked late, toilet trained late etc ....


She is lucky that she has started kindy (at school) as her birthday just snuck in (is one of the youngest in the class).

[mimsie]

My DS was a late toilet trainer too, and sort of a late speaker - I totally identified with the part that said he could get what he wanted from us without language! he used to say the first part of a word and no more - it's why we put him into daycare initially - for that day he'd have to work out a new way to get what he wanted, because we all understood him and they wouldn't. He was 3 1/2 before he toilet trained too - but he's a perfectionist and needed to know exactly how and what before he'd even try.

[catch 22]

Can someone quote the article on here as i cant read it on my phone and it sounds interesting.

[anewme]

It worked for my DD. She was tested at 12 and had an IQ of 144. She was at level 5 for most things. I still wonder where she got her intelligence as Dh and i are dumb bums. :o

[mim1]

Thanks for the link to the article.

My ds is probably level 4. He was showing interest in books at 12 weeks - we have a great photo of him lying on his tummy head up looking at a book. He's now reading easy readers at age 3.5. He's also showing intense maths interest & his understanding of science and emotion (including life & death issues) is just scary.

I'm very glad I've chosen a kinder for next year that will be able to deal with his issues, eventhough it's at a private school so it's costing a fortune. Keeping him interested and socially happy is going to be a challenge, but I know that already.

It makes me quite sad as myself & dh were both gifted (dh was probably level 4 - 5 & I was probably more like 2) and we had few friends and didn't socialise well cause we were 'different'. Not that it's a real issue as adults. :)

[peanutbutter&jelly]

It worked for my DD. She was tested at 12 and had an IQ of 144. She was at level 5 for most things. I still wonder where she got her intelligence as Dh and i are dumb bums. :o

Level 5 scares the hell out of me :o :laughing:
I was a level 1-2, my brother a def 2, my other brother sits differently being gifted + learning disabled.
Wonder what DS would be without a language delay... :detective:
Very scary!!! Or more, intimidating :)

[mimsie]

LOL you should see when you get two high level kids together! My DS has a friend as smart as he is, and even though DH and I were both gifted kids too - I'd put me at about 2 and DH at about 4, we find the pair of them together so intimidating lol.

At least during the public speaking competition there was one kid in his class interested in his topic of choice - Antimatter!! lolol

[BabelFish]

Wow what a great article and thank you! DD is 25 months and at this stage I would put her at a level four. Perhaps a level five with her speech. She speaks in eight - ten word sentences and has a vocabulary of around 750 words as far as I know.

I'm going to bookmark this - thanks for posting Jaq!

[faroutbrusselsprout]

Great article!

DS1 was/is a mix bewteen level 2-3. His conceptual understanding and memory is really quite incredible.
He is in prep and loves doing maths on the computer...for fun! :laughing:
His teacher has to keep him challenged as any sign of boredom and he plays up.
I'd never ever call him gifted though.
DS2 is 15 months and showing all the signs of a level 1.

[catch 22]

my ds has asd but is showing lots from level 5. He just turned 3 and knows most of his internal organs but has only just started talking. He also knows all the planets and loves reading the street directory. Dd is only 20 months and was 2 and a half months prem and has over 200 closer to 300 words and can recognise half the alphabet. I think she is close to a level 3.

[spagbog]

Our Dd looks like level 4. She is so bored at kinda she has been assessed recently by the government people for a Iq test. I am far from super intelligent my Dh is though. I just want a well centered girl. Smart slow who knows..... where did you go to get testing done? Did it help advance your children? All our Dds life people have said wow she's so advanced. We only have one and don't known any different. Please help.

[mimsie]

My son was tested via the school counsellor at school :) We arranged an appointment with him and then he saw my son about half a dozen times, and at one of those did the tests then provided us with a report. It will help his cause when it comes to high school, as he'll sit for the selective schools test and the more information we can provide to back up his results (to show he's intelligent and didn't just 'learn to the test', the better.

You can also look for a child psychologist and get a referral from your GP to see one, they can do it too :)

[Goblin Queen]

This was fascinating, thanks for posting! I skipped a grade at school and I was probably a Level 2 with some Level 3 attributes, high language skills but I hate math. DF was also advanced, we were both in PEAC together. He's born the year before me but because I skipped a grade, we were in the same class. Though, we didn't officially meet till later in life despite being in the same PEAC class in grade five! ;)

I was having a look through this forum out of curiosity because I'll be interested to see if our future children are gifted as well. :)

[BlissedOut]

Great article, I was a level 4 gifted child going by that and it matches my IQ too.

It's interesting contemplating DSs potential, while he is behind on a few milestones for 'normal' children, he also demonstrates behaviours I don't see in other children and seems to be considerably more aware, he also has great problem solving skills.

Both DH and I have a lot of Aspergers in our families (I believe Aspergers is genetic), so there's a reasonable chance he's an Aspie, rather than just a gifted kid.

I'll definitely be more aware of what he does now and have bookmarked the article.

[mangrovewoman]

Wow, great link. My son (who is 25 now!) fits somewhere between levels 3 and 4, and like another mum who replied, I had many people comment from the moment of his birth how unusually alert he was. <sleep deprivation for 6 years, moan>

He was a fish out of water at school till he went to Sydney Grammar in 5th grade and at last was just another clever boy. He is a very successful adult, but schooling was a sore trial.

Anyway, for those of you with gifted young children, here's a link to an article you can print off to help you child's teachers understand your kid a bit better:

http://auntannieschildcare.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-of-gifted-children-in.html

Hope it helps! Too few teachers really understand anything at all about giftedness.:eek: