Same Age Different page, overcoming barrier in the prior to school setting ...

[Oblena]

Really good piece of research - good educational links and lots of references to Australia, which I liked being an Aussie - it's not often I can find research that is relevant :)

http://www.springerlink.com/content/m62u501565096021/

[CeeLH]

What a great article! Thank you very much for posting the link.

I am going to forward a copy to my DD teacher. She is very open to information and trying very hard to cater for DD. She commented to me just today that DD is not exibiting many of the behaviours that she displays at home. Mostly asking complex questions, recalling strange facts, stories etc. I have been aware of my DD's 'concealment' practice for a few years now and have also started to see it in my 2.5year old. I thought they were too young for the conforming habit of gifted girls but maybe not.

Thanks once again!

[jaq]

This is fascinating reading, O, thank you so much for posting. I've already forwarded it to our VP who is in charge of the Cycle One (3-5 y.o.) classrooms. I just wish I'd seen this two years ago when we started Annika's schooling ... it would have made the way forward a bit clearer, a bit sooner.

CeeLH, I have a similar story - I asked one day why Annika was reading very stiltedly and slowly instead of her usual fluency. She said it was because one of the big kids at school (a preppie!) had told her that she was reading wrong and had to stop between the words and read more slowly. Like everyone else did, of course ...:eek:

The bit about social connectedness is hard to read, as well. Annika spent quite a few months drifting about by herself before her teacher realised what was going on ... she wanted to play with the other girls, but their games couldn't hold her interest, and she used to try and bulldoze them into playing HER games, which were just a bit too detailed for them to follow. That's the point at which we (her teacher and I) asked if she could be let out of the junior area to play with the big kids at lunch, and it was a huge success right from the start.

I was a bit perplexed by the bit about how the age gap develops over time - because it doesn't seem to fit with where DD1 is now. Apparently, she is only just gifted - 129 - but her development at five was assessed at being on par with an average seven year old.? This is one area of the whole giftedness thing that really does my head in - Gagne's scale is so different to the definitions usually used by the actual educational psychologists, who generally apply a much narrowed definition of giftedness.

Not that it really matters - your child is where your child is and its pretty obvious when they need something more - but it would be HELPFUL if the definitions and goalposts agreed with each othe a bit more!

[Oblena]

Thanks Ladies,

I think I am still a bit o an Ostrich with my head in the sand. I know DD is different, but continually tell myself that she is not that different, and that I don't want to be a pushy parent etc.

I am really panicked about next year when she is supposed to be in prep, but she can already read and her Kinder teacher just picked up on it, which is asurprise as she usually hides her ability, and she definitely won't read when she's tired or cranky. She has to go on an Individual learning plan now, and I think I really can't keep pretending that she is not like most others. SHe has severe social issues too, so that has been a major concern for DH and myself for many, many years.

[mim1]

Thanks for this article. I just read it tonight. It summarises things so beautifully. My ds did really poorly in childcare last year - heck most of the kids in his group couldn't even talk when he wanted to discuss the planets in the solar system - very difficult for a little 3yo. He cried every day. Then he went to kinder, where he's one of the youngest and the teachers/program is fantastic with plenty of room to explore/learn/extend naturally built into the program and he is the happiest little boy in the world and a real little 'normal' social being - which is fantastic to see. But we had to look at a lot of kinders to choose the right one, glad it worked out. I can see how it really isn't going to work out easily for a lot of parents of preschoolers & that makes me sad.

[delirium]

I feel so lucky having the DC, pre school and now infants school that I had/have for DD. All 3 identified her giftedness in a positive way and have worked with me to challenge and inspire her learning.

I found it interesting that children labelled as gifted from early on often had issues with social interaction. But I don't believe it is to do with labelling. Many gifted kids find it difficult to fit in and socialise given their different interests and levels of understanding/intellect. Luckily DD has never had any issues socially. We have never used the word gifted in her presence, although we make no secret of the fact we are ultra proud of her achievements.

I think it has almost become a social faux pas to want a gifted child to receive specialised learning, in fact the word itself has become dirty. Parents can be faced with teachers that think the parent is just pushy and don't support the notion of giftedness. Other parents (more in a social setting) feel insecure and threatened by the idea someone else's child is gifted (and as I have said in another gifted thread, all children have special abilities and gifted kids are no 'better' than other kids). That doesn't make it conducive for kids with special abilities to be supported to reach their potential.

That was all over the shop :laughing: Good luck to anyone that can make sense of this disjointed post :freakingout: