Emotional Child = gifted

[moi_views]

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for the advice and book list. U have a great system and knowledge on teaching from your post. I really enjoy reading your post..

The booklist seems difficult for his age though. :shock: I have not read most of these books myself.. :oops:

I usually get him picture books. I wonder if he will be able to finish or understand any on the list. hahha... I'll keep you posted after trying..

To the rest..

Honestly.. I am not sure if he is gifted or whether will he get into GEP. Cos he dun exhibit characteristics of a gifted child; he just has a more emotional thinking process for his age and a love for books. He is not the best in term of learning in his K1 class either. Anyway, it's still a long way till he reach P3. If it happens then, we'll decide if he shd opt in.

I too agree with mdm KS and chamonix that it's impossible to generalize kids characters.

I personally do not know anyone from Shichida or any brain training programme who is gifted. But my friend who bugged more to join told me that her daughter learning improved a lot after Shichida and she didn't even do home practice. I think it all boils down to individual child. :lol:

[MMM]

tamarind:

These kids have superb memory, and are able to understand difficult concepts effortlessly. For example, you only need to teach them one thing, and they know other things in relation, purely by logical deductions.

Seeing some of the remarks made me curious about my youngest child.

She is 4 yr old (k1 going next year). She has superb memory and this comes in the form of things that we told her or places she has gone to or comments/ remarks that we made before. Even though it takes places months ago. Due to that, I am wary of making promises to her because she remembers and will bug you to meet that. But I only observe superb memory for such areas and not academic stuff.

My parents also mentioned to be me that they only need to tell her part 1 and she will be able to deduce part 2 and 3. So she was able to \"pre-empt\" what they are thinking or talking about.

As compared to her siblings, we know for sure that she has very good EQ, know how to please people and she is also very quick witted in her response to adults. She is also very chatty and talks non stop type. From a personality study perspective, she is definitely the flamboyant type.

However, we realised through teachers' feedback that when given a piece of work, she does not take pride in doing her best. She is more concerned with getting it done. That means she might not be doing it neatly etc...

Also, we are wondering if she is using her brain elsewhere. I heard from one of her enrichment class teachers that she can come up with many excuses eg. my hands are tired, i am tired,etc.... and ask if the work can be done at home. Never encounter that with my older kids.

We are trying to monitor those \"undesirable\" aspect of her behaviour and trying to correct her so that her weakness will be reduced.

[sleepy]

moi_views:

I personally do not know anyone from Shichida or any brain training programme who is gifted.

I doubt there is any programme that will transform a normal child into a gifted one. More of unleashing the child's potential? So if a potentially gifted child went through some sort of brain training programme, his or her intelligence traits may become more obvious

MMM:

As compared to her siblings, we know for sure that she has very good EQ, know how to please people and she is also very quick witted in her response to adults. She is also very chatty and talks non stop type. From a personality study perspective, she is definitely the flamboyant type.

However, we realised through teachers' feedback that when given a piece of work, she does not take pride in doing her best. She is more concerned with getting it done. That means she might not be doing it neatly etc...

My younger child also like that. Due to birth order?
1st born tends to be perfectionist. So when we compare, the younger one seems more sloppy

[MdmKS]

[quote=\"sleepy


So if a potentially gifted child went through some sort of brain training programme, his or her intelligence traits may become more obvious


[/quote]

Hopefully it works as desire and not the other way round There is no scentific proof afterall. My colleague's wife wanted to send their DD for Shichda training, but the husband and the doctor father-in-law strongly object because of these. Reason being it is better to bring the kid to outdoor such as park to explore,..etc

[MdmKS]

[quote="sleepyMy younger child also like that. Due to birth order?

1st born tends to be perfectionist. So when we compare, the younger one seems more sloppy[/quote]

Agee. my second child is also by nature more PR and socialable. Each child is unique and gifted in his own way.

[sleepy]

MdmKS:

Agee. my second child is also by nature more PR and socialable. Each child is unique and gifted in his own way.

Yes, appreciate them for their individuality

By the way, I read somewhere, despites personality differences, siblings IQ are usually within 5 pts of each other. So if one is gifted, very likely the other one is gifted too, although the younger one usually may not appear so

[tamarind]

moi_views,

My boy has been reading Roald Dahl books and the three tales of my Father's dragon before he turns 5 years old, he has no problem understanding those books. He is only of average learning ability. I ask him to read out loud to me, and we act out the story together so that he can understand the story better.

My girl has read almost all of those books from 5 to 6 years old. I also ask her to read every word out loud to me, and I often discuss the story with her to check if she understands. She can tell me that : \"If I don't ask you, you don't need to explain.\" I am surprised at her level of understanding, and the details that she can remember from those books.

Most people think that kids before the age of 6 can only read and understand simple books. But I believe that most kids are capable of understanding complex story lines, for example, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If we only give them simple books of only 2 or 3 sentences, we may actually cause them to lose interest in books.

My girl often laughs when she reads those books, and she is very eager to find out what happens next. We should choose the books according to the child's level of maturity. For example, My Father's Dragon, the Boxcar Children and Roald Dahl's shorter stories are very suitable fo kids 4 years and above. Charlotte's Web , the Trumpet of the Swan, Pinocchio, Gulliver and Bambi, are suitable for kids who are more emotionally matured. But then again, we should not judge the emotional maturity of kids by their age. A 6 year old child can be as matured as a 9 year old child, mommy should know best.

Of course the child must already be quite proficient in reading. Phonics and the Ladybird Peter and Jane series worked wonders for my kids. They only have to learn consistently for a very short period of time every day, read my blog for more details : http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/09/books-they-love.html.
As soon as they completed the Peter and Jane level 11, both before the age of 5, they are both able to read those books in the list very fluently.

Also note that those books are not \"fun\" books for most kids. If given a choice, most kids would probably choose to read Rainbow Fairy or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Kids can read a 100 of those books and they will not learn much in terms of life experiences.

I believe that it is very important for parents to choose good books for kids to read. We will be making a mistake if we only let kids read what they like. But of course my kids still have the freedom to read whatever books they choose, after they finish reading mommy's choice of books everyday.
[quote]Honestly.. I am not sure if he is gifted or whether will he get into GEP. [/quote]Parents should not be bothered by any tests to determine whether their kids are gifted or not, this includes the GEP.

Our kids' future success is defined by how well they do in university and in their future career. Their future employers are not going to care whether our kids are from the GEP or not.

So long as we know that our kids have high learning ability, then we should provide all the necessary resources and opportunities for them, regardless of whether they get into the GEP or not.

[tamarind]

mommyNg:

I always admired your relentless efforts in trying to provide an excellent learning environment to your children (especially reading), despite a full-time working mum!

Anyway, on the topic of emotion, my DD1 frequently shy away from violent, traumatic, or sad movies/dramas. She cannot even tolerate hearing those scenes (even though not watching). She asked me, I think when she was about 5 years old, why do people die? She told me that she didn't want anyone to die, and I could hear her saying that in a sad voice.. I really don't know how to answer her. Recently, she asked me why do people dream? How do people get good/bad dreams? Why do people dream what they dream. How should I respond? Should I treat these questions seriously, e.g. go and do research with her on these questions or should I just answer in simple lay-man terms?

Yes, she is also pretty sensitive emotionally. By the way, my DD2 is pretty different, she would watch the exact same shows that my DD1 would avoid at all cost. Sometimes, she even \"laughs\" when people cry in the scene - I wonder whether she is kinda sadistic :shock: ha ha

I am not relentless , actually the real truth is that I want to save money, because I really hate to pay so much to enrichment classes, so I would rather teach them myself.

It's great that your DD1 is asking those questions, it shows that she has a very inquisitive mind. If I were you, I would try to answer those questions in ways that a child can understand. You can search for good children's books that deal with these issues at http://www.amazon.com.

There is a good forum at amazon where you can ask questions about book recommendations.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/childrens%20books/forum/ref=cm_cd_dp_rt_tft_fp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx3UEX786T6D5QM

My girl learned about life and death from Charlotte's Web.

[mrswongtuition]

sleepy:

MMM:

As compared to her siblings, we know for sure that she has very good EQ, know how to please people and she is also very quick witted in her response to adults. She is also very chatty and talks non stop type. From a personality study perspective, she is definitely the flamboyant type.

However, we realised through teachers' feedback that when given a piece of work, she does not take pride in doing her best. She is more concerned with getting it done. That means she might not be doing it neatly etc...

My younger child also like that. Due to birth order?
1st born tends to be perfectionist. So when we compare, the younger one seems more sloppy

It's definitely not due to birth order. I could be that you did something 'different' during your first pregnancy (usually, 1st time parents are more cautious & KS, therefore ensuring their foetus gets the best).

My elder brother is very sloppy but I'm not. Did a quick mental check with my cousins and friends I know since they were born: not all the sloppy ones are the younger ones

tamarind:

Andaiz:

[quote=\"tamarind\"]As for boredom training, it is very easy. Attending nursery/kindergarten everyday with kids of different learning abilities, is already good training. A gifted kid can finish his work in 3 mins while all the others take 30 mins to do. A good teacher should give the child freedom to whatever he likes. Then he has to think of ways to occupy himself. My girl helps her classmates, or draws anything from her imagination with intricate details.

Yes, it trains them to help others along and recognize the fact that not everyone is like them.

My DD1 still does this in school but the school system frowns on the \"talking\" bit so sometimes she gets it from her draconian EL teacher :roll:

I thought teachers should be taught to be more understanding to kids of different abilities. What do they expect a child to do if she completes her work very quickly ? Sit and stare at the ceiling ?[/quote]I recently went for a course on special needs children (covers gifted children too) and we were advised by the lecturers at NIE:

If a child is a fast worker and finishes classroom work very quickly, the teacher should explore the following (of cos after discussing with parents):
- Prepare higher order/more challenging work for the child
- Give the child a responsibility to help out others who are struggling - maybe read the question to them or show them how to work the sum out
- Allow the child to read other materials related to the lesson (teacher has to find other resources for the child to read)

I remember that one of my teachers actually gave me more work than the rest of the class. Usually Maths teachers will only pick out certain sums from the textbook for us to practise in class but my teacher will ask me to finish every single question (well, it was to my benefit since I scored very well for Maths). Reason was to ensure I had something to do and will not disturb my classmates by chatting with them.

If your child has given you feedback that he/she is bored after finishing his/her work quickly, do check with the teacher on what they can offer to your child. But beware, not all teachers are willing to come up with 'extra' worksheets. You might need to resort to buying your own materials and getting your child to ask for permission to complete it in class if he/she has completed his/her schoolwork.

[sleepy]

MMM, MdmKS, Tamarind


Share with you an interesting article. I like the picture, can totally relate to my kids' different styles :lol:

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm

mrswongtuition:

[I could be that you did something 'different' during your first pregnancy (usually, 1st time parents are more cautious & KS, therefore ensuring their foetus gets the best

nah, 2nd pregnancy would have more experience, leveraging on the 1st pregnancy. 1st time parents usually more blur. At least this is a common comment among mums I know