Emotional Child = gifted
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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. -
mommyNg:
I am not relentless
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
, 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. -
sleepy:
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 younger child also like that. Due to birth order?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...
1st born tends to be perfectionist. So when we compare, the younger one seems more sloppy
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:
Yes, it trains them to help others along and recognize the fact that not everyone is like them.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.
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. -
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.htmmrswongtuition:
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[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
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mrswongtuition:
It will be great if all teachers can practice when they learned at NIE
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.
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sleepy:
MMM, MdmKS, Tamarind
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
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.htmmrswongtuition:
[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
Thanks for sharing that interesting article.
My brother has a much higher IQ compared to me. I cannot even understand what type of scientific research work he is doing now. -
MMM:
Seeing some of the remarks made me curious about my youngest child.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.
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.
There are many types of giftedness. Your girl may be gifted in interpersonal skills, which is going to be very helpful in her future career
Being academically gifted is quite useless if a person does not have good interpersonal skills. Nowadays most jobs require us to work as a team. -
http://www.brainy-child.com/expert/types-of-giftedness.shtml
Q: Does gifted child follow directions well and be motivated by making A's?
A: Over 20 years of research has enabled researchers come up with different types of giftedness. There are many versions of this but the one I feel fits in rather well in the 6 types of giftedness was introduced by researchers Betts and Neihart which also corresponded with my own finding in my doctoral dissertation. Gifted children share some distinct characteristics generally but can be quite different in many others. However, there is no clear cut of the types; and a combination is always possible. This is an objective guide should you want to understand the different types of gifted individuals that exist.
Typically the 6 types of giftedness includes:
The successful (Type 1)
The challenging (Type 2)
The underground (Type 3)
The dropouts (Type 4)
The double labeled (Type 5) and
The autonomous learner (Type 6)
The summary of each of the profile is briefly discussed below:
The Type 1's are the most easily identifiable, and may account for up to about 90% of the identified gifted students in schools. They are the students who have learnt the system and are well adjusted to society with a generally high self-concept. They are obedient, display appropriate behavior, and are high achievers, therefore, loved by parents and teachers. However, they can also get bored at school and learn the system fast enough so as to use the minimum effort to get by. They are also dependent on the system, thus less creative and imaginative, and lack autonomy.
The Type 2 gifted are the divergently gifted, who possess high levels of creativity. They do not conform to the system and often have conflicts with teachers and parents. They get frustrated, as the school system does not recognize their abilities. They may be seen as disruptive in the classroom and often possess negative self-concepts, even though they are quite creative. This is the group of gifted students who are at risk of dropping out of schools for unhealthy activities, like getting involved in drugs or exhibiting delinquent behavior.
The Type 3's refers to gifted students who deny their talents or hide their giftedness in order to feel more included with a non-gifted peer group. They are generally females, who are frequently insecure and anxious as their belonging needs rise dramatically at that stage. Their changing needs often conflicts with the expectations of parents and teachers. These types appear to benefit from being accepted as they are at the time.
The Type 4 gifted are the angry and frustrated students whose needs have not been recognized for many years and they feel rejected in the system. They express themselves by being depressed or withdrawn and responding defensively. They are identified very late; therefore, they are bitter and resentful due to feelings of neglect and have very low self-esteem. For these students, counseling is highly recommended.
Students identified as Type 5 are gifted students who are physically or emotionally handicapped in some way, or have a learning disability. This group does not show behaviors of giftedness that can identify them in schools. They show signs of stress, frustration, rejection, helplessness, or isolation. They are also often impatient and critical with a low self-esteem. These students are easily ignored as they are seen as average. School systems seem to focus more on their weaknesses, and therefore fail to nurture their strengths.
Finally, the Type 6 gifted are the autonomous learners who have learnt to work effectively in the school system. Unlike Type 1, they do not work for the system, but rather make the system work for them. They are very successful, liked by parents, teachers and peers, and have a high self-concept with some leadership capacity within their surroundings. They accept themselves and are risk takers, which goes well with their independent and self-directed nature. They are also able to express their feelings, goals, and needs freely and appropriately.
Types 1 & 6 - generally identifiable.
Types 2, 3, 4, 5 - risk of not being identified.
As for your question, a gifted child of Type 1 and 6 would usually follow directions well and vice-versa for the other types. Motivation for getting A's would depend on how worthy the child views an A as. If he gets it very easily, he may not feel very challenged and thus, motivation and satisfaction levels drop. -
tamarind:
I hate to say this but BINGO, TAMARIND!!! :x :x :x
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 ?
While most enlightened teachers have no issues with a child's learning style or abilities, there are those who draw the line as far as \"disturbing peace\" in the classroom is concerned. What this lady doesn't realize is that pupils like my DD1 probably pushes the class along.
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Andaiz:
Quite often kids don't understand what the teacher is trying to explain, but they can understand if their fellow classmates explain things to them, because kids can communicate at the same level.
I hate to say this but BINGO, TAMARIND!!! :x :x :xtamarind:
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 ?
While most enlightened teachers have no issues with a child's learning style or abilities, there are those who draw the line as far as \"disturbing peace\" in the classroom is concerned. What this lady doesn't realize is that pupils like my DD1 probably pushes the class along.
Sad to know that there are teachers like that, totally not applying what they learned at NIE.
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