Who qualifies as being "Highly Gifted"?

[fortato]

Who makes that judgement? I think I'm apt to say that judging by some descriptions of highly gifted children, my son is Super Highly Gifted. I've never had him diagnosed, nor am I an expert in this area. But he seems to be doing what a lot of these gifted children are doing....

I was a preschool teacher and worked with supposedly highly gifted children- really...I didn't see it. I thought that all children were gifted. Some socially, some academically... unfortunately being "gifted" is a label that I think is almost as bad as being labeled "spirited" or "ADHD".

I just want to know. What makes your child "gifted"?

[american_mama]

Are you mad or frustrated, or am I misreading your post?

As for your basic question of what is gifted and who decides, just two weeks ago, I got a sheet from the school sent home in every child's folder describing the process for identifying gifted and talented students. It was very detailed and bureaucratic, doubtless to attempt to ensure fairness. Since I was surprised by the detail and thus read it closely, I'll repeat what I recall.

Nominations of potentially gifted students could be submitted by many sources (parents, teacher, staff person, community member) and given to a variety of sources (principal, gifted and talented teacher, etc). Parents and teachers were then asked to fill out a report, and I suspect results of classroom work and possibly standardized testing were submittted. Then a district gifted committee of XYZ composition met at certain designated times of the school year (3-6 times, as I recall) to consider all this information, with a requirement of deciding, communicating with parents, and providing appropriate services to the child, each step within XYZ timeframe. If an application wasn't received more than XYZ days before the committee met, the application would need to be considered at the next meeting.

Yada yadda. It was very detailed. So I think there is a whole process with multiple sources of input to decide who is gifted in our school district. I doubt it is infallible - what is? - but it did not seem arbitrary or resting on one or two people's opinions either.

[fortato]

Neither mad nor frustrated....
I'm just curious... because I didn't think it was so common to have so many gifted children around.

[Wife_and_mommy]

You, my dear, are a riot.

I agree. There are kids who are above average in certain skills. Then there are others whose parents just talk (endlessly) about how "ahead" they are.

I'm easily irked by it and have a friend or two who do the blah, blahing about it. It always seems so inserted...drives me nuts.

For a kicker, I had a pal tell me she preferred her child be on par socially and not able to read at the level an Aspie friend can. Huh? I'm still flabbergasted that she'd say that. So apples and flippin' oranges...

I will say that aside from giftedness, I'm having a hard time finding what my kids need to know when. I've never been one to overdo academics so it's annoying to think I've done well then find she's "behind". I got the 80 skills sheet in her folder the other day. It's way outdated for 2009 kindy, IMO. Kiddos learn that stuff at 2-3yo these days...esp. the kiddos of said "blah blah" parents.

[niccig]

I was a preschool teacher and worked with supposedly highly gifted children- really...I didn't see it. I thought that all children were gifted. Some socially, some academically... unfortunately being "gifted" is a label that I think is almost as bad as being labeled "spirited" or "ADHD".

I just want to know. What makes your child "gifted"?

I thought it had to do with certain testing, and that it couldn't be determined in preschool. I think some parents throw around the label, but they haven't had the child tested to say for sure. I also know that skills have a range. There's a normal range for walking and the same for reading and writing. An early reader isn't a sign of "giftedness", my friend is a teacher and she said some children read early, some read later, but by Grade 3 it has evened out, and that is when you can see if a child is truly "gifted". So, it's more than the reading level alone. A friend thinks her son is gifted and says he has high verbal skills. He did talk earlier than the other boys in the playgroup, but now at 4 yo, I don't see much of a difference between all of them, and my DS knows words that her DS does not. I think "gifted" as it's been used in some of the recent posts, is when the child had had the educational psychology testing and it truly advanced of their peers. Many schools have gifted and talented programs, and if I child tests into the program, the school HAS to provide services. Unfortunately for Beth and Katie, their children aren't old enough for those programs, so have to deal with boredom in the classroom as they can do all the work.

[Jo..]

I think most parents think their own kids are gifted. Human nature.

So when I hear parents saying "xxx is sooo gifted', I take it with a grain of salt.

Then I roll my eyes when they aren't looking. (Hey, it's my 5000th post!!!)

[TwinFoxes]

...unfortunately being "gifted" is a label that I think is almost as bad as being labeled "spirited" or "ADHD".

Why is gifted bad? I don't understand this statement.

My kids are way too young to be tested (10 months) so maybe I'm not understanding the negativity. But I was in the gifted program and I did really well in it, I don't think of it as a negative experience at all. I also know people whose kids are in gifted programs now, and as an adult I can say that those kids seem really intelligent, they understand complex ideas, they have good thought processes, they're just clever. That's what I think of as gifted.

[fortato]

Why is gifted bad? I don't understand this statement.

My kids are way too young to be tested (10 months) so maybe I'm not understanding the negativity. But I was in the gifted program and I did really well in it, I don't think of it as a negative experience at all. I also know people whose kids are in gifted programs now, and as an adult I can say that those kids seem really intelligent, they understand complex ideas, they have good thought processes, they're just clever. That's what I think of as gifted.

Well... let's say that my son was labeled as "Gifted"... and he's put into all sorts of programs and it turns out that he's not really as "gifted" as originally thought. I just think kids should be kids, and encouraged to do the best they can.

I have an example-
I worked with a little boy whose mother INSISTED that he was gifted... and so we, as teachers, expected so much more of him, and then we figured out that his mother was just looking for attention by saying he was better than the other kids. It's a label. Blah.

OH- and Jo!!
Glad you chose me to use your 5000th on!!

[MNmomtobe]

Well... let's say that my son was labeled as "Gifted"... and he's put into all sorts of programs and it turns out that he's not really as "gifted" as originally thought. I just think kids should be kids, and encouraged to do the best they can.

I have an example-
I worked with a little boy whose mother INSISTED that he was gifted... and so we, as teachers, expected so much more of him, and then we figured out that his mother was just looking for attention by saying he was better than the other kids. It's a label. Blah.

OH- and Jo!!
Glad you chose me to use your 5000th on!!

I can see this. I do feel that kids may exel in one area but not another. My brother was considered "gifted". He did well academically and excelled musically. He had a lot of pressure from an early age from our parents and I'm sure his teachers as well as the pressue he put on himself. However, he suffered so much socially he didn't take advantage of his "gifts". To this day he is pretty much a hermit and does not relate well with people in general. I think it is partly due to his childhood along with the fact that he may be suffering from a sociopathic disorder. Tough to tell now if it was nature vs nurture or a bit of both.

I do understand the comment from the mom that mentioned she would rather her child be on par socially. I think if you can relate well with others, you will get along much better in life. This skill will get you farther than reading at an advanced level. JMHO.

[niccig]

Why is gifted bad? I don't understand this statement.

I don't think gifted is bad. But not all children are gifted, yet many parents think their child is gifted. Expecting your child to be a certain way when they are not, or having higher expectations than they can achieve is not good for the child. My friend is expecting her son to excel in a language immersion elementary school as according to her he has exceptionally high verbal skills. What happens if he doesn't excel? Will he feel like a failure? How will his Mum react when he doesn't do as well as she was expecting.