Matte Reading Office
Could my three year old be gifted? whats normal?
He can:
-count and recognise numbers up to 1000 (before age 3)
- count backwards from 100
- knows all letters, upper and lower case, sounds and names (before age 3)
-knows all shapes including unusal ones like pentagon, hexagon, crescent, oval (by age 2)
I also just realised that he can read (I honestly hadn't realised til this week!).
egs of the type if sentences he can read:
- Today I went to the shop to buy some sweets
- can you run fast like me?
- I have lots of friends.
- my daddy's car is very fast. it is big and blue
- The cat sat on the mat and is very happy and fat
For the record I discovered he could read when I found him reading the greetings cards to himself at the post office.
so I know all this is advanced - but how advanced? and how do I encourage him to reach his full potential - or do I just leave all that for when he gets to school?
Would appreciate any advice - but particularly from any teachers etc
thanks
Becky x
Your son is very gifted. I know this because I have spent the last 12 years our so studying this to figure out if my son was or not. Our son is 15 now. I will give you some sites to explore and an article to read so you can start thinking about his future education. My husband and I have never had our son tested, but I have decided through my reading and studying that our son is probably a level 4 gifted, or exceptionally to profoundly. Your son is on a higher plane than my son was at this age. I would put him at a level 5. I will give you a direct link to a site "Educational Options" by Dr. Debra Ruf, that has lists of characteristics. Look at this list. REalize that I am not a professional, and this is just an opinion based on what you have said.
The Hoagies site has tons of 'stuff' in it. Spend some time exploring it. It will answer many of your questions. Educational Options and Gifted development center are web sites for Dr. Ruf and Dr. Silverman, respectively. These are businesses that do evaluations, not just IQ testing where they look at personality types, learning styles, as well as the IQ testing. It's pricey but sounds very thorough. I would have loved to do this with my son, but we lived too far away from them and my reading made up for not having him professionally evaluated. I guess we evaluated him ourselves.
A note, your son will not fit every thing on the list. He also may be much higher in one area than another (or not). This is all normal for gifted kids.
Spend your time enjoying the ability of your son but don't forget he's a kid like every other kid. He will develop quickly academically, but may not emotionally or socially...or maybe he will. It's a blast watching the development. You will be fine as a parent to this child because you love him and have his best interest at heart. Get him what he needs when he needs it. Read a lot to him. Even Encyclopedias and fact books. Our son could sit for hours and listen to history books and animal books and chemistry books as well as story books that were read to him.
Teach him how to deal with disappointment and failure too if this comes up (if it ever does). Sometimes gifted kids are perfectionists and have trouble with this. Approached in an easy fashion (if that makes sense) you will smooth him through this and he will learn to work through things. Our son was like this and still is, but he has come to terms with it (still has frustrated bursts, but much better).
Good luck with your son. He will be a joy to raise!
EDIT: As far as whether to let him go at his own pace, I believe you should and then work with his education as it comes to formal schooling time. With our son, we advanced his a year in math from 1st to 2nd grade and left him at the same level for everything else. We had him take the EXPLORE test in 4th grade and he scored in the 93rd percentile for 8th graders, but we just continued to enrich him at home (he was still advanced a year in math). In sixth grade, we jumped him 2 grades in science and one in math and left him with his peers for everything else. In 6th grade he took the SAT test and scored in the 90's something percentile for highschoolers. We put him in an accelerated geometry and english program in 7th grade. In 8th grade we finally jumped him a whole grade ahead. He could have graduated at 14, but we knew it wouldn't be right. He's an introvert (many gifted are) and we knew he needed to stay with his few friends as long as he could.
I probably am bragging, but with a purpose. Don't let your son just go along. He may get to be an underachiever who never achieves his full potential. (see article by Tolan) There's also the danger of him becoming so bored that he drops off the radar screen of life. This happened to my nephew who is also gifted but was not given opportunities to reach his potential. Certainly don't push him beyond his limits either or put him so high up he won't feel like he'll ever be good enough. You will be the expert on your child's personality, use that expertise.