[The Old Bag]

A strange thing happened yesterday.

DH has our kids (8 and 7yo) with him this week while I work. They tagged along while he met a couple to sell them something.

There was a complication which took awhile for DH and the fellow to sort out, and while they did that the lady of the couple kindly amused our DSs with a chat and some games.

After it was all sorted out, the lady told DH she had to speak to him about our kids. She said she co-ordinates a G&T program at a primary school, and DS2 and possibly DS1 have all the hallmarks of gifted kids, and implored him to chat to me then get in contact with her for more information about having them assessed.

Well, this has come as a complete surprise to us! Granted my kids are pretty clever, but I've never seen them as especially so. DS2 is a B and C grade student, dislikes school, only really picked up with his reading in the second half of grade 1. He hates puzzles and working out problems himself and will cheat if he can, won't apply himself at all to things he's not interested in. DS1 is better academically, but not exactly streets ahead of where he should be. No teachers or any other professionals who've worked with them have mentioned anything like this before, and this woman spent less than an hour with them.

So my first instinct is to feel slightly chuffed but conclude that the lady is probably talking bollocks..... but maybe I'm just doing my kids a huge disservice.

WDYT, and how would you react if this happened to you?

[tenar]

Gifted doesn't have to mean "genius". There are degrees of giftedness and your kids don't have to be composing music aged 3 or whatever to be gifted.

Some gifted kids fly very much under the radar because they are bored at school. It can lead to huge problems for them later on because if they aren't challenged enough at school they don't get the opportunity to learn to work hard at something, to persist, to try things that might not work, etc. These skills are hard to pick up as an adult.

I would suggest that you have nothing much to lose by getting them assessed, and if what you gain is a route to schooling that better suits your kids then that's a huge plus.

Good luck!

[lsolaBella]

Like Tenar I would probably follow up.

Apart from some money and time, not much to lose and the potential to help your kids if the lady is right.

My brother was tested in first grade due to being disruptive in class and not working well. Turns out he was Mensa standard and bored.

[The Old Bag]

My brother was tested in first grade due to being disruptive in class and not working well. Turns out he was Mensa standard and bored.

Well the first part of that describes DS2 pretty well! And I have a pretty high IQ so perhaps that's part of the reason he doesn't stand out to me.

I appreciate the advice from both of you and you're right, there's no harm in checking it out. I'm just surprised that if she's right, that it's gone unnoticed by so many and for so long.

[SplashingRainbow...]

I would ring her and thank her for her kind words and ask what it was that made them tans out to her

I'm sure she would happily oblige if you explained it was very out of the blue and whilst you appreciate her comments you'd like to know more before spending the time and $$$ on assessments.

[schoolmum]

Its not impossible that they are gifted. They may not be achieving academically as they may be bored at school, or are "dumbing themselves down" to fit in with peers.
Giftedness is not just about a high standard of reading, maths etc, it can be the way they think about things and use that information, what is often called "thinking out side of the box"

I have a gifted son, it was his kindy teacher that recommended that he be assessed, after he lashed out physically at her and another teacher. The results came back as highly gifted, and the kindy made sure that the program was stimulating for him.

I don't know where you are based, so I can only pass on what I know happens in Adelaide regarding assessments. We had ours done through the education dept, by referral from the kindy teacher. It took a few months to happen, but it was free, and also well recognised by the school. We also had our younger son assessed through the dept a few years latter, with the support of his teacher, as he was showing signs of being gifted but as he was the sort of kid that would "fly under the radar" it was thought to be a good idea to see where he was at. It turned out he wasn't, but it gave us good insight as to what his strengths and weakness in learning were.

I guess if it is something you wish to explore, then when school goes back have a chat to their teachers a few weeks in, once they have had a chance to get to know them. Or if you can talk to last years teachers, and see what they think.

You could also check out your states Gifted and Talented association websites, and see what information they have there.

It will do no harm to look into it, as the worst thing that can happen is the results will come back with them not being gifted. If you are worried what to say to them if they do get assessed, I used to just say that we are finding out how your brain works and learns things, I never told them that they are being assessed for being gifted.

Good luck.

[kpingitquiet]

I would look at some of the criteria for G/T kids of his age group and see if any bells start ringing. Stellar students =/= gifted children. Boredom, distraction, issues with authority, and often even learning difficulties coupled with high IQ can all contribute to Gifted kids under-performing at school. Underachieving in some areas and overachieving in others tends to be more common.

I was assessed as highly gifted in pre-school and was never a remarkable student. Same for my cousin who was assessed at a similar age. We both excelled, with ease, in the subjects we enjoyed. We blew off the rest. His sister, a woman of high intelligence but not meeting the markers for "Gifted," was a straight-A student and is now finishing her PhD at Oxford.

[lsolaBella]

After my brother was tested mum never had me tested (didn't want to have a number to compare kids).

I remember her telling me upon starting high school, to be prepared to go in and out if help maths class as I would need help in that area. Turns out I was the top of the form, constantly getting the mathematics prize. Doing year 12 problems I year 7, 3rd year Uni geometry questions in year 9. I was actually quite bright and superb in visual special arenas.

I did some aptitude testing post school.... Top 99% for all areas.... Except comprehension. I already knew that though.

So not all of us bright ones stand out early.

I am debating whether to get my kids assessed. I have my suspicions my eldest is bright and middle child very bright. School is allowing my 1st grader to do 4th grade maths so there is no real push as such needed ATM. He is being challenged.

[baddmammajamma]

I would follow up, as well -- who knows, she might be onto something! However, if she pushes you really hard to get your childen assessed through a particularl provider ("a dear friend of mine") or pushes on special services she can offer you, I'd be a little wary.

The posters above have done a good job of capturing the many reasons why a gifted child might underperform in class (I lovingly call my daughter a "Gifted Slacker").

Interestingly, there is research that indicates that if one sibling has been identified as being intellectually gifted based on psychometric testing (IQ testing), it is very likely that other siblings in the same family will also score in the gifted range (usually within 5-10 points of each other):

http://www.giftedminds.com.au/attachments/Like_Minds.pdf

(Gifted Minds are one of Australia's best known practices for testing and advocating for gifted kids)

This post has been edited by baddmammajamma: 09/01/2013, 07:48 PM

[The Old Bag]

Thanks everyone, your replies have shown me that I know very little about what G&T actually means - I had visions of Mozart and 10yos doing university maths.

I'll do some more research and, as suggested, give the lady a call for more info.

A lot of you are saying that being G&T doesn't necessarily equal success at school... so what DOES it mean for children of that age? If one or both of my children were found to be G&T, what would happen next? There is no G&T program at their school.