Possibly gifted child.

lostinnappies

My Husband and I had concerns about my 4 year old, as did his pre-school. We had concerns that he had ADHD. He had all the symptoms and signs of a child with ADHD. So following it up with the child psychologist and had him assessed. The psychologist was in awe of how fast he could do the tasks, the jury isnt in yet but it looks like he might be "gifted". Apparently gifted children can have the same difficulties in school as a child with ADHD including learning problems because of a lack of interest/challenge. I never knew this. What I want to know is are there any other parents out there who have gifted children who can let me know what to expect and have any ideas on challenging him. He already plays drafts, chess (to a certain extent) does extra homework when he comes home from pre-school (4-6 year old work), he is going to start foot ball soon and loves swimming. Despite all that he is very difficult to deal with sometimes, he gets annoyed and frustrated when he isnt being challenged. Any help would be good.;)

He also loves computer games but is bored easily with games aged 3-6years. Anything for older kids I think wouldnt be suitable for him so if anyone knows of a good computer game that would be great.

MagicMarker

You could always try the lotto:D

Nevyn

lostinnappies wrote: »

My Husband and I had concerns about my 4 year old, as did his pre-school. We had concerns that he had ADHD. He had all the symptoms and signs of a child with ADHD. So following it up with the child psychologist and had him assessed. The psychologist was in awe of how fast he could do the tasks, the jury isnt in yet but it looks like he might be "gifted". Apparently gifted children can have the same difficulties in school as a child with ADHD including learning problems because of a lack of interest/challenge. I never knew this. What I want to know is are there any other parents out there who have gifted children who can let me know what to expect and have any ideas on challenging him. He already plays drafts, chess (to a certain extent) does extra homework when he comes home from pre-school (4-6 year old work), he is going to start foot ball soon and loves swimming. Despite all that he is very difficult to deal with sometimes, he gets annoyed and frustrated when he isnt being challenged. Any help would be good.;)

He also loves computer games but is bored easily with games aged 3-6years. Anything for older kids I think wouldnt be suitable for him so if anyone knows of a good computer game that would be great.

Get him reading as much as he wants, what ever interests him and also look into if it is possible for him to learn a musical instrument.

You are going to have to fill his day with as much as possible so he doesn't get bored or tuned out.

As for games for older kids not being suitable what do you mean ?

lemon_sherbert

While I'm not a parent, when my brother was small they went through similar issues with him, and his teachers recommended foreign language classes or music lessons, if he's talented in that regard. Learning to play an instrument taught my brother a good deal of discipline, and as he was expected to practice and the lessons are individual and will move to your son's pace. Good luck

byhookorbycrook

gifted + something else is know as twice exceptional or dual exceptionality. Check out the forum on www.giftedkids.ie

littlebug

L-I-N we must get our boys together again soon. How about a book/ games club for our little men? Mine is reading away goodo and doing simple sums but I've discovered that he dumbs himself down at pre-school and pretends he can't read... go figure.

+ 1 on the music thing... works well in our house. Have you been in to the storytime in the library on Saturday mornings?

lostinnappies

Thanks all for the input, the musical instrument idea sounds good. He can play the piano but as soon as he learns one song he's done. Its hard to motivate him. He is a complete book worm but doesnt want to put the effort in lol, typical boy lol. I think i'll have to work harder at concentration with him. I'll give the music another go.

By computer games that are not sutable i mean that the only games out there are pre-school games (which he completes totally in about 10 min) or games where you would have some form of running over people or shooting... he is a bit young to explain it to him (cos he will ask).:rolleyes:

Sounds like a plan Littlebug. I know he'd love it. Your DS sounds to be another bright spark lol. Give them both 5/6 years and they will have out grown us lol.

Nevyn

There are plenty of games for kids which are not shooting games or killing people.
Viva pinja is a well loved game in this house and what about the likes of sonic the hedgehog or civilisation.

amacachi

Teach him some maths, simple stuff, just the basic operations, it'll set him up nicely in the long run.

miss no stars

physics and chemistry (concepts rather than maths end) would be subjects that might hold his interest. I'd shy away from teaching stuff that appears on the syllabus - I've too many memories of "moving on to a new topic" that I already knew inside out. That said, basic multiplication and addition would stand to him.

Some basic weather forecasting is also pretty interesting - you could learn it along with him all about the different types of clouds and what you can expect from them.

parsi

You'll need to talk with the school and make arrangements - he may be eligible for a Special Needs Assistant but with the current financial crisis this may be hard. Make sure that you engage with the school.

Boredom is going to be a killer in Junior Infants so watch for that.

When he gets older the Centre for Talented Youth (ctyi.ie) runs classes for gifted primary school children.

byhookorbycrook

pm'd you

Joey the lips

Dont kill me if I have got this wrong but DCU runs a program for kids who with adhd turn out to be slightly gifted and gifted in general

Check it out a friend of mine had his child on it so I know it existed just dont know if it still does

The effects on his child had me speechless

Nevyn

That would be the Centre for Talented Youth (ctyi.ie) who dont' just run programs in DCU

Fluffybums

I don't have kids, but I do have a very bright younger brother and he has two bright sparks. The eldest was being threatened with assessment, they thought he had learning difficulties, this has stopped since his reading ages went from very poor to over his chronological age in around a year. We'll ignore the fact that despite supposedly not being able to read - he had managed to glean a huge amount of information from books about dinosaurs (what he doen't know about dinos is not worth knowing) and it wasn't all because we read the books to him.
My parents dealt with my brother by encouring our interests. When we had questions we were encouraged to look the answers up in the encyclo pedia. We both love history as M&D do and we all used to go and visit, churches, museums galleries and the like. Then there was the sport - the old healthy mind, healthy body thing. Neither of us are any good at music, like listening to it, I think M&D still have nightmares involving us and recorders:eek:. They also had the added problem, that the child trick cyclist diagnosed me with dyslexia and told them effectively that I wouldn't do well academically so to just let me play; fortunately M&D didn't like being told what to do. I have a BSc and MSc - so the experts might have slightly misjudged that!

Gone off thread a bit.
Bright/gifted children are hard work and tiring probably more so than average children. If you put in the hard work, you and your child/children will reap the rewards.
Best advice I hear my Mum give:
Don't slavishly follow the advise of experts - when it comes to your child, you are the expert.

Dades

Get him interested in the sciences.

If he is gifted, that's where there world needs him. We've enough starving artists.

Sleipnir

http://www.curiousminds.co.uk/ is a great place for chemistry sets, electronics etc.

Got my six year old the John Adam's "Hot Wires" set and he loves it. You can build a radio, burglar alarms etc. Great for learning.
Also got interesting things like a gyroscope to fire the mind!

lostinnappies

Thanks all for all the fantastic info. Some really great ideas and words of wisdom. I love the website Spleipnir, i'd buy it all if i could afford it lol. Since we have been challenging him more he seems to be calming down ALOT. thanks again.

Sleipnir wrote: »

http://www.curiousminds.co.uk/ quote]

MojoMaker

...

goosie2005

what about cubs/scouts...good and social. hth

nesf

Books, loads and loads of books. My parents were recommended to send me to a more advanced school when I was a kid but the money wasn't there so spent many happy years reading far ahead of my age group. Honestly, just ask him what he'd like to read about, when I was that age it was dinosaur books aimed at older kids for example.

Joey the lips

nesf wrote: »

Books, loads and loads of books. My parents were recommended to send me to a more advanced school when I was a kid but the money wasn't there so spent many happy years reading far ahead of my age group. Honestly, just ask him what he'd like to read about, when I was that age it was dinosaur books aimed at older kids for example.

Second this.... My mom and dad came from the backater( clare country) and never incouraged us to read books. My father once thought he understood the concept and went out and spent a fortune god love him on encyclopedias.

My mother in law never understood why there was not loads of books in everyone's life. The library is a great source of books and free and usually there is a kids corner which helps the kids socialise.

I now have a mentally disabled child but always buy him books and always will cause as I only learned in my late 20's. Books are a passport to freedom and help you escape to another place.

Sorry for the book rant

nesf

Joey the lips wrote: »

Second this.... My mom and dad came from the backater( clare country) and never incouraged us to read books. My father once thought he understood the concept and went out and spent a fortune god love him on encyclopedias.

My mother in law never understood why there was not loads of books in everyone's life. The library is a great source of books and free and usually there is a kids corner which helps the kids socialise.

Similar for me (rural Cork), my parents had very few books except for kids books growing up. My mother only got as far as Primary school due to money issues and she was determined for us to get the education she couldn't have.

coffee_cake

Definitely books! It'll help his reading and spelling later on too as well as keeping him interested. Would also suggest the musical instrument - maybe get him to listen to nice piano pieces so he'll want to learn how to work at more advanced stuff.
Teach him a bit of maths too if he's interested in it.

For computer games I don't know what's at the age range but I'm positive there are plenty of strategy or puzzle games he can try, they can be fun and stimulating and get his brain working.

SarahMc

I agree about joining the library, and letting him explore the world of reading. I think you need to be careful not to hothouse him though, and engage him too much is solitary pursuits, especially if he is showing ADHD tendencies. Developing the social aspect is more important at this stage, and is what junior infants is all about really.

Football or any other team stuff will be very good, cubs/beavers would be excellent also.

Piste

I wasn't a gifted child, just really curious and interested in stuf and I never wanted for anything by way of entertainment and stimulation. I had a load of encyclopedias for children and books for kids introducing them to scientific concepts like energy and anatomy, I had books on famous figures too which I loved to read.

When I was about 5/6 I started playing educational computer games that taught me maths, english and geography. As a kid I thought they were just fun but looking back I was being tricked into learning :P

Basically just feed his mind and interests. I still have some of my books when when I was younger, would you like them? I'd like them to go to a kid who'd appreciate them, PM me if you like

lostinnappies

Thanks all, alot of food for thought and all your ideas will keep us busy for ages. I have started teaching him to read ... I thought he was too young to start but he's really is doing well with it. Although he might be "gifted" he will probably have difficulty in school (with his work) because he will get bored easily apparently. I feel sorry for the teacher lol.

Dublin Mama

lostinnappies wrote: »

My Husband and I had concerns about my 4 year old, as did his pre-school. We had concerns that he had ADHD. He had all the symptoms and signs of a child with ADHD. So following it up with the child psychologist and had him assessed. The psychologist was in awe of how fast he could do the tasks, the jury isnt in yet but it looks like he might be "gifted".

Congratulations! You have a gifted son! I bet you are very happy that he doesn't have ADHD.
Have you tried to research online about gifted kids? I'm sure there are books about gifted children. I'd say encourage him...try to notice what he likes the most.... Good luck!:)

lostinnappies

Just a quick update to let ya'll know that his IQ results came in and the average for a 4 year old i believe is 80-100, his is at 117. It puts him in the 87th centile. Thanks again for all the info, its all being put to work as we speek lol.

lostinnappies

Piste wrote: »

I wasn't a gifted child, just really curious and interested in stuf and I never wanted for anything by way of entertainment and stimulation. I had a load of encyclopedias for children and books for kids introducing them to scientific concepts like energy and anatomy, I had books on famous figures too which I loved to read.

When I was about 5/6 I started playing educational computer games that taught me maths, english and geography. As a kid I thought they were just fun but looking back I was being tricked into learning :P

Basically just feed his mind and interests. I still have some of my books when when I was younger, would you like them? I'd like them to go to a kid who'd appreciate them, PM me if you like

Thanks a million piste, its very good of you to offer them.:D. To be honest, I mentioned it to my mother in law and she went out and bought a whole load of stuff for him, bless her lol. I dont know if we would have any more room lol. Thanks anyhow, you're brill:)

byhookorbycrook

If Lostinnappies doesn't want them, I'd love them Piste, if the offer is still open!I have a group of exceptionally able children twice a week.