Last Updated: 10-30-02

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	"Beware of boredom - it's the mind killer!"
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Where can I find information about highly and profoundly gifted children?? MrsDayo's Page 2 Where is on-line learning found divided by subject? MrsDayo's Home Page

Thoughts & Opinions The thoughts & opinions expressed here are my own, as the parent of such a child, based on the research I have done through the years & the experiences others have shared with me of their lives with these children. I am a parent trying to figure it out - while leaving a trail for the next parent who needs it. Hopefully that person can improve upon the trail for the next in line down the road. BTW I reserve the right to be wrong as well as to change my mind. (:^D)= MrsDayo Two young men go out to get slacks and end up at the same store. One is a size C the other is a size B. They both end up deciding on the same slacks but there is a problem. The young man who needs the size B is very angry because the other young man was given the best pair of slacks, the size Cs. The manager comes out to let the upset young man know that the slacks given each of them are the same. The difference is simply a difference in the sizes needed and he has been given the correct pair for his size. The size B young man continues to insist that he deserves to be given a pair just like the other young man has or they need to refuse to sell the size C man a size C pant but must sell him a size B instead to be fair. And on top of that, the store shouldn't waste room by stocking size C slacks because there are few people who require them and even if there were more it wouldn't be morally right to sell it to them at the cost of offending other customers. On the other hand, the store should keep the size As in stock since everyone knows there are men who need that size pant. Now, how much sense does that situation seem to make to you? This does come up quite often though - in gifted education. Going though primary and secondary schools one picks up one's basic education. That is the idea of it right? Gifted children need a quicker pace in the same respect that a mildly mentally challenged individual would need a little more time. A highly gifted+ child needs to go a lot faster just as a severly menatally challenged youngster needs to go much slower. This does not mean they are getting something extra, just getting special needs met. They should simply be offered the same education in the "size" they need. Most people don't have a problem with recognizing that the mentally challenged children need to be allowed to learn at their own pace but when it comes to gifted kids many people seem to get upset, thinking that these children are being given something extra. Actually what they need the most of is less. Less repetition and less time in each grade. Is it better? No, it is just at a different pace. Just because one child learns something earlier does not mean that the child learning it later learns less of it. Each takes from it what they are willing to. If the child who takes it later has a much stronger interest in it then that child could very well know more on it than the child who was finished sooner. Each child will have had the chance to look into the materials at their own pace, not rushed or bored, which is the optimal way to learn for all children. (MrsD) Back to Menu What would happen if we took a page from the past? Let's say having teachers who teach an area of knowledge and, when the student is ready, passes them on to the next teacher. By this I do not mean by what grade a child is in, how old the child is or how long the child has been there. When the child feels she/he is familiar with the materials and wants to look into something new it's time. If a child wishes to move on but is not ready then a simple trial period should be sufficient to find out. Of course there would be a change from how many teachers per grade level to how many are needed per each knowledge area to meet the children's needs. Somehow that doesn't seem to be a bad thing... (MrsD) Back to Menu Parents of highly to profoundly gifted children need to educate themselves so as to be effective advocates for their children. Schools, other than a rare few, do NOT have experience with these children & don't have even an idea of what their needs are or how best to meet them. HG/PG children are a minority of a minority who are dimissed from consideration as it is felt that they are able to deal better with having their needs ignored. There are definitely excellent teachers out there doing a wonderful job but asking them to do what they have not been trained for, nor recieve support for, can cause difficulties. As a parent one is often called on to be an educational facilitator for their child. HG/PG children can also be easily mis-diagnosed with certain disorders such as ADD/ADHD; knowing what the differences are can be a big relief. This is NOT to say that some HG/PG children do not suffer from ADD/ADHD, just that there are things generally normal to the HG/PG range which might appear to be symptomatic of those disorders. The benefit of finding out about what is "normal" for these children is that you are also paving the way for an understanding of what may come with lightning speed. Often you don't have the grace period other parents get, you have to come out running; trying to keep up with your child - who always seems one step beyond what you are ready for. ;^D(MrsD) Back to Menu I have found that I can often pick out gifted children prior to their being tested or knowing anything about their scores. It is a matter of how they process information; in "big bites" rather than the step-by-step of the normal range child. Talented children (artists, those in sports, etc.) are given the chance to flower, developing their potential in a way suited to who they are, while intellectually gifted children are not as it is felt that they should be forced to try to change the way their brains work to coincide with children in the normal range. At best they are given the sop of being allowed to advance to the level and in the manner of high achievers - rather than developing in their own unique way, not as a matter of achievement but of being allowed to be themselves. Anything differing from the norm must be fought for tooth & nail when it comes to gifted education. This I find inexcusable as they are the only group whose needs are so totally ignored in this way in my experience. I guess a major part of my view is that gifted children are NOT better but DIFFERENT. That difference should be acknowledged reguardless of their scores on a test. Is a normal range or gifted child better than a child with Down's Syndrome (or other mental challenge) and an IQ of 50? Personally I don't believe they are. The mentally challenged children I have met have had a unique love of life & are as wonderful as a spring breeze after a long hard winter. They do add something very special to the lives they touch. It is the view so many have of gifted children being "better" which I feel does them the most harm. If one just looks to achievement then I guess I would be seen as wrong but I prefer to go on being wrong in that case. The good Lord made all sorts of ppl & each type has their own unique needs & place in this world which should be respected, cherished, and nurtured reguardless of IQ; not denied, ignored or judged - IMHO. Gifted education should be seen as a need being met not a prize to be won. (MrsD) Back to Menu Don't become wedded to one educational option for your child. Be willing to try what might work when what is being done isn't working. That could include: distance learning for some or all classes, acceleration in subjets or grade level, radical acceleration, home schooling, private schooling, boarding school, virtual school, public school, early college or some mix of options and grade levels.(MrsD) Back to Menu Ooops! I changed my mind. (I told you that might happen. *G*) Back to Menu A good teacher can make all the difference & is worth her/his weight in gold!(MrsD) Back to Menu According to my eldest brother's wife and fully supported by him: Profoundly gifted children should NOT be properly nurtured but instead subjected to educational situations which are shown by research to be highly mentally and emotionally abusive to them. This is in hopes that they may be among the very few of these children who survive such situations intact. She states that this is extremely important for developing the character of such children. Back to Menu "Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded-here and there, now and then-are the work of an extrememly small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking ppl. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the ppl then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."" (Robert A. Heinlein) Back to Menu Signs that you might have problems getting your HG/PG child's needs met: "We have several children in this school just like yours and there is no problem in meeting their needs with our standard curriculum."(No concept of what an HG/PG child is let alone what they need! Do you have studies & expert information you can provide them with to further their education?) "Your child doesn't really need anything now as most children even out by the 3rd Grade." (Serious problem when a school brags that it can destroy these children's love of learning so throroughly within 4 years of getting their hands on them! Some of the children seem cope better than others with the boredom & lack of intellectual peers to interact with year after year.) "We don't offer any gifted programs until 4th Grade."(Translation: We will have nothing to offer your child until it is too late to do him/her any good because that's what we do at this school. Are there other options such as having a resource teacher help out or a librarian maybe? Can distance learing be used in place of one or more school subjects? Can the child be excused from that subject in school but instead take care of it at home?) "If we allowed your child to do that all the other parents would want the same for their children." (Are they seriously trying to get us to believe that only parents of HG/PG children care about the needs of their children, to the point that all other parents will push their children well beyond their limits? Come on! If another parent with an average or moderately gifted 7 year old really wants to put that child into a high school level course - let them try out some of the materials at home. Either it is what the child indicates is wanted & needed or it is not; not too much middle ground there.) "You need to let your daughter/son be a child." (Ummm...how does ingnoring a child's needs help them have a childhood? Or are they suggesting that childhood should consist of frustration, isolation & depression when in a school environment? You may never get some ppl to understand what your child enjoys as his/her playtime nor realize how little time these children may take to learn what they do. They have no reference to even guess at how much free time such children have due to the speed with which they work on what interests them.) "We're concerned about social issues." (If the school is really concerned about these children's social issues then they will place the child with his/her intellectual peers, if the child is ready and wanting such an accomodation, as has been shown by all the top studies to be the best fit socially for many. Retention of these children with same-age peers without accomodations is usually, though not always, very damaging intellectually, socially & emotionally. They may try to socialize but look immature in trying to find the right level to interact on in the earlier grades. It is a shame that they may be held back a grade, citing social immaturity, as it takes a great deal of social awareness to be able to adopt another persona on demand for others at such a tender age. It would be nice if they at least gave them a little time to perfect it before punnishing their inability to adjust to such a task in a more timely, to schools, fashion. ) Back to Menu Signs that your child may need help: On-going depression Behavioral difficulties in or after school developing Loss of the love of learning (not just a lull time) Negative view of others or self developing Schools suggesting that you put your child on medication Back to Menu

"For centuries it was never discovered that education was a function of the State, and the State never attempted to educate. But when modern absolutism arose, it laid claim to everything on behalf of the sovereign power....When the revolutionary theory of government began to prevail, and Church and State found that they were educating for opposite ends and in a contradictory spirit, it became necessary to remove children entirely from the influence of religion." -- Lord Acton

MrsDayo's Home Page Free on-line learning for Pre-K to College levels

MrsDayo's Page 2 infomation reguarding highly to profoundly gifted children and home schooling

MissDayo's Learning Page She might get going on it again. LOL