Any parents of gifted children here ?

[kiasulang]

chamonix:

Hi kiasulang,


I suppose you have sparked off a great deal of interest in this topic.:)

With the assessment, did the school/MOE make any special arrangements during the lower primary years? If so, care to share the arrangements made?

\"Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance. These are children who require differentiated educational programs and/or services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to realize their contribution to self and society\" (Marland, 1972)

If you believe your child is gifted, you may wish to send your child to a registered psychologist for assessment. To apply for early primary school admission or skip grade, you may use his assessment report to approach his school principal, the school may recommend to GEB and make an appointment for you with them. Most likely, you and your child will need to be interviewed before they assign psychologists to attend to your child. It took more than half a day.

It is very rare for them to recommend a child for early admission or skip grade unless the child is exceptionally gifted, emotionally and socially capable of mingling with his peers. Most likely, your child will remain in his class but officer from GEB, together with the school, will work with you to nurture your child.

[metz]

kiasulang:

It is very rare for them to recommend a child for early admission or skip grade unless the child is exceptionally gifted, emotionally and socially capable of mingling with his peers.

Indeed it is very rare for MOE to approve acceleration as they not only take giftedness but also other aspects into consideration. By far, I have only heard of 2 acceleration cases in Singapore via the forums. The MOE website has stated rather clearly its criteria over here. http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/programmes/gifted-education-programme/faq/exceptionally-gifted/
[quote]Most likely, your child will remain in his class but officer from GEB, together with the school, will work with you to nurture your child.[/quote]There are different levels in giftedness. So, for those who are tested gifted but not profoundly gifted, would the GEB make any special arrangements to nurture them? If so, how do they nurture such kids from the rest within school hours? If not, what's the underlying value of having kids tested at an early age? Does the school take into account the assessment and treat the child differently? e.g give him/her more challenging work than the rest? Or is the child expected to progress as per the rest (with no special treatment) and take the GEP test at Primary 3 (as with the majority who has not taken any gifted assessments)? From your perspective, aside from helping you as the parent to understand your ds better, how has the assessment been useful to/for your ds?

Btw, I have no interest in getting my kids tested nor accelerated. Just plain curiosity. Please feel free to ignore my questions if you don't feel comfortable to share.

[tamarind]

I think chamonix have asked questions which many parents are curious about. Both my hubby and I are also not interested to get my girl tested. We hope that she can spend less time studying, and more time enjoying her childhood.

shylyn:

Hi Taramind

Thks for e welcome..think u r e only one who realised ..heheh..
Anyway, I was trying to find the post ..cos I rem u asking some questions, which I forgot what they were..terribly forgetful..heheh..

Anyway, I have always admire your efforts at teaching ur kids..doubt i hv the time & the energy to do so. What I do is to read to my boy, & luckily, cultivate his love for reading & he will always ask us to read to him just b4 he sleep. However, he is gg thru Dora phrase & he must read at least one Dora bk b4 he sleep. Hope this phrase will pass..heheh..cos I'm rather sick of the Dora books & VCDs..hee..luckily this series is still educational.

shylyn,
My efforts are mostly spent on my boy, he is an average child who needs many repetitions before he can learn something new. My girl seems to learn everything effortlessly, both intellectual development as well as fine motor skills. I haven't spend much time teaching her.

You can let your boy read a graded reader, like the Ladybird keyword series. http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-words-with-ladybird.html
So he can read on his own and you have less things to do

sleepy:

MMI

my girl started childcare at 2yo, in playgroup based on her age. After 3 months, promoted to N1 because teachers realized she was advanced for her age. At 3yo, she completed N2.

I visited 11 childcare centers before selecting MMI because it was the only one that cater to abilities rather than simply grouping kids by age

Looks like MMI is a good choice for kids who are more advanced than other children at their age. Your girl is exceptional ! Any other children promoted like her ?

kiasulang:

tamarind:

[quote=\"kiasulang\"]We were advised to let my son learn music and arts. We tried but he is not keen.

So your son is not attending any music lessons now ?

No, he attended 4 piano and arts lessons then.[/quote]I think every parent I know is saying the music is compulsory learning for their kids, doesn't matter whether they have interest of not. My kids are not interested in music. I am wondering whether I am odd for not sending them to any music lessons.

[kiasulang]

chamonix:

If not, what's the underlying value of having kids tested at an early age?

One major benefit of assessment is that you will know you child's mental age as compared to his chronological age through his IQ score. This can serve as an indicator when you are feeding your child with additional knowledge(usually I choose subjects that he is interested). I have always work within my son's comfort zone. This is why I wrote that\" I'm glad we did\" in the previous thread. So far, we are very comfortable and I intend to repeat the process to my younger son.

There is no special arrangement, gifted or not, Pri.3 students must clear the 2nd GEP selection test to be offered a place.

[kiasulang]

tamarind:

I am wondering whether I am odd for not sending them to any music lessons.

I certainly don't feel so. We should let our children do something that they will standout from the rest.

[cnimed]

tamarind:

We hope that she can spend less time studying, and more time enjoying her childhood.

For argument's sake, what about the child who is angry and frustrated about being made to sit through repetitve work? Or the child who feels alienated because other kids look blankly at him when he talks?

[metz]

kiasulang:

chamonix:

If not, what's the underlying value of having kids tested at an early age?

One major benefit of assessment is that you will know you child's mental age as compared to his chronological age through his IQ score. This can serve as an indicator when you are feeding your child with additional knowledge(usually I choose subjects that he is interested). I have always work within my son's comfort zone. This is why I wrote that\" I'm glad we did\" in the previous thread. So far, we are very comfortable and I intend to repeat the process to my younger son.

There is no special arrangement, gifted or not, Pri.3 students must clear the 2nd GEP selection test to be offered a place.

Thank you for sharing, kiasulang. When you mentioned that you intend to repeat the process to your younger son, do you mean you intend to send him for IQ assessment to determine his mental chronological age?

[metz]

deminc:

tamarind:

We hope that she can spend less time studying, and more time enjoying her childhood.

For argument's sake, what about the child who is angry and frustrated about being made to sit through repetitve work? Or the child who feels alienated because other kids look blankly at him when he talks?

My stand - it depends on the type of repetitive work involved. For instance, if a 4 year old can write well but yet still task to trace letters for a long period of time. this could be stifling for the child. But in other instances, repetitive work is crucial. Learning violin is one area which I find repetitive training is important. My ds can pick up a simple piece of music with ease. However, he couldn't play well as he doesn't like repetitive work, which resulted in him being unable to realise his full potential. His violin teacher has no problem with his posture, learning etc. The only comment is he could hear \"lack of practice\" in ds' music.

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

deminc wrote[quote]For argument's sake, what about the child who is angry and frustrated about being made to sit through repetitve work? Or the child who feels alienated because other kids look blankly at him when he talks?[/quote]
Change school. I pointed out what ds needed then which was to pick up MT. There was also speech & drama, music, craft work, general knowledge which he can enjoy. His teacher asked him to help weaker students so there was no need for repetition work.

When Tamarind reply you on how she taught her kid to handle bullies in school, I just remembered, ds did the same thing. I have actually told ds to fight back :oops:, but he told me that is not right. He came up with a solution to inform the teacher immediately if someone hit him.

Kiasulang wrote [quote]One major benefit of assessment is that you will know you child's mental age as compared to his chronological age through his IQ score. This can serve as an indicator when you are feeding your child with additional knowledge(usually I choose subjects that he is interested). I have always work within my son's comfort zone. [/quote]Majority of parents in this thread already know their children are different, have already embarked into providing the right resources without the need of professional advise.

The challenges parents like us will face are how are our kids going to fit in school rigid system, sensitivity issues & I think if the child is gifted in different areas, domino effect.

kiasulang wrote [quote] I certainly don't feel so. We should let our children do something that they will standout from the rest.[/quote]How about let them explore & encourage them what they like to do instead of seeking the limelight?

Tamarind wrote [quote]I think every parent I know is saying the music is compulsory learning for their kids, doesn't matter whether they have interest of not. My kids are not interested in music. I am wondering whether I am odd for not sending them to any music lessons.[/quote]DS not interested in music either. We asked he said no. But he changes his mind in October & requested specifically for piano. If he takes it seriously, it's going to be costly. So negotiated, why not take up guitar or violin,, equipment cost is friendlier. Still said no. I procastinated but he starts reminding nicely. So in the end, I have just enrolled & he is starting next year.

Shylyn, you are so very shy. Just hop on & join in the conversation. We are very nice parents who sometime do have different opinions. But our differences make the forum more interesting, dont you think

[metz]

deminc:

Or the child who feels alienated because other kids look blankly at him when he talks?

On this, I have 2 points to share.

My ds attended the JG Edudrama for a term last year. His JG teacher commented (after the fifth lesson) that my ds preferred talking to adults (the teachers) instead of the other kids. In fact, she felt he would be heading for trouble in primary school if the situation persisted. In her view, my ds should learn to interact with the other kids. I was rather offended as I didn't see it as a problem. I even countered that it might be a case of the other kids being too quiet and my ds being more mature. :oops: But over time, I realised she was right. Ultimately, in the real world, we work and interact with people from all different walks of life too. So, I came to the realization that it is still important for kids to learn to interact with his peers, no matter how advanced or mature he/she is than them. That doesn't mean being good friends. Rather, he needs to learn to cooperate, share, listen to others when they talk, and talk to them at the appropriate level.

Secondly, the vocabulary that a more advanced kid use could also impact on his/her interaction with other kids of the same age. Of course, if a 3 or 4 year old kid uses words such as \"evict\" or \"skive\" with his/her peers, one can't blame the rest for staring at him/her blankly. I feel this is not a case of being more advanced or intellectual. Rather, I accredit it to different family backgrounds. Some kids come from \"English-rich\" families. They have been exposed to an extensive vocabulary since young. Whereas the average Singaporean family would use normal functional English words such as \"chase you out\" or \"lazy\". When these 2 groups of kids are placed together in the same setting, there bounds to be some communication problems. Another good analogy would be Chinese. Last year, my ds would probably stare blankly at any kid who attempted to converse with him in Mandarin. :lol: