Any parents of gifted children here ?

[tamarind]

sleepy:

sleepy:

Hi


For discussion sake, what do you think are the benefits in sending a child for professional assessment?

1) To enter primary school earlier?
But I heard hardly anyone is successful in that. More importantly, the child may not be ready emotionally

2) Any early intervention by school such as tailor made a different set of learning materials for the gifted ones?
If not, no value add in identifying a gifted child earlier (before GEP) since no actions taken by school

As parents I believe all of us already trying our best to provide learning opportunities regardless of giftedness

Any input?

I know there are 4 or 5 year old children who behaves like kids who are 7 or 8 years old. Some children who are intellectually more advance, are also very advanced emotionally. I think it is OK for the child to enter primary school earlier, and it is OK for the child to skip to a higher level, for example, from P1 to P3 if she is capable.

The problem is whether professional assessment can accurately determine whether a child is gifted or not.

Actually I think that early intervention should start from kindergarten level. Checkout this forum about Gifted Education in the United States, Canada, etc. Their education system caters to gifted children from 5 years old.

http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=122366

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

sleepy wrote [quote]Maybe you can get your parents to speak Mandarin to them at home? [/quote]
That's what I'm doing for the past 1 month. The only problem is that my mum is an introvert. So, there is not much interaction.

Sleepy wrote [quote]For discussion sake, what do you think are the benefits in sending a child for professional assessment?

1) To enter primary school earlier?
But I heard hardly anyone is successful in that. More importantly, the child may not be ready emotionally

2) Any early intervention by school such as tailor made a different set of learning materials for the gifted ones?
If not, no value add in identifying a gifted child earlier (before GEP) since no actions taken by school

As parents I believe all of us already trying our best to provide learning opportunities regardless of giftedness [/quote]As you have read, ds does have some issues in school. At the moment, it's something that I can manage & work out. Sibling rivalry, is something that I need to tread carefully. His sensitivities can be a sore point too but has not push me up to the wall yet. Handling his needs & wants, I'm not into maximising. More of making him happy & providing resources or render help when he seems to need it. But when thing blows out of proportion & the solutions I think is workable is not working out smoothly, I might seek professional help.

[angel64]

Hi All,


Reading all the postings here , seemed that most of us are having the same issue… most worries with kids.

Btw, is it true that the PCF Kindergarten are more Mandarin speaking than English ?? My DS will start his PCF next week nearby in housing estate. Originally, he was in full day Montessori school. And most kids there are expats and speaks mainly english. And we at home, are so used to it … main language also English. I do speak at times cantonese or teochew, esp when talking abt my maid to my hubb.

I am not really bothered by the syllabus guided by primary school text. As long as my boy is interested in a particular area ( Construction site )… I will take that opp to get books for him in that field. It helps in the english language, and I can also teach him math out of that field. ( Example : how many stones did the digger dig out ?? ) Me also gone further step to explore with him esp these days we have camera in our HP. My boy will ask me to snap some pic of the various construction vehicle we see along the road. Then I will print the pic out and paste into a scrap book. We will do together some kind of short sentence description words abt the pic. This will help his language in the long term as well…

Since young, he showed strong interest in this field. I ve gotten him toys & DVD in this area. And now into drawing of these vehicles… Not sure how long this interest will last… But I will just move on with him …

Tomo I will start my 3 days of PV, and will clear once and for all 40hrs… Hubb will join in to contribute.

[tamarind]

ange64,

In my girl’s PCF kindergarten, all the kids speak english. I am quite surprised. My girl does not have much chance to practice conversational mandarin during her 4 hours daily class. Although she has 1 hour of Chinese lesson everyday, which is mostly reading and writing.

I agree with you that we should let our kids explore their area of interest.

We have been doing PV for my girl since July this year. Already completed more than 20 hours. My hubby and I take turn to do 1 hour of PV every week. Another 20 weeks to go next year.

[angel64]

My case, the school called up said that they have alot of books to pack and will require 3 days. These 3 days will take up 21 hrs. So I asked if my hubb joins in, does that mean we will complete the 40 hrs. The school accepted it. So we will take 3 days leave, complete it once and for all…


Which school u targetting ?? Me gave up St Hilda’s. Now trying Poi Ching. Some colleagues told me to get a school with affliation so that the stress level at P6 not tt high… Already start to feel the stress. going thru this hassle of PV.

[angel64]

Hi Tamarind,


Not a bad choice as you mentioned to put your girl for a months or few weeks in a chinese environment. They will naturally be forced to speak the language.

I have some german friends. I was asking them, when my boys meet up with their kids. Wonder how are they going to communicate. He told me, there will not be problems for communication when come to playtime. Naturally both sides will benefits as their kids are learning english, and I do mind my child to learn another language.

That’s why I didnt cut ties with my babysitter who take care of my boys. On and off when he has no school, I will send him there like once a term. He gets to socialise as well as keep in touch with babysitter. And also the chinese speaking environment will force my ds to speak.

[tamarind]

angel64,

I live in the west, doing PV at West Grove.

If we want a child to be very good a a language, it is best to be totally immersed in an environment that speaks that language. However, since the child must be bilingual in Singapore, we also cannot ignore English. Actually the best way is for one parent to speak only in English and one parent to speak only in Mandarin. This is much better than for mommy to sometimes speak in mandarin, and sometimes in English, which is very confusing for a child.

The problem is that both me and my hubby are working full time, and we cannot spend much time with the kids. My mother takes care of them and she does not speak a single word of Engish. So I decided that we both speak English at home to the kids, because it is much more important that they can speak very good English, than Mandarin.

[kiasulang]

Ideally, as parents, we would like our children to live in a perfect world, without assessments, exams and certificates, and hence free from stress and pressure. In one hand, we would like our children to be happy only doing things they adore, on the other hand, we cannot ignore the compulsory six years primary school syllabus leading to PSLE.


In this thread, we are blessed with children that are bright. Since we already know that, why do we need to send our children for professional assessment, and let a third person to point to us that \"Your child is gifted\"? It is like I do not need my doctor to tell me that I'm having a fever but you need a MC to show your superior. It is not necessary to know your child's IQ score or assessment report but it is essential when you need it. It is a must if your child intends to join Mensa Singapore.

Nothing can be 100% sure, be IQ assessment or annual checkup.

I believe if a child is truly talented, he/she will be able to perform well with minimal stress. I have seen competitive swimmers who come daily to train during their PSLE, and score well enough to go to their choice school despite being confirmed a place through DSA. I happened to chat with one of them who told me that DSA actually help in their PSLE.

Who are gifted children?

\"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).

source: http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/giftedness_and_gifted.html

Some children when young through exposure can be more advanced than those who do not. Usually, when they grow older they will be level off. Gifted children can be gifted in one area or many areas. An assessment report will be able to tell you.

[shylyn]

angel64:

My time are always tied up by them.. esp this age gap, a 2 & 4 yr old. This is the busiest period I suppose. With strongest sibling rivalry, they fight for their toys, seats or their books endlessly.

As I mentioned, my approach is start early with motor skills, then later on, gradually move toward academically. Lets see how my boy react when school starts next Friday. Me and my hubb have been reading to him since young and now kind of routinised that when his younger bro sleeps, he will do some homework. I will teach him some maths, english and he will do some worksheets.

How old are your boys now ??

It is really not easy to take care of boys, super energetic. And elder one is going thru the WHY stage.. with endless questions.

Hi Angel
I hv only one & he is gg 33mths old..yet to go into the stage of endless Whys..but sonner or later as he is a chatty boy..now he is occasionally asking What & where..he will say his observations aloud regardless of the people around him. A few occasions, he commented out aloud that the painter, who we were sharing a lift with, was dirty. :lol: Luckily, they didn't seem to mind.
yeah..I agree w u that taking care of boys is never easy..though i do wonder whether on general, girls are easier to look after. Cos I never felt I have an easy time ever since i have my boy..but of cos, I don't mind..cos he really brings a lot of joy & laughter to everyone around him.

[shylyn]

tamarind:

When my girl was around 15 months old, I started to teach her the alphabet, simply by pointing to the letter on the books and magazine covers around the house. I did not even have the time to teach her everyday. A few weeks later, my father-in-law told me she could recognize the letters on the drinks vending machine downstairs. He was very amazed that she could recognize the letters regardless of the sequence, or even when the letters were sideways. Then I realized that she could recognize all the letters and number at that age. At that time I was not amazed, because she was my first child, and I have no other children to compare with.

Hi taramind
pardon me..u indeed have a fast learner! Imagine the vast potential she could reach if u teach her on a daily basis! Hmm..pls dun be mistaken that u r not doing a gd job at teaching ur kids. In fact, not many parents would be as dedicated to teaching their children to read like u. For me, I didn't realise my boy is a fast learner until he started PG a yr ago. I started reading to him even b4 he was born, when he was in my tummy. As according to magazines, it creates bonding between parent & bb. beside, I didn't know what else to do with my boy then as well..so it was either reading or playing with him. He also started recognising alphabets when he was around 16mths old and unknowingly, abt a mth later...we realise he was able to read most of the words we pointed out to him in books/signages.

tamarind:

I never flash cards to her, and never sent her to any shichida class. In fact from birth to 3 years old, I spent very little time teaching her, I did not even teach her to read before she was 3 years old. She has excellent memory, and she is able to understand concepts effortlessly. I cannot remember whether she has a good attention span since young, I only spent a few minutes teaching her each time, and that is all she needs. But whenever she is in class, she always pays attention to the teacher. Unlike other children who likes to run around and play, she prefers to sit at one corner and observe quietly.

On the contrary, I felt that given the vast potential a child is able to absorb and learn during this period, we should let them do so. Thus, explain why I send himt o Shichida and do my daily flashcards when he was younger. However, his attention span was short and he tends to wander around during class ..it is improving now though his N1 teacher still says he cant sit still for long. Sometimes, I wonder whether it is becos of his character as he has his own ideas and opinions & can be rather stubborn at times. Things that do not interest him wont hold his attention for long..but things that interest him, he is able to sit still & concentrate.

tamarind:

We developed her fine motor skills at home, with activities like picking up real red beans, and cutting real cabbage leaves using butter knifes, etc. Now she has excellent writing and drawing skills. She enjoys writing words with letters that are less than 2mm tall, and she draws with elaborate and tiny details.

I think those activities are good..will consider that on my boy..but, hahah..according to his progress book, he is always in the progressing stage for scooping beans frm one bowl to another, cos knowing him, he will pour the beans rather than scoop them. I know he was being impatient and on the other hand, he sees no point in scooping when he can do a faster & better job by pouring.. :lol: