Keep the faith!

Since I started writing about gifted kids and how to identify them, I’ve received several messages from parents looking for advice. You can email me at rinelle.amor@gmail.com

I’m not an educational or psychological expert, but just a parent who has been in the same situation. I point out what this parent is facing because I know how easy it is to worry there’s something wrong with your child. Now I know that all they really need is a great teacher who understands them, and the right services tailored to their ‘special needs’.

Keep the faith! And keep advocating for your gifted children.

Characteristics of Gifted Child

ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children (1985) cites General Behavior Characteristics of Gifted Child

Gifted children's behavior differs from that of their age-mates in the following ways:

Many gifted children learn to read early, with better comprehension of the nuances of language. As much as half the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school. Gifted children often read widely, quickly, and intensely and have large vocabularies. Gifted children commonly learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice. They are better able to construct and handle abstractions. They often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences that other children need to have spelled out for them. They take less for granted, seeking the "hows" and "whys." They can work independently at an earlier age and can concentrate for longer periods. Their interests are both wildly eclectic and intensely focused. They often have seemingly boundless energy, which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity. They usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults. They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers. They like to learn new things, are willing to examine the unusual, and are highly inquisitive. They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organized, goal-directed, and efficient manner. They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and are often very persistent. "I'd rather do it myself" is a common attitude.

How do you tell if your child is gifted?

I want to stress that the gifted are normal people.But they face special challenges, especially unreal expectations, notably being seen as strange and unhappy. Others, such as parents and teachers, can feel threatened by them and react with put-downs. What they need is acceptance for who they are, appropriate opportunities to develop their potential and reliable moral support. These types of scenarios are not unusual. In fact, some estimate that the majority of gifted children in the schools are never identified.

Parents should become familiar with the signs of giftedness even before their child starts school. Most school districts do not even start identifying children for gifted programs until second or third grade, and parents of exceptionally bright or gifted children may want to consider private testing or alternative placement options (such as a private preschool school program or early grade acceleration) before that time.

Early testing and identification can be a controversial subject, but many advocates of gifted children believe that they should be identified as soon as possible so that their unique needs and talents can be acknowledged and nurtured right from the start.

Do not be entirely dependent on the schools when it comes to identification. Keep in mind that many teacher training programs require little (if any) course work in giftedness, so some teachers and school administrators may not have all the information they need to recognize gifted children. For this reason, our insights are important, and the more knowledge we have, the better position we're in to partnership with others when selecting the best programs for our child.

Parent Expertise

As an educator for almost 14 years, I have come to fully understand that parents are the true experts of their own children. We teachers do not use parent expertise nearly enough. Until I heard from my son Developmental Pediatrician regarding this matter.

Advanced language development, especially speaking in sentences earlier than milestones indicate, seems to be one possible clue for potential giftedness. An early onset of being intrinsically motivated. Children who chose to try improve their own work. Children who put pressure themselves to have things organized and as perfect as possible—even when their parents are laid back. Often children were described as those who were extremely persistent at accomplishing a task. And only parent can often described their creative child as one who “marches to his/her own beat.”

Regardless of any test, most of these gifted children were first identified at home. We are the expert on our own child. Feed their interests and encourage their curiosity.

Keep pressing on

The word "Gifted" is not commonly understood even among teachers and many educators. This puts enourmous pressure on us as parents of gifted boy. I almost lost my son's potential due to my lack of knowledge. I hoped that he will just be a normal bright child. I learned about gifted children some years ago when we had a check through developmental pediatrician and realised how badly I have failed my son who once would go in extreme speed in mastery skills.

He was asked to take him for a test, he works on any subject with flying colors that is about 2 years ahead of his grade. One morning, I got up and said " I will do the best that I can to sustain my son learning enhancement. Since then, both me and my husband have gone miles to work something out at my son. We are among handful parents who have managed to negotiate for an individual education plan where he is allowed to work on his own books in subjects where he is working in an advance level. Though he now he is a homeschool his books are fully monitored by us. This is a great challenge for a child of his age but amazingly he is coping well. Today, we can say that he enjoys homeschool to some extent. I want to say this to all parents who find help far away, "Don't give up, you can, with your determination and perseverance bring about a change for your gifted child". Your child needs you, not just as their parent and guardian but also as their advocate. Keep pressing on.

Unique Learning Style

My li'l boy Rallone has kinesthetic learning style,he cannot just sit still and wait for information to be given. He surpass in finding out things for himself without any needs for guidance. Explorers at heart, he is quite active even before a lesson proper. His natural curiosity drives him to make new discoveries, making it hard for regular schools to limit his movement. He was often mistaken to be rowdy and undisciplined. That however, is a grave misconception. "Kinesthetic learners always seem to be moving around because they see their surroundings differently. For them, the world is just a huge playground full of wonderful things they want to discover and explore."

Rallione is fond of tinkering with toys, trying to find out how they work. He is also quick learner, especially when he left alone to examine a particular object. He can quickly put one and one together and have a great capacity to understand complex processes and procedures.He is always at the forefront of experimentation and exploration.

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If your child shows an extreme fondness of taking things apart to discover how they function, you should consider home schooling like what I did. They should be given the opportunity to excel in their studies using their natural skills

Observing how your child learns is the first step in developing a good home schooling program. Create a list of your child's learning behaviors and determine whether he is a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner.

Choosing the right lessons, activities, and teaching methods will put your child on the right track to a successful future. In their formative years, children will develop certain attitudes towards school and learning.

Parents like you should pay close attention to their preferences and consider alternative education if you feel that regular school systems have failed in helping students achieve their full potential.

How can we differentiate between behavior problems due to sensory processing problems and behaviors due to other problems?

At first it was hard for me to differentiate too, but eventually you just learn your child. It depends on what sensory issues you are dealing with also. With us we have made a rule that even if he thinks an item of clothing doesn't feel good he at least has to try it on (even if he has before) sometimes this rule works and sometimes its a little harder with crying and a little fear, but when he turns to tantrums we tell him .. we put him in his bed and tell him he can come out when he is ready to follow the rules and speak respectfully and also we make a point to tell him that we are not upset with his because his clothes don't feel good, we are upset with him because of how he is behaving.

Also there are things that have nothing to do with needing sensory input we have noticed is just he testing his boundaries and we handle it accordingly. just remember spanking never solves anything... it will just teach them it's okay to hit considering kids learn by what you do not what you say... plus it would only backfire in a sensory kid.

We have found that if we impose certain rules that apply mid meltdown not matter what the reason for his actions it creates consistency and a general idea that no matter what you are going through it is never okay to hit or be disrespectful. Just remember to take a deep breath and walk away...

Now that Rallione is 7, thankfully he's much more affectionate, loves kisses and cuddles and constantly tells me he loves me.

Extremely sensitive

It is said that crying is a normal reaction of a child missing his dad. But not for my lil boy Rallione who is now experiencing a deep sense of longing for his dad. We dropped my hubby early this morning at Terminal 1 NAIA. I sensed the intense emotions trying to escape from my lil boy.

People often believe that sensitive children like Rallione are simply being melodramatic and making a fuss over nothing. The truth is many gifted children are extremely sensitive.Rallione seems to take everything to his heart and get extremely upset by words and deeds that other children can ignore or get over quickly.He respond to each negative experience as though it was the end of the world.

The reason

Through homeschooling we can impart the values to my son Rallione and turn him into self-learner by making each moment a "learning moment".Learning becomes part of his lifestyle. Even after class hours, we can teach our son. Learning takes place 24/7, not only during class hours.

Parents who come to homeschooling for various reasons, like the rising cost of tuition and other school fees. Some decided to opt for homeschooling because of their children’s traumatic experience in regular schools.

But for me, the decision to take charge of my son's education was due to his condition. My son is potentially gifted child. I wanted my son to learn more and to study at his own pace.

My son was only in grade one, probably other might think that it could be a lot of difficulties if I will allow him to study independently and at times with my guidance. But I sensed that my little boy really knew what he is supposed to do, the result of his assestment test can attest to that.

At home, we build his self-esteem. We can tell him who he really are, we don’t diminish his strengths and we don’t magnify his weaknesses.

diff. kind of learning experiences for Ral

I would rather gave Rallione a different kind of learning experience. I asked him, if he wanted me to teach him at home.He was so excited at the prospect of studying at home. We did not have to convince him! I could spend more time with you Mommy, he said.

With home-schooling, parents could adjust to the learning needs of their children. If the child learns fast, we could move on to more challenging lessons. On the other hand, if the child has difficulty in one particular lesson, the parent can spend more time on that subject.

I believe that homeschooling let me adopt teaching styles not used in traditional schools. Schools use the lecture style of teaching. Naturally, children who are good listeners excel in this setting.
With numerous studies on multiple intelligences coming out, more focus has been given to children with different learning capabilities.

My son for example, is kinesthetic—he learns more by manipulating things that Rallione was more auditory and visual, understanding things better if he could see them.

Socialization was not a problem with home-schoolers. Rallione for one has cousins across the street to play with. Socialization does not mean that you only relate with people your own age. Homeschooling will give Rallione the opportunity to deal with older people and younger ones in a confident manner.

This school year, we will start a homeschooling. Probably Rallione can do his schoolwork from Monday to Thursday. He will have Fridays to himself and weekends for the family. In homeschooling, we can finish everything in four days.

Home schooling for Ral

Sorry it has been a long time! We have been so busy for the past few days! Having a gifted child a spd can completely exhaust us and professional if they are not educated on the disorder( and sometimes even if they are). Considering this situation, we decided to pull Rallione out from school. We will consider a homeschool for now.

Homeschooling can help us create a more flexible environment. Rallione likes to do things on his own. We thought that somehow home schooling will bless us esp. me with the opportunity to spend 24/7 with him. The precious time during his formative years will surely cement the bond between us. We will come to know each other 's strenght and weaknesses and this will hlp us understand and appreciate each other deeply.

Wish I could have a magic wand

Believe it or not, Rallione has improved markedly once he started going to preparatory! The changes in the last year have been factors better! We were afraid to "unleash" him on his unsuspecting teacher, but Teacher Liza is a tough cookie, and she's handling him great. I was even contemplating home schooling because I thought, regular school will be a disaster!!

I'll never forget how his teacher had never heard of SPD before, and we were like, "here we go!!!" But it's amazing how things work out. I think having my son in an environment all day long where he can see how other kids act has been HUGELY good for him. His school work is great. He's had some behavior issues - he doesn't understand other people's space, etc., but his "red marks" at school are consistent -- we are working on those.

Rallione is now in first grade and he seemed OK for the first few days, but then they switched teachers on him and now his symptoms are all back. He complained about the loud sound cause by his lot of classmates, he refuses completely to wear socks.He also complaining about the longer hour of sitting in school.

The teacher and principal and the whole staff of the school are being unbelievable supportive, but it's so stressful! I'm so stressed out I can hardly sleep or eat and every time the teacher calls my attention, I jump a foot in the air for fear that he's gone into a meltdown again.

With three kids, managing his symptoms and being an advocate for his in school has been very hard. We are doing everything we can for him because we love him so much and he's the most wonderful child when he's not all freaked out about his sensory issues, but I just wish I could wave a magic wand and make it all turn normal.