I am mum to a 10 yo HG assessed child and a 6 yo probably HG or EG son not assessed yet. Both boys exhibited similar tendencies. Early readers (self taught), need little sleep, fascination with puzzles. 10 yo had a number of behavioural problems.
My question is this. I also have an 8yo daughter. Who was slow to read. Is very shy. Will not speak up in the classroom. Struggled to learn to read (when I say struggle it is probably more like was average) . But now seems to be coming out of her shell at 8.
We are about to get our 6yo assessed. My question is. Should we also get our 8yo daughter assessed? She has not exhibited the same signs the boys did- but they were extreme. And I wonder if we are glossing over her abilities because she is not the same as her brothers. I would hate to go on with the boys and have her being left behind bc I did not recognise her talents! ???
Yes I would get her tested, while your boys are quite obviously EG, it's also totally possible your daughter is just a quiet/ shy thinker and just as bright - if she's got any anxiety issues they may be hiding her abilities somewhat as anxiety can make it really hard for kids to get across their knowledge and can make them fearful of taking risks in things like reading and writing (having this issue with my youngest son at the moment, he tests very poorly on stuff we know he knows as he just freaks out and clams up, and he can read better when he is by himself with no help than when someone is watching and helping...)
I've been told that intelligence is passed down the female line on the X chromosome and that all children in the family will be within 15 IQ points of their siblings so some might be gifted, some just very bright, but if you have EG kids then I'd be betting your girl is gifted, maybe not extremely but gifted none the less.
Thank you so much Shar...
Yes- she does experience a good deal of anxiety. The teacher has just done assessments and she told me that E knows far more than she lets on. She asked her a question to which E said she did nto know... when promoted to "guess" she got it right.
My two sons... the eldest more so ... are extremely full on.. and exhausting ! ... but they are fantastic :) ... I would worry that just bc E was not presenting with the typical "signs" that I was used to I would be glossing over her abilities.
My husband is extremely bright and looking back I suffered many of the same issues DS10 faces/faced .. so in line with the "apple not falling far from the tree" .. I think I will go ahead and test her too ...
IME biochemically sensitivity is very common in GT kids and especially in VS GT children (Visual Spatial) .... what means is that they are far more sensitive to the biochemicals released into their system when they experience different emotions .... and seem to also release more with less intense emotional experiences.
What that means is that even feeling a little "anxious" (for example) can have a BIG impact on cognition and learning (was about to post about this in the schooling section with respect to my grandson).
Not so much a case of "hiding" it but rather that they are more vulnerable to the situation from moment to moment and that can be quite disconcerting for them also.
Im not sure about the "mechanics" with non-visual spatial children (I am visual spatial myself so I can quite literally SEE how these things interact in the VS "internal environment" ) but in VS children it prevents them being able to visualise (lack of opportunity to continue to develop their visual imagination has much the same affect).
The brain has still performed the other cognitive tasks - so the answers are still "there" ..... but it really does become an 'intuitive' process to access them ..... and is experienced as "guessing" (unless one has another set of beliefs that result in some other interpretation - eg "spiritual" beliefs may be helpful in that it would likely be experienced more as "knowing via another source" )
It MAY work in a similar way with those who are auditory - ie interfere with the phonological loop but their processing speed is actually slower (although they show up as having a "faster" processing speed upon assessment) so that would alter the technical aspects (when observed it would appear to be different if compared to a VS child).
A child can absolutely appear to be a "normal paced learner" just learning at their own pace but actually be an exceptionally bright child who is struggling immensely due to a mismatch between the way they are being taught (both directly or indirectly) and the way they learn or process information internally.
If you are in a position to do so, I would say a cognitive assessment would definitely be of benefit .... even IF it did come out that she was just a "normal kid within the mean range" (ie no significant difference between strengths or weaknesses) at least you would KNOW that and proceed accordingly without second guessing yourself - but statistically it is unlikely she would be more than a standard deviation below her siblings.
All the best and well done .... many would overlook the "normal" appearing child :)
Girls are very good at dumbing themselves down. They really just want to "fit in" with everyone else. My daughter got tested when she was 6 (5 years ago) - we really only got her tested because her older brother had been, and although they are completely different we just wondered ....... At the time she lacked confidence and always thought she needed other kids help to do things - like maths, yet last year she was the only girl in her class in the top maths group!
After the assessment we started her at One Day School. She is now very happy to put her hand up and contribute to class discussions. She is completely aware that she learns and thinks differently and is quite happy about that.
