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I have a 7 y.o. son and recently moved to a very small, isolated school district (63 students in K-12; an hour to the next town). They recently did qualitative testing on every child. My son came out at 97% in the verbal, 77% in the quantitative, and 36% in the non-verbal.
The verbal score didn't surprise anyone at the school, since it is pretty apparent when you talk with him. He does okay at school--it has greatly improved this year. He is slow on the timed math sheets, but doesn't have trouble doing the actual problems and likes to play around with math at home. He loves science and art and has recently begun to like to read (he has always loved to be read to).
Obviously, this is a small school, and K-2 are combined with one teacher and one aide (there are 15 kids total), so there isn't a lot of resources to spend on him. Plus, I think the teacher does an excellent job and there are ways for him to advance himself within the classroom.
My question to you is what should I be doing at home, if anything? The school suggested having him learn a musical instrument. He is excited at the idea. I have started reading Harry Potter with him, which has increased his excitement about reading. (Before we had continually run into him not wanting to read because the books were boring--he really wants to read the higher-end young science books, but couldn't.) We try to give a lot of free playtime and he recently got a toolbox and tools for his birthday, so we hope to set up his own building area with scrap wood.
Any other ideas on what to do or not to do? Any websites I should check out? I really don't know what his scoring means overall--he isn't off the charts, so do we just take this in stride?
Thanks for any advice. I'm trying to read through the "Gifted Children" thread started by IvoryTickler, but I have a ways to go yet!
I have a 7 y.o. son and recently moved to a very small, isolated school district (63 students in K-12; an hour to the next town). They recently did qualitative testing on every child. My son came out at 97% in the verbal, 77% in the quantitative, and 36% in the non-verbal.
The verbal score didn't surprise anyone at the school, since it is pretty apparent when you talk with him. He does okay at school--it has greatly improved this year. He is slow on the timed math sheets, but doesn't have trouble doing the actual problems and likes to play around with math at home. He loves science and art and has recently begun to like to read (he has always loved to be read to).
Obviously, this is a small school, and K-2 are combined with one teacher and one aide (there are 15 kids total), so there isn't a lot of resources to spend on him. Plus, I think the teacher does an excellent job and there are ways for him to advance himself within the classroom.
My question to you is what should I be doing at home, if anything? The school suggested having him learn a musical instrument. He is excited at the idea. I have started reading Harry Potter with him, which has increased his excitement about reading. (Before we had continually run into him not wanting to read because the books were boring--he really wants to read the higher-end young science books, but couldn't.) We try to give a lot of free playtime and he recently got a toolbox and tools for his birthday, so we hope to set up his own building area with scrap wood.
Any other ideas on what to do or not to do? Any websites I should check out? I really don't know what his scoring means overall--he isn't off the charts, so do we just take this in stride?
Thanks for any advice. I'm trying to read through the "Gifted Children" thread started by IvoryTickler, but I have a ways to go yet!
Sorry off subject a bit but I want to point out something very important. Your sons verbal vs non verbal scores are a big red flag. Were these COGAT scores? If so you should look at thier website. When there is a as little as a 20 point difference between verbal and non verbal it may indicate a learning issue. Which if your son is very bright it is very possible he may have a hidden issue. Please check this out!!!!!!! My first grader had a 99 verbal and 60 non verbal and the school was all over it.
Thank you both. I asked about the difference--if it was something I should be concerned about, but they didn't think so. They just said that it was a hard area to learn. I will ask more questions and look more into. It did feel as though it was "Hurray! Your son is gifted. Pat yourself on the back and there you go." sort of situation--which is why I'm here asking questions. What did your school do about your child's score situation?
Good for you for wanting to be involved! So many parents stress to their gifted kids that they need to conform and not excel. Psychologically it is far better to encourage their interests.
Learning a musical instrument is a great idea. DD and DS #1 (newly turned 8 and 5.5 years old) love Harry Potter. They have also begun reading the Earagon series. A few others are Inkheart series, Lemony Snickets, and Spiderwick Chornicles. Actually, with Christmas coming up, check out www.CBOMC.com. It is a children's book club that we go through to get books for our kids, especially for Christmas. When you search for books, type in words that mean more than one such as series, 4 in 1, trilogy, complete, chronicles, set, ect to find even better deals for the start up package. We got a set of 4 Mark Twain books, A Wrinkle in Time, 4 Shel Silverstein books among many others. Surround him with books he'll love. Take him to the book store and let him browse each section. Make sure he looks past the covers. DD for example loves animals and once we opened a book she said, "Nah," to because the cover was plain but when it was opened, she got pretty excited about what was inside.
It is actually probably better that he is in the k-2 class right now as he will have material about his peer level all around him. Later though, as he grasps and moves ahead, he will be ready for 3rd grade all that much earlier so he will become bored unless the school is willing to move him up when he is ready. He may even be ready for it already.
May sound ignorant, but what does "non-verbal" entail? We just don't have this breakage in Canada.
Our situation sounds very similar - 90 students in K-6 (then they move to a town's mid-high school, 30 min away.) My 1st grader just brought her report card, it's broken down by subjects and social development/work habits.
Thank you both. I asked about the difference--if it was something I should be concerned about, but they didn't think so. They just said that it was a hard area to learn. I will ask more questions and look more into. It did feel as though it was "Hurray! Your son is gifted. Pat yourself on the back and there you go." sort of situation--which is why I'm here asking questions. What did your school do about your child's score situation?
Thanks for the website, too!
We did a lot of additional testing. Turns out she is both highly gifted and dyslexic. Does he appear to have any issues with spelling or math? Letter/number reversals etc. My child was an interesting case as she does read fairly well for a dyslexic and your sons scores are so incredibly similar. We have had extensive testing done privately and cogat scores like that are pretty dead on for a dyslexic. But you know he may just have had an issue with that type of testing. My older child is gifted as well..but all 3 of her cogats were virtually the same. In our school system a 99% composite means automatic entry into the program....and we have about 7% in the program. Which tells me most talented or gifted kids scores for all three fall in a similar range. I am not sure I'd do anything now.....if there aren't any red flags.. for really smart kids dyslexia doesn't show up until around 4th grade because they compensate extremely well.....we just got lucky with the scores and a few other red flags like left right reversal, no dominant left or right handedness etc. It may just be nothing and I have totally freaked you out for nothing....but you know it may be good to just have your eyes open on this one.
What are they using to quantify his "gifteness"??? From what you have posted it would seem to me he is actually behind the curve given his age-a year older than most 1st graders and far behind where he should be, 2nd grade. I guess I am confused and would be more worried about the school applying a label that doesn't fit and the poor kid having to live up to that label.
My sons are also gifted and both of them did poorly on written tests; yet not at home. I had the first one checked for color-blindness in first grade, and he had the a moderate level of color-blindness - I think it was both blue/green and green/red - it's been a long time for this old memory. My second son was tested before starting school and he showed a full-spectrum color blindness - he sees only shades of gray. The tests were repeated as they aged and were consistent for each throughout their childhood. It required special considerations on the teacher's part to accommodate their problems - this was long before there was such a thing as an IEP.
Certain tasks are nearly impossible for a colorblind child to get correct: The old color = a number. This time of year it would be a Santa with numbered sections 1+1 = ? If 2, color red; if 3, color brown, etc. My son who knew his multiplication tables before first grade failed this every time. That was our first clue. He also couldn't read the mimeos (do they even use them anymore?)
May sound ignorant, but what does "non-verbal" entail? We just don't have this breakage in Canada.
Our situation sounds very similar - 90 students in K-6 (then they move to a town's mid-high school, 30 min away.) My 1st grader just brought her report card, it's broken down by subjects and social development/work habits.
As told to me, Non-verbal is testing their spacial awareness. One test was a piece of paper was folded a certain way and then hole-punched. The paper was then unfolded and the child had to figure out how it was originally folded using the holes as a guide.
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