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Home  Articles Children Gifted - Two Very Different Children
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Gifted - Two Very Different Children |
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Page 1 of 5 Hi,
I'm 'Mum' to N (nearly 13) and J who was 10 in December. They're both very different children in terms of personality, N is not a confident child and could be described as 'highly strung' (!) whereas J is a day dreamer,easy going and usually cheerful.
A little more about them both:
N
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N was quick to walk (9 months) but slow with speech and toilet training (nearly 3 for both). He's enjoyed reading and being read to from pre-school age, and still enjoys both reading and being read to now.
He's always been highly strung and prone to temper outbursts, a result I believe, of difficult family circumstances. In emotional terms,he seems to me (as his mother) as somewhat younger than his chronological age...at one stage he was at level three of the school monitoring for behavioural special needs.....
....but academically, when he feels confident about a subject, he takes it in very quickly. However, he gets bored and switches off very quickly and is not yet mature enough to find extension work for himself. If he lacks confidence in a subject, he goes on strike and won't attempt it as he fears failure. This has caused particular problems with writing, as he dreads being criticised about his handwriting (which is extremely untidy).
Beneath the insecurities on the surface, he is a very sensitive and loving child.......the very soft and gentle side of his personality is particularly visible when he is interacting with animals.....he is very gentle and patient with our four cats, including one which was ill-treated previously and was quite aggressive when he first came to live with us. N was able to 'tune in' to the cat's needs and help to socialise him.
I was slightly surprised when his primary school mentioned that he might well be 'gifted', mainly because his behaviour (which can be challenging to deal with) sometimes obscures the academic ability that he has.
J
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J is a cheerful, *very* laid back and incredibly affectionate little soul.....everything happens on his timescale and no one else's (he's the kinda child who runs round the house yelling 'socksies, where are you socksies, come out, I want to put you on' at 8.30 am on a school day, lol, getting dressed can take up to 3/4 hour!)
He was slow to walk (18 months), slow to talk (nearly three - but perfect sentences straight off when he finally did start), slow to potty train. My childminder expressed concern, wondering if he should be assessed for special needs, because he often appeared to be in his own little world, though when he occassionally tuned into Earth, he showed that he was able to do everything other kids could do with no problems at all.
As the younger sibling of a child whose behaviour can lead to getting a lot of attention, I think J has perfected the art of charming adults into not forgetting him.....it would have been very easy for him to become left out, as The Adults focused on his older brother.
He responds very well to praise, and at school, as soon as he realised that his parents were pleased with his achievements, he decided he wanted to work hard, and like anything he decides to do, he throws himself into school work, but still comments that he doesn't really find it too hard.....his teachers used to complain that he spent too much time larking around (eg tying a neighbouring child's plaits in a knot, mooning in the playground!) and not enough time focusing.....but over the last year or so, he has started taking part in a lot of extra curricular activities, and this seems to help him to focus overall.
He teacher recently let us know that he has a reading age of 15, the highest in his year 5 cohort, and one of the highest in his school, so we are now aware that he too needs extra 'enrichment' and stimulation to keep him interested and focused as he makes his way through school.
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