[Oz-gifted] Update on L

[Ellen Hrebeniuk]

At 9:13 AM +1100 16/12/06, Deidree  McMaster wrote:
>  >You
>>  think you  know roughly what your child is like, and then
>>  they do something and  you think, "Whew!  He IS bright!"
>>  While you are recovering, he does  something else and you
>>  wonder whether there is a village idiot in the  family
>  > tree somewhere...

>I was like that - spent half my life (56) wondering if I was
>actually insane, I felt so unbalanced.  Some
>things I 'got' straight away - other things it seemed that I
>had to be held by the hand and gently
>walked through over and over until they 'stuck', but I
>couldn't always anticipate what they were.

Your story is fascinating!

>That said, I don't by any means suggest that it could be the
>same in your child's case. 
>What I AM saying is that every brain is different, and some
>really do excel in specific regions.

I certainly agree, but while I don't think L performed to my 
understanding of his capacity on the maths elements of the WSPPI, I 
imagine that perhaps it will show up more later.  In fact, I suppose 
it already has, because he is now doing Yr 2 maths with a small group 
of other K children.  I am glad they did not rely on the WSPPI 
subtest results to decide *where* he should be accelerated.  This is 
the kid who picked up single-digit addition/subtraction from a brief 
activity at day care and carried on with sums (all correct) all they 
way home!  That's one of the examples I used with the principal.

I think I successfully hammered home that L was finding school 
pleasurable and interesting because the novelty of school 
routines/activities, and his new circle of friends, were keeping him 
occupied -- not the difficulty of the concepts being taught, though 
some of them were new to him.
-- 
Ellen Hrebeniuk
Sydney, Australia

Being a librarian is how you change the world.
Nancy Pearl