I was at the hospital coffee shop yesterday prior to my husband’s appointment with his speech therapist and regular infusion. There are shelves of second-hand books in there which caught my attention.
I am a book worm ever since I was a kid. I bought three books and one of them is ‘Gifted Children: The Challenge Continues’ (A Guide For Parents and Teachers), edited by Angelica Jacob and Graham Barnsley. This book was published by the New South Wales Association for Gifted and Talented Children. It is a very interesting book which I intend to discuss by pieces in several articles here at LMC.
When I picked up Alvin at kindie around 3:30 pm, his teacher and the day care manager talked to me and discussed to me about Alvin’s behaviour at kindie. He is not very fond mingling with other kids. He is a very intelligent young boy but they are concern about his social skills. Honestly, it is the same concern that I have for the last five months.
Since Ivana started big school in January, Alvin became more clingy to me. His separation anxiety came back in the same way as he was when he’s much younger. It was a huge change and adjustment for Alvin, first, to be separated from Ivana in schooling; second, to be separated from Ivana in swimming lesson as well; third, the sudden shift from nappy to under pants which is part of his potty training.
Sounds like merely ‘small things’ for us adults, aren’t they? But for a young boy, they are issues that need to be addressed and taken into consideration.
Alvin’s teacher is concerned about his social skills, but she also emphasized that Alvin is different from other kids in a sense that his intellect is more advanced compared to other kids his age.
A little bit more about Alvin: He started recognizing words at age 2. He memorized the alphabet and counted up to 100 at age 2.5. His sharp memory of letters and images and word association enabled him to spell words at age 2; these are words that are not simple for a 2-year old boy, like: light, shade, slide, orange, strawberry, rocket, alphabet, train etc. At age 3.5 he already knows how to read simple sentences and write words on his own. He also already knows to differentiate simple shapes and geometric shapes like hexagon, octagon, pentagon etc. He is also good in re-telling stories. He loves singing as well as dancing.
Read related and helpful article: http://lovely-moms-cafe.com/2009/08/02/my-future-spelling-bee-champions/
Alvin’s teacher opined that Alvin ‘might’ be a gifted child and that they might need to adjust their program to suit his needs. She suggested that I bring Alvin to the clinic at the hospital where children are brought for assessment to be able to know if he is in the bracket or norm as a ‘gifted child’. She said that the assessment will help them, as well as me as a parent, to adjust and meet Alvin’s needs. The clinic also teaches the parents how to handle gifted children.
For me, whether Alvin is gifted or not does not really matter. What’s important is that he’ll grow healthy and a good person. It is a matter of understanding how I can help him nurture his intellect, skills and talents and teach him how to use those gifts responsibly. Having him as my son and the joy that raising him and Ivana brings to my life is already a precious gift indeed.
