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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 163257" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Becklit, I'm glad your son has good comprehension. My son has done well there too, as long as the comprehension was for fairly obvious stuff like "What colour was the man's coat?" when the information was clearly in the text. Trickier is he more subtle stuff such as "What do you think the girl was thinking when she told her friend, "I don't care about anything any more!"?</p><p></p><p>Sometimes a kid can seem amazingly bright and we treat them that way until they hit an academic brick wall early in their teens. I've seen this happen to a few kids, including two of my own - difficult child 1 and easy child 2/difficult child 2. Especially easy child 2/difficult child 2 - we got her accelerated into school on the basis of a sky-high IQ and apparently extreme capability. She was about 10 when the problems became obvious - it turned out she has ADD and is borderline Asperger's. She's taking longer to properly mature but is getting there with help. In contrast, her older sister easy child has the same intellect but not the same problems. She has just continued to do well once she "got the knack" of self-motivation in her studies.</p><p></p><p>easy child attended a school that was academically selective - entrance is by examination and only the most exceptional students were accepted. She had a very bright classmate who was Aspie. Somehow he had passed the tests with flying colours even though he had fairly high support needs. He was university level in maths (at US Middle School age) and had done brilliantly in English and Comprehension (part of the entrance exam) or he wouldn't have got in, but easy child told me that when it came to the more subtle aspects of English, he just wasn't up to it. For example, when they were studying "Hamlet" and the class were discussing Hamlet's indecision, his fixation on revenge and how this was hurting the people he loved, this Aspie boy was just not able to 'get' it. All he could see in the play was the blood & gore in the final swordfight scene which leads to so many dead bodies on the stage.</p><p></p><p>At some stage you need to get your son assessed and generally checked out. Sooner is better, because he's so bright that the older he gets the more effectively he will be compensating (on the surface at least) for whatever the problem is. There is a difference between compensating for a problem, and being able to overcome it entirely. I describe it like a swan on the lake - a kid with a learning problem has a much harder job trying to keep up with the other kids, in whatever area he is having difficulty. But a bright kid who is good at compensating - all people see is the serenity of a swan gliding on the lake. They don't see the furious activity beneath the surface which is needed to maintain that semblance of tranquility.</p><p></p><p>Specialists and educators over the years will give you this advice or that advice. In the meantime, you will work out some things for yourself, that work well for you and your family. I have learnt some things too.</p><p></p><p>1) He's reading - so encourage him to read even more, from a range of different text types.</p><p></p><p>2) You read the books too and discuss them with him. Try to go beyond the obvious as far as he can easily manage it.</p><p></p><p>3) Make sure his environment is enriched. Our house is a mess but it is also a rich learning environment. For years we had Graeme Base's "Animalia" frieze on the wall where the kids could sit and work on the many puzzles hidden in each frame. </p><p>Behind the toilet door we have a rotating range of learning aids. I would write them for any of the children who needed an extra hand in something, and younger kids would inadvertently learn it too. Times tables, French irregular verbs, tongue twisters, Escher prints, optical illusions.</p><p></p><p>4) Watch TV & DVDs with subtitles on. </p><p></p><p>5) Watch documentaries and other educational TV.</p><p></p><p>And generally - make sure he is getting enough intellectual stimulation. I found my really bright kids would drive me crazy, and get really resentful, if there just wasn't enough to occupy their minds. easy child's teachers found this early, too - they had to keep shoving work at her or she would begin to fidget and misbehave. difficult child 3 would get very anxious but would often settle down if we gave him some maths schoolwork to do.</p><p></p><p>Teach him chess. Teach him music (much easier, for a reader - I stuck the relevant letters to piano keys and then wrote out the sequence of notes needed to play difficult child 3's favourite tunes; it was a short step from there to reading music).</p><p></p><p>Regardless of what your son may have in terms of any underlying issue - these techniques helped us keep our bright children occupied and productive. Along the way their interests and direction became more apparent and this helped us understand and support their interests. We let them work at the pace they set. If an electronics kit, for example, said that it was suitable for 10 year olds but our 6 year old was really interested, then we let him have a go (with supervision, at least until we were sure he could manage).</p><p></p><p>All through this - observe, make notes, keep your own diary on what he says and does. Anything interesting, any problem, any concern - write it down. You may think it will be burned into your brain in letters of fire - but don't count on it. If you can, encourage your husband to also make notes (or at least to contribute to yours, or ask you to note down something).</p><p></p><p>At some stage you will be very glad of this resource. What if one day your son becomes the next Bill Gates? You will need some good records to write his biography and make another fortune!</p><p></p><p>And a quick housekeeping issue with the site - when you're responding to a person's post in particular, clicking "reply" at the end of each message you want to reply to doesn't always make it clear whose message you're replying to. You also don't need to make multiple posts to reply. You can get everybody's messages dealt with in just one post, by referring to each person by name in a separate paragraph.</p><p></p><p>A PM is different, because that is a private message that only travels between you and the person you sent it to.</p><p></p><p>Your son REALLY sounds like mine - and while there can be a lot of hard work at times, the joys are amazing.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 163257, member: 1991"] Becklit, I'm glad your son has good comprehension. My son has done well there too, as long as the comprehension was for fairly obvious stuff like "What colour was the man's coat?" when the information was clearly in the text. Trickier is he more subtle stuff such as "What do you think the girl was thinking when she told her friend, "I don't care about anything any more!"? Sometimes a kid can seem amazingly bright and we treat them that way until they hit an academic brick wall early in their teens. I've seen this happen to a few kids, including two of my own - difficult child 1 and easy child 2/difficult child 2. Especially easy child 2/difficult child 2 - we got her accelerated into school on the basis of a sky-high IQ and apparently extreme capability. She was about 10 when the problems became obvious - it turned out she has ADD and is borderline Asperger's. She's taking longer to properly mature but is getting there with help. In contrast, her older sister easy child has the same intellect but not the same problems. She has just continued to do well once she "got the knack" of self-motivation in her studies. easy child attended a school that was academically selective - entrance is by examination and only the most exceptional students were accepted. She had a very bright classmate who was Aspie. Somehow he had passed the tests with flying colours even though he had fairly high support needs. He was university level in maths (at US Middle School age) and had done brilliantly in English and Comprehension (part of the entrance exam) or he wouldn't have got in, but easy child told me that when it came to the more subtle aspects of English, he just wasn't up to it. For example, when they were studying "Hamlet" and the class were discussing Hamlet's indecision, his fixation on revenge and how this was hurting the people he loved, this Aspie boy was just not able to 'get' it. All he could see in the play was the blood & gore in the final swordfight scene which leads to so many dead bodies on the stage. At some stage you need to get your son assessed and generally checked out. Sooner is better, because he's so bright that the older he gets the more effectively he will be compensating (on the surface at least) for whatever the problem is. There is a difference between compensating for a problem, and being able to overcome it entirely. I describe it like a swan on the lake - a kid with a learning problem has a much harder job trying to keep up with the other kids, in whatever area he is having difficulty. But a bright kid who is good at compensating - all people see is the serenity of a swan gliding on the lake. They don't see the furious activity beneath the surface which is needed to maintain that semblance of tranquility. Specialists and educators over the years will give you this advice or that advice. In the meantime, you will work out some things for yourself, that work well for you and your family. I have learnt some things too. 1) He's reading - so encourage him to read even more, from a range of different text types. 2) You read the books too and discuss them with him. Try to go beyond the obvious as far as he can easily manage it. 3) Make sure his environment is enriched. Our house is a mess but it is also a rich learning environment. For years we had Graeme Base's "Animalia" frieze on the wall where the kids could sit and work on the many puzzles hidden in each frame. Behind the toilet door we have a rotating range of learning aids. I would write them for any of the children who needed an extra hand in something, and younger kids would inadvertently learn it too. Times tables, French irregular verbs, tongue twisters, Escher prints, optical illusions. 4) Watch TV & DVDs with subtitles on. 5) Watch documentaries and other educational TV. And generally - make sure he is getting enough intellectual stimulation. I found my really bright kids would drive me crazy, and get really resentful, if there just wasn't enough to occupy their minds. easy child's teachers found this early, too - they had to keep shoving work at her or she would begin to fidget and misbehave. difficult child 3 would get very anxious but would often settle down if we gave him some maths schoolwork to do. Teach him chess. Teach him music (much easier, for a reader - I stuck the relevant letters to piano keys and then wrote out the sequence of notes needed to play difficult child 3's favourite tunes; it was a short step from there to reading music). Regardless of what your son may have in terms of any underlying issue - these techniques helped us keep our bright children occupied and productive. Along the way their interests and direction became more apparent and this helped us understand and support their interests. We let them work at the pace they set. If an electronics kit, for example, said that it was suitable for 10 year olds but our 6 year old was really interested, then we let him have a go (with supervision, at least until we were sure he could manage). All through this - observe, make notes, keep your own diary on what he says and does. Anything interesting, any problem, any concern - write it down. You may think it will be burned into your brain in letters of fire - but don't count on it. If you can, encourage your husband to also make notes (or at least to contribute to yours, or ask you to note down something). At some stage you will be very glad of this resource. What if one day your son becomes the next Bill Gates? You will need some good records to write his biography and make another fortune! And a quick housekeeping issue with the site - when you're responding to a person's post in particular, clicking "reply" at the end of each message you want to reply to doesn't always make it clear whose message you're replying to. You also don't need to make multiple posts to reply. You can get everybody's messages dealt with in just one post, by referring to each person by name in a separate paragraph. A PM is different, because that is a private message that only travels between you and the person you sent it to. Your son REALLY sounds like mine - and while there can be a lot of hard work at times, the joys are amazing. Marg [/QUOTE]
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