My DD is just 6 and has begun year 2 in her small independant school She's been there since nursery and they know her well. As they are independant they do not have to have a gifted and talented register.
My DD is not particularly ahead in her studies, her reading age has been put at 8 though and she is bored with the books the school gives her to read at home...she prefers books which she does not yet have the ability to read...and she has the ability to compose poetry and stories which seem far beyond her years. These are things she does at home...she can write well but not well enough to put down her thoughts and ideas which causes absolute RUCTIONS at home...this week the children were asked to write a story in their own words for homework....now I sat with her and they had been given a little 4 page blank booklet to write it in...her story she told me before she wrote anything down and it was so long and detailed that I had to sit and help her edit it down as no way has she got the ability to write all that and there was not room! It was a disapointment...I KNOW she would not have sat and written it all even if there had been room as her frustration would have ruined the whole thing...she thinks at high speed but cannot write at the same speed.
I have heard about kids deveoping unevenly...so their thinking outstrips their ability in a practical sense...she is a huge perfectionist and all day we have problems with things "not being right" from her socks being twisted to her art not being perfect...she has always been a bit troublesome in various ways, but especially so with her need for perfection in EVERYTHING.
Tonight she went to sleep sobbing because her drawing was "wrong". She does not play with toys...she draws constantly and fiddles with her vast collecions of small treasures like crystals and seeds...she IS sociable at school though. What do you guys think? She could talk fluently at 18 months...began at ten months talking single words and walking...she is still very articulate but is the ability to create stories and poetry but not write them down a sign of giftedness? I am not keen for her to be gifted...only to help her deal with her own frustrations.