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Gifted and talented

Talk to other parents about parenting a gifted child on this forum.

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Original poster

3yr old and quite advanced for his age

14 replies

ays25 · 21/09/2011 13:35

i have known for a while that my son is quite advanced, he has just started nursery at which in our area they are given 15 hrs a week (4 half days and 1full day), so at the moment he is doing 5 half days, and normally they would start their full 1 day a week after the October half term, i was approached by his key worker today and she said he has settled in very well and shown great maturity and he can start his full day next week (he only started last Monday!!!).
he has been complaining about not wanting to leave school, as most of the children are clinging onto their parents to go home in the mornings.
in the nursery's hand guide it says that some children are entitled to 30 hours per week, if they meet a certain criteria, ie special needs, special educational needs. a friend of mine his daughter is the same age as my son full time already as social services are monitoring her.
i wanted to find out if he would fall into the educational needs category, as by being full time it would benefit him a lot more.
he knows his numbers up to 100 in english, he also taught himself the numbers from 1-30 in french, spanish and german. he is bi lingual aswell. he knows all objects, body parts, planets, foods, animals, and so forth.
can anyone give me some advice or guidance?
thanks

OP posts:

muffinflop · 21/09/2011 22:09

Why would you want him to do 30 hours a week at a nursery?

PippiLongBottom · 21/09/2011 22:30

Is he just three or nearly four? I think those skills you list are within the realms or normal. If he is nearly four, then meh.

PippiLongBottom · 21/09/2011 22:30

*of normal.

iggly2 · 21/09/2011 23:05

I think your child is very clever. I am not sure if your child will benefit from from extra nursery time (apart from socialising). Just think they have learnt all that from you already. I certainly could not count to thirty in all those languages so doubt any nursery would teach them all of that.

blackeyedsusan · 21/09/2011 23:13

i think your child will benefit from time with you to do things that nursery can't. you can give him undivided attention, even if in short bursts. you can take him places like the park and free museums, you can let him have uninterupted free play where he can finish what he is doing without having to go here or there or have other/less children interupting. you can extend his vocabulary by talking about the stuff you see/do/reading books.

madwomanintheattic · 21/09/2011 23:23

i think (apart from the bilingual bit, which is obv due to family circumstance) he sounds v similar to lots of other children, and would not qualify for any additional hours.

fwiw, dd2 has cerebral palsy and was reading the lion the witch and the wardrobe at 3. she was still only entitled to 15 hours.

he sounds v sweet though.

madwomanintheattic · 21/09/2011 23:24

(other langs similar to my three tbh - it's a bit of a party trick and learnable by rote. not really indicative of any particular ability other than copying)

Quidsi · 21/09/2011 23:30

Let him be 3 FFS. Let him go to playgroup and have fun and come home and chill out and have fun. Just let him be.
You will hate me for saying this but in 10years time you will look back on yourself and laugh.
I'm speaking from experience.

madwomanintheattic · 22/09/2011 00:42

oh, and nursery actually apporached the lea about ds1 as they felt they were unable to meet his needs. they were told quite categorically that they did not assess for giftedness until school age, and to get back in their box and get on with it. he only got 15 hours as well. i didn't know anything about it until they confessed at parent's open day at the end of term. (they felt they had to explain as he was was working out change from the shopping game and then working out how many different ways he could give the change with the pile of money he'd got). funny little chap.

madwomanintheattic · 22/09/2011 00:42

apporached clealry iis not gfited/.

Colleger · 22/09/2011 10:52

Why on earth do you think he would benefit. As an old hasbean who has been there and done it I can tell you that learning basically halts for the first 5 years when a gifted child enters school. Why subject him to more mind-numbing drivel?

ShatnersBassoon · 22/09/2011 10:56

Why do you think nursery will give him something that you can't? What have they done to make you think he will benefit from spending all day there?

Original poster

ays25 · 22/09/2011 20:22

I know that obvi all he has learned already is from me but was under the impression that nurserys/schools support children that are advanced, the school has also told me he is very bright and advanced for his age.
Iam finding it a bit wierd already him being at nursery so am not one of those parents that can't wait to ship their kid off to school. All the schools are different, some take them full time, and others only part time. As he is my first child I was just after some advice that's all.

OP posts:

Sam100 · 22/09/2011 20:31

I think the problem with extra sessions is that quite often the afternoon session is just a repeat of the morning so that those only doing one session a day do not miss out - so he would get to do a lot of stuff twice - which is good for reinforcing learning but not necessarily going to stretch him.

If you are free in the afternoon and don't have other dcs or commitments then I would use that time to explore the great outdoors and talk to each other about the world. There are some great science based play centres around - maybe explore those - or find a playgroup with children of his second language and build on his language skills? Or take up a sporting activity to diversify his range. Or even a musical instrument? There is a great piano/keyboard course aimed at 4 to 7 year olds but I am sure that a 3 year old who knows his letters could get to grips with it here. It is 2 fingered to start with so size of hands should not be too much of an issue.

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