like cod

[cod]

arf at this section

parp parp parp
where the " my kid is thick " section

"bollocks savant syndrome", you don't come across that one much do you?

\link{http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=161&a=4293\nas says 1 to 2%} - but I reckon that could be an over-estimate.

Aha I have read Deryl Davis' definition of a savant and it is too broad. Ds1 would fit her description (perfect pitch and can remember and repeat songs perfectly after hearing once despite being severely "mentally retarded" -such a lovely phrase- but in reality he is a long way from being a savant, and there's no way he would do any of that on demand, it just comes out every now and then - often when cross.)

Sorry but the 1 in 10 thing annoys me because you would simply not believe the number of times we have been asked about his special skill, when life for ds1 is about needing 24 hour care and being unable to walk down the street without being attached to someone, being musical or good at maths doesn't even feature.

DB doesn't have any special skills either. Neither does his particular complaint have a name, he is just labelled as "educational learning difficulties" but it stretches much further than that, and yes, we too have been asked what he 'can' do!

And we are discussing geniuses here who have mental disorders, not the other way round!

Did I just say I'd stay off this thread? But it is getting interesting!

dh's cousin apparently has the IQ marking of a genius and when he was a teenager (and younger than that) he was a real problem, he attacked people, he had problems communicating, they didn't know what his problem was so they sent him to psychiatrists and they found out that he had a genius IQ and he got sent to a special school for geniuses. We can't really vouch for him as an adult now as we don't really know him these days. But certainly as a teen and younger he was notoriously difficult - this is just ancedotal though!

@ all scummys posts

esp the one about libraries and art

Me too Enid, all excellent and a model of common sense.

yes and go adn ride a bike fgs
thast a skill

Don't understand myself why this topic bothers people.
Surley if it does then don't come on!? (or is that too easy?}
anniebear, i liked your post, along with FrannyandZooey's posts.
I can totally see how this would be a very helpful topic for those with gifted children as i have seen a few threads where they are slated for daring to mention it. At least here they can discuss things that worry them without being ridiculed. Or at least that was probably the intention of it.
Then again, i don't get why the modeling thredas get such a slating either.
Personally i would find the style threads SO boring but couldn't be arsed to go on there to say it!

Phew. I'm done!

I just read Scummy's post (Scumster to those of us priviledged enough to know her!) and I have to say, I'm impressed! I agree wholeheartedly and sniggerishly too!

What no-one seems to want to acknowledge is that there are people with gifted children who don't like it. So easy to be dismissive and go on about jealousy and how the dissenters would all hate a 12 year old who had grade 8 and all the rest of it; the objections are not as facile as that.

Someone tell me how wonderful my posts are then! (My kids are thick so I need all the praise I can get!)

Simply marvellous my dear :) (the 6.46 one in particular, I agreed with every word actually)

Your kids are so not thick, rhuby! (And your posts are completely G & T)

(I know I owe you an email btw, I promise to do it soon, am a bit distracted with sundry domestic issues atm.......................)

Quite, batters. I think this thread needs a lot more sincere parping from certain quarters.

Yeah but I don't want to boast JanH!

Would be too easy batters!

I don't get it either, at all. It is the threads where you say your child is beautiful or talented or gifted that people react to.
I do hate that thing where we are all accepted so much more if we are being delf deprecating (right word?)
It's a British thing sin't it?

Well, clearly MNers are G+T in the "disagreeing over something pointess and dragging it on and on and on" department.

Snort!

Scummy, you talk a lot of sense most of the time, but the marvellous libraries, museums, galleries etc are only available out of school time. 6.5 hours per day is a long time for anybody to sit in an environment that bores them rigid. I've done temping jobs as a switchboard operator or editorial assistant and it nearly drove me out of my skull.

So yes, I want my children to be happy, and in the classes where dd1 has been happy I can forgive the fact that the work is unchallenging. But for quite a large no. of children quite a bit of the time what goes on in their classroom profoundly pisses them off. Picking up a furiously resentful and school-hating child day after day is not a life-enhancing experience. I'd be happy to pass on the G&T label if the govt and schools would acknowledge that the top 10-15% of kids' needs are probably not being well met in most classrooms most of the time and do something about it.

Re the library thing, that is a totaly valid point. There are some g and t kids though, who come from backgrounds where libraries and museums etc don't happen. The school based stuff would be very helpful for them.

yeah I know rhubarb, but the 1 in 10 thing flew out at me. It is bollards that its that high. It's nowhere near and its such a common misconception that I had to say something (and don't you just want to brain someone who says that to you about your db?)

Yes, good point mb.

There seems to be an assumption made by some that all g and t kids come from academic backgrounds, and that just isn't the case. They don't all come from 'nice supportive' families either. I've worked with some who come from awful backgrounds. And frankly anything that helps them is a good thing (TM applied for)

Exactly mb. There are kids I've taught who would more than likely come under the G&T label now its here, but realitically wouldn't be taken to libraries and museums outside school hours. One I can think of had a Dad who was in prison for murder and his Mum was working her arse off to keep her and her 4 kids heads above water.