What is gifted?

[RBBMummy]

I feel like the term is overused. My son loves learning and increasing more and more people are calling him gifted particularly today. But I thought gifted meant having a natural ability, he just can't stop learning. Its not gifted if it's just learning is it?

Does it matter?

If he learning and being challenged then does it need a label?

No that's the point. I think people keep misslabeling my son.

If he wants to learn more than others, or is capable of learning more than others, then he is gifted in those areas.

People are free to use any words they want to describe things, there's really no point in arguing that he's not, because by their meaning of the word he is. Arguing about the meaning of what are very very abstract ideas is entirely pointless, just respect the other viewpoints.

Who is using the term? If it’s a teacher then they probably know what they are talking about, just use the label as a way of framing the conversation to ensure he is properly challenged at school.

If it’s outside school, well I’d have to ask how anyone knows how bright he is really? If anyone comments just say “it’s nice he’s enjoying school” and change the subject.

sirfredfredgeorge I get what you mean. But it does seem to negate his effort

Copperbonnet he's not in school yet. Today he decided to multiply 3 digit numbers together instead of draw at nursery. They made a fuss about it when they realised so he showed everyone for the rest of the day. So everyone was saying how gifted he was

I would say that's natural ability OP!

Well no. He taught himself to do it in the last week or so with a workbook he had and some videos he made me put on his tablet

My child was counting backwards from 1000 when he was 16 months old, and telling time to minutes by 2 years old. Was able to decode any words by start of reception. Using powers and roots by 5. I haven't taught him anything. He just leaned it from something, tv, books, website, etc. I think it's called HLP these days.

In that case RBB I wouldn’t worry overly about it. They just mean very clever, don’t over think it.

It sounds like you are giving him
what he needs at home for now.

When he reaches school and assuming that he’s still ahead at that point you will want to have discussions with them to make sure he’s challenged and not bored.

I would say that a 'natural talent' combined with a love for learning and an ability to work hard is an amazing trio of qualities which will take him far. I've seen lots of very bright children stumble at A level or undergraduate level because they have never had to work hard. I've seen averagely bright but very hardworking children do very well indeed through focus and perseverance. But if your ds has all 3 he will go far!

irvineoneohone what does HLP mean?

HLP is high learning potential.

Copperbonnet if they're anything like his nursery they'll just stick him in a corner, let him do whatever. I think they call him gifted as a way to not teaching him

My ds's nursery manager was very enthusiastic and took him on herself to do some 1-1 work with him. But tbh, I think he would have loved that even more if he was left to do whatever he liked.
My ds was selective mute during nursery, hyperlexic with asd traits. So I wasn't really worrying about academic side at all, at least not until ks1.

RBB school and nursery have rather different approaches.

It isn’t usually a nursery’s role to teach children academic things. They are usually focusing on other equally important things such as social and emotional skills. They also tend to be child led.

A school has a duty to assess your child academically, set targets and provide stretch.

I hope so, there is only so much he can teach himself. The nursery always try to "teach" things like colours numbers and shapes for about 30 seconds before letting him do his own thing. But they don't really have any resources there

I think I prefer the term HLP - high learning potential. 'Gifted' kinda suggests they know it all already, whereas HPL suggests they could still be a blank canvas in some areas but with the right support/environment could flourish and make a future for themselves. Therefore a bit less pressure on them?!

"there is only so much he can teach himself"

Not really these days. My ds is learning maths from online course himself. He is also learning coding, 2 foreign languages and biology online at the moment.
So much resources you can access these days.

But non academic things you can learn at preschool/nursery/school is equally important.

Well yeah with the right resources

oh dear, where to start.

What do you want the nursery to 'do' with him then?

I think that all children, even the ones with high learning potential, should be allowed to play, and not be constantly 'stretched'. He's a toddler. Give him a break. The nursery is absolutely right to 'teach' children a few things (through play - it is part of the Early Years' Foundation Stage) and then to let the children explore, play, build mud castles, ride around on bikes. If you want your son to have one-to-one teaching of maths in nursery, I think you should readjust your bar. It's way too high.

You will find on these boards that many parents struggle to have their children recognised as having HLP - if the nursery is pointing it out to you, then maybe you should be pleased. They can't win, can they. Whatever they do is wrong.

The fact that he wants to learn and has the capability to take in and hold that information makes him gifted. Is this a bragging, look how amazing my child is while I’m completely blasé about it?

It wouldn't be hard to scale activities up for him. When they are teaching other kids to draw triangle circle square they could ask him to draw different types of triangles rather than leave him in the corner

Have you asked them to do that?

How formal is the nursery? Usually the "teaching" is a very limited proportion of the day and majority is spent learning through play and activities of their choice. The staff are unlikely to force a reluctant child to engage , so if he opts to get down from an activity, possibly put of boredom, they are not going to push it further. Ds spent a lot of time reading on beanbags during activities involving fine motor skills as an avoidance strategy. Maybe focus on his social and practical skills in the meantime.