Aren't ALL children gifted and talented in something?

[pamelat]

Sorry I am new to this topic area but had a quick flick through and may not have done the topic justice, its just that I feel that all children/people are gifted or talented.

Take my DD, 10 months and only just learning to crawl (lazy monkey) and only doing commando style crawling BUT I am so proud that in my opinion she is so talented! She may as well be the first baby to ever crawl for how proud I am of her!!

I think that parents, friends, relatives and even schools are bias.

Who can really say whether anyone is of superior intellect or not?

At school my parents were always told that I was G&T (oh I quite fancy a gin and tonic!) but really I am very average but just went to a poor school. I was only G&T compared to the other students there. This came as a bit of a shock to me in the big wide world of work!

I am sure that there are the few exceptional cases of child genius, but I think that we all have the "right" to consider our little angels or terrors are exceptionally talented.

aw, Boffin.

I have been in this position, but I am still not convinced that being bored for 6 hours a day is as bad as being the child that spends every day thinking about how stupid they are because they can't do any of the things that everybody else can. I think the child who feels he is stupid will be suffering more.

As for having a real disability- no, you just can't compare!

Obviously, if your giftedness is coupled with social/behavioural problems or sensory disorder, then it's the latter that's a disability and then you can compare with other disabled children.

But just being bored is not the same as not being able to walk, or being in constant pain or not being able to cope with other people. It really really isn't.

If you asked my dd, would you rather have your giftedness taken away or your pain, she'd think you'd gone mad.

You're right cory, but there is emotional fallout on both sides. It's not the boredom thing, it's the ritual humiliation that is harmful for any child.

Yes, but ritual humiliation does not have to happen to every gifted child, and where it does happen it is not limited to gifted children. Ritual humiliation can happen to any child regardless of where they are on the intelligence scale and it will not happen to any child in a school with a functioning anti-bullying policy.

I was gifted and bullied at school- but so were several of my non-gifted peers. And I was equally bullied because of my squint.

Dd is gifted and does not get bullied- because there is hardly any bullying at her school.

As for ritual humiliation by a teacher, I never had that happen to me. If teachers are properly trained and school management is good, then that doesn't need to happen.

But not even the best management in the world can do anything about dd's disability.

boffin it isn't about having nicer teachers it's about having motivated teachers preparing efficiently for all the children in their class. Looking at each and every learning style without having favourite pupils or any pupils disliked. Keeping it professional without judging, having an open mind, encouraging all and giving equal opportunities. To encourage each and every child specifically to their needs. Sadly not all teachers are like this and only prepare fully during inspection week! If lessons are prepared properly no child should be bored.
pupil must be able to, pupil should be able to , and pupil could do perhaps.......
Teachers are there to teach in a pupil centred way. I am opposed to labelling but not to being aware of pupil specific needs. It creates divides.

Meant to add that no child should be humiliated. I haven't seen this myself personally by peers or teachers in regards to gifted and talented.

My son is G&T, though he's not gifted, just has an insanely high IQ and a memory I'd kill for! My other 2 kids haven't got that level of IQ nor are the talented in art, music, sports or anything else obvious.
So, no, not all kids are gifted or talented. Doesn't make them any less wonderful or amazing though!

Cory - you are right, there is no comparison, as I said in my first post.

I think it's absolutely irrelevant being gifted. However people should stop making assumptions about what it means in terms of children's needs (i.e. they can effectively teach themselves so can be ignored; they should put up with crap from other peple because their 'gift' more than compensates, etc etc). It's the flip side of assuming children can't learn because they have low IQs, or they should be mollycoddled and treated as younger children because of a disability. It's all wrong.

However it is very useful having a stratospherically high IQ when:

1. You are getting a mortgage or a loan and need to check the papers quickly to avoid getting ripped off.
2. You are in a lab inventing something.
3. You want an academic job.
4. You are learning computer coding.
5. You are navigating libraries.
6. You want to run rings around a bureaucrat who is talking b***

However these skills are not confined to the terminally intelligent.

virginboffinmum a lot of academically labelled gifted and talented have usually no common sense or are neither streetwise so don't cope in the above situations. That is exactly it really how is intelligence measured?

Sorry lijaco, that's one of the worst generalisations I have ever heard. It's like saying most disabled people are too tired or ill be organised, or some such twaddle. Lack of common sense is evenly distributed trhoughout the population, surely? It is around where I live, anyway.

Lijaco, are you also of the opinion that all coloured folk got rhythm?

My dd is extremely gifted in wetting herself, does that count?

LOL ManIFeel!!
I am quite gifted at getting lost whilst driving. In fact I would say I have taken it to a new Art Form. I went from Cambridge to Oxford via Grantham recently.

Actually I have probably just confirmed lijaco's stereotype now. I did however have the common sense to purchase a TomTom to avoid such incidences in future.

''a lot of academically labelled gifted and talented have usually no common sense''

On what, exactly do you base this profound remark? How many academics do you know well enough to judge in this way? Because I know a lot, into three figures worth, and only a very few of them might fit this caricature.

Boffin - I will try not to bore you with the myriad routes and associated trials of my many and varied drives bwteen Cambridge and Oxford. Why on earth don't they just re-introduce the direct train service. It's so tedious.

That is a very good point. I get fed up of being told to be ecological and trhow away my car keys by people who can easily travel because they live in central London or on a mainline train route.

Yer but also your generalisation that only people with a high I.Q. have the ability to cope with the following;
Where a lot of people may have the ability or potential but have never had the opportunity to invent things in a lab, or learn computer coding or navigate libraries. Most people are aware of how not to get ripped off and not have a high I.Q.

1. You are getting a mortgage or a loan and need to check the papers quickly to avoid getting ripped off.
2. You are in a lab inventing something.
3. You want an academic job.
4. You are learning computer coding.
5. You are navigating libraries.
6. You want to run rings around a bureaucrat who is talking b*

However these skills are not confined to the terminally intelligent.
Correct they are not!
I didn't say that all have no common sense though but again how do you measure it???

Indeed, I didn't say we had a monopoly on these skills, I said high IQ comes in handy.