Gifted and Talented - Reception

[preschoolprimadonna]

I know every parent thinks the sun shines out of their child's rear end, but bear with me. My DD4 is certainly not a genius, but through hard work (and genuine enjoyment) she is reading at approximately age 6-7 at the moment. Her maths is above average, but not exceptional (simple adding and taking away up to 20, no multiplication yet, can count to 100) and her vocabulary is excellent for her age. She is also very, very good at art (which definitely doesn't come from me!). Her handwriting is average.

Her gross motor physical skills are average, but on the lower side of average. Her social skills are average. She is excellent at sitting down, concentrating and listening. She is less excellent at social niceties, but well within the realms of "normal".

She will be starting reception in September at a brand new school that hasn't yet opened. The school's ethos is very much about "we will not compare your child to other children; tests cant't measure compassion", but I do want to make sure that she is stretched academically and doesn't get bored with phonics etc. if she can already read fluently.

Is Gifted and Talented still a thing? How is it assessed, and can I ask the school to make sure she is supported in this way? (She may not meet the criteria, but I would like to explore every avenue.)

DD1 was like yours. At 7, she had a Reading age of 15 (the highest in her primary school). She's just finished school at 18, and her IB results have come through. They certainly weren't stellar, although have got her in to a good RG university. In contrast, her friend who struggled all through primary, and was in the remedial class for both English and maths (and was kept down a year) is now doing maths at Cambridge...

All good comments on this thread. Our school places emphasis on enjoyment of reading, reading with ease and not flying through reading levels. Also, fluency with maths rather than being able to count high. My son started reception already reading and doing maths although he suffers from a natural lack of confidence and low gross motor skills. The school have therefore really helped him develop the latter and not fast tracked him through the maths or reading. As a result he has ended the year much more socially and physically confident and he is a very happy and confident, careful reader.

He is not on a reading level advanced for his age, not because he can't read higher but because he is happy where he is and for him that is more important. If your daughter is complaining about being bored then that is another matter but like other posters say, the socialising and learning about routine and negotiation skills etc are in my opinion more important at 4 years old.

Good luck!

I would just relax and let your daughter and her teacher lead the way so she enjoy everything Reception has to offer. I used to be a parent helper and found my childrens Reception teacher adapted the same or very similar work so every child worked on the same thing but were supported to take it to their own level.
My daughter grasped reading and writing very quickly and in Reception was assessed as +3 years from her chronological age. In Reception my son didn't engage completely with reading or much 'formal' learning and just loved the hands on learning, topics and extra playtime Reception offered. Same teacher but very difference experiences for me and sometimes worrying about my son even though the teacher reassured me that all children are different.
I wish i had relaxed as they finished Y2 at a similar level for reading - both 'greater depth' but not gifted.

My DD went to reception able to read and could do addition, subtraction, and simple multiplication.
When they did the home visit, my DD piped up that she knew all about Biff, Chip and Kipper and the teacher asked her about it and DD read to her. She was on the correct reading level within a week. She still did all the phonics - they sang songs and did all sorts of other activities related to the including arts and crafts, building etc. as teacher led activities. The phonics reinforced what she knew (she already knew most of them) but have given her much confidence with tackling long words and with spelling. She did extra maths with one of the teachers at some points as well. DD loved reception and thankfully year 1 has been just as good. The teachers have worked really hard to challenge her and were keen to tell me at parents evenings. They shouldn't be bored in reception anyway with lots of free-flow - my DD was always finding things to do! I think we worry about them being bored more than actually happens.

Holiday, reading age of 6 at age of 4 isn't so impressive, but you never know. Ability to read early is always a good thing imo. They can access to so much more, and not just reading, and if the child is ready to learn, there's nothing to stop them.
I do think the child's attitude to learning do matter though. I have seen some early developer become mediocre by ks2, but it was more to do with the child being pushed by parents but the child actually lacks enthusiasm. Enthusiastic learner seems to stay ahead and don't get taken over so easily.

I think that's the point holiday was trying to make Irvine. The OP said their child is reading at approx 6-7 which as you point out isn't "that impressive". I'm assuming this might be based off book banding rather than actual assessment of reading age which makes it unreliable at best I'm afraid.

*holiday, mrz is right. My point was that reading like a 6 year old when you are 4 is really nothing to write home about.

Oh, sorry! I tend not to be able to read between the lines in English. (not native)
My apology, holiday! And thanks mrz, for pointing out.

DS1 has hyperlexia in addition to ASD and various 'extras'. Due to his hyperlexia he can read absolutely anything, and was reading the back of cereal packets, car manuals etc aged 3 (had no idea what any of it meant though!). He now attends a specialist ASD school but started off at the village primary. I was absolutely convinced that he'd be far and away the best reader in the class....but he really wasn't. Several children were extremely advanced readers and also understood what they were reading, which DS didn't (which is standard with hyperlexia). The Reception teachers and TAs took these brilliant readers very much in their stride and all of the children progressed at their own pace. It seems like every year in every class there will be a broad range of abilities and each school should be totally expecting this. So I really wouldn't worry, OP.

OP My experience (two academically gifted children) is that YR is fine, and Y1 is where you hit problems. So I wouldn't worry for this year, but watch out for issues when you hit Y1, as my experience has been that the differentiation is less (as there's less free choice / playing) and that the huge range of abilities makes it harder for the teacher to hit the mark with all the children at once.

My son's friend wasn't even talking at this age, and got the highest GCSE results in his grammar school 11 years later.

How they are performing at this age is far more to do with parenting philosophy than natural ability.

(It could be argued that GCSE performance is too)

There are likely to be several children like your child don't worry. Another voice for a gentle reminder that just because a child does things early, it doesn't mean they will do things better than other children. Your child may stay ahead of their peers but it's more likely that others will catch up.

Just as Reception is about learning to "do school" for your DD the same is also true for you as a parent. At the moment everything seems huge to you but as you get through the first term things come into focus much more and you will get a better sense of what to worry about and what not.

For the first few weeks the only things you need to go in all squeaky wheel about is if she has serious issues with either eating lunch or anything to the toilet (my son was terrified of the lights in the loo when he first started and would wet himself rather than go). Plenty of time to fret about phonics and book bands after Christmas or even - dare I say it - after Easter

And for when it comes up, they all say they learnt nothing and did nothing at school today. That's normal .

Just as Reception is about learning to "do school" for your DD
It's not though is it? The first 3 weeks maybe. Most kids learn a fook of a lot academically in reception. They go from next to nothing to reading and writing and doing sums.

DD would have been climbing the walls if all she got to learn in reception was how to do school, she had that nailed about 2 weeks in. She'd already had a year of preschool learning nothing but how to do school, she was panting to learn actual stuff by the time she got to reception. Luckily for her she did have writing to learn, and did that in spades. (Could already write a story but correct letter formation, smaller, spelling accurately not just phonetically, better punctuation etc.) I feel like she was failed rather in reading and maths though, and I do feel bad for not being more on the case. Not having had to engage at all with maths isn't a good place to start year 1.

I guess another way of looking at it is, a key aspect of "doing school" that they need to learn in reception is how to learn in a school setting, how to keep going when you find something hard, how to ask for help when you need it. If they don't get appropriate learning material, they are actually missing a big chunk of learning how to do school too. In my previous post I was thinking more of the how to line up for assembly/put your hand up with questions/find someone to play with at playtime aspects of doing school.

In early years, They do very little academic learning in school, as % of the total time.
Most the time is about their social lives & being social creatures & being in groups.
Plus reception is learning thru play. Any child can enjoy it if they enjoy play. Plus OP describes a child who is only average in motor skills (lots of reception is about developing motor skills).

I have yet to read a post on MN about someone's immensely socially precocious child who is going to find reception too boring b/c they aren't socially challenged enough. Somehow, no kid is ever that Gifted.

You do get the odd poster saying their young child doesn't like to play & finds it boring, mind!

Thank you all for your really thoughtful replies. Some, I think, were a bit unnecessarily snarky - I was very clear upfront that I didn't think my daughter was a genius, more likely that she was ahead of the curve, and was looking to find out what support a school was likely to offer the top 10%, if she happened to meet that criteria (fully aware that she may not). I never insinuated she was "that impressive" - more that I want to make sure that her current interest in learning new things are going to be supported appropriately in an environment where we have been told, "Don't worry if your child can't recognise their own name / count to ten / go to the toilet by themselves".

DD is indeed old for her school year, as well as being slightly ahead of the curve, so I fully appreciate there is going to be a vast range of abilities - but I don't think there is any more shame, or need to pile on unpleasantness for asking how someone potentially towards the higher end of abilities can be supported, just as if she had suspected SEN meaning she was struggling with speech or language, I would be fighting for support too.

I don't think she's hyperlexic (though I think I possibly was as a child), as I taught her to read, rather than her teaching herself. She does understand what she reads, and I always ask comprehension questions after finishing a book. You are right, PP, I am judging based on book bands than official grading - I go by the fact that if she gets more than 1 in 10 words wrong, she is probably on a book that is too difficult. If she is getting no more than 1 in 20 words wrong, it is probably too easy. (She is currently reliably mixing up "when" and "then" which is crazy, but there you go.)

Some really useful tips from people (as well as differing views) about when to speak up and when to chill out in a school environment. I think certainly giving it until half term for her to settle in sounds like a good plan.

She sounds bright but not exceptional to me. Physical literacy at this age is hugely important for long term life so I'd personally ditch the reading and forcus on that. I think a lot of 4 year olds can count to 100 by learning the words and sounds but have little concept of what it means and number bonds etc - which they learn when they start school.
Can she climb, jump, catch a ball, do a forward rolletc? A sedentary child at 7 will remain so and is less and less likely to engage in sport.

@smellyboot, I haven't suggested she is exceptional!

Yes, she can climb, jump, (usually) catch an easily-thrown ball and do a forward roll. She does gym class once a week and is progressing (slowly) through their badges, and she is also learning to swim. We don't only do academic work with her, but it was the academic side of thing I was looking for guidance for on this post.

Her understanding of numbers is advanced, but not as advanced as her reading. So she knows that 7 and 3 more is 10, without having to count it, but she will get more confused with 6 + 4 and will need to count it out on a number line or her fingers. Subtraction is at a similar level. She certainly isn't begging to learn her 9 times table!

Can she climb, jump, catch a ball, do a forward rolletc?
Yes since she was 2 in DD's case, can't most kids? But even if OP's DD couldn't, she should be progressing in all areas of learning not just those she's least able in.

They do very little formal academic learning lljkk, but a lot of learning through play. Learning through play doesn't work well without resources and peers at your own level of learning. For example with older children DD's role playing includes writing. With her class there's no fun in that as her playmates can't read the things she writes.

It sounds like your daughter will thoroughly enjoy school.
I only say this because I am feeling emotional about my two growing too quickly....enjoy this lovely Reception year hearing about all the new facts she wil learn, watching her in assemblies and hearing about her new friends.
I have found from Y3 onwards learning becomes very focussed and I really miss the less 'academic' infant days x

"Yes since she was 2 in DD's case, can't most kids?" No. Most children can't do those things when they start school.

My son is 5 and turns 6 at the beginning of Dec. He has been assessed as having a reading age of 10.5 years. I was impressed but at the same time I think there's not much more to it. I think it is too early to know what this means for him academically. He reads very well, is reading chapter books, and understands the stories very well. He reads his weekly school books and during the holidays 1 library book a week. The vast majority of reading is by us to him.

Who knows how a child turns out? I am just observing him and encouraging him. My main concern with him is he rushes through things and makes silly mistakes in maths, writing, and even in reading he will skip a word here or there or even insert some. I think it's because he is already anticipating what is happening.

I guess my point is, relax.

A lot of children now seriously can't do physical tasks as many have become more and more sedentary. There is a link between physical literacy and other areas of achievement however. A child who has poor gross motor skils takes longer to develop the fine motor skils to hold a pen, draw, thread beads etc. There is ots of research on it, but an area which meant parents over look.

OP, sorry but thread title suggests you think she is exceptional