Child Genius.. anyone watching

[Totallyfloaty35]

Its quite interesting, can't believe 5yrs have passed since previous show.

Maybe it was all down to the Lotus question!

The boy who said it was a car - would he have got that right?

Suede, I like that as an answer!

Less bright child of mine thought it was a soap powder and brightest got it right so maybe there is something in these tests after all!

Less bright as measured by the tests?

As measured by the tests but is outperforming his DC in every area in the real world!

I'm lost already is the baseball bat a soap powder or the orange.

That question would make an intelligent child confused because the answer is too obvious. I got told this at school because DD was intelligent some of the GCSE questions will seem too obvious and easy so she will lose marks.

Sorry, I know I haven't digested the whole thread, bit too late.

Sorry, less bright kid thought Lotus was soap powder and bright one a flower. It is a flower - isn't it?

witcheseve you and me both. [hgrin]

I think in years to come I might be glad that ds is apparently exceptionally talented in a sport that is assessed by winning or losing rather than an academic IQ world.

What amazed me was the parents trotting off to get their dcs tested by Joan Freeman just to ensure they fulfill their potential. The child they showed appeared to be about 3.

I wonder how many parents Ms Freeman sees whose children turn out not to have an IQ of 170?

Well it's not wrong to say it's a car though is it? And a bright child who'd seen the odd TV ad or car show but hadn't read a book of Indian folk tales, for instance, might know the car and not the flower surely? Equally, if you came from an Indian background you might think that 'lotus' was annoyingly imprecise given that there are very many different types of them (the flowers I mean), all with different Indian names, and they have various different associations. But perhaps the one who said 'a car' got due reward for that.

Surely there must sometimes be a child who finds Freeman so annoying with that sing-song voice that they purposefully give all the wrong answers . . .

Yes I was stunned at that too MollieO. We had never considered getting an IQ done but the programme insisted upon it.

Apart from Kieron, who is probably the real genius amongst all of them, the new kids IQ's were all much lower than the original children who were all above 170 apart from Aimee who was 150. William was sweet and obviously bright but I didn't see anything exceptional. Maybe it was the contrast of his parents which is why he was picked, but then I'm as thick as too short planks so maybe not!

140 odd isn't really out there, is it? I mean, if it's top 1.5%, then you'd expect at least a couple in a year group of a comp - more in a grammar?

Mollie, good luck to him, you can measure that, to a point, look at Wayne Rooney!

Intelligence, talented, genius, gifted, bright, hothoused, wtf. They are who they are and we cannot tell our kids what to do. They will achieve or they won't but agree that some encouragement goes a long way.

We as parents need some indication that they have the potential to do really well, so we know we are not barking up the wrong tree, that's why I was happy with the 'G&T list' whereas others hated it.

In fact, it;s getting more towards the 10% G&T thing. And teh psych was referring to them as gifted. MN won't like that at all

Obviously not 10% in every school (my maths isn't that bad), but bearing in mind there is unlikely to be a completely even distribution, in some schools, especially grammars...

I remeber someone (kerry?) giving a set of descriptors for different levels of gifted once.

Ds's talent is for golf so easily measurable and not something for the G&T list! His golf pro goes on about how amazing he is but so far all I see is a boy who enjoys playing. He can decide for himself if he wants to take it further when he is older.

Ds is probably going to be referred to an Ed Psych so I assume will have his IQ tested. Not because he is showing any signs of being a genius but more because he absolutely refuses to do any school work. I see a huge difference between his absolute focus when he is doing something he enjoys and his complete lack of concentration with anything related to school.

I know all about the 10% in one school isn't 10% in another etc, blah and yawn!!! I'm thinking about a child whos's parents aren't academic but just snook into the top 5% nationally. Worth giving a bit of encouragement, I thought as in don't go into nursing but look at being a doctor?

I'm not arguing with you witcheseve.

Fallenmodonna, I know you aren't arguing am glad that this isn't a G&T thead, about measuring talent and intelligence, because those kids on the programme tonight had something special.

I don't think it can be measured, you can do the IQ/CAT test etc but it is down to other factors and the whole picture needs to be looked at. Yes exam results to back it up and how the students relate to their peers. Their year group usually hate them until they catch up. Often they are just different, emotional intelligence not to be ignored, mature beyond their years, not like teenagers, almost geeky. Yikes!

So much easier with an art, or sport, to say they knock the bollox of the others, much easier to measure.

Didn't see original but din't get the impression there was much updating either. Felt sorry for the chess boy - he looked lonely and will have gaps in his education - the chess school looked great. The brothers seemed happy children but cannot believe Dad has chosen their careers. It's one thing training them for exam success but after then they should make their own lives. I'd be interested to see what becomes of the little boy from Stoke (can't remember his name) who changed nursery school.

Sorry to bring down tone of thread but was no one else distracted by William's hair?!

shumway, I was. I thought it was totally unfair of the parents... reminded me of when I was a girl with enforced short hair and was constantly mistaken for a boy. Poor kid!

"Felt sorry for the chess boy - he looked lonely"

Is he lonely or is that just the way it was edited? That looking-at-the-photo scene was from 5 years ago. I should imagine that he has lots of contacts in the chess world.

ROFL @ singersgirl last night "Joan Freeman always seems amazingly surprised at meeting clever children, which you think she'd be quite used to, given her line of work."

There wasn't much updating. The documentary makers want the Wow factor but you only get that first time round. After a while a Maths genius doesn't do anything different and is not interesting anymore. So in order to get the Wow's they get new kids in. I can't imagine the new ones will stick around for long, especially when the Ahmed boys rebel!