Child Genius (C4)

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Anyone planning to watch this?

I was a little like these children; joined Mensa as a child, but used my ability to coast through school/university rather than to achieve anything noteworthy.

DS2 is also of this ilk. We are not doing any of the things these parents are doing, although when opportunities arise through school then obviously we let him participate.

Aliyah's patents are completely different - very sad upbringing for her mum & I suspect everyone who watched that programme worries about the pressure on Aliyah.

They showed Aliyah in her little private school last week didn't they?

Yes but the Argus said she was being bullied.

Course she is.

:( she seems like a sweet girl, just with nightmare parents.

Hold on. People are posting their own kids cat scores on here.

TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELVES

It is not easy socially when you are much younger than the rest of your year group.

Also, the example she is being given at home is of total honesty at all times (no social white lies). Not everyone appreciates that sort of social interaction.

That's true thefirst

What are cat scores? I've always wondered (& who does them & why/when? Are they entrance tests ?)

*Hold on. People are posting their own kids cat scores on here.

TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELVES*

Er... that's kind of why I started the thread? How much pushiness is too much? Am I letting my own child down by not entering him into this sort of competition? Were my parents letting me down by teaching me algebra at three rather than showing me how to make mud pies?

If you find yourself with a child who is of this ilk, what are you supposed to do with them?

They do them in y7 around here. Intelligence tests no one quite understands. Kids don't always conform to the results.

What are cat scores?

I'm guessing it stands for Cognitive Aptitude Test.
My children's schools have used them to measure academic aptitude, so they can tell if a child isn't reaching their potential.

Then they start meeting girls / boys and find their parents frggib annoying

Kids don't always conform to the results.

Totally agree with this. Just because a child gets a high score in CATs doesn't necessarily mean they have an aptitude for humanities, or MFL. They can then spend the next few years trying to reach unrealistically high targets in some subjects.

They do cats at the start if year 7. I don't really understand them. As I explained earlier dd is currently undergoing testing for an autistic spectrum disorder & part of that was various IQ tests to try & pinpoint specific difficulties. Her CAT scores are in the report to add to that picture.

Believe me, it's not boasting. No onevwants an unhappy child who cant socialise/Has difficulties at school. Some posters were kind enough to explain a few things to me about what the scores mean.

AnnDaloozier: Do you have a teenager, by any chance?

Like Pictures, my child has difficulties in some areas due to his special needs. The CAT scores can be used to show a discrepancy between cognitive development and e.g. social development.

Ah thanks. Assume ds2's school doesn't do them.

I don't think you should push at all thefirst. Encourage? Yes. Make suggestions? Yes. But not push. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing something like child genius in itself - some parents get the approach to it right (Eleanor's, the home edded girl last week, rubiyat's, Sharon's). They were all supportive & wanted their child to do well, but didn't need them to do well. I think that's the difference. I answer that as someone whose children have no danger of ever appearing on such a show

Just a few.

They probably do jimjams as almost all secondaries do. However the results don't usually get reported to parents. The ed psych that dds school called in to help her requested her CAT scores.

He would have told me if he'd taken that sort of test though!

They generally take them in the first week or two if starting year 7.

I'll ask him - but I would have thought he would have mentioned it as he would have hated it!! Grammar school so they don't set in year 7 anyway (& then set according to end of year 7 subject tests)

They may do them very low key: ours put a brief note in the newsletter to say this will be happening, do not worry, do not prepare, bring a pencil!

That article says more about parental expectations about a school rather than the failings of individual schools IMO. I imagine it will be very difficult to find a school if your starting point is that no school is up to the task of stimulating your child and coaching them intensively. No school can offer what this child already receives at home and arguably no school should attempt to either. School is about much more that enhancing cognitive powers. A good school gives a child common ground and shared experiences with others in addition to covering the curriculum adequately. I'm surprised some of these parents don't set up their own schools if they are so passionate. Ultimately parents are a child's primary educators so if school isn't providing the tailor made enrichment programme they feel their child needs I see no reason for them not to supplement that themselves, most seemed to be in any case.

Gifted children aren't such a rarity that they can't be found in most schools and communities. My (average) son is in a class of 20 and 4 of the children in it are gifted. One skipped a year too. It's the same story in the four other classes in his year. It's a bog standard community school. I don't see a clamour from those children's parents expecting rafts of special programmes for their gifted kids. There's a gifted programme in a uni 15 miles away if they feel the need for that. The school links in with the uni's accelerated programme for a module each year but in the spirit of equal access they bring an entire class for the accelerated module rather than selected kids. The non gifted kids benefit too and cope perfectly well with it if the topic is of sufficient interest to them.

Maybe but he was quizzed at that time on what had happened each day (as he had a tendency to not bother with homework at primary) so I would have thought he would have said. Will ask him when he gets home (is away at the moment).