___WEDNESDAY___CH 4___UPDATE___"CHILD GENIUS"___UPDATE___CH 4___

[RTKangaMummy]

WEDNESDAY

CHANNEL 4

AN UPDATE ON THE CHILDREN FROM LAST YEAR

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Documentary
Child Genius Wednesday 16 April
9:00pm - 10:00pm
Channel 4
1/2
The subtitle of this series about megabrained children is "young and gifted", but by the end you half-wonder if it should be "young and cursed". We're catching up with kids we met in the last series - chess champ Peter (11), who wears a "genius in training" T-shirt, Adam (eight), who dissects rats in the kitchen, and Mikhail (five), who as Britain's youngest Mensa member has appeared on Oprah and Countdown. We also meet Georgia, who toppled Mikhail as Britain's youngest Mensa member. At two, she was measured with an IQ of 152 - impressive given that, being a toddler, she fell asleep halfway through the test. Her mother notes that "a lot of the pictures we take of Georgia have this white light around her . . ." That's the thing: inevitably, parents become caught up in making their gifted children into mini-celebrities, especially when TV crews get involved. It makes for fascinating TV; whether it's great for the pressure-cooker kids is another matter.

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I don't know what they are going to do with him. I need to make an appointment with the new head as I see this as a problem. They are aware that he's ahead and is in the year above. Because of his age he was assessed for the class he should be in, therefore walking the tests. It's really hard knowing what to do. I don't want to make a mistake and have to move him again. Age wise, he's 9 months off the youngest child that's in the class he's in now (if that makes sense). He started school at 4, they all do here.

At home:

He writes stories and film, play scripts builds the lego for them or acts thenm out with friends, they sometimes write a scene or chapter each and swap it back again so it goes back and forth between the homes.

Plays his trumpet and keyboards {he doesn't have private lessons for keyboards just plays for himself, they use them in music class at school.}

plays cricket with his dad

reads and researches whatever he is into. atm it is General Wolfe and so he researches it and then writes and draws anything and everything on the topic of the moment.

Outside the home he is mega into DRAMA so he does that at school and on Saturdays, He also goes fencing where he is doing SABRE atm. He also swims each week. He sings in choirs etc,

avenanap where in world do you live

ie which country?

he sounds like he keeps you busy. ds is doing fencing. The SABRE's the thin stick like sword???? I just sit and read.

We are in Derbyshire. It seemed like a good idea at the time. School options are very limited.

Sabre is the one you hit with the edge of it rather than Foil and Epee which is the end point of them

He started off with foil but then decided to move on to Sabre

Is your DS learning Foil?

Some days DS doesn't watch TV at all completely the opposite of his mother!!!!!!

Oh I was thinking you were abroad somewhere

Could be foil. I tend to only pay attention when he's pretending he has a light saber. Ds likes Ben 10 on cable. He reads alot, plays on his Nintendo thingy and plays Lego stuff on my laptop.

England's abroad. I can't understand what people are saying most of the time . Italy would be lovely. Maybe if I ever get to retire.

OK watched it.

I liked all 3 kids actually. Michael is obviously going to be fine. He has the 'perfect' family for a child like him - he'll grow up balanced and grounded and all the other really important things. I think Aimee will be fine too. She obviously lives for her music and is completely self driven. I don't think she has any choice but to be the way she is. Although she was obviously irritated by her parents I thought they seemed a decent couple to. Not blown away by her as such, just concerned for her.

Dante. I liked his family. I liked him a lot as well actually. I wasn't expecting to having read the comments on here. He was quirky. I obviously spend a lot of time around spectrummy kids and tbh he just seemed spectrummy to me. Probably not enough for a diagnosis (and hey who could tell from a TV show anyway), but the yelps, and the tics and talking without really thinking through the effect (compared to Dante, Michael seemed much more thoughtful - Dante lacked that - he was all over the place), well it all had a remarkably familiar feel to it for me. His comments to the doctor didn't come across as rude to me - not purposely- he just seemed to lack some social understanding. I felt in his mind he was just talking about the topic under discussion (something he was presumably very interested in). And the doctor did talk to him like a child which made me cringe a bit (doctors talk to ds1 like that too- and for obviously totally different completely opposite reasons it doesn't work).

If he does have spectrummy aspects to deal with it will explain why things are harder for him. He was the only one I worried about, the one who it seemed things could potentially go wrong. He needs a really good OT I think. Sounds daft, but I think it could help.

too should proofread

Dante struck me as 'spectrummy' as well, yurt.

Michael, as you say, I thought his family was rather normal.

So I take it from that that you aren't english then?

I haven't seen Ben 10 cos we don't have cable just FREEVIEW

Foils are bendy it is probably what he is using. DS has been fencing for just over 6 years

Do you think your DS would be interested in researching a topic and then writing books about them?

He will then be able to go as deep as he chooses to go iyswim

No, I'm English. People are a bit odd in Derbyshire. Not all of them though. I moved here a few years ago and am still getting use to the accent.

He's writing a star wars type book. He emailed Lucas Industries to see if it was ok and they have not emailed back. This was months ago. he's worried about the copyright .

I'm looking for something he won't do at school, then he won't be bored if it comes up. He's very good at science, has a good knowledge of Newton's Laws, which goes down like a lead balloon!

I have just been talking to DH who is Chemistry teacher and he says the hard thing is to find a subject that he won't learn at school in future

That is why he suggests astromony which is only taught in GCSE Physics not in great detail so he wouldn't be taught all that he learnt all over again iyswim

Perhaps he could research it on www or in books

Thankyou. He wanted to do astrophysics, I should let him do that, it would keep him busy . It's maths and planets. I've got a couple of philosophy books (Aristotle and Plato), I'll read them and talk to him about them. I had to take him to one of my Environmental lectures, they've asked me to take him back as he knew more then some of the Masters students. I could teach him some environmental science. He's a big environmentalist. I wish I could find him a friend that was as bright as him though.

Yurt, I've thought Dante was "spectrummy" since I saw it last year, too. In the first series he was pretty much climbing the walls and squeezing under sofa cushions - things that DS1, albeit almost a decade younger, does. His comments about being sick of the therapists and doing his best to close himself off from them just sealed it for me, this time.

Avenanap, Really sympathetic about your situation - if it's any help Michael is September-born as well, which does make choices a bit starker. I think you are doing a great job. Stretching him sideways is a great term, and has to be the answer if you want to keep him in his agegroup - I think you are totally right about that.

On Dante - take it you mean the autistic spectrum, yurt? I've spent some time with him. What I'd say is that he meets the eye very well when talking. Think these kids' preoccupations mean they sometimes come over as unnaturally unaware of those around them, and thye may actually spend less time noticing little social cues because of thier inner preoccupations.

Eye contact isn't a very good indicator for autism- bit of a red herring. Severely autistic ds1's eye contact is excellent for example - he's non verbal and he uses it as his main means of communication.I don't mean that he was on the autistic spectrum- I meant that he shared a lot of similarities with those that are or who have related conditions such as Tourette's- not in terms of his social interaction, more in terms of the way he moved his body; the shouts, the grimaces, the impulsive movements.

It was the sorts of things that ouryve describes - the sensory seeking, the lack of control over impulses. I've just had a look at Dabrowski's list of over-excitability - and it's listing exactly the same difficulties in sensory processing as those found on the autistic spectrum. Slowly people are beginning to realise the role those sensory difficulties play in the development of the condition.

I thought it was very noticeable during his interaction with the doctor. Many people on here said he was very rude. It didn't seem like that to me. It was as if he couldn't control his responses properly. So given a trigger- bam bam bam - out comes the knowledge/questions. I doubt he had much control over that at all. I think that's partly why watching him felt very familiar- ds1 does exactly that - trigger word- bam- we get his knowledge, Dante's just doing it at a different level.

If a child is sensory seeking all the time or unable to fully control their impulses (and ds1 - aged 9- spends his life under sofa cushions or scaling walls- see the thread yesterday for a mix of the impulse/scaling problem) it does make life that much harder for them. Neither Aimee or Michael seemed as impulsive as Dante- and I think that's why they didn't have the same problems.

I really do think a good OT would be more use to Dante than psychiatrists and psychotherapists. If he could find a way to deal with his sensory seeking, and the hyper-sensitivity and above all the impulsivity- I think he would really benefit.

Don't get me wrong- I thought that Dante was marvellous. I love impulsive/sensory seeking kids as they're always a little crazy. But I also know that their sensory issues make life really hard for them - whatever their IQ.

Just had a proper read through Dabrowski's OE's very interesting. It's actually a better description of many of the children with AS/ADHD/high functioning (and 'low' functioning too) spectrummy type conditions than many of the 'official' descriptions. Including (and this might surprise many) the over active imagination. I know a number of children & adults on the spectrum who have a very poor grasp of the divide between fantasy/reality.

DS1 as a toddler used to shake and go rigid when he heard certain classical music. It was if he just couldn't cope with it at a sensory level, as if it overwhelmed him (he is musical - just unteachable )

Yep- that's the bit I looked at KM- I've only browsed. The whole sensory integration thing is an area where I think teachers/educators let down gifted children. It's recognised that children who are gifted are often over-sensitive (or over excitable) - but then it seems to stop with that. People recognise it, but do nothing about it. They just say "oh they're highly sensitive/indigo children and we have to understand them". How about helping them?

Some simple sensory-integration OT type activities can make life so much easier for these children. So for example in ds1's case I've gone from a child who couldn't wear belts, to one who can. A child who couldn't wear hats, to one who can 80% of the time. A child who couldn't tolerate the noises of microwaves or microlights (!- jet engines were fine!) to one who can. A child who couldn't cope with having his hair cut to one who can (we're working on hair washing). A child who couldn't walk on grass at all- not even with shoes on, to one who can walk on grass barefoot.

I do feel that the way these sensory difficulties is talked about in the gifted child literature misses an opportunity to help. The exercises are so easy to do as well.

I agree about Dante and the sensory stuff. The scene that really stood out for me was the one where the family was walking in the woods. I really got the impression that the "Shut up!" was the result of being overwhelmed by it all rather than being rude etc.

Yes I thought that too. DS1 couldn't walk under trees at all for a long time. Apparently (I have since discovered) it can interfere with depth perception meaning you can lose a sense of where you are).

KM I'm going to try and upload some photos on my profile to show what sensory integration training can do

Thanks yurt - really helpful. I am absolutely NOT an expert on ANY of this and you obviously have lots of personal experience. I think the idea of a general spectrum of sensory excitability is a really useful idea - Michael also fidgets constantly, and he is calmed by music practice and by fencing - it's as if he needs those things to sort out what he's feeling or needing...

I don't know what might be done with OT etc but in terms of unhelpful stuff I wonder if there might be a link with computer games? Michael gave up gaming because he found it so addictive and hence timewasting - this was about six years ago, maybe more - he thinks Dabrowski's makes games hyperstimulating.

Could well be (sorry have to dash so brief reply). Does Michael 'go over'? I can't explain it well but you'll now if it happens. DS1 can't cope with the computer at all as it sends him a bit crazy- he gets kind of rigid and obsessed with seeing certain things, then if it goes slight 'wrong' or doesn't happen fast enough he loses the plot.

Music is similar for him. He is musical- despite his severe learning difficulties he can hear a tune once then sing it back perfectly. Some music however is too much. It's so powerful he can't listen to it and has to turn it off. It might be a piece that he once loved, but then gets to the stage where he can't cope with it.

It's a fine line between huge pleasure and suddenly being unable to cope for him because it all becomes too much.