Be proud! Geeks and nerds run the world

        Geeks and nerds run the world. It’s true! Think Bill Gates and Alan Greenspan. Think doctors, lawyers, and computer programmers. Very few athletes make it to the top, and they rarely run the world.*

        In the technology arena and research & development, the science and engineering departments are made up mostly of gifted children who grew up to be geeks and nerds. They change the face of the world one discovery, development, or upgrade at a time. They improve the standard of living for everyone. Our technology workforce is demanding better-educated people now and in the future. Reading early the right way is the foundation. Direct instruction in phonics, math, music, etc., is the key.

        Gifted children want to fit in and are sometimes worried to show their intelligence in secondary schools for fear of being labeled a nerd. Tell them that ‘geeks and nerds run the world’ and often become the bosses of those types who used to make fun of them. It’s okay to develop athletic skills, in fact there is a mind-body connection that is discussed in Vol. 8 of my book, It's Not Rocket Surgery! However, if a choice had to be made, it is much more important- for a child’s future success- to develop his/her mind and intelligence.

         As previously discussed, intelligence is one-part nature, one-part nurture, and one-part inner determination. Whatever the factors, it is clear that parents must not let their gifted children be left to fend for themselves in school. Parents can follow the best practices of phonics reading instruction (and math and music instruction) with their children at home to ensure a great foundation for success.

        Gifted children need exposure to many types of learning to be well-rounded. One of the best programs for kids is scouting. They start as young as 6 years and go until age 18. Scouting gives your child a sense of accomplishment. Being able to claim the rank of Eagle Scout on a resume' is an impressive and prestigious thing.

        To find information for a scout troop near your home, go to the Boy Scouts of America office near you: http://www.hoac-bsa.org.

For info on Brownies and Girl Scouting, go to http://www.girlscouts.org/.

        Many writers and philosophers, who help shape that way we think, are grown geeks and nerds, too. It takes a measure of intelligence to write a compelling essay or book. It takes a deeper thinker to tap into our innermost humanity and explain the world to us. Anyone should be proud to be called a geek or nerd. What’s the opposite of this? A materialistic, shallow person, who doesn't usually accomplish much.

        There is nothing wrong with looking your best if you also develop your mind and talents. Let fashion and working-out be your accessories, not your focus. I love to watch TLC’s What Not to Wear as they transform a brainiac into a beauty. It enhances her talents, rather than becomes her focal point.

        Children should never be ashamed of their mental abilities. At the same time, they need to stay humble and teachable. This is the great trick – to understand your gifts, use them for good, and not be smug about it.

        My children love to play video games (as well as excel on the swim team, athletics). One has a gamer shirt that says, ‘Pirates always beat ninjas.’ Likewise, brains always beat muscles. That is why we humans have always dominated our environment – there are animals bigger and stronger than mankind, but our brains usually give us the ability to survive better. They also give us the greater responsibility to care for the rest of the planet.

        Wise parents will help their children to appreciate their mental gifts with an eye towards using them to do good things for the world, to improve it for themselves, others, and their children. They will help them realize that intelligence is a gift to be used to benefit their sphere of influence, something they can be proud to pass on to the next generation. They will teach them to realize that childhood is very short and that, sooner than they think, people will reward them for being intelligent.

*(My husband reminded me that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura were both athletes who became political leaders, but they are by far the exception, not the rule.)

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/StarLightStarBrightBeproudGeeksandnerdsruntheworld

10 ways to nurture your young child's gifts

Every child is a unique. What are the best ways for you to nurture your young child's gifts?

         First and foremost, NEVER teach your baby to read by sight-words. This will only hinder his/her capabilities later in life. Use true phonics by direct instruction, starting with The Godfrey Method books like A Funny Boy Was Prince River.

        Some children learn more quickly than others due to genetic and/or environmental factors, mixed with personal motivation. Whether a child is noticeably gifted or not, his parents can still enhance learning and give him an advantage in school.

        Parents can put too much pressure on children to perform, and they can put too little pressure on them. The best way for a parent to enhance a child's learning is to provide a stimulating learning environment without forcing a young child to learn. One of the most important steps is to use flash cards (and other teaching methods) only while the child is interested. When the child is ready to stop, you stop. Never try to force the child to finish the whole alphabet in one sitting. Later, you can pick up where you left off.

        Learning should be adult-guided wherever possible. Children learn best by answering (and asking) questions, and adults do best by guiding those leads along with the lesson plan. (Home learning is important, even in conjunction with other school attendance.) Yes, it's important to regularly introduce the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, music, and art, by direct instruction, but if the child is interested in tigers, then study books about tigers to introduce language arts. Go to the zoo together.

        Children's brains need some rest time. They need a break between school and homework. They need a break between school and tutoring. The goal is to have a child who loves learning and knowledge of all kinds. Too much pressure can backfire, causing a child to hate reading, math, or other areas. Do you want a child who can get good grades but can't actually think or analyze for himself?

        To maintain a balance between encouragement and pressure, keep your motivators positive. Give rewards for achievements, not punishments for failures. If a child is not achieving to his ability, look for the root cause. Is there quiet time provided at home for homework? Do the parents read a lot, themselves? Be a good example. Turn off the TV and the games and have quiet time (we do this at 7:00 p.m. each evening). 

        Understand that different children learn differently (see Vol. 8 of my book, It's Not Rocket Surgery!). Try new approaches. Whatever the goal, we parents have to remain calm and not get into a power struggle with the child. This is extremely important. Don't make learning a chore that kills the love of learning. The goal is true knowledge, not just the ability to ace a test. Maintaining a balance between encouragement and pressure requires consistency and variety, simultaneously. No easy feat!

        Regularly work on the basics and occasionally introduce a little variety for fun. Do family field trips. Point out science and art in nature around you. Teach fractions and chemistry with cooking projects. Use Cuisenaire rods (way cool) for hands-on fractions and math. But never, never call a child lazy nor link his core character to grades and homework. Trying to motivate children to excel without putting too much pressure on them can be a balancing act. But so worth it!

        Sometimes success comes from practice, practice, practice, which children can hate. The old saying, ‘Practice makes perfect,’ is true in anything - math, music, art, sports, reading, etc. Some children are self-motivated to practice, especially the things they love, and some aren't. Find positive ways to motivate your child.

        When your child doesn't want to practice the piano or do homework, set the kitchen timer for 15 - 30 minutes and have a race to see how much s/he can get done. Offer a reward for focusing on the task until the timer dings. Achieving little bits here and there add up and make a good compromise.

        Another idea is to allow the child to do a pleasing activity after doing an unpleasant one. Something we have done is to have "TV bucks." We printed fake TV dollars and laminated them. For every hour that my child reads, I give her one TV buck. Then when she wants to watch TV or play a video game, she has to pay me a TV buck for each hour's worth. This keeps the reading time up and the TV/game time down, and links them together as a reward for good effort. (Or you can keep track of reading time vs. TV time in a notebook.)

        And finally, when your child fails at something, put your arm around him or her and say only positive encouragement. True self-esteem comes from accomplishment, but "you don't have to win every battle to win the war". Being gifted comes from internal motivation, so watch and see what excites your child and develop those areas, without excessive force. There are many hands-on ideas to try in Vol. 1 of It's Not Rocket Surgery! for young children, so I won’t repeat them here.

        Remember, being gifted is a combination of your child’s genetics, environment, and attitude. As the Serenity prayer says, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference!"

        Yes, it is possible to raise bright, gifted, and genius children in a happy environment.

        I must thank one of my readers, Mr. Pavel Ryzlovsky, for helping my research on Project Follow Through and the Whole Language mess (see Vol. 4, 5, & 6). In response to my articles on www.examiner.com he commented:

“Dear Ms. Godfrey,

        “I must say that, over years, I have been reading all those prizes for the "Whole Language method of reading" in disbelief, and I patiently waited for the moment someone would start debunking the myth it was constructed upon.

        “I can tell you that the method* you justifiably exposed has also been called to assist promotion of the same sort as reading in instrumental music teaching, and so it's been doing considerable damage there, too.

        “Thank you, and I sincerely hope that your article makes the whole mountain of wrong teaching and poor reading shake. All the best to you.”

        So I sent him Cathy Froggatt’s wonderful article, Whole Language at the Fork in the Road,  http://www.nrrf.org/satire_WL_at_Fork.html. His second reply was:

“ Dear Ms. Godfrey,

        “Thank you kindly for sharing this story with me, it's a really good satire. I would like to add that, with the whole population's silent participation, we have already accumulated several obstacles to good-quality language teaching. The other one I see that will need to be tackled is our adherence to student-oriented learning.

        “I remember reading of a study which was conveyed to determine what sort of language-teaching system has been the most effective one. This study was unprecedented in its scope (and was done at an unprecedented cost of some $10mln) [even more]. It found that teacher-oriented education has been consistently bringing the best results, in every aspect several times better than the student-oriented type.

        “The outcome of the study was disseminated among the teaching districts throughout USA; however, only one tenth of their total number embraced the teacher-oriented system; in other districts both parents and teachers refused it as "too demanding" (for children and teachers).

        “The sooner we recognize what's wrong at the roots of our approaches the better. We have a long way to go to get out of the trouble we put ourselves into. Regards, Pavel.”

        I researched and found the study to be PFT. Later, Pavel sent me the link to Don Potter’s website, http://www.donpotter.net/ed.htm, full of the wonderful writings of Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld and others. Thank you, Mr. Ryzlovsky. There are many of us crying that the emperor (whole language and sight-reading) has no clothes!

        *And, thanks to Glynne Sutcliffe for leading me to Laurie Rogers’ website, http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com, which shows how the same faulty method has been used in “reform” math, causing even more damage. Also see her http://www.saferchild.org.

        There is a marvelous resource called, “Are You Willing to Try Something at Home?” from Davis County, Utah, Spectrum Gifted Program. It gives parents ideas of things to do with their children that are fun learning activities. It is broken up into sections that help a child’s mind learn to solve problems:

Divergent thinking (all the possibilities)
Convergent thinking (selecting choices)
Planning
Evaluation
Decision making
Creativity
Forecasting
Communication

        The materials in this workbook give parents ways to help their children develop these skills to become good problem-solvers in life. I noticed that they’ve changed the name to Davis Enhanced Education Programs (DEEP, formerly Gifted and Talented Programs). http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/213810114132536240/site/default.asp. Contact them for a copy of “Are You Willing to Try Something at Home?” at 801-402-5140 (FAX 801-402-5333), or Sheri Sauvé, Supervisor, and Jayne Barkdull, Administrative Assistant, atjbarkdull@dsdmail.net

The district website offers two documents: Depth, Complexity, and Higher-Order Thinking and Strategies for Advanced Learners. Take a look!

        One day the realization hit me that being gifted is just that – a gift. I didn’t personally do anything to get a great memory and logic, it was given to me by God and nature. It may have been genetically passed on to me from my parents, which is still a gift. I had nothing to be arrogant about because my giftedness wasn’t a personal accomplishment, just a gift.

        What if my mother had taken antihistamines at the wrong time in pregnancy? What if oxygen had been deprived during my delivery? What if I had been dropped on my head as an infant? Then I wouldn’t be gifted, I would be handicapped.

        What if my father hadn’t taught me to read by phonics at age three? Hadn’t nurtured my gift? So I learned gratitude for my gift, plus a realization that others had different types of gifts to be appreciated. I think it is important to help our children be humble about their giftedness, not arrogant. It is called a gift for a reason. Use it for good things in this world. One of the best ways to help children learn to use their gifts unselfishly is by serving their fellow man, helping make the world a better place in their corner.

        As discussed in a previous blog article, being gifted is a combination of genetics (nature), environment (nurture), and attitude (the child's own viewpoint and choices). It’s not all genetic. I like to say, “Intelligence is one-part nature, one-part nurture, and one-part inner motivation.” There are many different kinds of gifts and talents, and each should be encouraged and celebrated. Not all are academic.

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/StarLightStarBrightHowtonurtureyourchildsgift

How mothers and fathers see giftedness differently

Is there a difference between Fathers vs. Mothers when it comes to perceptions of a child's giftedness?

        Expanding on the previous blog article, Linda Kreger Silverman, on http://www.gifteddevelopment.com, writes:

        “What is giftedness all about? It certainly is a term that makes people uncomfortable. I remember going to a back-to-school night in 1976 and offering to find a mentor for any child who wanted to learn something he or she wasn't learning in school. There was no cost for the mentor. All the parents had to do was join the Boulder Association for the Gifted for $5 per year. I had no takers. One father stopped me afterwards and said something to the effect that his daughter was reading several years above grade level, and had a chemistry lab in the basement, etc., but he was “sure” his daughter wasn't gifted!

        “Since those days, I have endeavored to discover what gifted means to different people. Most of my work has been with parents, and I began to notice that mothers usually called the Gifted Development Center to inquire about testing, while fathers often viewed the assessment with skepticism. When I spoke to parent groups, mothers would nod and smile and fathers would sit with crossed arms and question marks on their faces. One father came up to me after a presentation and told me about his son who had won all kinds of awards as a scholar at Stanford University, but he, too, was certain his son wasn't gifted. I asked him, “What would he have to do to be gifted in your eyes?” The father retorted, “Well, he's no Einstein.”†

        “Then I came across a study in which the researcher thought mothers labeled one child in the family as gifted for their own “narcissistic needs.” [Not!]

        An incidental finding of this study was that when the school had labeled the child, gifted, the mothers believed the label and the fathers denied it, which led to marital conflict. That was when the light bulb went on for me. I realized that mothers and fathers were defining giftedness differently. The more I thought about it, the clearer it seemed that the male writers in the field tended to view giftedness very much like the fathers I had run across and most female writers seemed to share the perspective of the mothers.

        “[With men] all the emphasis is placed on products, performance, portfolios—the external trappings. And the child is expected to keep up the hard work throughout life, performing, producing, achieving. So ‘gifted’ has become the label bestowed by schools on “task committed,” hard working students who get good grades. Clearly, these are the students with the greatest potential for achievement in our competitive society. Is that what giftedness is all about? [No.]

        “The achievement view of giftedness has been with us from the very beginning, with Sir Francis Galton’s (1869) study of eminent men. Today, educators are still looking for children who have the potential to be eminent men. The eminent child in school is the winner of the competition for grades and awards.

        “After we tested his son, one Dad said to us, “He's only five. What could he have done in five years to be gifted?” Women, on the other hand, perceive giftedness as developmental advancement. If a Mom sees that her daughter is asking names of objects at 11 months, and memorizing books at 17 months, and asking complex questions before she's two years old, she gets very anxious. “How will she fit in with the other children?” “What will the teacher do with her if she's already reading in Kindergarten?” “Should I hide the books? I don't want them to think I'm another ‘pushy parent’.”

        “Developing faster than other children makes a child vulnerable, and mothers are keenly aware of this vulnerability. When they can ignore it no longer, when the fear of “What will happen to my child?” rises in their throats, they gulp twice and call a specialist for guidance on their child's unique developmental progress (with one part of them screaming in their heads, “Do you realize how foolish you're going to look if you're wrong and this is all in your head?”). Despite the myth that “All parents think their children are gifted,” nine out of ten of the parents who break down and make that phone call are right.”

        Note: actually, many of us moms delight in our child’s giftedness and do everything we can to help our child enhance it. Shame on any mom (or teacher, or magazine, or doctor) who would squelch a child’s intellectual development! Continuing:

        “…So what is giftedness? The Moms are right. It is developmental advancement that can be observed in early childhood. But the child doesn't advance equally in all areas. As she asks, “What happens after you die” and “How do we know we aren't part of someone else's dream?” she still can't tie her shoes! An eleven-year-old highly gifted boy got off the plane with his calculus book in one hand and his well-worn Curious George in the other. The higher the child’s IQ, the more difficulty he or she has finding playmates or conforming to the lock-step school curriculum. The greater the discrepancy between a child's strengths and weaknesses, the harder it is for him or her to fit in anywhere.

        “And Moms, a word about you. I would like a dollar for every mother who has sat in my office and said, “He gets it from his father.” Our society has such an achievement orientation toward giftedness that most women can't relate the concept to themselves at all. “I'm only a mother. I haven't done anything gifted.” Linda’s next book is about unrecognized giftedness in women. It's entitled, I'm Not Gifted, I'm Just Busy!” See gifted teen girls in future blogs.

        So mom, if in your gut you feel your child is gifted, make the call to get him or her tested. There are so many support systems for gifted children now. Quoting Linda Kreger Silverman again:

        “The damage we do to gifted children and adults by ignoring this phenomenon is far greater than the damage we do by labeling it. Without the label for their differences, the gifted come up with their own label: “I must be crazy. No one else is upset by this injustice but me.”

        “It’s time we took giftedness out of the closet and separated it entirely from the concept of achievement. It’s time we recognized it, valued it and nurtured it in our schools and in our families.”

        The male emphasis on achievement is also a bit misleading because, if achievement comes, it may be later in life or in an unexpected area. Some people are “late-bloomers” when it comes to achievement. One of my cousins floundered all through his 20s and 30s, but is now highly successful.

       Some Myths about Gifted Children - http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html

Gifted Kids are like cream that rises to the top in a classroom:
                Not necessarily. Gifted Children can have hidden learning disabilities that go undiscovered because they can easily compensate for them in the early years. As time goes on though, it becomes harder and harder for them to excel, [like my 5th son, as discussed previously], which can lead to behavior problems and depression.

Gifted Kids are so smart they do fine with or without special programs:
                They may appear to do fine on their own. But without proper challenge they can become bored and unruly. As the years go by they may find it harder and harder as work does become more challenging, since they never faced challenge before.

Gifted and Talented means the same thing:
                Again, not necessarily. There is no rule that states that a child who is capable of scoring to the high ninety percentiles on group achievement testing must be considered gifted. We must remember that achievement tests like the Metropolitan Achievement Tests are "Grade Level Testing".  Such a child is most definitely Academically Talented. But further individualized IQ and out of level academic testing must be given before we can define that child as "Gifted".  

                At the same time, there is no rule that states a child identified as gifted should be Achieving to high standards in the classroom. This type of stereotyping can do serious and irreversible damage to both groups. ANY child can benefit from enrichment. Academically Talented Children can benefit from Honors (Grade Level) Classes. Intellectually Gifted children may need a differentiated curriculum and possibly even a different environment.

They need to go through school with their own age mates:
                Where it's true that children need to play and interact socially with other children their age, they do not need to learn with them. Especially in the case of a highly gifted child who may have a chronological age of six and a mental age of 11 who has been reading since two. To put that child in a reading class with other six year olds who are just learning to read is sheer torture for that child.

                My 5th daughter tested as a very gifted child, so she attended the Spectrum Program for gifted children in Davis County, Utah. They have classrooms for gifted children that challenged them in wonderful ways. My daughter was writing college-level papers in 3rd – 6th grades, and had many hands-on experiences from a teacher trained in teaching gifted children. My child had the best of both worlds: kids her own age, who were also gifted from all over the county, in her classroom. Kudos to Davis County!

Giftedness is something to be jealous about:
                This is perhaps the most damaging myth. More often than not gifted children can feel isolated and misunderstood. They have more adult tastes in music, clothing, reading material and food. These differences to other children can cause them to be shunned and even abused verbally or physically by other children. [But this is NOT a reason to hold them back. There are solutions for this.] Experts in the field of gifted education are beginning to address the higher incidences of ADHD and Spelling/Handwriting disabilities in the gifted population verses those in the much larger normal population. 

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/StarLightStarBrightHowmothersandfathersdefinegiftednessdifferently

4 characteristics of a gifted child - is your child gifted? Take this easy quiz

Let's celebrate and enhance our children's gifts, whatever they are.

        Perhaps you are wondering if your child is gifted. Several questions arise when parents realize they may have a gifted child. What exactly is a gifted child? Where can you get your child tested and assessed? Can a child be molded into a genius? How does one maintain the balance between encouragement and pressure? Is it possible to raise a gifted child with his happiness still intact? What is the best way to raise gifted children? What if you don’t do anything? (The end of Vol. 7 of It's Not Rocket Surgery! has several useful, hands-on ideas for parents to try.)

        “Every gift contains a danger. Whatever gift we have, we are compelled to express. And if the expression of that gift is blocked, distorted, or merely allowed to languish, then the gift turns against us, and we suffer.” Johnson (1993), as quoted by Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D., Director, Gifted Development Center, of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development, http://www.gifteddevelopment.com.

        Gifted children usually have an intense need for a creative outlet. When a child is gifted, but his/her own school or family doesn't recognize or appreciate it, those talents are often subdued or snuffed out by that environment. This can cause behavioral problems both at home and at school.

        Rita Dickinson, founder of gifted education in Colorado, realized that at least half of the parents referred to her had no idea their children were gifted. When the parents didn't recognize it, the school didn't either. (In many cases, the mothers may have thought their child was gifted, but the fathers talked them out of it.)

        The gifted children most often overlooked were from low socio-economic backgrounds, ethnically diverse, or both. Dickinson also stated that a large percentage of the gifted children she tested in the Denver Public Schools were first referred for behavior problems.

        Public school programs for gifted children give economically-disadvantaged children the only opportunities they may have to develop their abilities. Those who want to eliminate gifted classes are punishing the gifted poor, because the rich can afford private schooling. Many middle class families choose to home-school their children rather than to subject them, day in and day out, to the constant boredom of what they already know.

        Having been a gifted child myself, and having several gifted children of my own, has given me plenty of insight into the dos and don'ts of parenting intelligent youngsters. Whether some children are gifted- and others are not- can depend upon our definition (more later). What makes some children gifted is the ability to memorize things easily. What makes other children gifted is the ability to see patterns and relationships. Others easily see geometric relationships in three dimensions. Even others have the ability to readily understand language structure. Sometimes we view giftedness as having a strong talent for music or art. Maybe some are savants in a specialized area.

        Too often we think of gifted as doing well in school and getting top grades. But there is also the ability to be intelligent in understanding human relationships, behavior motivators, and body language. Sometimes our definitions are too narrow. Genius children can seem attention-deficit or hyperactive due to boredom and a need for constant data input for their brain. They are misdiagnosed ADHD when all they need is more interesting mental stimulation!

        Being gifted is a combination of genetics (nature), environment (nurture), and attitude (the child's own viewpoint and choices). I have one son with a t-shirt that reads, "Genius by birth, slacker by choice," which is so true for him! Attitude - inner motivation - is everything. I have a daughter who gets top grades, but she has to put a lot of work, time, effort, and study into it. She has made herself gifted or talented, in a sense.

        If a child is genetically gifted, her parents can enhance her abilities or destroy her self-esteem by how they handle the situation. Parents can encourage a child's natural abilities or they can ruin them with too much force. Is being academically smart the only area of the child worth developing? What about heart? What about compassion? Social awareness? Gratitude? Humility? A child's love of learning can grow or wither depending on parents' choices.

        Is your child gifted? Take this easy quiz.

• Does your child learn at a much faster pace?
• Does your child process material to a much greater depth?
• Does your child show intensity in energy, imagination, intellectual prowess, sensitivity, and emotion, which are not typical in the general population?
• Does your child create something, somehow, some way, whether academic, scientific, literary, musical, or artistic?

        This info comes from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children (1985), http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html, cites three types of characteristics of gifted children: general behavioral, learning, and creative characteristics. Parents of gifted children will get a kick reading through the following definitions and recognizing them in their children. (No, they don't have to have all of these to be gifted.)

General Behavioral Characteristics

1. Does/did your child learn to read early, with better comprehension of the nuances of language? As much as half the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school.
2. (Did the gift increase the reading, or did the reading increase the gift, or both?)
3. Does your child read widely, quickly, and intensely and have large vocabularies?
4. Does your child commonly learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice? 
5. Is your child better able to construct and handle abstractions?
6. Does your child often pick up and interpret nonverbal cues and can draw inferences that other children need to have spelled out for them?
7. Does your child take less for granted, seeking the "hows" and "whys"? 
8. Does your child work independently at an earlier age and can concentrate for longer periods? 
9. Does your child have interests that are both wildly eclectic and intensely focused?
10. Does your child often have seemingly boundless energy (which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity)?
11. Does your child usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults? (They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers.)
12. Does your child like to learn new things, is willing to examine the unusual, and is highly inquisitive?
13. Does your child tackle tasks and problems in a well-organized, goal-directed, and efficient manner?
14. Does your child exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and is often very persistent? ("I'd rather do it myself" is a common attitude.) 

Learning Characteristics 

1. Is your child a natural learner? 
2. Does your child show keen powers of observation and a sense of the significant? (They have an eye for important details.)
3. Does your child read a great deal on his/her own, preferring books and magazines written for children older than s/he is?
4. Does your child often take great pleasure in intellectual activity?
5. Does your child have well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis?
6. Does your child readily see cause-effect relationships?
7. Does your child often display a questioning attitude and seek information for its own sake as much as for its usefulness?
8. Is your child often skeptical, critical, and evaluative? (They are quick to spot inconsistencies.)
9. Does your child have a large storehouse of information about a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly?
10. Does your child readily grasp underlying principles and can often make valid generalizations about events, people, or objects?
11. Does your child quickly perceive similarities, differences, and anomalies?
12. Does your child often attack complicated material by separating it into components and analyzing it systematically?

Creative Characteristics 

1. Does your child's creative abilities often set him/her apart from age-mates?
2. Is your child a fluent thinker, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related ideas?
3. Is your child a flexible thinker, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving?
4. Is your child an original thinker, seeking new, unusual, or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information?
5. Does your child see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas, or facts?
6. Is your child an elaborate thinker, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems?
7. Is your child willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving?
8. Is your child a good guesser and can readily construct hypotheses or "what if" questions?
9. Is your child often aware of his/her own impulsiveness and irrationality, and show emotional sensitivity?
10. Is your child extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations, or events?
11. Does your child often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasize and imagine?
12. Is your child less intellectually inhibited than their peers are in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often disagree spiritedly with others' statements?
13. Does your child sensitive to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic values?
14. Does your child often have a drive to be creative- to create something new all the time?

        In general, a child with an IQ of 100+ is average, of 130+ is gifted, of 150+ is highly-gifted/genius, and of 170+ is profoundly-gifted/genius. The child of 160+ IQ is as different from the child of 130+ IQ as that child is different from the child of average ability. Recent research indicates that there may be many more children in this high range than formerly believed. Due to their unique characteristics, these children are particularly vulnerable to being misunderstood. Highly-gifted children still need specialized advocates because very few appropriate curriculums and non-traditional options have been developed for these children to date. (Common Core should be abolished.)

        Highly-gifted children tend to reveal disproportionate development, meaning that their mental age increases at a much faster rate than their physical and emotional growth. Because of their high cognitive abilities and high emotional intensities, they experience and relate to the world in unique ways. These children are often found as a result of extremely high scores on individually-scored IQ tests, generally above the 140 IQ range. Others may be prodigies or savants in specific areas such as math, science, language and/or the arts. As noted previously, profoundly-gifted children can score in excess of 170 IQ.

        A bright child who is capable of scoring in the high ninety percentiles on group achievement testing may not be considered gifted. We must recognize that standard achievement tests are "grade level testing".  Such a child is definitely academically-talented, but further individualized IQ and out-of-level academic testing must be given before we can define that child as "gifted". [Much of this comes from Linda Kreger Silverman (ibid).]

        May all parents of gifted and talented children recognize those gifts, help the schools recognize them, and do their utmost to enhance and develop their children’s talents. All parents would be wise to teach their children math and reading early (ages birth to 5), and to teach them in the right way – direct instruction and phonics.

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/StarLightStarBright4characteristicsofagiftedchildIsyourchildgiftedTakethiseasyquiz

Why moms recognize, support, and celebrate gifted children sooner

                In general, did you know that women usually recognize giftedness in their children long before men do? Women recognize early cognitive development in their children while men are waiting for some kind of outward achievement to prove giftedness.

                Male researchers seem to focus on outward proof too, while female researchers see the giftedness in the precocious developmental stages first. They realize that a person can be gifted in one or more areas without actually producing anything at all. The giftedness is in the way children think, not just what they do. Thank goodness my Dad didn’t make that mistake- and worked with me early.

                Even in our modern world, boys are far more likely to be brought for gifted-testing than girls. At the Denver Gifted Development Center, 60% of the 5,200 children tested to date are male and 40% are female. Boys are more likely than girls to misbehave when they are inadequately challenged (bored) at school. Because of this, they are more likely to get their parents’ attention and involvement.

                 It is crucial for gifted girls to be recognized early, before they go into hiding in the middle school years. (Many women don’t realize they are gifted and think their children get it from their father.) More about gifted teen girls in future blogs.

                When we define giftedness by achievement in school, or with the potential for significant achievement in adulthood, we create an unequal measure for children of diversity, children who are economically underprivileged, and for girls. Throughout history, those who attained distinction have been primarily white, middle or upper class males.

                However, giftedness is blind to color, is dispersed across all socio-economic levels, and is found in equal amounts in males and females. While the percentage of gifted students among the upper classes may be higher (showing that gifted children are not just born, but also made), the great majority of gifted children come from the lower classes. All over the world, there are many more poor gifted-children than rich ones.

                For a lot of gifted children who weren’t born with a silver spoon, education means public school. What can parents do to improve their bright child’s educational experience? One concerned mother wrote to me in 2009:

                “I believe my son is gifted. We live in ____, MO. Needless to say, I am unimpressed with the school’s expectations for students. My son is entering 2nd grade next week. He was so bored in class and I do not look forward to this year, either.

                On the school supply list for his class, they are requesting flash cards for addition and subtraction of numbers 0-10. My son knew how to add and subtract these numbers before he was in kindergarten. I feel his reading skills are above grade level as well.

                Can you please help me with some sort of resource-a glimmer of hope, perhaps that my child will not be bored to tears this year? I really do not know what to do. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.”

                I give several resources through this Vol. 7 of It's Not Rocket Surgery!, as well as in future blogs. Parents should talk to their child’s teacher and see if s/he is willing to allow the child to work ahead when bored. They should also see if the teacher will allow the child to read books when finished with assignments early.

                Too often, bright children are labeled ADHD and medicated for the teacher’s convenience when really they’re just bored. They need healthy alternatives for their active minds, and shouldn’t be held back to the standards of the slower kids in the class.

                Whether school means public, private, or home, the purposeful proactive parents will find ways to optimize their child’s educational experience. They will make the time – a priority – in their busy schedules, because this is the stuff that really counts in life.

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/StarLightStarBrightrecognizingsupportingandcelebratingthegiftedchild 

3 reasons why sight-words damage a child's reading ability

What about reading fluency? What about "experts" who say that children need sight words as well as phonics to achieve fluency and confidence?  They are mistaken. The only sight words that children should practice with flash cards are the ones that they have already sounded out with phonics. The flash cards would just help them speed up reading time after they already know the WHY of the words. Using sight-words without knowing the why is like using a calculator when you have no idea what adding or subtracting really means. You may get a right answer most of the time at first, but as your learning becomes more complex, you really trip yourself up without knowing the WHY.

        In the article (on www.donpotter.net), Miscue Analysis: Training Normal Children to Read Like Defective Children, Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld observes,

        “Back in the early 1900s, when the professors of education were working overtime to find “scientific” justification for changing reading instruction in American schools from alphabetic phonics to the look-say, sight, or whole-word method, many studies were done to see what kind of effect the new method would have on children’s reading ability.

        “One study done by Myrtle Sholty, published in the February 1912 issue of the Elementary School Teacher, revealed that the two methods of teaching reading produced two different kinds of readers: objective and subjective. The alphabetic-phonics method produced fluent, accurate, objective readers while the sight method produced impaired subjective readers who guessed at words, omitted words, inserted words, substituted words, and mutilated words. The sight readers’ lack of phonetic knowledge put them at a distinct disadvantage. They were unable to accurately decode the words since they looked at them as whole configurations, like Chinese ideographs, with no connections to the sounds of the language.

        And so it was well known by the top psychologists involved in creating the new look-say or sight reading programs that these whole-word instruction methods produced inaccurate subjective readers. Despite this, the professors proceeded to devise and publish the textbooks based on this very defective methodology.”

        In the November 1914 issue of Elementary School Teacher, Clara Schmitt observed,

        “The child who learns words in this way [sight] only is always dependent upon his teacher since he can acquire for himself no new or unfamiliar word from the printed page… [The errors made] were calculated to fill in the context. The defective child reads, for instance that the fox saw a vine with berries (instead of grapes) on it.

        “The normal child progresses in his knowledge of phonetic values to such an extent that he becomes independent of the teacher in so far as the illogical complexities of our English spelling permit. At the fourth grade the normal child is able to work out new and unfamiliar words with approximate phonetic correctness.”

        In other words, it was easier for the defective [non-phonetic, sight-reader] child to substitute a word which fitted the context than to decode the word accurately. And that is the way many children are being taught to read today, in the 21st century!

        Whole-language guru, Frank Smith, mistakenly wrote in Reading Without Nonsense [what an ironic title],

        “Children do not need a mastery of phonics in order to identify words that they have not met in print before.... Once a child discovers what a word is in a meaningful context, learning to recognize it on another occasion is as simple as learning to recognize a face on a second occasion, and does not need phonics. Discovering what a word is in the first place is usually most efficiently accomplished by asking someone, listening to someone else read the word, or using context to provide a substantial clue.”

        The difference between Clara Schmitt and Frank Smith is that Schmitt came to her conclusions after observing real children in a real classroom, whereas Smith writes from theory alone. All that glitters is not golden. What is clear is that the two teaching methods – phonics and whole word – turn out two different kinds of readers. Phonics methodology produces accurate, objective readers. The whole-word approach produces error-filled, subjective readers.

        Why is the U.S. educational system continuing to decline, regardless of how much money we funnel into it?

        In summary, the repercussions of over four decades of the whole-language fiasco, et al, are still being felt in our public schools. The school system won’t turn around until the universities change what they teach the teachers to teach. We experimented with 22 teaching models on U.S. children from 1967 to 1995. Only one of those worked. The other 21 models were abject failures, such as whole-language, yet proponents were able to get them legislated into most state curricula. Many are still being used today.

        This is why it is up to parents to give their children a sure foundation of reading at home before they start kindergarten. Only parents can turn the downward educational trend for their children. Waiting for schools and legislators to change will only waste your child’s quickly-passing window of opportunity to succeed.

A couple of FAQ:

        What are the author’s credentials? (education, research, and experience)

        Shannah B Godfrey was a gifted child herself because her dad took the time to teach her to read by phonics when she was only 3 years old. Her successful school career led her to a successful college career and then to a successful aerospace career. She is also the parent of many children – adopted, step, and natural (14, not counting the foster children) – and understands how to prepare, nourish, and stimulate young minds, to open up the world of possibilities to them.

        Was Shannah B Godfrey really a rocket scientist? (most-searched Google question about TGM)

        Yes. She worked as a Research & Development (R&D) Chemist on Solid Rocket Motors (SRM) for almost ten years at Alliant Techsystems (formerly Thiokol Corp). She co-developed several cutting-edge technologies that were presented to the Joint Army Navy NASA Air Force (JANNAF) Conference in 2007.

The Author, Shannah B Godfrey, with her aerospace science and engineering group (expecting her 14th child)

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/BeingaWiseOwl3reasonswhysightwordsdamageachildsreadingability

5 reasons why a good vocabulary needs phonics

Did you know that phonics help a child to increase and understand more vocabulary?

        Learning to read by phonics and the phonics spelling rules gives a child such a rich vocabulary and understanding of words, root words, usage, comprehension of words and sentences, better pronunciation, and best of all - confidence. No other reading method is this robust. In fact, sight-reading causes problems, dyslexia, and embarrassment.

        Learning a word by sight does not help a child recognize it when its usage and prefix or suffix changes. The child must memorize a whole new word (word-shape) for each alternative. This is cumbersome and ridiculous. Adults who sight-read say a lot of Archie-Bunkerisms; hilarious but embarrassing.

        And for words that don't follow the rules, first learning a "platypus" word phonetically helps a child remember it much easier than sight-reading because she has made common associations in her mind that are much more useful than guessing from the first letter of the word, its length and/or context (so cumbersome and confusing).

        As mentioned in previous volumes of It's Not Rocket Surgery!, a sight-reader needs to memorize about 4,000 word-shapes to have a basic reading vocabulary; it’s easy to mix up similar words. Whereas a phonetic-reader only needs to memorize about 47 sounds to read, and easily increases his/her vocabulary regularly.

        Mistakes are going to be made by early readers. But there is a big difference between a phonics mistake that is easily correctable and a lifetime of basic illiteracy beyond the limited sight-word vocabulary. As shown in VAS in previous chapters, we have seen otherwise intelligent college students that couldn’t write down a simple phone message properly- thanks to Whole Language.

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/BeingaWiseOwl5reasonswhyagoodvocabularyneedsphonics