Gifted children program in Bangalore - Page 1

Hi,

Does anyone know of a program/resource for gifted children in Bangalore?  I, specifically, want to meet with like parents of gifted children and find out how they helped their child hone their special talents. for e.g. Children who have an exceptional memory for their age, or a special talent, way advanced than their peer group, reading/communicating very fluently at age 4 etc.

Look forward to hearing any ideas you might have.

Thanks

R

Hi

I have a son who is 5 years old now who started reading (sentences) at the age of 3. I am skeptical about calling him 'gifted' but definitely he is above average. When we were in London for one year, he was recognised as a gifted child and there was specific focus on him, like a special teacher spending one hour everyday with him. But back here in India, I dont find any resources to encourage him, especially in the school the teacher doesnt have the time/energy to focus on him. SO unfortunately his talents are left ungroomed and the maximum we do is buy him books/encyclopedias, etc. I have not even spoken to his teacher b'cos he is already feeling pressurised in this system and maximum what I can expect is his talents being made 'news' in school's prospectus or a double promotion, which is not what we want for him.

I am not sure if you are a parent or someone specialising in dealing with gifted children, but I would like to stay in touch.

C

Hi,

My son is 7 years old. He could comprehend and perform multiplication and division before he was 5.

I believe in Multiple Intelligence. Every child is gifted :).

My first son loves math and the second one loves music. The first is gifted in the traditional sense and his school appreciates him. But the second one - he gets complaints from school. The teacher says he is not able to recognize too many colors/vegetables/alphabets etc (he is not yet 3 years old). The child can recognize 100+ different tunes now. He can recognise every sound he hears - he can broadly identify which vessel is getting washed at the counter :).

I'll be happy to know about programs targetting specific intelligence.

Cheers!

My daughter is gifted too.As far as i undestand there are no program or resource for gifed children.So i decided to put our kid in aschool where there is a variety in the school curriculam and less pressure.so  when she gets back home we have time to talk and interact with her,answer her unending why questions.rather than doing school home work and preparing for school exams.

VA

I

 i really dont know about being gifted but i think i have a son who is pretty fast at grasping ideas, may be we should create a forum ourselves to help them, right now he is 3.5 yrs and am very confused about the best school to enroll him to any pointers would be highly appreciated, near sarjapur rd. i have tried nps, dps but he was not even on a waitign list. if bishop has feeder schools then our chances are less there too.

Hi sukhi003

As far as i know Gear has special program for gifted.

Hello All,

Can parents of gifted children share feedback on the schooling for their gifted children.

What should be a bertter choice for a gifted child? Vagdevi /NHG or NHPS?(giftedness in memory, reading abilities and grasping)

Pls suggest.

I have a gifted child myself. and would like to tell all of you that once the world knows our children are gfted they will put undue pressure on him to perform.. its almost like a circus artiste.. Please donot look for academically focussed schools like nps etc.. These children need a stressfree and understanding school to blossom. Alternatve schooling where the child can function at his pace in his areas of interest are best in my opinion

In my opinion gifted child will find his/her own way to grow and invent something new.

Hi all

I found a school (Trio World School ) in Bangalore which has gifted student program.

http://blog.trioworldschool.com/2010/10/academically-gifted-student-program-at.html

Hope this link will be informative for all of you !

 HI .. MY SON IS NOT GIFTED WITH ANY OF THE ABOVE .BUT HE TAKES INTEREST IN SCIENCE VERY MUCH.SCINCE THE AGE OF 2.I WANT TO GIVE HIM EVERY THING. I M ENCOURAGING HIM TO USE ALL WASTE MATERIAL. PROVIDED HIM WITH BOOKS.HIS BASIC CONCETS ARE CLEAR.I WANT SOME ONE TO HELP ME GUIDE HIM.HE IS VERY HUNGRY FOR MORE SCIENCE.HIS FAVORATE MACHINE IS GENERATOR.IN VACATION WE ALWAYS VISIT SCIENCE CENTERS.AND SO ON.....

Thaks for the information

Hi All,
My son is 3yrs old. I don't know whether to call him gifted or not.  From his child hood his interest was on Alphabets. He learn alphabets at the age of 2 and now he is able to read the sentences. I want to take his IQ test can anybody suggest me where to take the. IQ test.

Goutham A

 Hi Goutham,

Please don't mind me asking you this question. Why do you want to know your child's IQ? Would you do anything different if she is found not to be in gifted category or vice versa? Wouldn't you encourage her and give extra support no matter what the result would be?  Your child seems to be a gifted one. But IQ is just one of the factors to decide the giftedness. I'm not saying not to get her tested. Identification is only the initial step. But think of the ways you can help your child in the longer run.

Nowadays there are many modern methods developed to identify the child's giftedness in wide variety of areas. But unfortunately as everybody said in the above replies, there is no program available in India to test the kids for giftedness. There are numerous websites available that claim to help find the child's IQ. But they aren't reliable. Moreover in India, there are not professionals who are well trained to identify the giftedness or to help the gifted child with any structured program. In the west there are some widely used tests for identifying giftedness such as Wechsler, woodcock Johnson and Stanford Binet tests. But to conduct these tests, one should have a qualification to be the administer. By any chance if you are in that part of the world, try to get her tested by any of these tests. My son got tested thro woodcock Johnson achievement test thro his school. But it took more than an hour and a half for him to complete 7 sets of tests. So see if your child can sit thro the tests. Most important of all is to find how to help her develop her talent in language. All the best.

the anxiety of finding a slow learner in the house is not new. but the anxiety to tag the child with 'giftedness' is new and unhealthy. it's like thinking, "if my child is intelligent, i should do everything to help him use his intelligence." this is like believing that if you dont do something, his intelligence will go waste.

no, dear parents, your child will find a way to use his intelligence. in fact, by enroling him into some program to enhance his intelligence, you are limiting him.

such programs know this anxiety in parents and they are milking on it.

we get blood test done when the child looks/feels sick, not when he is healthy and happy. similarly, why get an IQ test done when the child is doing well !

all children are special in their own ways. all children are gifted in their own ways.

 Hi Aanchal,
 I agree that all children are gifted in their own ways. But I don't quiet agree that children will find their ways to use their intelligence. I strongly believe that unless an opputunity is provided to learn or to take it to next step, one cannot improve his own special skill.  According to me giftedness is nothing very special and am not talking about child prodigies here. Giftedness is a more unique skill or more advanced skill found in a child when compared to his peers / children of his same age.   

By structured program i meant any specific method which the school can follow to help the advanced kids. Many times we have discussed in this forum about the kids getting bored in school if they are advanced in certain subjects. But how many schools find these kids and provide extra help in challenging the children?Making the child to skip one full grade (which many schools do) just becos he is advanced in one subject doesnt make any sense as the child's mental maturity will not be the same as his new classmates in the higher grade and it's not the right thing to do. Instead, school should try to implement something like forming a separate class for such advanced kids to challenge them or by making him attend the class with kids in one grade higher class only for that subject. This is what i mentioned as special structured programs. 

 If the intelligence is of academics, yes they will find some way to use their intelligence. But if it's a unique talent like what apar_sai's younger child has, then without finding the right method to guide him, he may not be able to take it further. you can say that he can be provided music lessons. But finding the right program would be more beneficial for that child. He has got a very fine ear for sound/ music. so I would suggest Suzuki method of music is an appropriate program for him. Bcos suzuki teaches music thro ear training first and then on later stage they teach kids to read  music notes. This is what I mentioned about following the right program.

Parents also can provide support  (nothing extraordinary) to bring out the talent.  For example, my son is pretty good with numbers and spatial intelligence. So the  support i provide is thro selecting strategy games, spending time in playing chess / IQ games/ card games,  selecting toys that helps improve his imagination or creativity such as lego blocks, magnetic construction toys, encouraging him to come up with his own creation, and provide any scrap from daily household  - it can be a lepracaun trap or his own strategy game. anything  that is his own idea, then thro enrolling him in music lessons as playing music requires one to use both sides of the brain.  I dont think this puts any additional pressure on him. In fact there is no limitation for him. 

 The "gifted" concept is a US one where education is socialised and funded almost  fully by govt. Also everyone mostly goes to govt schools. Govt schools are therefore designed to cater to average intelligence kids. Super intelligent kids are a small slice if the population and this socialised state schooling system doesn't work for them. So to cater to this slice of hyper intelligent kids, US came up with the term gifted. They used the word gifted instead of intelligent or other words so that the rest of everyone doesn't feel offended. Gifted conveys a sense as if its a gift from god. So parents of the averages won't really mind the term. Instead if they called them intelligent, the averages would not accept or like that their kids are not as intelligent. However, the reality is, only a small segment is really in the category of very intelligent. But everyone wants to think or be in that category. In socialised systems, it is hard for average people to accept differentiation of the best from the rest since that goes against the principle of equality for everyone. So they have introduced an element of divinity by calling them gifted instead of intelligent. The system flows over to universities. The best brains go to the best universities, best companies and so on. 

Indian school system isn't based on the same model. Lets analyse the pvt sector schools since that is where most of our kids are. In our system, schools play the role of aggregating the intelligent ones in the population. The result is - the hyper intelligent ones naturally get aggregated into the best schools, the slightly lesser ones go to the next best and so on. So if you see, among the major cities, NPS indiranagar, DPS RK Puram and such schools are the automatic magnets that attract the hyper intelligent. Same concept carries over where the hyper intelligent get aggregated into IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, SPAs, IAS and the like. Lesser intelligent ones get into lesser institutes and the slope goes to the bottom. 

So, folks who are using the term gifted. Pls understand the differences in the 2 systems. In US, there is a need to identify giftedness since the system is socialised and like a flat bowl. In India, the system is already setup to be a funnel.If your kid is "gifted"/ hyper intelligent, system will automatically funnel the child to the best of places. No need to do anything special except to give them the best of books to read and expose them to all possible challenges.   

 Thank you RoshMom,  Anchal & Blrpnt. Thanks for the valuable information.  I just want to know a good school for my son where his talents are recognized. 

 As every child is gifted,and they find there own way ,this is true ...But can it be practical or sensible to sit and watch our childs ups and downs and do nothing..or to be prepared in advance to answer every problem or to sustain the interest in the subject they are interested in full form.Its hard to find a dream school, who encourages the pupils interest.

I think the best way to teach the child is,to be the teacher ourselfs,and to share the knowledge,information,experience....world wide....i dont want my son to be next Einstien..But the same person he wants to be..indivisual..making his own identity..how ever big or small..it doesn't matter..Because i know ..i want to give or help my son in every way its posiible..within my reach..

 The system in the Us is very different...it is not socialistic. Rather, school districts get their funding through the property tax. 

Curriculum is not organized like the books brought out by the various publishers in India. What you have is a scope and sequence of skills which is derived through a lot of research-by reputed universities. That means the skills a child must learn in the main areas of reading, science and  math follow a sequential path. There is no random skipping of one skill to get ahead to the next level. The school districts have the right to choose which books to select (often teachers can choose books for their classrooms) to teach the necessary skills.  The books are not workbooks...the teacher has to plan how he/she will target the skills and record how she achieved the target. This is where the teacher figures out which student struggles with what...it is very systematic and the key is 'age appropriate.' This is because the stress is on comprehension and mastery before moving to the next stage. It is not based on what a publishing company decides is age appropriate but what research says is age appropriate.

The system is geard this way because if you take any random sample of kids you will find that most kids fall in the middle. A few will be at the lowest end and a few at the higher. The curriculum is geared so that a teacher will teach to the middle and adapt the material to the two extremes for the kids who fall in that range. 

In India we have an artificially inflated system where the kids do not have to go sequentially. They do not have the time to understand  a concept because the portions have to be covered within a set period. Irrespective of whether the child has understood or not the tech are has to keep moving thru her workbook. She does not have the freedom, time or the resources to come up with ideas on how to teach a topic on her own.

the gifted program is very very specific. It is based on an iq test (which is valid only if given once a 

 Children are referred by their class teachers for specific IQ tests and in many school districts the children who have an IQ of 130 or above are selected for these programs. The idea is that children who are able to grasp more benefit from that stimulation. This is not a class of more multiplication or phonics...these are enrichment activities which target independence, creative thinking and innovation. At the same time there is an awareness that very bright children need a lot of help with social skills. So many schools provide supporting social programs.

IQ is the potential a child has...there are no coaching classes. If you think your child is bright, whenever you do an activity with your child, don't tell him/her what to do. Instead ask...'What do you think?' 'What would you like to do?' 'How do you think we should do this?' 

Our system spoon feeds our kids...I work with some very bright kids who can't do open ended tasks. All they ask is, 'but our teacher didn't teach us that.' Well the teacher shouldn't teach some things because the kids have to explore and find their own ways. The answer is not found in worksheets or workbooks. 

Please break this cycle. We do our children a disservice.

 And our private schools do not cull the intelligent ones...it just means that we emphasize good study habits (which is very different from being bright), our expectations are based on drilling certain skills and our assessment is very narrow. It also means that we have a parallel education system where the tutor teaches to the test...

i guess i should clarify what i meant by "child will find his own way". finding own way never implies leaving the child on his own and watching him grow. it rather implies exposing the child to various things and let him show you his likes and capabilities, instead of forcing something 'good' on the child.

if something is not yet fully established in India, we need to either work towards it or wait for it to develop.

i very much appreciate blrpnt's and mizzs' efforts to clarify the difference in the systems of India and western countries. a big thanks to both of you . 

 Aanchal,

 I am completely in agreement with you about it being an unhealthy obsession. One of the main considerations in stimulating a gifted child is that he/ she shouldn't become bored in class-boredom can sometimes lead to behavioral conflicts or to lack of motivation. In our system there is no way to do that because they are too busy with the class work. There is no means for individualisation...but this doesn't mean parents should rush to put them in some coaching class for the gifted.

The most important thing to remember when rushing to push your child is the social-emotional piece. Even a three month gap is a big gap in terms of social maturity. As much as we keep academic skills into consideration we must keep the social skills lag also in mind. Children who are bright need to be taught to work in a group, understand social problem solving and negotiating. These don't come automatically because the kids are bright academically, nor can these skills be dismissed as nonessential because they don't help in academics or career satisfaction. An unhappy or friendless child can't work to achieve his potential.

 I wrote those posts because of the assertion that the US has a socialist system of education. no, it is paid for by the people of a locality with their property tax. That way parents of children in a school interact and involve themselves. 

Most of the kids I work with from the Indian system (and most of them go to so called top brand schools) can't think outside the box. These are bright children whose standard response to anything which requires independent thinking is "my teacher didnt teach me that." Why? Because they are focused on direct instruction. Just yesterday i was with a seventh grader who is a topper at one of the most expensive and branded schools whose writing is at the 4th-5th grade level. Vocabulary and organization takes a back seat to beautiful cursive writing! 

Now there are classes to challenge the 'gifted.' Seriously, just give them time to play, ask them open ended questions which don't have right or wrong answers and allow them to explore around your homes. They will be fine.