When I pulled Willow out of Montessori School a few weeks ago, I decided to do some research on "early learning". I inevitably stumbled upon "gifted" programs in my search for answers. So, I talked to a ton of moms and teachers to get their thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages in giving your kid a "head start" in education.
First, let me tell you a little about Willow. She is going to be two in mid-September. Right now she can sing the alphabet song (recognizing some of the letters) and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. She can "read" Yummy Yucky
and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
. I put the word "read" in quotation marks because even though she can say the words and turn the pages at the right times, that doesn't mean she can read. It means that we have read them to her enough that she has memorized them.We aren't some of those nutty parents who started showing her flash cards before she could even hold her head up because (and this is totally our opinion, especially the "nutty" part) what's the point? (Besides, if your child is truly gifted, it's not because you showed them flash cards) However, she can recognize and make the noises for all the Animals in The Very Busy Spider
and Do You Want to Be My Friend?
(even the peacock, which is super cute (and scarily accurate) and the rooster). She can also reliably count to 7, but she has no idea what the numbers mean.In my opinion (and I am a rocket scientist, not a cognitive analyst), she is pretty average for her age. Certainly not "gifted".
Did you know that only about 2-3 out of every 100 children the same age as your child is now can be considered "gifted"? The real question is whether or not it actually means anything before your child is school-aged. And the answer is mostly no.
Personally, I would never subject my very young child to any kind of academic pressure at her age. They have enough to deal with when Kindergarten starts (you know, since they learn to actually read in Kindergarten these days) and I'd prefer that my child have the opportunity to just "be a kid" for as long as possible. Studies have shown that subjecting small children (under school-aged) to academic rigors have no benefit down the road.
There is one exception, the truly gifted child. And I don't mean the child who has been shown flash cards, or how to golf, since birth. So, you know, now they can read and add and play golf. I mean the child that is truly UNHAPPY if they are not learning. I mean the child that gets little sleep (and refuses naps during the day) because his brain is always on and thinking (this is typically from birth). The child that can associate, at 16 months old (from pictures alone), that beef comes from a cow, and understands the concept of death. The child that completes a 24 piece puzzle that she has never seen before in less than 10 minutes at the ripe old age of two.
Like I said, I have talked to quite a few moms and teachers. (I question them when I am working out at Curves.) And, quite universally, they say that the absolute best thing you can do for your young child is to spend time with them. Get them to read books and listen to music and develop creatively with drawing and painting. Don't waste your money on a developmental program, especially since cognitive ability is hard to nail down before your child is school-aged. I have a co-worker that literally spent $5,000 to put their 5-year-old in a reading course so they would be at a second grade level when they entered first grade. I just don't see the logic there.
According to MENSA (regarding testing for your child), all available tests are standard score tests based on a ranking of all children who take the tests. The test will only tell you how many other children your child outscored; it will not tell you "how gifted" or how different your child's thinking and reasoning are. The old Stanford-Binet LM is still the only test that can do that, but you must give your child the standard score test first or schools may not accept the results due to the age of the SBLM. Additionally, the SB-LM...really has to be used before a child turns 12 to have any particular value and in the case of the profoundly gifted, prior to the age of 9. (IQ tests for small children aren't really accurate until after the age of 5.)
In talking to teachers and moms, I have found that in all instances (again unless your child is truly gifted) putting pressure on your child at too young an age tends to turn out bad. I also discovered that moms with children who were at the top of their high school classes didn't do anything different with them when they were young. They let them develop at their own pace, and they turned out more than fine.
So, before you go off and spend a ton of money getting your kid tested and spend subsequently MORE money on some kind of early learning/development program, think about your reasoning behind it. Are you doing it because your child is really and truly gifted? Or, are you doing it so you can brag about how little Suzie goes to such and such a school for "gifted" children?
Do you think your child may be gifted? See the links below for more information:And, until your child is school-aged, you can find some enrichment activities and resources here: Enrichment Activities and Resources for Gifted Children
