Make Your Child 'Gifted'??

How to Make Your Child intellectually ‘Gifted’? (Is it even possible??) an oxymoron

BUT we can ask - Are Gifted-like Traits teachable and can they be formed?

Here are some commonly known traits of gifted children – highly curious, independent learners, possess a large vocabulary, reaching milestones early, able to grasp abstract concepts easily, be immersed in favourite topics, etc.

My two kids are all of that when they were six or seven years old, but does that mean they were gifted or does that mean we did our jobs as parents? At the age of six or seven, how can one really tell if they were gifted or not? I don’t think I’ve seen a five, six or seven year old child that wasn’t curious, that I couldn’t teach to read a few more words or add numbers, play a new game or grasp an abstract concept through proper use of manipulatives. Even if my kids weren’t that way before, most children that I’ve seen have the capacity to do those things.

Hence, is ‘giftedness’ trainable?

By primary 1, both my kids were among the top of the class, finishing their daily work within minutes because they already knew it. They had all the extra time to do their stuff – playing with blocks, reading their favourite books, crafting artworks, generating original thoughts through the use of various types of construction resources such as Lego, Klikko, Omnifix cubes, doing puzzle solving etc. All this while they were improving on their logical reasoning, spatial, and visual senses. I realized later on that all these playing helped them tremendously in their Mathematics, Science and language. It seems then to become a cycle – work seemed less tedious, and in turn, they could enjoy playing during free time.

And both of them got into the Gifted Education Programme...no prep, no stress!

Our Analytical Critical Thinking programme lies in the above premise - serious fun!

Read more at http://www.gurukidspro.com/analytical-critical-thinking-program.htm.

Also, catch us at http://www.thegiftedparents.com/.

What Good is Right Brain Training?

In the last decade, many centres in Singapore have sprung up to provide the so-called Right Brain training for infants, little tots, and kindergartners. Right brain trainings focus on areas such as mental imaging, observation training, memory linking, photographic memory, speed reading, and photo eye play.

There is also a significant number of online brain training programmes that have come up the last five years seeking to improve similar areas in our right side of our brains. Thus, for time-constrained parents, the alternative may be a good and value for money online brain training programme which they could subscribed to. Right brain training is a good investment especially for young kids between the age of 0 and 3.

A third alternative is for parents to do the right brain training at home. If you google words like ‘right brain training’, ‘right brain resources’, ‘right brain for kids’, it’s rather easy to purchase right brain products for your child. For one, there is a very comprehensive site that sells resources needed to carry out right brain activities at home - http://www.rightbraineducationshop.com/. Another that we found is TweedleWink at http://www.rightbrainkids.com/_new/home.php. (Guru Kids Pro is in no way related to these two companies so please find out more on your own prior to purchase.) There are in fact many more resources on the internet.

According to a few recent studies, while training in those mentioned areas will usually help sharpen children’s cognitive abilities on specific tasks, such trainings won’t bring any benefits to the kind of intelligence that helps children to reason, solve problems and think abstractly. In other words, right brain training alone does not increase fluid intelligence or working memory which is the intelligence needed to do well in (academic) work and in life.

We have quite a number of students who had started on right brain training when they were young. However, the concerned parents started seeing their children’s lack in areas especially in logical and mathematical reasoning when formal schooling commenced. Alas, they had to provide the children with a great amount of tuition to keep up with academic work which made them perplexed. They would often lament, “Why is he unable to cope with Math? He had been to right brain training for 4 years!” Actually, the poor child has excellent cognitive skills, but the lack of exposure to many different types of reasoning and problem-based questions at an earlier age had disadvantaged the child. With high demands from the subjects, the child who is in formal schooling now, may not find sufficient time (to make up for the loss of time) to do problem solving tasks. Easily, he becomes an underachiever!

SO, is Brain Training Worth It then?

Given the results of those studies, you might be wondering if brain training has any value. After all, if it doesn't increase intelligence, then what good is it? While such brain training might not result in an increased intelligence, it does increase help someone improve cognitive abilities in specific areas.

So go ahead, sign up for that brain training programme or download that brain-boosting app. Just be aware of what you are likely to get out of using such tools. Ignore false promises that suggest your child’s IQ will soar and instead, focus on sharpening the specific skills, challenging oneself, and having a bit of fun.

The Gifted Parents that I know generally are able to couple both the right brain and left brain lessons with their children. (By left brain trainings, it definitely DOES NOT refer to tuitions in academic subjects. That’s not what left brain training is about at all. Left brain lessons at Guru Kids Pro introduced children as young as 4 to more logical, sequential, rational, & analytical problems, and focused on the parts of things rather than the whole.) In other words, they know exactly the importance of the Whole Brain activation for optimal learning. In the next post, I’ll talk about the importance of having a Bipedal Mind which I frequently share passionately with our students’ parents.

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BrainWise™ - Singapore’s ONLY Decision Making Course for All Ages

Have you ever said to yourself, “Why did I just do that? What on earth was I thinking?” Perhaps you’ve engaged in an argument that exploded into a war of words. Or maybe you’ve stormed out of a room in a fit of anger or frustration. Or you’ve been so excited that you babbled like an idiot. If so, welcome to the human race.

None of us is perfect – children to adults. From the president whose affairs make headlines to the friend who does not take the car keys away from a buddy who has had too much to drink, we all do things we regret later.

Why? Why do we at times react emotionally rather than respond rationally?

The answer lies in the brain, the way it’s wired, and the short-circuiting that occurs when we don’t stop to think.

BrainWise™ course makes it easy to understand the brain and why people act the way they do. Termed the 10 Wise Ways (http://www.gurukidspro.com/brainwise-singapore.htm), each way explains how it is part of our problem-solving process.

If the letters of the alphabet are a reading tool, the 10 Wise Ways are a thinking tool. Like letters, these concepts are easy to remember, but knowing them does not men you know how to think. It’s just like knowing the alphabet does not mean one knows how to read. We use the Wise Ways to learn how to think in the same way you use letters to learn to read.

You had depended on your family and other adults in your life to teach you how to think. If you were raised in a family or an environment where people hadn’t learnt thinking skills, or had learnt them incompletely, you probably grew up without learning important problem-solving strategies.

Until now, this information has been a well-kept secret – not because people who know about thinking skills won’t share them, but because people who have learnt how to make good choices and decisions are unaware that they learnt skills others have not. They do not realize that people who respond using emotions and impulse are acting on basic “fight or flight” instincts, the only response they know. BrainWise™ lets you in on this secret. The 10 Wise Ways will teach your children how to stop and think, helping them make better choices so they (and you) have fewer problems.

BrainWise™ course will help your children quickly grasp these techniques and use them in their daily lives. Better yet, they will have the tools to teach these important skills to you and others.

The ideas BrainWise™ presents are universal and can be applied to any problem situation. You may already know or be familiar with many thinking skills. This course will help you and your children understand how the 10 Wise Ways work, why they are important, and how you and your children can incorporate critical thinking into everyday life.

Today, ways to prevent problems are not systematically taught at home and school. The BrainWise™ programme has given thousands of parents, educators, counsellors, social workers, and many others the methods to teach the skills necessary to stop and think. They have found the techniques useful for everyone, regardless of race, age, or culture.

As with all learnt skills, the more you and your children use them, the better all of you will become. It takes practice to master thinking, but soon you will be automatically stop and think before you react. This AHA! experience will make your life and your loved ones’ lives at home, work and school happier, healthier, and more productive.

Parts of this article are excerpts from the book How to be BrainWise™ – The Proven Method for Making Smart Choices by Dr Patricia Gorman Barry.

Is GAT Prep Needed? An ALTERNAITVE WAY of looking at it.

Research has shown that many children often fail to achieve a good IQ score due to temperamental difficulties rather than intellectual failings. Psychologists judged this to be true to a significant extent as they investigated the effect of emotional states on IQ scores.

In one study, kindergarten children were tested on their IQ, and then six months later, retested. There was a considerable improvement in IQ. The researchers concluded that the change had been due to anxiety or strangeness of the problems or both during the original test. Research has shown that practice in solving problems similar to those contained in an IQ test can make a big difference to the results. Thus, suggesting that it is the UNFAMILIARITY of the problems which suddenly confront them which throws them off balance. Henceforth, can an IQ test truly reflect a child's potential? And we should never forget the fact that some children warm very slowly to new tasks. It is then not their mental capabilities we are testing here.

Let's take the above and analogise it to the General Ability Test given to 12-year-old children when they have to apply for the direct school admission. For children who have never seen these questions prior the actual test, is it the anxiety or unfamiliarity that throws them off balance or are they simply unintellectual enough to do the test?

I am not advocating that all children should go for any prep classes. This is NOT my intention. In my opinion, the playing field for this GAT is not level, AND it is never going to be so. Isn't this the same for all kinds of academic pursuits - PSLE, O Level, IB programme, A Level, even in the University? Aren't almost all kids get prepped for all academic pursuits?

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Critical Period of Learning

Two decades ago, it was already widely accepted that our ultimate, adult levels of creative talent, intelligence and social effectiveness are determined long before the start of formal schooling, during the first five to six years of life. Successful development during this critical period of growth will be reflected in the achievements of later childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

BUT it's never too late still if your child is below 9 years old. At Guru Kids Pro, we always advise parents on the gaps that have occurred and the remediation you could take to patch up those gaps so that your child can achieve academically in the many more years to come.

The Gifted Parents™ Workshop is coming your way soon!

Talk to us soon!
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What is Hot Housing?

There was a post on "Is this considered Hot Housing?" which I posted several weeks ago. One main response which I frequently got queried on was - So, can I hot house my child to become a genius attending university at an age several years ahead of his/her peers?

 

Well, I would like to make clear my own stand to this type of ‘hot housing’ approach. The cases we often read about in academic journals, popular books or internet blogs are the success stories. For all attempts that failed, we do not know exactly what happened, nor do we know what price – to parents and child – that failure had brought. I am certainly not criticising the great desire of parents to encourage the development of their child’s full potential. How could I when that is precisely my purpose in crafting my curricula for pre-schoolers and early primary school kids! Neither am I advocating any methods, approaches and procedures which are adopted. Different methods suit the needs of different children. My main concern of the ‘hot housing’ approach for this purpose is that it is unnecessary and cannot possibly work with every child. In many cases, the results might turn out to be exactly the opposite of what was initially intended.

 

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The Gifted Parents™

Is your child gifted? Even if we are not sure of the answer, I am certain that you must have given some thought to the question. There can only be a handful parents who have not hoped that their children possess some special talent or ability which will help them do well in life.

We question the talents of our children but not the parenting skills of parents. I wonder how many of those parents who are so keen to discover if their children are gifted would be equally eager to find out if these children had gifted parents?

The fact is that gifted children begin with gifted parents. By that I do not mean parents who are exceptionally intelligent, highly educated, extremely successful, or even being gifted persons themselves. They may be any or all of these. But take heart, none is an essential component to be gifted parents.

Guru Kids Pro will be holding a series of workshops in the coming months that aim to empower young parents to become gifted parents - The Gifted Parents™ Workshops.

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