the gift

I know I’m suppose to give her a Kitchen Set, but with the lack of time and budget for it I fail to give it her on her birthday. I will still give it to her next week. When I have enough money for it hehehe. I’m glad Nong nong and Nang nang Pau gave her a gift. I really didn’t expect them to since Kuya already gave an advance gift about 2 week before when he brought home “Lucky” a 5inch flower horn, in replace to the deceased “Buga” that Jea received on her 2nd birthday
>from Tupe. Thanks so much Gudo!!!!!! And Pau.
Back on the new gift, they were already opening the gift when I got home. Its quite an expensive gift, even more expensive than I’m willing to give for Jea. I have to thank my family for giving what I cannot give and loving Jea as much as I love her. They gave her a “castle”, it’s actually a easy to assemble tent, shaped

Development stage of Toddlers

I found this site that tells the development stage of toddlers. Of course I clicked the stage for 2yr old.. but she's too advance for that. So I went to 3 yr old since she is turning 3, and she is still too advance for that. I tried 4yr old, and she is still too advance for it. So again, I went to the next level. The developmental stage for 5yr old. and here it is. Its exactly what can do in fact even more. The site only have until 5yr old, i still have to look for 6yr old, she may even belong there. Does this mean that my daughters skills are already for a 5 year older more? She is only turning 3 this June, she is 3yrs advance of her age. I am so proud, but also scared. Being too intelligent might go both ways, she may also be discriminated if she is too smart. Or she may get bored in school and lose interest. I wish I can find something that will guide me on how to support and guide her through this.

Children develop at their own pace, so it's impossible to tell exactly when yours will learn a given skill. The developmental milestones below will give you a general idea of the changes you can expect as your child gets older, but don't be alarmed if your child takes a slightly different course.


Social

Wants to please friends -true
Wants to be like her friends- she idolize her cousin Nicole
More likely to agree to rules - she can really follow rules now as long as it is explained to her.
Likes to sing, dance, and act - always always dance when she hears music, in fact she started singing in tune since about 6months. without words of course but in tune.
Shows more independence and may even visit a next-door neighbor by herself- i think she could do this already if we only allow her to.

Emotional Milestones
Aware of gender - identify things too if it should be for girl or boy
Able to distinguish fantasy from reality - true
Sometimes demanding, sometimes eagerly cooperative -true

Cognitive Milestones

Can count 10 or more objects -true
Correctly names at least four colors -she knows red, blue, yellow,pink,black,gray, white, orange, purple, blue, light blue, green, yellow or age, blue green,
Better understands the concept of time - true
Knows about things used every day in the home (money, food, appliances)- she even know how much is the money given to her.. one time i gave her Php20 and i told her its Php50. She looked at me again and said

"mommy two, ito eh, its not 50 its 20.

She can even add and subtract already and we didn't even teach her. Its as if she's teaching herself. One time i went home with donuts and Nong-nong asked her if he could have one and her answer?

Yoko nga, eh, four lng un eh.. pagbinigay ko syo ung one... three na lng.. pag binigay ko pa ulet ung one, two nlng.. tpos if i give another one ubos na!

I'm really shocked and amazed. Another instance while in the groceries. I got 2 juice bottles and then i went back again and got two more. Then she blurted out. :

mommy 4 yan, bket four? dami ah.

Language
Recalls part of a story- in fact she can tell the whole story
Speaks sentences of more than five words - tells a whole story nga eh..
Uses future tense - true and past tense too
Tells longer stories --whole story nga eh..
Says name and address -- true, even birthdays, mommy's name etc.

Movement

Stands on one foot for 10 seconds or longer - oo nman since 1yr old
Hops, somersaults - somersault? tambling ba un?
Swings, climbs - oo nman..
May be able to skip -oo nman!
Hand and Finger Skills --oo nman!

Copies triangle and other shapes -- oo nman!
Draws person with body --oo nman!
Prints some letters -very few pa.. im still teaching her.. i dint know that she can do this already..
Dresses and undresses without help --hehe.. oo nman! different strategy nga lng..
Uses fork, spoon, and (sometimes) a table knife -- oo nman since 1.5 yr old
Usually cares for own toilet needs -- oo nman.. she goes to the bathroom by herself, pulls herself up the watercloset, wash, dry and dress up again.. since 1.8yr old.

How do I identify a gifted child?

Q: How do I identify a gifted child?

A: To recognize if a child is gifted, there are numerous characteristics that are distinct to gifted individuals and quite easily observable, especially for parents. The following description would give a rough indication of these characteristics.

By the broad category of giftedness, characteristic traits are listed as general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative thinking and production, leadership, psychomotor ability, visual and performing arts. More specifically, if your child demonstrate about three quarter of the following characteristic traits, it is likely that s/he is gifted.

Variety of Interests
Excellent memory
Long attention span
Unusual curiosity
Persistence in attacking difficult mental tasks
Creative ability/Divergent thinking skills
Good problem solving/reasoning abilities
Rapid learning ability
Leadership qualities
High degree of energy
Above average language development
Early/avid reader
Preference for older/matured companions
Unusual emotional depth and intensity
Heightened sensitivity
Non-conformity behavior
Above average ability with numbers/jigsaw puzzles
Keen powers of observation
Vivid imagination
Good sense of humor
Sense of justice and moral sensitivity
Perfectionism
Apparent maturity in judgment

Researches on giftedness indicate that the best way to identify giftedness in your child is by carefully observing his behavior, not by formal testing of IQ especially if the child is very young. The best age to do an IQ test is still debatable. I suppose, as soon as the child is able to read/write and understand questions; s/he may be able to do such tests without much bias. Most of the indicators of giftedness become evident even before a child turns one! So perhaps that's when you may be able to look out for some of the indications listed above. However, do be aware that your child may not necessary be gifted in all areas.

On intelligence testing, the accuracy of an IQ test is still questionable. Nevertheless, it is still the single best predictor to test general intelligence. Intelligence and giftedness are not synonymous - as thought by many. Gifted individuals have different abilities, talents, and personalities. Even so, a sizeable proportion of the individuals categorized as gifted are distinguished from their non-gifted counterparts by virtue of superior general intelligence, which is measured by intelligence tests. This is how giftedness becomes associated with intelligence.

A note of caution, some parents tend to want to believe that their child is "gifted" as it may associate one with the pool of elitist, especially so within a competitive society. This may lead them to "force" giftedness upon their child, forgetting other aspects of development, especially their affective needs. With proper nurturing and access to educational materials, children would be seen to perform, but if their emotional and physical needs were not met, these children would be at risk of burning out.

Then, to turn the tables around would be rather difficult and requires a great deal of effort as the damage is already done during the critical age of growing. Hence, give your child what you believe would help him/her make the most of his/her abilities, but at the same time allow your child to enjoy growing. Focus on your child's strengths, at the same time pay attention to his/her weak areas and get help.

Believe that every child may not meet the early sign of gifted characteristics that are listed, but every child is special in his/her own way - focus on that specialty and you would be nurturing a well-rounded and emotionally stable child.

Encouraging your Gifted Child

If you are a parent of a gifted child, the Educational Resources Information Center recommends that you:

Read aloud to your child. It is important that parents read to their gifted child often, even if the child is already capable of reading.


Help your child discover personal interests. Stimulation and support of interests are vital to the development of talents. Parents should expose their child to their own interests and encourage the child to learn about a wide variety of subjects, such as art, nature, music, and sports, in addition to traditional academic subjects such as math, reading, and science.


Encourage the support of extended family and friends. As an infant, a gifted child can exhaust new parents because he or she often sleeps less than other babies and requires extra stimulation when awake. It can be helpful to have extended family in the home, grandparents who live nearby, or close friends in the neighborhood who can spend some time with the child so the primary caretakers can get some rest and to give the infant added -- or different -- stimulation.


Speak and listen to your child with consideration and respect. From the time he or she can talk, a gifted child is constantly asking questions and will often challenge authority. "Do it because I said so" doesn't work. Generally, a gifted child will cooperate more with parents who take the time to explain requests than with more authoritarian parents.


If your child isn't in school yet, you might look for a preschool program for gifted children or make some effort to support your child at home. This might include frequent visits to a museum, zoo, bookstore, nature center and other field trips. Home use of educational programs, including books and computer programs, might also be helpful.

Once your child starts kindergarten, you might have to consider advanced placement vs. participation in a gifted and talented program. It doesn't make any sense for a child who already knows how to read to attend a regular kindergarten class and get bored as the other kids are just learning to read.

Your state or local gifted education association (see the Internet Links above) should also offer some help and additional resources for your child and school counselors/psychologists can offer advice on the best placement for your gifted child

Is my child gifted?

I googled "preschool+ manila" for my choices of preschool for Jea,then I got to this site mom exchange, its a blog of Filipino mom living in U.S. and as read her blog about the Kindergarden checklist. Sort of entrance exam for toddlers in U.S. at least in that State, for kids. Her son was 3yrs old when they took the test. Turns out its a lot more complicated there, kids, babies have to take test to be able to be accepted. It was even stressed there that it is a law for toddlers to be tested for kindergarden. Unfortunately for her, her kid failed the test and needs special education. She included a link for the checklist.To read about the blog please click the link. So when I checked it out this is my observation.

Moms Exchange.com

I read the Checklist and analyze my daughters skills. I was shocked that most of the comments are shocked about the scissors. I let my baby use scissors, with full adult supervision of course since she was about 1yr 8months. We are doing the gardening and she wanted to help so i gave her the small craft scissors, the one thats not pointed and she immediately learned to use them. I am proud to say that she can do all the skills in the list, actually i think even more. She also learned to walk at 7 months, she was already humming with the music at 6 months. She can sing the several nursery songs before she turned two. She also recognized the letters "O", "S" and "T" at 1 year old. She now knows all the letters and count up to 10. She knows the colors and shapes, whe also know to the corresponding Tagalog words against their English translation. When I gave her Lego Blocks to play with, she formed a Pyramid using all the yellow blocks for the inside triangle and used all the orange blocks for the outer triangle, and I didnt even teach her to do that. She also drew a house, a dragon, fish and "Barnie" when I gave her a drawing board. I didnt even teach her how to draw, I just gave it to her to play with and I expected to see only doodles and crazt lines, but that what she came up with.

She is now 2yrs old and 6months. My mom always thought that shes gifted, and kept on telling me that I have her tested if she are. I never thought that she is, I know that she's smart. That she is advanced againts most kids her age, but i never bother testing her. If I base my kid's ability with the checklist I could say that she really is. I'll should schedule her for testing soon.