Gifted and Talented the most detrimental label

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Last edited by LadyBug on 26 Jul 2004, 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Gifted/talented label is a lot of times VERY VERY HELPFUL. It can be the only thing that ensures that a smart kid isn't put into a special class in which he does not belong.

Last edited by LadyBug on 26 Jul 2004, 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I agree that practical application is paramount. All the theories in the world won't make a difference if you don't take that knowledge and invent machines to help fly you around the world so you can meet other people like you, or something like that on a fantastic, surrealistic level.

But SERIOUSLY... a label like "Gifted" is a million miles away from insults like "moron" and "dumbass" and hardly the worst thing you could be called. Whether you live up to the merits of what it suggests would be an individual achievement -- prodigies cracking under pressure (especially during the younger years) is a common statistical occurrence -- but the point being, if you have that word attached to you, wouldn't you want to take it and excel at whatever it is that you do that other people find so "gifted"?

I'm one for celebrating everyone's abilities -- whether you're a math whiz, have a knack for medieval history, or even a star basketball player. Anyone and everyone who has peaks also has valleys, and so while you're climbing that mountain of life, you might as well climb as high as you can possibly go, because very few other people who are not only talented but PERSISTENT as well can come to join you; and often it is with them that you form a long-term kinship of lifelong wonder and discovery.

Last edited by LadyBug on 26 Jul 2004, 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, like they say... it's lonely at the top. And all analogies fall apart, but I should extend that and say that: once you know you can climb such a high mountain, even if you come down, you feel AWESOME

"Been there, done that"

And you are most welcome.

Yes indeed - it might also allow a bright kid to be put into an advanced class where they will get more challenging work. The main time I see the label as causing negative consequences is where others get jealous of the child's special talents and try to pull them down whenever they get the chance. Even some teachers are known to do this.

I got "gifted and talented", I got "6ft tall, with boobs, aged 12" and I also got "intelligent and articulate" (mostly while I was trying to get a little truth to the surface through the family lies...hmmm, something tells me THAT one wasn't intended to be a compliment?).

...didn't learn to read till I was 4, but then I AM mildly dyslexic...

I had SUCH fun at school...even WITHOUT the family from hell waiting at home...

...and whenever anything went wrong (as it was wont to do), the hint was that "with a brains like yours" I should be able to overcome/control/analyse/necromance it into non-existance.

BUT THERE IS HOPE...

When you get older you eventually get *THE MENOPAUSE*, this renders you *COMPLETELY STUPID* for a lot of the time...just like normal folks...

Ain't that nice?

M

I totally appreciate your story. Being smart can be a bit of a curse if you have learning disabilities.

In school I was much the same in reading, French (I would tattle on the other kids because they were supposed to be speaking in french and weren't. It never occurred to me that they might not have had as an extensive vocabulary as I did). I was an expert on any subject we read, and I was pretty good at math and other things as well. Although, for math, I could never do the work - I'd just spout out an answer and couldn't explain how I got it.

My mom was noticing a lot of problems, and went to the school about it. They told her yes, something is wrong, we notice it to. She probably just has to apply herself more. But she's smart, they said, Gifted, maybe, so why label her? She'll get by.

Back then Asperger's wasn't a diagnosis yet.

At school the kids made my life difficult and I begged mom everyday to change me to my brother's school so at least /one/ person would be looking out for me. But she said that it's rough to switch at such and such year, because of the whole friends thing. She couldn't get it through her head. I didn't HAVE any friends to loose. Except one year I had a couple kids that let me push them on the tire, then they hit grade 2 and I was lost to them :p

In grade 5 they implemented a gifted and talented program. I remember being quitee jelous of the kids selected for it. I knew more about what they were learning than they did. But, I wasn't selected because I had the handwriting of a grade 1, and couldn't show my work, or other reasons like that.

Great, so I can't get help because I was smart/gifted, right? But I also can't take part in "Enrichment"? It was very strange.

Finally in grade 6 after coming home crying all the time, absolutely misrable mom switched me to another school. They didn't worry about if I was gifted, or talented, they just taught me and worked on my weakness and tried to address them. They worked pretty good. I did get labeled top girl in math by the end of the year, and one of the top readers, but luckily they didn't extrapolate that I should be good at everything

High school was a bit difficult because "work" became critical for math, and such, and I met another person I hung out all the time, who is getting checked out right now for being Aspie as well

Still, I'm kinda of curious, back in the day when "Dyslexia" was pretty much the main learning disability, did anyone get diagnosed as this? Did it help at all with services and such?