Special needs or gifted and talented?

[claw3]

Hi everyone

My 4 year old son is currently seeing an OCT and she thinks he may have SPD, because he basically has some heightened senses. She has also commented that she thinks he may be gifted. He also has a speech delay ie saying some physical sounds probably caused from being deaf for a year with fluid in his ear.

Is it common for gifted children to have sensory difficulties or speech delays?

Is it possible to have special needs, but also be gifted?

Id be grateful for any advice or experiences

[PuzzleRocks]

Can't help but bumping for you.

[claw3]

Thank you, much appreciated, trying desperately to make sense of it all

[wonderstuff]

Absolutly possible to be gifted and have sn. Look at Stephen Hawkins, ok, extreme example, but from what you say your ds has physical needs, can't comment on how common it is for gifted children to have such difficulties, but I am a SN teacher and we have a few children on the SEN register who are in all the top sets. Must be very frustrating for your ds at the moment, but may be that long term his intellegence will help him to overcome his difficulties. Good luck

[lijaco]

It is posible to be gifted and have a special need. Some kids who are gifted are not always in the top sets either.

[christywhisty]

My DS is top set and on both g&t and special needs register. He has specific learning difficultes/ dyslexia problems.
He also saw a speach therapist for a while when he was 3/4/5 because of immature speach but he has no problems now other than occasional word finding difficulties.

Also google Dubrowskis hypersensitivity of gifted children (or something like that) which may give you more info on hypersensitivity, although some of the sites that mention it are "indigo child " which I would steer clear of.

[Tiggiwinkle]

My DS5 is both Special Needs and G and T. He has Asperger's Syndrome (and heightened senses as part of the Asperger's too).

[claw3]

Tiggiwinkle, do you mind if i ask which of his senses are heightened?

[hullygully]

Doesn't Stephen Hawkins have MND??

[Tiggiwinkle]

claw-he has heightened sense of hearing; is very sensitive to the feel of different textures (will not wear a lot of clothes I buy for instance; and always strips off as soon as he comes in from school); very fussy in terms of food-will only eat limited range of tastes/textures; does not like bright sunlight. So pretty much all of them I suppose!

[Tiggiwinkle]

Also gets hot very quickly-seems to feel the heat much more than usual. So as I said, dislikes the feel of clothes both because of their texture and because he gets too hot.

[claw3]

Christy - I have read about Dabrowski's Over-excitabilities and have just finished reading the out of sync child.

A few of the signs of SPD fit my ds like a glove, others he is quite the opposite to

[claw3]

Tiggi - sounds familiar, ds hands over ears for loud noises, no messy hands, no shoes off, doesnt like bright sunlight. Eating is his biggest problem, severely anemic, about 5 foods he will eat.

Also what do they class as gifted? Sorry 1001 questions!

[Tiggiwinkle]

Well-`DS5's school only use G and T from Year 5 (which he has just gone into-he is 9). But basically he is way ahead of his class in Maths-someone from outside comes into the school to teach extension Maths to a very small group of 4 (2 from each of year 5 and 6). But before this year the teacher was giving him work from the year above.

In other subjects he is in the top groups (English, science etc)

What subjects is your DS good at?

Have you done any reading about Asperger's?

[ohmeohmy]

The brain is a mysterious and amazing thing. My ds7 has sensory integration dysfunction as a result of brain problem, very uneven sensory processing. hyper to noise. as a baby would be very quiet until put down in a dark room when he would chat on for ages, needed the calm visual sense to process the language. Also found that movement helped him talk, (something to do with the ear also being about balance and proprioception) get him on a trampoline and he didn't stop talking. Now talks well and has an amazing memory and can read better than many adults. Have found that needed to avoid some situations and help him gently get accustomed to others and try to figure out ways to modify the situation himself. Still big challenge. Good luck.

[Tiggiwinkle]

To answer your question more specifically, the G and T label is a bit arbitary. Schools are supposed to put the top 10% of a class in the G and T category in various subjects.

There is a separate organisation which used to be called NAGTY, which my 15 year old DS4 was made a member of once he got to secondary. (Now been renamed I think).

That is more accurate as it is given to the top 5% of the population as a whole, as opposed to the top 10% of a school which obviously depends a lot on the intake of the
school.

[claw3]

Yes i have, seems like reading is all ive been doing for the last 2 1/2 years!!

Again with Asperger's ticks a few of the boxes, but more boxes unticked, than ticked. Also autism was ruled out, is the testing for Aspergers different?

He hasnt started school yet (will do in January) He is 4 1/2, his drawings are very advanced, he knows all his letters, upper and lowercase, phonics, he can read, more from memory than using phonics, that type of thing. Great understanding of taking turns and rules of games etc.

[Tiggiwinkle]

Yes-there are specific criteria for Asperger's.

Tony Attwood's book is very good on the subject of AS.

To be honest, they rarely tick all the boxes-I have two with an AS diagnosis and they are completely different to one another!

[Marne]

Hi, my dd1 (4.9) has Aspergers and is very bright, ahead in reading, writing and maths. Struggles with the social side of things.

Dd2 (2.8) has Autism (no dx yet), has a speech delay but i have been told she is very mathmatical by her nursery group.

Both my dd's are different, not alike at all, dd1 was/is a hard child and doesn't stop talkinh, dd2 is easy going but non-verbal. Dd1's drawings are very detailed (down to the last strand of hair on a head), she also has a huge memory, she could count to 100 at the age of 3 but finds it hard to take it in turns and has to win games.

[claw3]

Hi Marne, my ds is having social problems ie no one likes me, no one wants to play with me. Basically because he wants to take the lead, if he isnt allowed to take the lead, he will withdraw to his drawings/writing.

He also has imaginary friends, who are doing him no favours at all. The other kids, see him talking to thin air and think he is a bit strange!

[claw3]

Tiggi - Does your ds have school dinners or packed lunch?

This is like a major decision for me, sad i know

[Marne]

Dd1 has a friend who pushes her around , dd says this is her best friend, she doesn't understand that she can't be friends with people that hurt her. When i see her playing in the playgroud she's either on her own or talking to the teacher. She has got a friend that lives a few doors away but the little girl now knows how to make dd cry (by making sure she doesn't win or take the lead)

She's very simalar to your ds claw, she has many imaginary friends including a cat called Olive and a pony called Pedro, her best (imaginary) friend is Marv, aparently he is the same age as dd and he lets her win games .

[claw3]

Marne - George, my ds best imaginary friend, takes the blame for my ds's misbehaving (my ds is easily upset at any kind of critism)Another defence method!!

Interesting that your ds has a vivid imagination too, i thought part of the austism spectrum was being unable to pretend, taking things very literally? something for me to bear in mind, i also thought because of my ds's vivid imagination, he couldnt have autism

[Tiggiwinkle]

My DS had major problems with friendships throughout reception and year 1. It did gradually improve, and now he has several friends, including a "best friend". (Mind you, he is very similar and I suspect is undiagnosed AS!)

He also has to lead in games like your DS and cannot compromise-his friends have to be very patient!

He could not possibly have school lunches-he is far too fussy! (Also has major issues with knowing who has prepared food, cleanliness etc). This is also complicated by the fact he has recently been diagnosed with coeliac disease (cannot eat gluten) so that would be an added problem.

[Tiggiwinkle]

There are lots of misconceptions claw, even amongst the professionals. Children with AS and autism are not supposed to be affectionate-mine both are with me!

[claw3]

Twinkle - ive been given conflicting advice about dinners. SENCO suggested school dinners, although i feel she doesnt fully understand the problem. She says im sure we will have something he likes. Unless they have half a chocolate spread sandwich with no butter on the menu, they wont!!

OCT - suggests packed lunch so as not to intimidate him.

I was in 2 minds, i dont want to continue to encourage his limited diet, but i dont want him to dread school because of lunchtime

Does your ds like to play games, like an adult ie no cheating? My ds just likes to make sure its all fair