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That is definitely on my list to make!

Great question! I'm going to avoid using the term "intelligence" in the hopes that I can be clearer in my explanation. I have a neurodiverse brain that is faster and more flexible than a typical brain, which does enable me to learn information quickly and understand complex subjects with greater ease than a typical person. However, that does not mean a typical person could never learn the same information through hard work and a longer time frame. Here is the way this reality plays out in my marriage: I'm married to a mechanical engineer who has achieved his masters degree and knows a lot more math and physics than I ever learned through formal education. We both greatly enjoy discussing theory in any number of subject areas, and this shared desire is all from our personality preferences, not a reflection on IQ. My lack of advanced education in physics and math just means my husband has to take 2-5 minutes to give me a quick summary of a subject that I may not be familiar with, and then we can discuss whatever related concept to both his and my satisfaction. If it's a subject or idea that I'm explaining to him, I may have to take 15-30 minutes to completely build out the concepts for him to achieve the same level of understanding, but he does get there and then we can discuss the idea more. Both my husband and I find our conversations very fun and stimulating, but I believe that's because my husband is a "typically-brained" intellectual. Most "typically-brained" people don't want to put in the effort needed to learn something new so they can socialize with a gifted person's current interest, so that is one of the key barriers to being "merrily" married. Another key issue is our commitment to each other. We both want to put in the work to make this marriage a success. We both respect each other's differing abilities and value those differences. I greatly value the steadiness that comes from my husband: his steady emotions through a conversation that I'm starting to get upset about because he isn't getting it yet, his steady determination to resolve conversations/conflicts until I feel heard and understood, and his steady determination to stand by me through all my gifted chaos that I talk about in this video. There are very few neurotypical people out there willing to put in the work to amicably socialize with gifted, autistic, and/or ADHD people, so it is amazing when you do find these "normal" people.

Sure! My sister-in-law does a week's worth of math in one day, then the next day she has her kids do a week's worth of history, then science, then language arts, and I can't remember what she does on the 5th day, but I know it's another "block" day. It works well for her kids because they can focus better on each subject.

​@@KSLewisLearningHonestly this is genius and would probably work really well for my kids who just want to keep working on the first thing they work on that day.

Yes, I was unclear about that. ADHD is an executive function issue which results in distractibility, a lack of awareness of time, and impulsivity, to name a few more things. I'm also aware that young children don't have a well developed executive function, so I'm trying to utilize some of the techniques useful to ADHDers to help my son function better in the short term as his develops. The neurodivergence of giftedness can frequently overlap with the neurodivergence of ADHD, so I'm just trying to be aware of possibilities to better help my son in case he is "twice exceptional." Thanks for pointing this out so I could clarify!

I don't have a video out, but I've put it on my list for this fall!

Great question!

Great question! You can take 3 paths: 1) You join a huge waitlist to get an IQ test with a child psychologist who does the testing for local school systems, but there are typically only a couple of them in the largest cities in any state. 2) You join a really huge waitlist with one of a handful of psychologists in the world who will give your child a qualitative (and more accurate) assessment of giftedness. The only group I definitely know of is in Bolder Colorado, but there are probably a couple others. 3) You read all the books and blogs you can find written by gifted education professionals, psychologists, and gifted organizations. Then you evaluate your own child based on that information. This is what works for most homeschool parents because they don't need to take advantage of a "gifted" program at a public or private school. If you have a profoundly gifted child, then getting an official IQ test would be necessary to take advantage of programs like the Davidson Institute has. Honestly, it should be fairly obvious that your child is behaving differently from their peers in the younger years, but as they get older they may learn to mask their giftedness in order to be accepted by kids their age. Other adults will also notice this difference and frequently comment on it to you, so it will not just be your personal bias about how awesome your kid is. Here is the characteristics list that was most helpful to me when I first started researching the topic: dev.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/my-child-gifted/common-characteristics-gifted-individuals/traits I've also got a video coming out in about 1 month of what giftedness looks like in my son right now which should help answer your question too!

Hi! I wanted to add that our county will allow a homeschooled child to still be tested for the gifted program in case you wanted to enroll them in public school at a later time. I haven’t done it yet but am curious about their assessment and it’s free.

I love and appreciate this video so much. Although I don’t believe to have a gifted learner at the moment, I found so much value in this video. I love the idea of blocking interests! Such a great idea for even adhd children who love to hyper fixate on specific topics!

@@meganrose22 I'm glad I could inspire you!

An excellent idea! Unfortunately, I don't have a website up and running yet, but I do plan on having things like that available on it once I have a website. That is on my project list for this winter, so stay tuned!

Yes! I'll be reading the program to him for now, especially the comics. In the online version, there is a helpful button in the practice problems for level 1 that has AI read the instructions. The voice isn't the best to listen to, but at least the company put it in there for the kids! Entering the answers via keyboard will also help my developing writer... and he's just really excited to be able to use my computer for the first time. 🙂

I'm glad to be an inspiration! It was a learning curve for me, but I took the advice from Rachel at the Seven in All channel to "go deep" rather than speed ahead, and it's paid off! Good luck on your journey figuring out what works for your daughter! 🙂

Wow! Just wow! I've had some very nasty comments here on TH-cam too, but at least I can "mute" these people so I don't have to interact with them again. Honestly, I really don't try to change people's opinions if they are that belligerent about the topic because no amount of reasoning is going to change their prejudice. However, if I had to interact with the person long-term, then I guess I would not try to have a discussion with him (because again the guy would never be willing to consider what I'd be saying). Instead, I would just politely hand deliver a book by a Phd on gifted psychology, neuroscience, or education OR deliver a print-out from a professional neuroscience journal talking about the scientific facts of why giftedness is real. I'd then leave without comment, trusting the professor to respect the life-long research of the "professionals" to be my best weapon against such blatant hate. On a side-note: I would advise never to ask for accommodations in college or career with giftedness as the cited reason. Too many people have insecurities around intelligence, and they often react defensively or even go out of their way to "put the gifted person in his place." As gifted people, we have the intelligence and capability to adapt to systems or neurotypical people in order to survive in the status quo while finding other safe spaces to be our true selves. I don't know what kind of accommodations your son was asking for, so he could have been perfectly correct to ask for flexibility, but it would have probably been better to use a different reason that is "acceptable" to most professors. In my career as a public accountant, my bosses quickly recognized my quickness and intelligence, capitalizing on it whenever they could, and I was quickly identified by subordinates as the person who could answer any question they had. However, I did have peers in the workplace that felt threatened by my abilities who I had to tip-toe around. I worked within the system to politely request accommodations like adding new projects (which I identified and recommended) in order to challenge myself mentally at work or like asking to shorten my work hours to 32 per week due to "back pain issues" (which I did have slightly). I easily maintained the same workload, but was able to escape boredom at work in the afternoons and instead use the extra time for other intellectual endeavors. Until a different label is adopted for us that doesn't have threatening connotations, I don't think the general public will accept us as we are anytime soon.

@@KSLewisLearning thanks for your thoughtful answer. I agree with everything you said. To clarify, my son wasn’t asking for accommodations. He was asked to dumb it down.

Okay... that professor is just an idiot. I'm not going to mince words. Any good teacher is going to praise insightful work, not punish the student for it. Alternatively, he could simply have pointed out that something didn't quite fit the assignment parameters, so the "extra" could be something they discussed or on worked on together on the side in addition to the assignment. But I'm speaking from not knowing all the details, so I'll just repeat that the professor is incompetent as a teacher. 🤨 I'm glad your son figured out how to succeed anyways! It's a testament to his awesome abilities.

I always love finding fellow bookworms! :) That's my problem with most literature based learning curriculums: not big enough booklists. At least I've got several to work from.

Wow!!! I just checked out Layers of Learning and am in LOVE! I think it may be exactly what I'm looking for on history, so you'll probably be seeing it on my channel in the future. Thank you for the recommendation!!

@@KSLewisLearning You are most welcome! I wish I had found it years ago. Our best learning has always been unit studies or an interest led approach that is supported with solid information. I spent months weaving together plans and programs this summer that were ultimately not a good fit so then two days after we started I chucked all of it. My kids were bored, I was bored and there was no spark of life. We are LOVING this approach and the kids often have far better ideas to extend lessons than a step by step curriculum. You know it’s a win when the school day has ended and while making dinner I hear giggling and realize they are back at the school table, books open and still digging into the topic 😂😂😂 We put Writers Workshop from the same authors in our day as well and it’s been chefs kiss!!

Yeah, Steven really wasn't interested in very much of the level P content, but I think that is because it was all semi-tedious stories instead of science or history content that he could sink his teeth into. :) It's always a challenge with these kiddos! Checkout the "Read and Find Out" series or Usborne's "Beginner" series at your local library to flesh out the content for level P if you need it!

Always glad to contribute to lightbulb moments! I watched a very interesting video this week on why gifted people think they are unintelligent that gave me my own "aha!" moment. I dropped it onto my "off-channel" giftedness playlist in case you want to check it out too.

LOL. Yes, decisions are so hard! At least with our gifted kids we get to try a lot more content than other moms. :)

As the father, I can tell you that she is gifted. I can think of a few options why you would assume otherwise. 1) You might be mixing up autism and giftedness in how you expect her to present herself. 2) You expect her to be like gifted people as presented by pop culture who do not appear to be "down to earth" in their interactions, which presentation is completely false in reality. 3) You have a misunderstanding of what being gifted actually is. I encourage you to find out more! There are great videos at the Colorado Association for the Gifted and Talented, and many of those presentations are done by gifted people.

Yes we have Whally Boards and my kids use them a lot

Thanks for the idea! Unfortunately, it still won't solve my problem of him fidgeting while he practices his reading aloud. When I'm reading, he does usually sit quietly and listen.... which just seems backwards. :)

@@KSLewisLearning Ahhh yes that is a hard one. Sounds like an outward representation of all the hard work his little brain is doing firing neurons and making big connections 💕

Great question! From what I've learned from other people and parents, you have 2 options. 1) Use a therapist that specialize in giftedness. Unfortunately, it looks like SENG removed their list of specialists from their website, so an already rare specialist is harder to find. You might find success with a Google search in for your closest large city, but I personally haven't found one in my city of several million doesn't have one. 2) Find a regular therapist that you feel comfortable with and who is willing to learn about giftedness and its impact on your experience. I have heard great things about this option, but it would be a learning curve for both of you. I hope you find the support you need!

Thanks for the info! I did know about Nature's Workshop, but after pricing out what was included in the box and what wasn't, the box was not going to be cost effective for the activities I chose to do. I did forget to include a mention of that in the video, so thank you for asking here! 😊

That's an interesting illustration!! From what I've read, gifted people tend to be excellent at creating illustrations about a concept to help others understand it... and we tend to create a lot of illustrations. Also, have you heard of synesthesia? Your illustration just made me think you might be one of those amazing people who experience it! 🙂

That's hilarious! Yes, you were hearing cicadas since I'm in Southeastern US. I've since learned my lesson not to record outside because of the background noise that would distract my typical viewer. 🙂

@KSLewisLearning I thought* I heard someone raking leaves as well but maybe that's just me being a crazy Texan. Lol

Yes! I've got it coming out this month. 😊

if you are "gifted", then you are neurodivergent. It´s an umbrella concept (ASD, ADHD, dislexya, etc) There are often overlapping diagnoses, you can be asd and gifted at the same time, AsD and ADHD, etc