Of course, each of my children is gifted. Were I to use Renzulli's Three-Ring Model, I could elaborate on the above-average intelligence of each, their extra-ordinary task commitment, and their individual expressions of creativity. But for the purpose of this assignment, I choose to write specifically about my youngest child, Daniel.
Daniel was born in 1995, with normal health as a baby. His older sibling, Aubrey, was diagnosed with a genetic defect when she was four, explaining her frequent illnesses and her inability to articulate the consonants of speech. (Through extensive speech therapy, a little surgery, and incredible devotion, Aubrey speaks normally and has participated in solo and choir singing with lovely results, but that is an unrelated, sentimental parent comment.) Daniel learned to speak from his sister. It was an ironic twist, that with four perfectly articulate models in the home, Daniel's speech was unintelligible mush. I believe now it was an unusual sensitivity to his sister that prompted his speech development and unusual intelligence that helped him overcome it. In speech therapy as a two-year old, with explicit instruction, he learned correct articulation easily, sometimes six or eight sounds at one sitting. He was speaking entirely properly by the time he entered preschool.
Daniel exhibited unusual interest in scientific subjects from his infancy. He loved trains, especially. Once, I took him on a steam engine ride, very late at night, the only time tickets were available when I made our purchase. We got on the train at 10:30 p.m. to discover it was filled with old-time train conductors and patrons, all with eyes as starry as the skies. Daniel was three, but his soul was as old as the men who surrounded us. His scientific passions have continued through his school years, causing some consternation, as his school schedule was too full to take both AP Chemistry and AP Physics his senior year, so he chose the physics. His current career plan is to become an astrophysicist and he wants to go to MIT. There are probably better schools for studying the expanse of space, but he is still romantic enough to want the MIT degree. We'll see where his path leads after finishing his undergraduate work at BYU.
Test scores are where Daniel exhibits the most classic traits of giftedness. He always got 100% on his CRT's as a child, and I was amazed to see that he scored 100% on his 6th grade IOWA test. As a 6th grade teacher, I often saw students with 99%ile scores, but never a raw score of 100%. He easily achieved a 4.0 in school, even with many honors and AP classes. His ACT score the first time was a 31, with a range from 29 in reading to 34 in science. He retook the test twice, raising his overall score to a 32 and the math score to 35.
Memory in addition to reasoning ability is a strength in Daniel's giftedness. Once I watched a Harry Potter movie with Daniel. He was very young, maybe nine, and was annoyed at the discrepancies between the book and the movie. He kept saying things like, "That's not what happened in chapter 15. It was supposed to be…" He quotes lines from movies and TV shows that he has seen once, interjecting them perfectly into conversation.
Task commitment is also one of Daniel's strengths. Though in his early school years he disliked reading enough to stash his daily reading logs under his bed (and still got A's in reading; obviously his teacher understood mastery grading), in high school I don't believe he ever turned in an assignment late. He spent hours each week solving physics or chemistry problems and took additional labs at the U. Dan earned a reputation for perfection in his work, due both to inborn giftedness and applied effort. He was his school's sterling scholar for science.
Musical talent is part of Daniel's giftedness. He sings as a soloist, with a deep, rich, old-soul bass voice. He participated in select choirs through his high school years.
worked with in Scouting activities for many years of his childhood.
Reflecting on Daniel's personality will complete this short biographical portrait of my gifted son. He does exhibit classic traits of giftedness. Throughout his childhood he conversed more easily with adults than children; for many years his best friend was our next-door neighbor, an eclectic inventor who took Daniel under his wing after raising his own eight children and accompanied him on Scout campouts, took him to the symphony, and helped him with science projects. It took Daniel a long time to make friends easily. He reflects deeply on moral issues; it's not only when he sings that he exhibits an old soul. He is currently serving an LDS mission in Phoenix, Arizona, leaving 13 days after he graduated from Brighton High School, never even holding a job before becoming a missionary. I am grateful for the non-academic facets of mission life, as they are helping develop the skills that are sometimes more difficult for gifted children: social flexibility, cooperative work, and the ability to deal with rejection. I might still have on the magenta glasses, but I believe he is doing just fine.
