A reflection on blogging: an inexhaustible life

I have surprised myself with how, each day, I find something to write about. When I began blogging, I did not know whether that would be possible. Now I do.

What is it that allows me to write daily? Well, I have found that my children provide abundant material. I have three kids and a careful eye upon them reveals many interesting things which I can relate, daily. It is my hope that this will prove to be an inexhaustible source of interesting anecdotes relating to the lives of gifted children, as exemplified by one family, the Cawleys of Singapore.

I wish to keep this online account going indefinitely. I do not know, however, how long it is possible to keep seeing new things in one's children. That in itself is an interesting question: is there an infinite variety of things to observe in a single family? Perhaps there is. It would certainly be rewarding to think so.

I would like to thank those of you who have interacted with me through responding to the material posted. If you have a thought to share - just comment and I will reply too.

Tiarnan's first adventures in Art

There is something spooky about Tiarnan in that he does things which, if done deliberately would appear to be remarkable - but, we are left to judge - was it deliberate or was it accidental?

This phenomenon occurs when Tiarnan is given a pencil and paper. We have only recently done this. He holds the pencil firmly in his fist but, interestingly, does not scribble on the paper. He applies the pencil to the paper, with control. The first time I saw him do this he drew a heart-shape - and a square: both recognizable. Was that deliberate or not? We have no way of knowing.

Yesterday, however, with his mother, he added a single line to a drawing she had done. Now, again, we are left to wonder at the coincidence of it. Did he intend the line - or was it lucky happenstance? You see my wife had drawn a face without a neck. Tiarnan added a single line. It was not a straight line but one which bent in a rather apt fashion. The odd thing is where he put the line. He drew it in exactly in the right position so that it completed the drawing and gave the face a neck and suggested a chest below. I didn't see him do this. So, when I saw the drawing, I complimented my wife on the interesting way she had drawn the neck. "I didn't do that...Tiarnan did."

That could just be miraculous luck. However, it should be noted that he controlled the pencil very well - it was not a scribble, but a carefully placed line, that looked like it had been fashioned by my wife.

What happened next is, however, very clearly deliberate and indicates Tiarnan's state of mind with regards to exploring Art.

He took each coloured pencil in turn and drew the same straight line on paper, for each one. He did so methodically, drawing one line for each colour and studied the result. He also drew some of them with his left hand and some with his right as if trying to decide which hand was better for this task.

It was interesting to note that he drew the same line with each one: it was as if he wanted to compare the appearance produced by each pencil, by controlling other variables (like what he actually drew). Again, he didn't scribble. Each line was carefully controlled.

So what do we have here? We have a baby who doesn't scribble when given a pencil, but draws careful lines. He is thirteen months old. Could he be an artist, in the making?

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, thirteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and three months, a scientific child prodigy, or Fintan, three, then please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of child prodigy, IQ, gifted education, intelligence, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The little Singaporean and the Maid

Domestic workers are everywhere in Singapore. Any well-to-do home has at least one and I know homes that have two or more. Without maids, nothing domestic would get done in many a Singaporean home.

It is not just the well-off who have maids. Virtually every middle class person has one too. This is a strong contrast to Western society where only the richest have maids or any other domestic staff.

Many a Singaporean has, in fact, been brought up, by their maids, the mother being absent at work, in many households. Singapore is a nation of working couples, after all.

Many odd things are a consequence of this presence of domestic workers, here. One of the oddest was something I saw today.

I know the identities of the people concerned, but shall conceal them, for the purposes of this article. It is better that way.

I saw a little boy, with a maid. It is clear that she was a maid, and not his mother - for once you know what maids look like, they are easy to pick out.

The boy was a pre-schooler, a kindergartener and the maid was leaning down to listen to him. He was saying something to her which I could not catch, but I heard her reply.

Can you guess what an adult woman of about 30 - the maid - had said to a little boy, who was not much beyond a toddler?

In all seriousness, and with no hint of irony in her voice, she had said: "Yes, Boss."

That got me thinking about her position in the world, that really did.

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three and Tiarnan, thirteen months, please to go: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults, and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Who is the hero of the story?

Fintan, like many three year olds, is rather fond of superheroes. Superman is his favourite - but he likes others, too. He knows their true names, as well. You may recall, for instance, that the true identity of Spiderman, is a gentleman called Peter Parker.

Yesterday, Fintan was reading a book with his mother. For him, it was a new book. It was one of the Ladybird series.

Like many Ladybird books, it concerned a boy and a girl, and deals with the simple things of everyday life.

When it came to reading the protagonist's name, Fintan suddenly exclaimed: "What is Spiderman doing in this book?"

Syahidah understood at once for, of course, the character's name was Peter...Spiderman's first name.

It was a classic moment of Fintanism.

(If you would like to read more about Fintan, three, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

NUS High School: the academic staff

I have learnt something unusual about the National University of Singapore (NUS) High School. All of its staff are University Professors.

Now, clearly the intention in arranging for all of the staff at the school to be University academics, is that they would bring to bear a deeper knowledge of their subject to the benefit of their students. Gifted students would be less likely to bump into the knowledge ceilings of the staff - or at least, they would not be so readily reachable, as in the case with a typical teacher.

However, there is a problem, that I foresee. Would a staff of academics be well-equipped to teach to school age children? The needs of the children differ from those of student age, in that a different approach may be required to teach them. Academic staff may find it more difficult to relate to school age children than they would to the usual student they are accustomed to.

Yet, I don't yet know the situation in NUS High from experience. It might work very well. The Professors here, in Singapore, may actually be good teachers able to reach children of all ages. I don't know - but I hope so.

It wasn't the case when I went to Cambridge University, in the 1980s. There the academics were very good at their subject, but had neither training nor flair for teaching in general. It was a very rare Cambridge academic who had any interest or ability in teaching. It was almost universal to have lectures presented by academics whose real interest lay elsewhere: their research. The students appeared to be an inconvenience to them.

I was very disappointed in my experience of Cambridge University - and it all came down to the undeniable fact that the staff were specialized academics, not teachers, at heart. At the core of it, they simply didn't want to teach. At least, that is the impression that was left with me, after three years there.

There were exceptions. There were rare wonderful teachers with a passion for communicating their subject to others. Above all of these, in my memory, was Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd, a Classicist, working in the History of Science, in particular the Ancient Greeks. He was almost alone, in my experience, in making any effort to communicate directly with his students. He was warm, welcoming, engaging, interesting, and more importantly, interested. If the Professors at NUS High are like Professor Lloyd, it will be a great experience for Ainan and a great asset to Singapore. I hope, however, that they are not like so many other Professors were at Cambridge: uninterested, self-absorbed, poor communicators and, in some cases, frankly lazy.

My feeling is that the Professors at NUS High will take their teaching roles more seriously than those at Cambridge did. That is my hope. Should that not be the case, I will let you know. But, given the importance of education in Singapore, and the relatively high status of teaching, here, compared to its status in the UK, I rather think they will be more motivated to teach well, and more proud of doing so.

Here is a final thought. All of the staff at NUS High are Professors. Students at NUS High may take any number of University modules that they wish. Is that not, in effect, then, a University for kids?

(If you would like to read more about Ainan, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Tiarnan and musical nostalgia

It is said that young babies have little memory, but I have many reasons to doubt that. I won't give them all, here, but will just let one story speak on its own.

Tiarnan is thirteen months old, now. Several months ago, he was given a musical penguin, to play with. Everytime a button was pressed it would play a tune. Tiarnan got the chance to play with that toy for perhaps a day, before his older brother, Ainan had an idea for it. Ainan, rather wittily, wanted to know whether the penguin would do well underwater. In particular, he wanted to know if you could hear it underwater. Thus, Ainan took it down to the swimming pool and threw it in the water. Let us just say, this was one penguin that couldn't swim.

That was the last time I saw the penguin in action.

Yesterday, Syahidah, Tiarnan's mother, partly hummed, partly sung a tune. She managed more to capture the rhythm of it than the notes.

At once, Tiarnan looked up and looked around, seeking something. "Toy!", he said.

Tiarnan remembered the penguin toy he had had for a day, before it drowned, some months ago. For the tune on Syahidah's lips was the one it used to play.

Tiarnan got all excited to hear the tune and looked at his mother and said: "Again!"

So, she hummed/sang it again.

It seems that Tiarnan remembers a tune long after it was heard - even though it was heard only briefly. He remembers too where and from which object the tune came. He also possesses a sense of excitement to be so reminded - though it is difficult to identify the source of that. Is it the recognition that excites him? Is it the music? Or did he like the toy and hope that it would be seen "alive" again?

Perhaps I should go quietly to the shop from which it was bought, and buy a dry replacement.

It might be a popular move.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, thirteen months, or his gifted brothers Fintan, three, and Ainan, seven years and three months, a scientific child prodigy, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

On being different in a conformist world

There are many things I could write about this topic, but today I will choose a single vignette which relates to the title. I may write other posts expanding this topic in future - indeed, I probably should.

We live in Singapore. In this city state, most people are Chinese - about 80 % roughly. About 14% are Malay and the rest are Indian with the merest sprinkling of Caucasian (rare enough so that in most circumstances I feel the odd one out). There are, of course, Eurasians, but not that many. My children come into this category.

Asians generally have straight black hair. Thus Singapore, being almost exclusively Asian, is dominated by an almost universal possession of straight black hair. This may seem like a minor matter, but visually, if you grew up in a culture with a more varied genetic heritage - such as London, where I did - you would find this uniformity strange. In my childhood, everyone seemed to have subtly different hair, across a wide range of possibilities. Here, in most cases, it is black and straight.

Fintan, three, however, is different. Being Eurasian, he has a mix of influences, and in his case, this mix has produced markedly curly hair. My hair has a slight wave. So does my wife's (unusually, for here). However, Fintan seems to have got a double dose of it - and has ended up distinctly curly.

How do the other children relate to this? Well, in one sense, not well. Fintan took to using a word about a year ago, that he had obviously heard at school. I didn't know what it referred to for a long time: but it seems it refers to his curly hair. He had clearly been called this. At first, he repeated the word, without any due gravity, but later it seemed to bother him. Curly hair is rather rare here and Fintan is probably the only child his school friends have encountered who has such hair. It might seem like a small matter - but it seems big in a country where everyone's hair looks the same - except Fintan's.

A month or two ago, I saw Fintan, after he had had a shower, patting his hair down. Clearly, once it is wet, the curly headedness abates until it is dry: it seems flat like everyone elses. I saw this and said: "Your hair is nice Fintan...it is different."

He shook his head.

"No. I don't want curly hair...I want to be handsome."

He is handsome, the poor boy. His mixed heritage has given him a rugged beauty few boys possess - and one day he will, no doubt, be a very handsome man.

I felt sad to see him so concerned about his hair. I cannot be with him, throughout his day, as he encounters people who have never seen such hair - but I can try to build up his view of himself so that he accepts his difference and, perhaps, one day, finds comfort in it.

Yet, each time he showers, he flattens his hair and is content with it for awhile - at least until it dries. Why can't people accept each other's differences instead of making an issue of them? Fintan wouldn't even be aware of his hair if other kids had not made it an issue. It is all quite sad.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, three, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or Tiarnan, thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Ainan and the future of Science

Many a child thinks of the future, of their adult life to come. Most have a childhood dream of what they want to be when they "grow up". For Ainan that dream is not a fireman, a policeman or a Doctor, as is common - but a scientific researcher.

Yesterday, as we sat and talked, about the evolution of atomic theory, Ainan turned to me, and voiced something that concerned him:

"So much Science has been discovered...how many discoveries will be left for me to make?"

"A lot, I hope."

"Why?"

His why was not for why I "hoped", but for why I thought there might be a lot left.

"I am not sure if science is infinite...it could be, though I am not sure," I began, "but it is certainly very large...much larger, I think, than we have presently explored. The closer you look at any given Science, the more detail there is - the more there is to understand. I think it will take Mankind a long time to master all of that. It is possible that one day, there will be no more science left to do. It is possible that everything will be known one day...but that is not going to be soon. There will be things left for you to do."

He was quiet in reply - there being no need for words. I don't know if my answer reassured him, but it was clear that he still thought that much that was "big" had already been done.

Ainan wants to be a research scientist. He envisages being one rather young (since he has the capacity to be so, if only barriers in his way are removed). Yet, he does not want to be a researcher in a world in which all has been found, already. He wants his life to have purpose. He wants to make a contribution. This is quite a mature ambition for a seven year old. There is something in him that wants to matter - to do something of significance. His unspoken thought was: "If by the time I become a scientist, there is little science left to be done, what is the point of being so?"

In some ways, Ainan doesn't see himself as I see him. I see a boy whose every thought bubbles with originality. He just sees himself being himself. He has no perspective to know how unusual he is, in that regard. If there is Science left to be done, by the time he begins a career, and Ainan is in an area which still has work to do, I have no doubt that he will make many a contribution to the development of Science. All we have to do is get him ready to begin.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

NUS High School: the next steps

The Gifted Education Officer, assigned to Ainan, seven, has met with the Principal of NUS High School and talked through their "gameplan".

Ainan is to join the school shortly - but, before he does so, he will have to undergo...you guessed it...more testing. It seems that the opinion of the Principal, who is a chemist himself, and two other chemists, is not enough: Ainan will have to undergo further testing.

Testing is a very Singaporean ritual. Nothing is done without testing. No-one's opinion is enough: everything must be backed up by testing. Examination starts early in Singapore: from Primary One (First Grade) onwards there are tests throughout the year, no significant increment of the child's education going unmarked by testing.

What does this do to a child? Well, many children end up working to the test...that is everything they do is focussed around the tests. As a result, many local children end up with what I would characterize as an incomplete education: they are able to do examinations...and little else.

Already, Ainan has had to go through far too many tests in his young life. Yet, we have no choice if he is to proceed to NUS High: he must undergo examination, once again.

He will join the classes, as a kind of observer since courses have already begun. He will be instructed not to ask questions, in case his questions have already been answered earlier in the course. I understand he will receive some training in how to conduct himself in a lab.

I should point out that the decision to take Ainan on as a student has already been made. The additional testing is just to gather more information.

I will let you know more when I do.

An unexpected early reader

Fintan, three, is the least verbal of our children. He is very much a visual child. Yet, he has surprised us with his verbal development.

A few days ago, my wife Syahidah was in a library with Fintan, where she was reading books to him. Suddenly, he pointed at some script and said: "What about this: follow the line."

Syahidah looked at where he was pointing and read there the words: "follow the line."

What surprised her was not that he should recognize some words - for he has been doing that for over six months, at random times, but that he should have read words she was sure she had never read to him, before. He had not seen the word "follow" or the word "line" written down before.

Fintan, the least verbal of our children, is reading.

What is also notable is that he didn't say the words piecemeal as if reading phonemes one by one, as some children might - but had said the words naturally in a normal, conversational voice.

We are coming to understand, that every one of our children is surprising. All three of them defy our expectations. If we come to a view of them, and a set of expectations, it is not long before they do something to upset that view.

What next?

Ainan's experimental flair: a practical scientist

Yesterday, Ainan took something out of the freezer, and said: "This is super-cooled water, Daddy."

Now, until Ainan first mentioned it to me, a few months ago, I had never heard of super-cooled water. As is becoming increasingly the case, it is Ainan who introduces me to things scientific.

I looked at the water. It was just liquid, like any other water. There didn't appear to be anything special about it. I went about making a cup of tea.

Then Ainan did something magical. He swirled the water in the vessel - and all at once, it turned to ice, as if some Wizard of old had cast a spell.

I had never seen that before in my life. If I had not been scientifically trained, and I had seen that in a time before science, I would have thought it magic, at work. The liquid crystallized as ice, in an instant. Uncanny.

What I found revealing about this, is that Ainan has good experimental control. He is able to get the world to do things, experimentally, which, frankly, I would have thought unlikely. He has, to use an old word, the "knack" for experimental design and interaction with the world.

Don't ask me how he got the water to do that - but he did. What a curious boy.

How to educate a child: prodigies and the gifted

My earlier post on whether child prodigies should be given the chance to develop their skills has attracted an interesting comment. Should a child develop his or her strengths - or bring up their weaknesses? Is balance important in the modern world?

The answer depends very much on what the child is going to do with their life. If the child shows great passion for something, allied to great ability and this passion remains steady over a long period, it is likely that that passion will turn into their adult work. In this case, building their strength can only be good: it will make them more effective in their chosen discipline or disciplines.

Ainan shows a passion for science, in particular Chemistry (but he has a general interest in Science, too). I would be very surprised if he did not at least spend part of his adult life as a scientific researcher. He already has much of the knowledge and he certainly has the aptitude for investigation. He is already a scientist in every important respect. All he needs now are to further strengthen his knowledge - and get those "no-one will believe in you if you don't have them" credentials. I don't know how many years it will take - but theoretically, it might not have to be that many. He could be a working scientist at rather a young age.

What, however, about developing other areas?

This is already a problem for me - and for him. I see that he has aptitude in other things - but he has less interest and motivation in other things. Ainan is good at music. He became a pianist at six - but has since lost interest. He was even composing music. Yet, that has been shelved for his scientific interests. He is very good at Art - and was able to draw 3 D perspective drawings at 3 or 4 years old. Very mature. Perhaps that will be his second fiddle: just like Einstein had his violin, maybe Ainan will have his Art.

Now, at this time of his life, his drive is to grow scientifically. It would be foolish to try to suffocate that wish in the interests of imposing "balance".

In modern life, balance is not as important, in terms of education, as it used to be in earlier days, before society became specialized. Now, we hire people on the basis of single strengths and a genius may only have one towering strength (though as intellects they are often good at several or many things, they will naturally focus on one, in most cases, as it aligns with their passions).

I have great balance in my own gifts and experiences - but as I have posted before, many gifts are not necessarily better than one. The division of attention between them, weakens the overall effect. There are many things I can do well - but my son Ainan knows more Chemistry than I do - and he is only seven. That is despite the fact that I took Chemistry up to my first year at Cambridge.

Perhaps there are roles in life in which great balance of gifts is appreciated and of use. But most roles in modern life are increasingly specialized. Here, a "balance of gifts" is largely wasted effort, since they will never find their proper outlet. It is the individuals with great individual strengths that find their proper match and welcome in an increasingly specialized society.

So, for those parents worried about their children focussing on their strengths and ignoring their weaknesses I would say this. If your child learns faster in their strengths - and learns with difficulty in their weaknesses, it is logic alone that they will go further, in terms of reaching greater heights if they are left to grow their strengths, than if they are forced to bolster their weaknesses.

There is one caveat. There should not be any imbalances that lead to ineffectiveness. Everyone should be able to write halfway decently. Everyone should be able to handle reasonable maths etc. There should be no absence of basic skills.

Therefore there are two possible models: the "balanced" individual with many well developed skills. This person will have many choices and probably a varied career. Then there is the specialized individual with a few, perhaps one, great strength. This person will have a focussed career but may, in the modern world, find that success comes readily. They may, after all, be the best person for the job.

Interviewed on Channel News Asia

Last week, I was interviewed by Channel News Asia, regarding developments in private education in Singapore.

The interview was not long - about two minutes - and would, no doubt, have been edited. I didn't catch the interview, but I am told it went out over the weekend.

Channel News Asia is the Singaporean government TV news arm of Mediacorp - the Singapore government broadcaster. All broadcasters in Singapore are state owned. The Channel has a "footprint" of twenty countries in South East and North East Asia as well as the Middle East. Thus, audiences in those countries will be just a little more familiar with me this week, than last.

Perhaps that explains the stares I got on the bus yesterday. It seems that people actually watch the news around here!

Further observations on Fintan's perceptual ability

For a better understanding of Fintan's feat I should, perhaps, explain the circumstances of the monkey sighting a bit more.

Firstly, it was getting towards dusk and though not quite at the cusp, as it were, the light was already beginning to fade.

Secondly, the monkeys in question were pretty small. We are not talking gorillas here. We are talking little creatures that, as adults are perhaps fifteen inches tall (that is the biggest of them). The children were perhaps 9 or so inches tall.

Thirdly, the two monkeys that Fintan spotted were a child and a smaller adult - maybe a female. So the monkeys were really quite small.

Fourthly, the monkeys were grey, with some variation in colour which made them difficult to spot in the surroundings. Especially, in the relatively poor lighting.

Despite all of this, Fintan spotted them a full one hundred metres before I was able to. The implication is clear: in the same confusing conditions with multiple hiding places and varied terrain from buildings to jungle, to waterways and man made path, Fintan would be able to see an adult human at several times that distance - that is, at several hundred metres - perhaps five hundred metres - before I could - in poor lighting. I find that quite remarkable, particularly when we consider that Fintan is only three and therefore, relatively speaking, perceptually inexperienced. It would appear that he has particular gifts in the direction of visual perception, therefore, which should find a useful outlet in life, I hope.

Perhaps, in good conditions, he would be able to see someone further still, before I - or perhaps anyone else - could either.

As for uses, for this, a reader from California insightfully suggested search and rescue operations or crime scene investigator. In both roles, such a gift could prove remarkably effective.

I don't expect anything to be overlooked by him, then!

(If you would like to read more about Fintan, or his gifted brothers, including Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, and Tiarnan, aged thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, IQ, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks)

Fintan's range of perception: "eagle eyed"

Fintan, three, is a boy who ever manages to surprise. There are, in him, many qualities which are not readily revealed but may only be noted through careful observation. These gifts are in addition to the more obvious ones he possesses.

Yesterday he showed an unusual gift on two occasions.

The first was at a shopping centre. He was on a third floor balcony (and this is quite a distance above the ground, given the depth of each floor)...when he looked over the balcony and pointed downwards and said: "Look at that man moving!".

Syahidah looked and saw a crowd milling below, a crowd of many women and many men, all bustling in many directions at once: hundreds, and hundreds of people. In that confusion, it was difficult to isolate any particular person or thing: there was simply too much going on.

At first, she could not see, therefore, what he meant. He pointed and she followed his arm to see what he might be picking out.

She was stunned to see what he had noted. There, far below, was a mechanical man, less than a foot tall, rocking back and forth on top of a stall. It was not a man he had seen, but a doll barely big enough at that distance to see at all - and certainly not to pick out in all that tumult.

She understood, then, that Fintan had a previously unnoticed gift for interpreting his environment - allied to very sharp eyesight.

Later that day, we were walking alongside a waterway, when we saw a monkey. We watched him climb along fences and up and down trees for some time, until he ran off.

As he did so, Fintan said: "Look, there are two monkeys".

I looked, but could not see the monkeys. I scanned the trees, the fences, the waterway, the buildings all around, but could see no other monkeys. We walked on.

About one hundred metres further on, I saw the monkeys, at last. There were two of them, resting together, on top of a fence, looking down at the pathway.

Somehow, Fintan had been able to see them, amongst all the confusion of the "jungle", and the buildings, fences and waterways, path and foliage, ONE HUNDRED METRES further than I could. That quietly surprised me. I should add that I am not short-sighted. This is not a matter of my having blurred vision - it is a matter of perception, of skill in interpreting the environment and understanding what is there. In that respect, Fintan outclasses both his adult parents. Whether we were better as children is now untestable, but the disparity now, is shockingly marked.

Of what use is this gift in the modern world? He would have made a great stone-age hunter...but now what good can it do? I don't want him to be a soldier - which is the obvious application of such a gift. I want him to have a safer life than that. Any suggestions?

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, or his gifted brothers including Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific-child-prodigy, aged seven years and three months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Child prodigy - allowed to develop or not?

The saddest question, in some ways, in a long time, has been asked by a google searcher from Spain.

They asked: "Do you think a child prodigy should be given a chance to develop his or her skills or not?"

I must admit, I was a bit shocked by this and it makes me wonder who is asking. Is it a parent, wondering whether they should furnish a child with opportunities for growth in their chosen area (like a book, or a piano, maths tutor, etc...)? Is it a teacher/school administrator wondering whether they should make special arrangements for a child of gift in a particular area?

In either case, the answer is the same: of course, you should. To ask whether a child prodigy should be allowed to grow, is a bit like looking at the child of two giants and saying: "I think he is going to be tall...should we let him grow?" It is an inhumane question. What it proposes is that the child giant, should be impeded in their growth, that they should be starved into stuntedness. A person proposing such a question appears to resent the future height of the child and seeks, somehow, to diminish them. Such a person would be happy to turn a child destined to be a giant, into one of just average height, by dint of starvation, or other stresses. So, too, is it with the child prodigy. A prodigy, as a child, is destined to be a mental giant, if given the right opportunities to grow. Is it better for them to be stunted into ordinariness, by being unchallenged, by being denied access to books or an appropriate educational environment - or being bored to death in an education system designed for mediocrity? I don't think so - and no-one who was of humane outlook would think so, too. A child prodigy could grow up to be an adult genius, if well-handled. It would be a kind of crime not to assist that progress, not to do everything one can to ensure that the outcome would be good - for the child, in terms of self-realization - and for the world, in terms of nurturing a gifted child, who may, in turn shower gifts on the world.

So, whoever you are in Spain, if you have it in your influence or power, to help that prodigious child, you MUST. There is no moral alternative: to do otherwise is to commit a crime against the future of Man - it is to deprive the world of whatever gifts that child could bestow on the world, later, but also to deprive the child of the happiness of becoming what they may.

Remember: Giotto started in the world as a child prodigy - and would the world be better without his art, if he were deprived of the opportunity to grow? The same can be said of Mozart and his music: his prodigious childhood led to adult genius. Would Mozart's stunting have been a boon to the world? Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics, was a child prodigy who became an adult genius: would it have been better had his father denied him opportunities to learn and grow? Had that been so, the world would be without much of the mathematical foundation of the Information Age - and where would we be without that?

Don't snuff out genius that might be, in any prodigy: give it, at least, a chance to grow. To do otherwise is a crime against, not only the child, but us all.

(If you would like to read of a scientific child prodigy, Ainan Celeste Cawley, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Reaction to a child prodigy: Singapore

What I am to describe is only a little thing, but I have never seen its like, before.

As you probably know, we went to NUS High School (the National University of Singapore High School) for Maths and Science, a couple of days ago, with Ainan.

We entered the reception, to enquire for the Principal. A member of staff approached and, as her eyes took in Ainan, she physically flinched. I will repeat that: she actually flinched - her head drew back a little suddenly, in a sharp revelation. It wasn't a huge action but it was there. Her face remained impassive - but she was unable to hide her physical reaction to Ainan. She was actually shocked.

That told me, immediately, that the greatest centre for scientific education in Singapore had never had a child as young as Ainan before - had never had a child even remotely of his youth - otherwise she would not have been shocked. I understood then, that there were no other primary school children in this school.

Everywhere we went, people would stare silently down at Ainan. With him by my side, I became invisible - all eyes were drawn to him, from student and staff alike.

It is only in such moments that I am reacquainted with how unusual Ainan is. I have watched him grow up. I have become accustomed to his every nuance of character and intellect. To me, it is the usual, the normal, the everyday Ainan. Yet, in a school dedicated to scientific excellence, I am suddenly confronted with the first impression of others: that Ainan is an example of something unheard of, someone unparralleled in the history of that school.

Perhaps, as a father, I should remember that perspective, alongside my own understanding of Ainan. Perhaps it can lead me to better prepare him for the world he is soon to become involved in.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan 13 months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

A child prodigy's father: what people think

We went shopping for more books, yesterday. This time it was a University bookshop.

We made a comical entrance: one baby in a pram and one young boy by our side, my wife and I entered this sanctuary of collegiate studiousness. I felt, at once, our incongruity. The shop was filled with students, of University age, and some who were older. Tiarnan and Ainan were the only non-adults in the shop.

The shop had been recommended by the Gifted Education Branch Officer, as stocking a range of University texts, among which might be something to interest Ainan. It seemed to cover all the major subjects of a University and even had a Chemistry section. It was not long before Ainan was ensconced beneath its shelving, a pile of Chemistry texts growing by his side as I took them down from the upper shelves for him to look at.

The reaction to Ainan from strangers was much more stark, this time, than in Kinokuniya. I feel it was, perhaps, because the people who shopped in that shop would be much more aware of the difficulties of the material, in question, than a typical shopper at an average bookshop - because they weren't studying it.

As they passed Ainan, they would look down at this small boy, with the big books open in front of him, and they would pause, momentarily in their movement, as if struck by what they saw. They would look down at him, at the books, then up at me, and on. They would say nothing, but their faces said everything.

It was worse when we came to the counter to pay. I set the books down and the staff began scanning them. Then I turned to Ainan beside me, whose head barely reached the level of the counter and asked: "What do you think of this one, Ainan?" It was a specialist University Chemistry text. I asked because, having seen the price rang up - seventy-nine dollars - I wanted to make sure of his choice.

The cashier had stopped in her scanning when I had turned to Ainan, as she understood who the book was for. She just stared down at him in silence. She was frozen still. I ignored her and continued to speak to Ainan.

"Is it good?"

He gave a minute nod.

"OK then..." I turned back to the assistant, who still stared at Ainan, unable to comprehend the relative size of book and boy. Slowly, she picked up her scanner and turned back to the task of scanning books, but her mind wasn't on it anymore, but on Ainan.

Ainan then did something to give her greater worries. He went behind the counter, beside her, and squatted down and started examining whatever was unseen (from my point of view) back there. He smiled broadly, as he did so. In other words, he behaved as a curious child might. This only exacerbated the contrast between the choice of book and the ostensible age of the child.

The cashier said nothing, but just stared at Ainan, quite unable to take all this in.

I called him out from there, and picked up my books.

I asked her when the shop was open. "Everyday...but closed on Sundays." She replied, automatically...but again unsure of what to make of the implication that we would be regulars.

I felt her eyes on our backs, as I left.

Interestingly, Ainan had attracted much the same kind of silent gaze, at NUS High School...but more of that, perhaps, in another post.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, 13 months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)