Listen to the children

Today, we went to a nature park in Singapore. There are a few of these and they help give nature-lovers a break from the City.

We wandered far and wide within the park, seeing its peaks, its artificial lakes (dug out quarries) and wildlife, peeking from the trees. There is no need to speak of the detail of this.

After some while climbing many a step, high up in the midst of the "park", Fintan suddenly said:

"I heard a lion roar!"

My wife and I looked at each other and smiled. We both knew of Fintan's great imagination and, not having heard a lion roar, ourselves, we ascribed it to his imagination. "He heard a lion roar." echoed my wife, as if she was saying that he had seen a U.F.O.

About three minutes later, we both heard a sound, rather like a roar, in the distance. "Did you hear that?" my wife asked, suddenly a little anxiously. "Yes."

"Maybe not a lion," I said, doubting that there would be a lion roaming any part of Singapore - despite its name: "Lion City".

My wife looked towards the dense foliage all around us and to the kids down below us, perhaps thirty metres away. She didn't need to speak her thought.

"Boys!" I shouted, "Come close!"

"Don't frighten them." she said, a bit frightened herself.

"Perhaps it is a wild dog." I hazarded.

"Yes. Not a lion."

An animal, anyway, I thought.

The boys came closer and we walked together through the wooded area, a little more warily than before.

So, listen to the children when they speak of having heard and seen things: for one thing is for sure - they haven't heard and seen nothing. There will be something behind their perceptions even if inaccurately described.

What that something was, we never found out. It sounded like an animal roaring. It could have been a distant machine, of course. It was, however, something - not the nothing we had supposed when Fintan (and his acute senses) first spoke of it.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Kenji Nagai, APF videojournalist in Burma.

Burma, sorry, Myanmar, is not so far from Singapore, where I live. I have even known a few Burmese people living in Singapore - and so recent events have drawn my attention.

I am not a fan of repression, wherever it occurs and so I have watched the recent confrontation of the military junta and the revered monks, of Burma/Myanmar, with some trepidation. It seemed likely that, at some point, the government would lash out, once more, at its own people.

That violent action has begun. People are dying in the streets and being rounded up to be taken away to God knows what fate. Many of these people are monks.

One figure though, in all these events of the past few days, stands out, for his reaction to his fate. Kenji Nagai, the Japanese APF videojournalist, covering the Burmese unrest, on the ground in Burma, was shot, apparently at point blank range as he lay on the ground (according to video footage taken by another journalist). The Myanmar government blamed a stray round. Well, the video suggests otherwise: that was a round that strayed only a few feet from the gun.

What touched me, however, was Kenji Nagai's reaction to his own impending death. He had just been shot. He must have known that he could be dying. So what did he do? He pointed his camera in the most interesting direction and continued to take pictures. That makes him a hero, in my book. How sad that a man with such a dedicated, committed attitude to his work, should die by the bullet, at the hand of some gun-wielding government thug.

Kenji Nagai may not have come to our notice before - but in the manner in which he conducted himself, in his dying minutes, he certainly distinguished himself as a heroic personality. It is a pity that he did not survive.

As for the soldier who shot him. His action is that of a murderer - for one thing must have been clear: the man with the camera was not a native of Myanmar, nor a participant in the unrest. He was clearly a journalistic observer - for extraordinarily few native Burmese could possibly afford a camera. The soldier shot dead a man he knew to be a journalist. The question is why? Are soldiers on the ground in Myanmar under instruction to kill journalists, as witnesses to their repression of the population? I hope not - but if so, then all the more reason for the world to take a good look at Myanmar.

My condolences to the family of Kenji Nagai, Japanese videojournalist - and, undoubtedly, a hero to the last minute.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

No Child Left Behind Act: Is Bush One?

Is President George W. Bush a child left behind? I can't help but wonder - for he characterizes to a great degree, the very children he espouses to support in his keystone educational legislation - the No Child Left Behind Act.

For those of my readers who are not American and do not know, the No Child Left Behind Act requires education authorities and schools to focus on the weaker children - to ensure that, "No Child is Left Behind". This may seem admirable, but has its downside. The effect is that all the more capable kids - that is, almost everyone else - gets ignored, to a greater or lesser degree. In other words, most kids in the American system suffer because of the No Child Left Behind Act. The aim of the schooling system is now to bring up the performance of the worst performers, which tends to lead to the better performers being ignored. Apparently, in many school systems, the lowest scorers improve - but how about everyone else? This matter is largely ignored.

Anyway, the reason I ask whether President George W. Bush is in fact a child left behind, himself, is because of something which happened on Wednesday and which was reported by Reuters.

At a televised event, surrounded by schoolchildren and in the presence of Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, he said: "As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured."

Wow. Children might learn, in such circumstances but, clearly, in the impoverished circumstances of President George W. Bush's own difficult upbringing, he didn't manage to learn basic English grammar.

Now, you might say this may be an isolated incident. But it isn't. The President's grammar is frequently original - but never insightful. He is capable of mistakes I have never heard any native speaker of English ever make - and he does it quite spontaneously - and with mind-numbing regularity. The Reuters report also noted that, the "education President" - as he thinks of himself, once asked: "Is our children learning?"

Probably not, if their President isn't and hasn't, either.

Now, President George W. Bush defends himself by saying that he was an average student at school and makes light of his tendency to mangle English grammar - but I think that poses deeper questions. He may have been an average student - but should an average student be leading a meritocratic nation? (Is America a meritocratic nation? If not, why not?)

Now I have no political opinion on Bush or any other President of America since I don't live there and am largely insulated against most of what they say and do - but I am able to make, therefore, fairly impartial observations.

Generally, a well-functioning brain does not make grammatical errors, on a regular basis, in the speaker's native language - at least, that is what I have observed in the course of my life. Does, therefore, the President of America not have a well-functioning brain? If he doesn't, surely he should.

Perhaps his intelligences are biased towards the non-verbal spheres of mental life. Sadly, I cannot illustrate any decisions, events or actions in favour of this view. Perhaps others can.

It may well be, that, mysterious as it seems, the President of America, George W. Bush is, in some ways, a child left behind. His No Child Left Behind Act, could be the work of a man who empathizes with these children who cannot keep up with their peers. Perhaps, in some way, George W. Bush cannot keep up with his own peers. He must daily be surrounded by his intellectual superiors, in his office. Perhaps that is the very source of his passion for the No Child Left Behind Act. It would seem apt.

Perhaps you, as a reader have some personal experience of the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act and might like to share them. Or maybe you have some insights into that most unusual of figures: the present President of the United States, George W. Bush - and a child left behind?.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The value of Science in Singapore

Singapore is a materialist nation. Just how materialist became clear to me today.

We were attending a biomedical science lecture, with Ainan, 7, and after the lecture we were given a tour of the lab facilities. Outside one particular lab, the scientist in question asked the audience for their questions.

There was a pause while people collected their thoughts - and then the questions began. In the context of a science lecture and a science lab, I expected scientific questions - but that is not what came from the audience.

The first question was: "How much is the budget of this department?"

The scientist deflected the question.

The second question: "How much do these prosthetics cost?"

He answered it: "A piece this size is about 2,000 dollars."

The third question: "What is the value added here?"

Answer: "They sell for about 5,000 dollars."

No-one but us asked any questions that were scientific. We asked ones about the nature of research done - after the crowd had moved on.

Science in Singapore has, for most of the population, no value apart from the money it can make. I am not being critical of the people who asked these questions: I am just observing that their values are purely economic. They don't see value in science for science's sake. True scientists, of course, see value in science itself; value in the pursuit of knowledge, understanding and insight of the world. Yet, in Singapore, nothing, really has any value unless a dollar sign can be attached to it.

The adults in the audience were all parents of children who were interested in science. Yet, the parents' interest was purely and clearly: how much money will my child make if they go into science? The question about departmental budget was an indirect reference to how much money the scientists themselves are likely to make.

There was another question that I omitted to mention - one about turnover. "How many of these do you sell?" I took it to mean per year - and so did he.

He answered. There were no more questions. The audience had managed to assess the financial possibilities of this particular science department.

The exchange was, for me, the most unexpected of things to happen. It never occurred to me that the obsession over money extended so deeply into the local population that science, itself, had no value apart from the economic ones.

I grew up to believe in the value of science for science's sake. It is a value that I assumed all scientists to have. However, perhaps I should revise that opinion. Perhaps in some parts of the world, the only value of science, is in dollar terms.

The question then is, of course: if science is only valued in terms of dollars - would the resulting science - pursued for economic reasons alone - have any true value as science? It may be that pursuit of dollars, alone, might prevent the pursuit of higher, deeper truths. It may be that dollar-driven science might overlook everything that is of lasting importance in science. That danger has clearly not occurred to Singaporeans. The only scientific danger here is that it just might not pay as much as banking.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Artfriend and customer service in Singapore

On Friday, 21st September, we went to Artfriend, the Singaporean art supplies shop.

We went there to buy art materials, subsequent to our meeting with Mr. Loh, a Singaporean artist, who was having an art show and Claude, an Art manager, (and Mr. Loh's manager through a firm known as Art Management) at The Coffee Connoiseur, known as "The Gallery" in the Raffles Place area. Mr. Loh had wanted to see some of Syahidah's works (Claude Verly's idea, who represents Mr. Loh). More of that meeting in another post, perhaps.

Now, Singapore is famous for its shops. This fame is not unfair, in terms of the infrastructure: there are a lot of very highly presented, polished and beautiful shopping malls. So, the architectural element is there. Where Singapore fails, however, is in the human element. Customer service is not a tradition here - indeed, the populace seem to think of themselves as being above service. This attitude creates a situation in which poor service is a daily occurrence - in every aspect of human interaction, here.

The trip to Artfriend was a typical example. We went there with two particular items in mind. We had chosen Artfriend simply because it is the biggest art supplier in Singapore, with the greatest number of shops and the best locations. One would have thought, then, that it would be good at what it does. This is not, however, necessarily so. Artfriend it may be called, but a friend to Art it may not be - as we shall see.

I approached a sales assistant who appeared to be busy with daydreaming: "Excuse me, do you have Unipin pens?" At least, that is the name of the pen I thought I had been given.

He led me to a rack of pens that looked nothing at all like the one I had seen. He assured me that these were it. Large, thick pens stared up at me. "Do you have smaller ones?" For the one I had seen was much slimmer.

"No, these are the only sizes we have left."

I marvelled, then, at their capacity for stock control. Surely, someone in that shop (and there were perhaps a dozen or more staff), should have noted the declining stock of pens, such that the smaller sizes - in all colours - were now missing.

Nevertheless I took two of the pens in question: one black, one white.

The next question seemed to stump them.

"Do you have marker paper in higher gsm, than 70?"

The first staff member I asked said: "Wait." and went off to get someone else.

That someone else appeared after a minute or so.

I repeated my question.

He went, "I don't know..." and went off.

He returned with a third person.

I repeated my question.

He replied with a puzzled silence and kind of wandered off, while I wasn't looking.

No-one else came to help.

I decided to look around the shop for myself - but could find nothing that matched my need.

So, I braved the remarkably uninformed staff again.

"Do you have coated art card?"

"I will get someone." came the unknowing reply.

Someone came.

I asked my question again.

"Coated art card?" He repeated, as if hearing an alien tongue for the first time.

He wandered off.

No-one came.

Finally I collared a sixth member of staff and asked my question again.

"We don't have it for art", he said, at least knowing what I meant, "It is just for printing." Then he turned to leave, before I could reply.

"Wait," I requested, he paused, mid-step, reluctantly, repressing an urge to speed away, "show me."

He turned slowly around and came back to where I was. Then he passed me and showed me a wrack of papers alongside one wall. "There."

I noted that they were glossy. "Do you have matt?"

He sort of shrugged - combining not knowing and not caring in one gesture.

I tried one more question - a central one to all artists, who care about the longevity of their work.

"Is it acid-free?" I asked, clutching one piece of the art card, between the fingers of my left-hand.

"No.", his head shook, that was something he was sure about, "We don't stock acid-free card."

I was flabbergasted at that. Singapore's leading art supplies shop was selling materials that would guarantee that anything created on them, would crumble away in a few short decades. Like I said "Artfriend" they may be called, but a friend to Art they may not be. It is irresponsible - and unfair - to sell art materials to artists, that will not endure. It seems such a waste of all the effort put into creating something.

He turned to leave but then, in an afterthought that constitutes the first piece of real service since I had entered the shop, he said: "Try Straits Commercial on North Bridge Road." I had never heard of Straits Commercial - and he had to spell it for me - but one day, soon, we will have to go there. Perhaps they sell materials worth making art upon.

Oddly, just as we were about to leave the shop, we met Claude, the art manager, buying some materials of his own. He didn't seem in a mood to speak, so the conversation was a brief one.

"Singapore is so small..." I began.

"Especially for the enlightened." he agreed.

I left with one thought in my mind: a shop, in my childhood, manned by an elderly Polish couple, who had survived the most terrible of events in the World War II. It was a stationery shop. What was notable about them was that they had offered everything that Artfriend had not. They knew everything about everything in their shop. Whatever you asked, they would know instantly where it was and what it could do. They were friendly, too, talking widely about life. Even as a child, I had appreciated the way they were - and chose them over the stationery chainstore that was their nearby competitor.

There is a difference between the shops of my London childhood, and the ones of Singapore. The ones of London did not glisten like the Singaporean ones - but they shone in another way. The staff really knew their jobs - and cared about their customers. Here, in Singapore, the staff know nothing about their jobs, and couldn't care less about their customers.

I don't know the cause of this situation. Is the pay so low that staff turnover is so high, that no-one works long enough to learn anything about their jobs? Or do they just not care? Whichever it is, the result is the same. It took the asking of six people - perhaps half the staff in the rather large shop - to find one who could provide me an answer - and that answer was in the negative.

Shopping shouldn't be like that. Nor should any other area of customer service. Singapore has the gloss - but now it needs to work on something else: a smile for the customer that means something - and competence on the job. Right now, few, very, very few shops in Singapore, can boast of either.

As for Artfriend: why not ensure that all your stock is acid-free, in future? That will help make sure that Singaporean art has a future.

When we got home, we tried the pens. Neither worked - or at least could not be made to work, seemingly lacking ink. Nor were they of the brand name sought. Ah well...

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

On accepting the testimony of others

Today, I came across an exchange on a forum in which one mother rather hesitantly shared her experience of her child beginning to talk aged 15 weeks, or so.

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised at this. However, some participants in that forum were: a couple denounced the mother as basically imagining it. Some were brutally sarcastic. One even called it physically impossible. It was quite disturbing to read the tone with which their comments were written: with an almost religious zeal to them, that, in their world, no such thing could be possible.

Now, what I find interesting about all of this is how closed-minded many people are. They seem to be reasoning solely from their own experience of the world - and not allowing for the possibility that other people have other experiences, abilities and potentials. All of the doubters seem not to know what the possibilities are for the most gifted of humans: they seem to think that all humans are much the same, that there is no great disparity between them. Nothing could be less true, of course - there are immense differences between people and that is what gives the human race vitality.

Basically, the key argument used by those who poured scorn on the mother was that they had not spoken at such an age, their children had not spoken at such an age - and they knew no child who had - therefore your child couldn't have either. I find this a marvellous display of impoverished thought. They have taken a sample of humanity amounting to their handful of a social circle - and they have generalized, from that, the entire properties and possibilties of the human race. It would make me guffaw were it not so sad in the effect it has on others. By thinking so, they prevent the gifted few among them, from being accepted or acceptable.

There are children who have talked at only a few months old - or less, as with mine. My post on the First Words of a Child Prodigy has attracted tales of such experiences from all over the world. Some children have crawled and walked very early too. These things happen. It makes no sense to denounce the mothers and fathers of such children for simply talking about their experiences.

Let us put this situation into more concrete terms. Imagine that the news media did not cover athletics. Imagine that athletics was something that happened quietly, in other peoples' houses, where no-one could see it. This is, of course, exactly the situation with exceptional child development. It is not something that, generally speaking, is ever given a mention officially.

Now imagine further that someone wrote on a forum that their son could run a hundred metres in 9.76 seconds, from a standing start. Imagine that they confided it hesitantly, seeking support for this unusual situation. Imagine then that quite a few people denounced the parent, saying that they must be hallucinating...or worse. Imagine that they had reasoned, well, my son can only run a hundred metres in 16 seconds - and the fastest runner I have ever met can do it in 14...so you must be lying or deceiving yourself. Now, we all know, in the real world, that there are people who can run a 100 metres in less than 10 seconds. There are, in fact, quite a few of them, in the history of sport. So, someone who made such a statement would probably not be denounced. Indeed, you might feel indignant about it if someone was so denounced. You would probably rush to their defence with supportive anecdotes. Yet, the strange thing is that, in the world of early child development, there are remarkable things happening all over the world - yet, if people speak about them, many a voice will rise and denounce the parents with words to the effect: "That was not the way with my children, so it could not be the way with yours!"

Why, when it comes to the raising of children, are so many people so small-minded? Why can they not allow for the full range and diversity of humanity?

I would like to see a day when a first-time mother seeking help for her gifted child is not denounced for what she shares - but supported warmly by a world community that understands and would like to help.

Looking at the kinds of things that get written on boards across the world, I fear I may have rather a long time to wait.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The strange vocabulary of Tiarnan Cawley

Yesterday, Tiarnan, nineteen months, was fiddling with his elder brother's Chemistry equipment. I watched from nearby lest he do anything untoward. He took the little bottles in his hands and shook them, watching their contents. I wasn't bothered by this because the caps are not easy to remove being "child-proof".

As he played, I heard one unexpected word on his lips: "Cyanide". He had heard it, no doubt, from his elder brother, Ainan, but it was funny to hear a nineteen month old baby utter such a word. The incongruity of it would have made me laugh but I was intent on watching him play, lest he find a way to harm himself - but it is most certainly funny now, to recall.

It is not easy being Ainan, 7, with College level Chemistry to his name (compared to the American system) - perhaps he is going to bring up a little friend, in Tiarnan, to talk to, regarding his central interests.

He has certainly got him off to an early - and amusing start.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The study of Geography

Strange names appear on the lips of my son, Ainan, 7: Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons and the Caloris Basin. These are terms that he has challenged me with: "Where is the Caloris Basin, Daddy?" etc.

Clearly, Ainan has become interested in geography...but what kind of geography is this? I had a clue in that I recognized Olympus Mons - the 24 km high flat-topped volcano on Mars. Ainan is pouring over the geography of the planets, and Solar system bodies - in particular the geography of Mars (areography) where Valles Marineris is situated (a 4,000 km long, 7 km deep canyon, by the way) - and the Caloris Basin, from Mercury (which is a 1,400 km wide impact crater. Ouch.)

Ainan is familiar with many other names, details and information on all the bodies in the Solar System. "Epimetheus?" he challenges...a moon of Saturn. The time for light to reach Earth from Titan? 1 hour and 7 minutes, at light speed (minimum distance apart).

Ainan knows the Solar System better than he knows Earth.

Ainan is only 7 years old. No doubt he will grow up into a world in which people live appreciably longer than the generation before. Is, therefore, his study of the geography of the planets, other bodies of the Solar System, and astronomy - an irrelevance, or will he, one day become familiar with some of these places in person? It is strange to wonder how far and how fast things will change. It is strange to consider what the world he - and my other children - will grow up to live in, will be like. If I look back over the course of my own life, there has been so much change. When I was Ainan's age, there were no personal computers, no mobile phones, no Space Shuttle, no internet...the list could go on quite a way, but you get the idea. What, therefore, will there be in thirty, forty, fifty years time? Could Ainan ever visit the Moon, or Mars? Will it ever become normal practice for people to inhabit these bodies?

The answer to the latter question is, I am sure, an undoubted yes: the future of Man will be a space-going one. As for the answer to the first, I think it depends on the development of the transport systems: if they are affordable and safe, I think many of our children, Ainan included, may one day take a trip off planet, perhaps, in some cases, to stay. If they remain expensive and hazardous, that space going future may be restricted to the few with wealth and an appetite for high risk (like the approximately one in 25 failure rate of Shuttles (as it was in the Challenger days))

There is no telling, at this time, how long our children will live. If science solves the problem of aging before our children begin to suffer from it, they may live hundreds of years. In such a world, Ainan will come to see space-faring as routine: it will be as normal as a transatlantic flight. In such a world, he may one day see these fabled places that now he studies in devoted curiosity. Ainan may one day see Epimetheus outside his spaceship portal.

I wonder in this way, for I see no reason why the future should be closed and circumscribed. It should be open-ended and filled with possibility and wonder. With the rate of change in the scientific and technological world, our children will live to see a much different world from our own, one that we cannot, perhaps, imagine, without failing to capture its richness.

I would not be surprised if, one day, Ainan's unusual knowledge of planetary geography and astronomy actually has a use, for him.

In a way, I hope it does, for then it would mean that Mankind will be much safer and freer from the possibility of extinction. The day we are living off Earth, alone, is the day Mankind can hope for an indefinite future.

Now, that is something worth hoping for.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)