How to identify a person with your eyes closed.

Ainan is a boy of many peculiar talents. He can do things which, at times, seem uncanny. A few weeks ago, he gave me insight into one of these quirks.

I had just walked into the kitchen with an empty cup in my hand.

“I knew it was you, Daddy.” He began, as if an expectation had been fulfilled.

My eyes queried him in silence.

“You see I always know who it is, if they are carrying a cup – because both you and mummy move in a different way, and so the cup clinks differently.”

I was not surprised, not because this was not surprising but because I was used to being surprised by him. Thus, I was unsurprised to be surprised, by this latest revelation.

If there is one thing that sets Ainan apart from others, besides his intelligence, it is his perception: he is so acute in his observational ability that it is, at times, a bit like living with Sherlock Holmes. He does things with his senses that one might only expect to find in Marvel comic fiction. Yet, he does it so naturally, so casually, and so effortlessly. This, of course, only emphasizes the uniqueness of his perceptions.

I walked across the kitchen and set my cup down carefully by the sink, with a new appreciation of just how much my cup was telling about me – at least to Ainan, anyway.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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The superiority of young children.

In speaking to my children, I am often struck by the thought that children are superior to adults. Today, for instance, Tiarnan and Fintan were discussing Transformers. Now, we had all seen the show...once...together, several months ago. Yet, it seemed to me that my young sons saw far more in it, than I did...and I am not an unobservant adult.

Tiarnan and Fintan discussed the minor details of each character: they knew their names, their weapons, their strategies, their relative power, who would most likely beat whom, who was a goodie, who was a baddie...they knew the most minor of matters about these fictional characters - yet, somehow, they had picked this up, within the time of one viewing of the film.

This thought came to me when Tiarnan noted that "Demolisher" had no "laser weapons"...and could only physically strike objects. He then showed me, with his hands, how Demolisher would attack something. He was so alive to the most minor of details that I understood, then, that he saw so much more than any adult would - and remembered it, too. Both Fintan and Tiarnan possess a detailed visual memory of the film and its characters and can seem to revisit each character and its actions quite readily. That, to me, seems something an adult would not, normally, be able to do.

This is not the first time I have had this feeling that my young sons see more than adults do. I have had that feeling with great regularity with Ainan, as he grew up...and now I get the same feeling with both Fintan and Tiarnan. I rather feel that the world they see is of much finer grain than the world adults see. I hope, however, it is not that they are children and the others to whom I compare them, are adults, that makes the real difference. I hope that it is an innate difference in observation skill and that they will always retain this advantage. It would be sad to think that, when they grow up, they might lose this present ability to see the world in fine detail and remember its every nuance.

Fintan, Tiarnan and Ainan's world is richer than that of others - not because their world is different, but because they see it in greater detail. They see what others don't and remember what others can't.

Keep on observing, Fintan, Tiarnan and Ainan...and don't let your vision fade to that of a typical adult, when you grow up!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Tiarnan's observation skills

Tiarnan, fourteen months, like Fintan, three, is a very observant child. He sees things other would miss - and finds interest in matters which others would not.

A few days ago, Tiarnan was walking around our house when he suddenly pointed at a blank white wall, and said: "Look at that!", very clearly.

On this invitation, we indeed, "looked at that." He was pointing at two pin pricks in the wall, one above the other. In its white surface they were two little points of darkness. They weren't much to notice, but notice them Tiarnan had from a distance of perhaps four or five feet, when he first pointed them out.

He then told us: "Go there!" That is, we were to look more closely. We did as we were told. To an adult eye, they were probably evidence that something had been pinned to the wall. To Tiarnan they were a mystery worth pointing out, in an otherwise perfect, blank, white wall.

What is interesting about this is that his eye is drawn to imperfection and exception: that which is different is noticed by him.

We then went outside and he did something more revealing of his observation skills. He pointed upwards and about six metres away: "Look at that!" In his line of sight, tucked away near the corner of roof and wall, was a brown moth, lying still on the wall, in the shade.

I hadn't noticed it. It was far too far above my line of sight to do so. Yet, he had - and it was so much more above his line of sight. His gaze captures all. This is very reminiscent of Fintan's visual skill.

He studied the moth with great attention and enthusiasm: he has a definite liking for living things - he gets excited when he sees them - and this is both sweet and encouraging. Sweet because it is - encouraging because it shows that he is a child of passion - and such children always develop into something worthwhile. Their passion makes them so.

Singapore is quite a standardized environment. It is much the same everywhere. But, it seems to me, that for Tiarnan (and probably Fintan) in looking so closely at the world, they will always find something interesting to see. It is the detail that will occupy them.

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.)