Independent Thinking: Raising Independent Thinking Children

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Hi,
Schools, that are traditional in nature, fail to teach the basics of independent thinking skills, and instead they concentrate on teaching a dependent culture that could be detrimental to the future of children. The society around us is highly competitive, and only those survive and taste success that can think on their own, find solutions to complex problems and later use them to reach even the most elusive goalpost. Parents should foster independent thinking in their children and allow them to become self-reliant. All the best.

Thought for today:
"Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit." - Les Brown

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Raising Independent Thinking Children
Learning independent thinking skills help your children face difficulties and obstacles of life. The act of being an independent thinker is encouraged by several factors. Very high self-esteem or self-image is the two characters that separate an ordinary thinker from an independent one.

Raising Independent Thinking Children - Tips and Suggestions
Teaching independent thinking skills to your children relates to the act of mental metamorphosis, where they will change the manner and ways in which thinking process is performed. Parents may need to understand the fundamental principles of independent skills before they can help their children.

Q1: I recently had my son take the WISC-IV through a psychologist. He was 6 years 11 months when he took the test. The psychologist gave us the report and was excited about my son's score and called him "extremely gifted." Now, I know people can be gifted in different things such as music, science, art, etc. What I would like to know is what exactly would my son be gifted in? I would like to foster his learning in his gift, but I am not sure what that is exactly.

So with this score, what would you say his gift is? Do you more information? Thank you in advance.

A: Based on what the psychologist concluded upon testing and his perceptual reasoning (PR) score, your son appears to be in the gifted range. I am not able to determine the level of his giftedness, as other index scores are not given. It also appears that his PR score is the highest as that was the focus - 143 on PR is very high.....Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Perceptional Reasoning Score on WISC-IV here.

Q2: My adopted son was struggling in Kindergarten to point that they wanted to hold him back. When he was placed with me there was testing to indicate (Standford Binet I think) that he was highly gifted. This was done at age 4.5, just prior to being adopted. After he was placed with me, who has no experience with 'gifted', he really didn't strike me as anything other than average with occasional bursts of amazing things....

A: the first thing that comes in mind is the possibility of a learning problem. It is very clear that your son is in the highly gifted range based on the results alone. The behavioural concerns may point out to another issue altogether. In this case, I would suspect that he may be gifted with a learning problem and I tend to feel that he may be dyslexic. It is very possible for a child with dyslexia be highly gifted as well - a term we call twice exceptional.... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Working Memory and Possibly Twice Exceptional here.

Q3: Our 4 year old son, while not formally tested, is highly gifted. He has had a love of numbers and letters at a very early age and was reading by the time he was 18mths. He has a photographic memory and is now reading and doing maths probably at 10 year old level. He continually amazes us but my question is how can we make him tougher, not so sensitive/affectionate with his peers. His peers like to play tackle while he prefers to hug and kiss everyone....

A: Your description indicates a gifted child with distinct traits in terms of emotional sensitivity quite common amongst the gifted. First and foremost, parents need to understand gifted children with heightened emotional sensitivity. Being aware is very important and it is quite clear that you understand that his gifts may make him a little different from his peers, which is something parents need to accept and help children accept their difference as well.... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Emotional Giftedness of a 4 Year Old here.

Teach Your Child How to Think
By Edward de Bono, Ph.D

Some parents may be confused by this busy primer, while others will agree with the author's premise that creative thinking skills can be directly taught. De Bono, a business and educational consultant, asserts that this manual is equally applicable to teaching children or senior executives. Crammed with exercises, games and diagrams, the book stresses that thinking involves "operacy"--the skills of doing or making things happen--as well as devising mental patterns more effective than the mind's routine habits.

Dr. De Bono takes a no-nonsense approach, pointing out that much thinking is inefficient and that many highly intelligent people are not good thinkers. He urges the use of speculation, hypotheses, provocation and other techniques as a way to get out of mental ruts and generate ideas.

Teach Your Kids to Think!: Simple Tools You Can Use Every Day
By Maria Chesley Fisk, Ph.D

"Teach Your Kids to Think" is designed to help parents teach their children how to think wisely and well during the time they already spend together. Using the latest research, author Dr Fisk has created a series of easy-to-use, fun tools that can be used whenever parents are with their 4- to 12-year-old children. The tools are divided into four sections that represent different kinds of thinking: analytical, creative, social & emotional, and practical.

How to Make Your Baby Smarter
Huffington Post Jan 28, 2013

Are you hoping for a Baby Einstein? You don't need to be a Tiger Dad to want the best for your kids, and being smart generally leads to an easier, happier life. But what are the facts and what are myths? Before you force your baby to listen to Mozart, check out the latest research to find exactly what will make a difference to a baby's future IQ.

Supplementing Kids - Diets with Omega-3 Boosts Their IQ, says Study
Topnews NZ Jan 29, 2013

A team of researchers from the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development has come up with a fact that if kids are provided with quality pre-school and diet, they could realize a boost in their IQ.

New research shows modern parenting practices hinder child brain development (Video)
The Examiner Jan 07, 2013

This new research links certain early, nurturing parenting practices - the kind common in foraging hunter-gatherer societies - to specific, healthy emotional outcomes in adulthood, and has many experts rethinking some of our modern, cultural child rearing "norms."

Brain Child
New Parent Jan 21, 2013

Remember how your ob-gyn (and every pregnancy-related magazine and book you read!) stressed the importance of your diet for your fetus's brain and neural development? Well, now your toddler's own eating habits are crucial.

Are You Having a Negative Impact on Your Child's Development?
Atlanta Black Star Jan 22, 2013

“Spare the rod and spoil the child” - or so the saying goes. She's got you wrapped around her little finger. He's running circles around you. And so on. But new studies show that the exact opposite to these old adages is true.

Predicting Early Language Development In Infants
Red Orbit Jan 23, 2013

A new study from the University of Washington (UW) that incorporated a brain-imaging technique on the whole infant brain revealed that there are certain parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus and cerebellum, that can help predict a child's language abilities when they are one year old.

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