Spectrum tested

We had Jordan tested privately for "cognitive ability," and he hit it out of the park. "I got a lot of check marks," he told me, and he must have been right because his scores are plenty high. He is particularly strong in what they call "fluid reasoning" (this is the Stanford-Binet 5), which has to do with adapting between inductive and deductive reasoning skills. We've submitted the score report to the school district and are hoping that he will be admitted to the Spectrum Young Scholars program.

I didn't get much out of him about the test itself (Dale brought him to be tested while I was out of town, and he had Aaron along). Jordan said that he had to build things out of blocks, and he had to build the opposite of what the testing lady built: "Like if she did red, yellow, yellow, I would do yellow, yellow, red," he explained. He added, "She was not a very good builder." The score report said that Jordan "enjoyed sharing information about himself and his experiences" and that, while his attention and effort were "adequate to excellent," he "frequently required reminders to stay in his seat." That's our Jordan! Elsewhere in the report she said he was an "inquisitive and delightful young boy." We agree.

Cell paper

Dale has had a super-important paper accepted! It's in Cell, which is as prestigious as it gets in his field. He's been working on it for years. The publication brings an extraordinary close to his NIH research and puts him on excellent footing for what comes next. Yay!

The title of the paper, for your information, is "Mitochondria supply membranes for autophagosome biogenesis during starvation." (It won't be published for months yet; the cover at right is for the current issue.)

Weekly

Spectrum testing

We had Jordan tested for the Spectrum program, which is what they call the gifted-and-talented program here. He scored high, but not high enough to qualify. We were initially tempted to just take that at face value. Of course we think he's brilliant, but even if we're right he seems fine where he is; I'm irritated with pushing kids too fast academically anyway, he's on the young side for kindergarten (a midsummer boy), and although Dale and I were identified as gifted and got a lot of benefit from that, back in our day they didn't test you until middle school. So we were just going to call it good.

On the other hand, though... The test was a group test, and was a scan-tron. For five-year-olds? How accurate can that be? And although I don't need him to go faster or get into college sooner or any of that, I do hope for him to be in a cohort of engaged students, and if he got some of the better teachers that would certainly be a good thing. So when we learned that one of his best buddies tested in, and his other best buddy scored much higher on a private test than the school test and is appealing to be admitted... we were swayed. Although it is a chunk of change, we're going to have him tested privately. If he tests well, he can stay with his buddies (and maybe have a good cohort generally, with better teachers); and if he scores the same as he did on the school test, we'll have our doubts relieved about the testing conditions.

The whole thing makes me think about what I want for Jordan (and later Aaron), in school. I think a huge thing that school is for is to learn about society: not in social studies class, but in how the school and the people in it function with each other. I would like for them to be engaged - to participate in what's going on, and through that maybe even find some knowledge or skill that excites them. And I would like them to enjoy themselves - to have some fun, to have good friends, to have positive relationships with adults, to not be anxious. Reading? It'll happen.

Brain at work

Jordan has completed his valentines for school... just in time. It was a big project. I am grudgingly sort of won over; it was a lot of writing, on the one hand, but it turned out to be a pretty authentic writing experience for him. He had to write everyone's name for a good reason - in order to give them something. He had to write his own name so that they would know who it was from. His friends have to be able to read what he's written, and so does he, in order to hand them out. He was very motivated and energetic about it, and quite proud of himself when he was done.


Research suggests, however, that this is just as important to his cognitive development:

I'm anti-homework

Jordan is way behind on his homework. This is a ridiculous thing to say about a kindergartener. And it's definitely my doing: It's me who lets him play with Grandpa in the mornings, it's me who does not chase him off the piano, it's me who fails to interrupt his game of wacky basketball with his brother. I just don't believe that at age five, these activities should be shortchanged in favor of filling out worksheets. In fact, I don't think he should have homework at all. This NYT essay refers to research demonstrating no benefit until middle school. A quote I liked:

Jean Piaget famously referred to “the American question,” which arose when he lectured in this country: how, his audiences wanted to know, could a child’s development be sped up? The better question may be: Why are we so hellbent on doing so?

Nasty nail polish

Jordan still sucks his thumb a lot. He's five and a half, it's clearly messing with his teeth, and it's icky; we wish he would stop. Currently our efforts to help him quit are mostly in the form of constant reminders. Sometimes he goes along with us and works on not doing it, other times he resents our nagging him and hides. It's a whole bummer thing.

His dentist asked if we had tried a bitter nail polish. I had never heard of such a product, but lo and behold, there are many. One brand, Mavala Stop, is reputed to be extremely powerful. People write celebrating their 8 and 10 year olds who stopped overnight, the works. The reviews are pretty entertaining in a sicko kind of way: here's an excerpt from someone who used it to cure her own nail-biting problem:

"The taste is really horrible. It's like acetone (nail polish remover), bitter, rotten wood, and some sort of fish put together. It has a very chemical taste with a sweet undertone that makes for a horrible experience. The taste is also very durable and lingering. If you licked a nail painted with Mavala Stop, it would take a few minutes to get the taste out. The taste was so bad, in my opinion, that getting it off of my teeth, lips, and tongue when I slipped up stopped whatever I was doing or thinking about. It's very, very gross."

The enthusiastic parents have some cautions to go along with their hallelujahs:

- It tastes so horrific that if you touch your nail to your lips for any reason you practically run screaming out of the room, and you really can't get the taste out of your mouth. Kids can have trouble eating. A solution is to put a tiny dot of the stuff at the base of the nail so that the fingertips are still OK.
- A long-term comfort is being taken away suddenly and kids can have a hard time. Some can't sleep and are emotionally fragile. Parents advise being thoughtful about the timing.
- Parents who tried to use it on two and three year olds had mixed results. Some kids that age don't seem to get that it's the thumbsucking causing the horrific taste and are just miserable. Other younger kids don't mind the taste and/or just lick it off. And other young kids had miracle cures with no misery at all.
- Some kids have such a strong reaction to the taste that they puke all night, or in some cases for days. Parents say just power through.

Kind of a Clockwork Orange sounding thing when you put it that way. Maybe we should just all watch Thumbsucker and not worry about it.

Valentine kit

Jordan has a clear and firmly-worded Valentine's Day assignment from his warm, loving, and steely-eyed kindergarten teacher: Students will bring a card for each child in the class PLUS the principal, the music coach, the three art docents, the PE teacher, the music teacher, the secretaries, the nurse, the art-movement-and-yoga teacher, the retired teacher-tutor, the assistant, the cook, and the custodians. "We will be celebrating friendship, kindness, and caring about other people," says the letter, which was sent three weeks in advance. "This is a great opportunity to practice printing names."

This is a great opportunity for Mommy to practice patience, is what it is. Originally I had felt we would go the homemade route; what can't you do with white index cards, heart stickers, and red glitter glue? Who needs that whole Valentine industry anyway? Yeah, well, when the first valentine took twenty minutes of hounding to reach completion, I had to rethink my strategy. I hadn't realized how much the lack of structure would slow things down... Jordan had to decide what to write (I'm just talking To and From here), where to write it, what kind of decorating to do, etc. And with chagrin I admit that I am not at my best while supervising kid art projects. The vigilance kills me. Now we've gone over to the mass-produced valentine card kit, with preprinted messages, To and From lines, and miniature tattoos that slip into a slot. Jordan thinks they are awesome and cranked out fifteen of them in one energized session. Woo hoo!

We buy our shoes online

Grandpa was trying to get Jordan out the door for a trip to the library, and Jordan was dawdling.

Grandpa: What’s happening in the shoe department?
Jordan: What’s the shoe department?
Grandpa: That’s where you put on your shoes.
Jordan: Um. I’ve never been there.
Grandpa: Then I bet you don’t have your shoes on.

More on girl T-rexes

A friend was kind enough to show me this sign currently on display at the Pacific Science Center. See my original post for context.