Ignacio Bravo Martín, Nacho, has always liked to make accounts. This Eighty-year-old boy from Toledo became yesterday in world champion of mental calculation in its category (level 5 of a total of 10) in the championship organized by Aloha Mental Arithmetic in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Has been the only Spanish child among 600 participants from 13 countries.
The demanding test was to solve up to 70 arithmetic calculations in five minutes, of which the child completed 67. He studies at the public school Valparaíso, in Toledo capital, where he has just completed second grade with good grades.
Aloha project
The Aloha project is an activity program aimed at children between 5 and 13 years old with training sessions designed to activate skills such as concentration, photographic memory, the ability to perform calculations, spatial orientation, analytical skills, etc ...
Nacho liked the accounts and fit very well in this project that It was registered as an extracurricular activity three years ago. After participating and leaving second in the national championship held in Mallorca on June 10, the organization proposed that Nacho travel to the world championship in Kuala Lumpur. Y that's how he managed to win the first world position.
Very few aids
The curious (or unfortunate) thing is that a talent like Nacho's receives so little attention. As reported by the ABC newspaper, parents have accompanied their son to Malaysia and have practically had to pay for the trip from his pocket. The only financial help they got is from two sponsors: Ideac, a company and APPOINTMENT. "The first company is concerned with developing the innate activities of children and the second deals with people with attention deficit or autism, among other disorders, with therapies performed with animals."
Signs presented by gifted children
Gifted or high-capacity children need special attention at the social, emotional and, even if it seems false, intellectual level. These needs will be defined by the individual characteristics of each child, especially in the stage of development they are in.
But how do you know if your child could be gifted? Some of the signs that could indicate it:
They are very demanding babiesThey easily overestimate, have a high level of psychomotor coordination, raise their heads before the month of life, vocalize two different sounds over the month and a half, say their first word towards 5 months and at 6 already respond to their name.
They acquire early some intellectual or psychomotor milestones: for example, they started talking before the age of two, or writing or reading before the rest of their age partners.
They are very emotionally and sensually intense.
They have a precise vocabulary.
They prefer cognitive games.
They are very self-critical, perfectionist and competitive.
