The shoe fits

I got this idea from reading my friend Minni's blog ... it's a sort of Meyers-Briggs personality inventory for kids. One thing I really like is that it addresses a child's learning style specific to her "type," which may help in educating her both at home and in school. The quiz is really geared toward kids aged 7-12, but I thought I'd see what happened when I answered the questions as best I could for a 4-year old. And I think the results were eerily accurate!

Maggie scored an ESP (extroverted, sensing, perceiving). Here's what that means:

ESP Traits

• They want to do everything in a BIG way
• They have LOTS of energy
• They love the outdoors
• They love animals
• They love to participate in sports and other physical activities
• They're extremely aware of their environment
• They have a strong aesthetic appreciation for beauty
• They need to be constantly busy, and usually have several projects going on
• They are usually artistic
• They love to be the center of attention
• They're very practical and grounded in reality

Potential Strengths

• They're generally cheerful and almost always in a good mood
• They're usually popular and well-liked by almost everyone
• They pick up on other people's behaviors and attitudes more quickly than any other type
• They get a great deal of enjoyment out of life, and treat life like a big party
• They have a very good memory for details
• They're extremely observant - the most observant of all of the types
• They're extremely generous
• They like and accept almost everyone

Potential Weaknesses

• Their general acceptance of everyone may make them poor judges of character
• They love money
• They tend to be materialistic
• They cannot see the big picture in most situations
• They tend to be thrill-seekers
• They may be overly loud and boisterous
• They are very impulsive
• They do not have the ability to use their intuition at all, or extrapolate anything from one situation into another
• They frequently do not follow through on tasks or plans
• They have a difficult time taking anything seriously
• They live in the present moment, and have difficulty foreseeing the consequences to their actions

ESP Learning Style

• ESP children require explicit instructions when performing a task. They need to have the expectations for the task clearly defined before they can understand what they are supposed to do. Loosely defined assignments, where the outcome is unclear or extremely individualized, will not sit well with the ESP, and they will not perform these kinds of tasks well unless they get clear instructions on how to do them from some source.
• ESPs learn best with lots of hands-on experience. When shown how to do something, they are usually able to pick it up quite easily. Physically, ESPs are usually very coordinated and agile. They can learn new physical tasks with great speed and accuracy.
• ESPs have a short attention span. They are easily distracted by just about anything that occurs in their environment. They are also extremely social, and often get distracted talking and interacting with other children. An ESPs attention will be retained longer if they are allowed to interact with their environment while learning. They do well with team activities, or when allowed to work with other kids.
• ESP children have a tremendous amount of energy and are very physically oriented. They can't sit still for more than a few minutes before they start to wiggle around and get very bored. Working with other kids may help combat this problem, or a teacher could try some alternative lesson plans that include combining physical activity with learning. An example of this might be reading a poem and acting it out at the same time.
• In general, ESP children need to have a lot of new mental and physical stimulation. They are extremely curious and observant, and seek new experiences constantly. They are extremely aware of their immediate environment and cannot ignore that awareness. They learn best doing activities that combine the mental learning with their physical environment. Activities that do not include a strong physical, tangible, reality become boring very quickly to the ESP.

ESP Special Needs

• ESP kids need to be constantly moving, and will have a hard time in situations where they are required to sit in one place for any length of time. Teachers and parents should be aware of these needs, and design activities that incorporate physical activity as much as possible. ESPs need to be busy in general. They get easily bored and need a lot of stimulation and new experiences to remain cheerful and to continue to grow.
• Because ESPs live so much in the present moment, it's important that they receive corrections immediately when a problem occurs. Waiting until later will seriously diminish the effect of the action. Any disciplinary or corrective action should be pointed and swiftly administered. By saying this, we are not referring to physical discipline, and in no way condone any kind of physical abuse of your children.
• For ESPs, actions speak louder than words. They learn best by example, and should be provided with models of behavior. They will pick something up best if they are shown how to do it, rather than told how to do it. If you want to teach them how to act in a certain situation, they will learn this best if you show them how to act with your own behavior. ESP children are great mimics, and are very likely to pick up on the behaviors of their parents and other important adults in their lives.
• ESP children routinely test their boundaries. These kids may be the sort to get themselves into trouble frequently. It's very important that clear boundaries be set for them. These boundaries should be very explicitly defined, and should be consistently reinforced. ESP children do not have good use of their Intuition at this age, so it's very important that rules are spelled out for them. If a rule has been made for a certain situation, they will probably not automatically apply that rule to a different similar situation. They require explicit instructions.
• ESPs are likely to have trouble remembering and following rules - even if they have been clearly defined. Adults should remind ESPs of the rules frequently, spelling them out in their entirety. Expectations for the ESP's behavior should be made explicit, and they will need to be reminded. Adults must be consistent in enforcing these rules.

Some of this stuff is so dead-on that it's scary, like the fact that she's acutely observant and remembers everything ... and yet can't seem to remember directions she's been given 30 seconds ago. Or the inability to sit still for more than a few minutes before the wiggling starts. (Lately I've been wondering exactly where that fine line is between normal 4-year-old energy and ADHD ... now, not quite as worried. Maybe it's just in her nature to be wiggly and in constant motion.) Or even simply the love of animals and the outdoors or the constant testing of boundaries. The suggestion to combine physical activity with learning really hits home; I've noticed that while Maggie is super interested in reading and writing, she doesn't want to just sit there and read (or write). Instead, these activities have to be incorporated into some other activity, like playing waitress (she writes down my order) or reading the items on my shopping list when we're in a store.

If you're familiar with Meyers-Briggs types, you'll notice that one letter is missing. Here's what the site had to say about that:
(The "Missing" Letter: Adult personality types contain four letters, while for kids aged 7-12 we use three letter types. What happened to the missing letter? It's there, we just can't usually determine what it is until after a person is 13 years old. ESP kids will grow up to be either ESTP "Doers" or ESFP "Performers." At this stage in their development, it's not obvious whether they will choose Thinking or Feeling to complement their Sensing preference. You will see the child practicing both Thinking and Feeling as they settle down into their preferred function. In some children it's possible to distinguish their "missing" letter, but for many kids we just have to wait a few years to be sure.)

Certainly nothing like this is perfect, and I don't believe you can label a child after just one survey, but I went into this survey very skeptical and ended up being shocked at how much the description fit Maggie's personality. This was eye-opening and fun, giving me a new appreciation for my daughter's unique personality. If you do it with your kiddo(s), I'd love to read about the results!