Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Do these people even know what they're doing?

So, this is what landed us where we are right now, which, I think you know is...HOMESCHOOLING! lol!!! In our case, I went to the testing page on Hoagies and luckily there is one fairly close and a woman AND is familiar with 2e, used to consult for our school district, is pretty famliar with all our school choices, etc. Let me tell you, she has been worth EVERY PENNY and we don't even have the formal evaluation and recommendation yet. I am somewhat woried about what she is going to say Butter's needs are, but I know I won't be able to ask another prospective school if they will be able to meet them unless we know what they are.

That's my 2cents...let the kid come home if you can and you are all ok with that.

Aimee Yermish works with gifted kids, and frequents the board here. Her dissertation was on therapy with the gifted. I know there are articles on her blog about how to find a therapist to work with a gifted individual.

Update: Yesterday we took DD to see a psychologist, partly to get some other ideas about what we can do to advocate for her, but mostly to help her deal with all the emotional explosions she keeps having as a result of what she sees as a rejection of her needs by the school.

Our "Wha-wha-wha-what?!" moment came when the psychologist suggested that an all-day gifted program would suit her needs, which is offered by other schools in the district. Looks like it's time to start arguing for an intra-district transfer.

HAH!

We had another meeting with the school about DD last Friday. We heard from the class teachers (G/T and 1st grade) about how DD is beginning to show signs of improvement in the social arena, and what the 1st grade teacher is doing to keep DD from suffering from excessive class time to navel gaze. Then the principal launched into her usual talking points... everything is going great, let's give this more time, grade-skipping is not an option, etc.

But...

We had two newcomers in the meeting. One was the district G/T program coordinator, and the other was a childhood development specialist from the district. And finally, we seemed to have found two people in power who understood where we were coming from. We found ourselves speaking the same language for the first time, rather than dealing with poking holes in all the common misconceptions of the nature of giftedness. The G/T coordinator in particular seemed to buy into the idea that a better social fit is needed for DD, and she's looking into options, which may or may not include skipping.

Finally, some good signs, at least.

Excellent news.

Great to hear this good news.

Personally, if the all day gifted classes would keep her with agemates, and not disrupt the family too too much, I'd prefer that option to a grade skip. Gradeskips are great when there is no other option, but self contained classrooms are often the better choice. It all depends on the child's personality and needs - and the family needs as well. (Sometimes one needs both!)

Keep pushing - remember to at least try and get the private tester to speak to the GC over the phone to help you push for the intradistrict transfer.

Good luck
Grinity

Glad to hear this meeting went better. Here's hoping the new additions will change the chemistry of the meetings enough to open some new doors!