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    Joined: Oct 2011
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    First of all, I love the IAS. Give me a codified set of criteria, and I can deal with the process much easier. I would recommend obtaining a copy, especially if you suspect there might be more than one round of acceleration discussions.

    As for...
    Sports: my DD as now been skipped twice (skipped 2nd and 6th). During the summer swim season this is not an issue as they group by age, but during the school year it is by grade (of course). We’ve told our DD to keep her performance in perspective – that until high school the girls beating her are doing it as much by size as technique. The girls that are barely beating her now, she’ll crush once they’ve stopped growing and she continues to grow (of course, were she a boy, this argument wouldn’t work as well since boys continue to grow even into college ages).

    Academic competitions: put it into perspective for your kid. Ask her - do you want to appear to be the brightest by winning the award, or do you want to know you’re the brightest by barely missing the award while being two years younger?

    Class rank: meh. Not important and overblown. Around here a class of 400 kids will have 20 (or more) valedictorians. Heck, the valedictorian of my graduating class got her 4.0 from avoiding any challenging classes. I’d rather have my kid challenged and really learning than to have her worry about the appearance of learning.

    Dating: My wife and I informed my DD that she is not allowed (when old enough to do so) to date anyone from a class above hers. She is also not allowed to date any AK/red-shirted kids from her own grade. My DD’s older sister, who was not a party to the first discussion, gave her a similar set of ground rules.

    Originally Posted by Dottie
    I cannot imagine him still in the middle school. Some middle schools are great. Sadly, ours is more focused on non-academic issues...
    Hear, hear. I’ve been saying for most of the last year, one of the best things about my DD skipping 6th grade is that she will have one less year of middle school.

    --S.F.


    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
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    geofizz Offline OP
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    Yes, thank you to all of you. I've greatly appreciated being pushed on my assumptions and having people thoughtfully contributing.

    Our meeting is now pushed up to tomorrow morning. Earlier this week, they'd scheduled it for next week, then immediately canceled it. Oddly, they seem to have changed their decision on who the receiving teacher might be. I've now got a copy of the 3rd edition of the IAS, and I get the same 10 points for Dottie. Total, I get 60 points, making him a solid candidate.

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    geofizz Offline OP
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    update: They double counted DS' scores in both the achievement (by current grade) and aptitude (by receiving grade) to give him an AAAA score of 15. I didn't correct them. They also hid from me the criteria used to determine the score, and I simply kept my bootlegged copy hidden.

    So, we're happy there. DS came out as an excellent candidate for acceleration.

    Here's where we're not happy. They've now reversed themselves on where he belongs in math. Because of a relative weakness in writing, they won't put him in 2nd grade math this year or in 3rd grade next year. They want to take him out of the second hour of kindergarten (when writing instruction happens) to put him in 1st grade math. The kindergarten teacher says she'll flip the schedule so that he doesn't miss the writing instruction by going to math but ARGH with this plan, he won't ever be learning math at school. First grade is still single digit addition and subtraction. What could be more boring than an hour a day of that?!?

    We've consented to next year's acceleration, but not the math plan. I'm going to observe the classes to see if I can convince myself 2nd grade will have too much writing.

    My older DD is having struggles with math right now by reason of a disorder of written expression, and they are using DD's struggles as means to deny DS what he needs.

    Anyone know if Dr. Assouline takes phone calls?

    Last edited by geofizz; 03/08/12 11:16 AM.
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    Originally Posted by geofizz
    I didn't correct them.

    Go You!
    Quote
    I'm going to observe the classes to see if I can convince myself 2nd grade will have too much writing.

    Observation is the best way.
    Quote
    My older DD is having struggles with math right now by reason of a disorder of written expression, and they are using DD's struggles as means to deny DS what he needs.

    bummer - what about giving DD accomidations so she can achieve at her intellectual level as well?
    Quote
    Anyone know if Dr. Assouline takes phone calls?
    I know Dr. A answers emails.

    Keep moving forward, it's a marathon, not a sprint, excellent teachers make a huge difference, flexibility is key!

    Yippee-
    Grinity


    Coaching available, at SchoolSuccessSolutions.com
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    geofizz Offline OP
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    Thanks. I'll email Dr. A, and DS' DYS application just notched itself up in priority.

    On DD, the school first said that they were going to fast track her to an IEP, but now they seem to be working to use their whole 60 days. I'm meeting with an advocate this afternoon. For now, I have the gifted math teacher semi on board, but it will remain an uphill battle, as the gifted teacher is unfamiliar with this type of struggle.

    Tutoring begins next month, which may or may not address the cross over issues into math. The writing issues are indeed more pressing, and I think I can make the case that she should not have one of her math accelerations (she has 2) reversed.

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    Other than our face-to-face when she presented her report, all of my contact with Dr. Assouline was via email or through her assistant (Nancy), but she is good about returning emails. And overall she is a great person to work with. I would very much recommend her services.
    --S.F.

    Last edited by SFrog; 03/08/12 02:19 PM. Reason: face-to-face, not fact-to-face

    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
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    Good news re: the skip, not so good re: math. This sounds very familiar to our DS's situation. He was doing 2nd grade math with the GT coordinator in 1st school, and then was granted a grade skip (resulting in going to a new school in the district). When we got to 2nd school, 2nd grade, they did not know that DS had already done most of the same 2nd grade math they were now teaching him. It was a huge rigamarole, and they said they couldn't advance him to 3rd grade math because his writing was so poor. Grrrr. They finally agreed to let him pretest out of units and meet with the GT teacher for math, but at that point we enrolled DS in another district, where they would happily teach him 3rd grade math as a 2nd grader, and they had zero problems with the fact that his writing was below level. Any chance your DS can get pullouts at his level for math?

    Congrats on your advocacy!

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    geofizz Offline OP
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    UPDATE!!!!

    The advocate got it done in one half hour phone call after I spent two hours observing 1st and 2nd grade math. DS goes into 2nd grade math after spring break with a hand-picked teacher. He gets her NEXT YEAR TOO!!! DS knows just one kid in this year's first grade. I observed a first grade class yesterday, and low and behold, the 1 kid in the class I ID'd as gifted is the kid DS knows and likes. (They're in chess together). So that kid will be placed in DS' class next year as well. I'm so excited. The plan for now is that he'll have to do 1 qtr of 2nd grade math next year and then we'll assess if it's ok to move him to 3rd grade math.

    AND the advocate got assurances and made progress on my most pressing concerns about DD as well. All in one half hour phone conversation with the VP.

    I'm over the moon, and I feel 10 pounds lighter.

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    Woo hoo! So happy for you and your DS. smile Excellent work, and good advice to go spend time in the classrooms.

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    Love it!
    What process did you use to find and choose your advocate. What do you think the advocate brought to the table?

    Smiles
    Grinity


    Coaching available, at SchoolSuccessSolutions.com
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