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    Joined: Oct 2012
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    Hils Offline OP
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    Hello- first post here and excited to find a group of parents that I can openly question for answers and support. I've often felt alone and awkward trying to speak up for my son as we've gone from preschool into the public school system.

    My DS6 has been upset with school (too boring, no one understands me, we never learn anything new). Since 3, we've known he has been advanced and picks up new skills quickly and with laser focus. We've given him all sorts of after school enrichment, to make up his lack of learning progress in school. It might sound silly here, but we were hoping this 1st grade year would get him closer on track with his age group and even if he was ahead, the longer school day would satisfy his desire to learn. The year has been going worse for him than K, last year. He asked to move up to 2nd grade- we backed him up, but despite high assessments at the start of school, the school initially sain no.

    We just got a privately administered WISC-Iv today. We have to wait for the full report, but he gave me the main scores and briefly went over each category. All were in the gifted range- a few were lower but he explained that was a typical pattern. The GAI was 143 (PR was 145 which he said he would explain more in the report) I understand the old school idea of IQ and have read books on gifted kids- so I'm happy for my DS that this seems to confirm his desire to go faster at school. It makes sense why he has been so miserable and complaining about school. (he is well-behaved at school and doesn't want to hurt his teacher's feelings)

    How fast should we move with this if he has been waiting on us for awhile? We have listened as parents, tried our best to ask for more challenge at school, talked with the school psychologist because he was starting get more dramatic in his "cry for help." Are just the main scores enough to get moving and advocate a change for him? Or should we wait a few more weeks for all the reports and schedule further ability assessments as suggested/ offered by the private psychologist to get a better hold on what is best?

    Anyone out there face a similar situation? I wish I could snap my fingers and make school better for him- he is an eager learner. I feel like our southern ca school district has limited options- most have dropped gifted programs and so far, since our DS is well-behaved in class, teachers seem happy to have one less kid they have to worry about. This struggle has had the positive impact of helping him get his own voice and ask for challenge- but the little guy has been met with skepticism and slow moving adults (his parents included!). Where do we go from here after my first sleepless night worried that I'm going to have to step up my game to advocate for him.

    Sorry so long - but I guess this has already been a frustrating process. Hope to find parents that understand because it's not a topic I feel I can discuss freely with other school parents.

    Joined: Dec 2005
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    Originally Posted by Hils
    It might sound silly here, but we were hoping this 1st grade year would get him closer on track with his age group and even if he was ahead, the longer school day would satisfy his desire to learn.
    This doesn't sound silly at all. It's completely reasonable to believe that schools know enough about kids to satisfy all of them.

    With a GAI of 143 your kid is solidly in 'out there' gifted land, and we can say from experience that it's unlikely that schools have much experience with kids like him, because kids like him are rare.

    Stare at this graph for a while and let it burn into your retinas:

    http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=891&tbm=isch&tbnid=_BQZXoSODKNsZM:&imgrefurl=http://meds.queensu.ca/courses/assets/modules/types-of-data/symmetrical_and_asymmetrical_data.html&docid=EOEs19al1fM-YM&imgurl=http://meds.queensu.ca/co

    top .01 Percentile in his strengths. Ug!

    So - Magic 8 Ball says YES - get the ball rolling now.

    If you are living in the USA, also start your Davidson application. http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/

    Check and see if achievement testing was done.

    I wish there was a phone hot line where in situations like this you could just call for help and a team would descend on the school and work something out. Sadly you will have to 'transform' into that team. Hopefully the private tester can and will be part of that team. The good news is, we can 'talk you through' the process of transformation.

    Congratulations on raising a boy who doesn't want to hurt the teacher's feeling. That's awesome. Fix things for him before his good will runs out; Start now.

    Love and more Love,
    Grinity



    Coaching available, at SchoolSuccessSolutions.com
    Joined: Oct 2011
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    I would start now. If you wait until spring, you may find that the school plays a stalling game until it is "too late" to do anything this year.
    No matter when you start the process, it will be a bad time for the school.
    Beginning of school year: "Why don't we wait and see how this year starts off."
    Middle of school year: "We'll know more at the end of the year."
    End of the school year: "You really should have started this process earlier, there isn't enough time left to complete everything."
    Summer: "No one is available at this time, please leave a message after the beep.

    Good luck,
    -S.F.


    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
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    First grade can often be more problematic than kindergarten because there is a lot more seatwork so less fun games and projects and social time. You simply have to accept that even with the most accomodating district, it is still a bureacracy so everything will move very slowly. Make sure that your requests are in writing and reasearch the policies and procedures for your district. Don't rely on IQ scores as that is unlikely to get you far without accompanying acheivement scores or other proof of mastery of specific curriculum.

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    Just to make yet another echo in the room, I'd also recommend starting now. The cogs of a public school turn ever so slowly, so even if you start now, you may not see the end result for several months or even another year.

    And, as you've already heard from some pretty wise folks already, I'll only add that as much as you're hoping your kiddo will find a place of acceptance and normalcy, it might not happen at that IQ. I had to readjust my goals to helping my child accept their own gifts, toughen their skin, and find activities outside of academics that offered more chances of "normal interaction".

    Joined: Oct 2012
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    Hils Offline OP
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    Thanks everyone- I've been busy trying to read up on what some of the scores meant. Even though the psychologist called me in after the testing to briefly review and explain the initial scores, I still wasn't sure exactly what those scores meant, other than they were quite high. He explained that the full report we will receive in a few weeks will be more in depth and include a review of academic resources/ recommendations.

    I wasn't surprised that they were high because it's been obvious since birth that our DS learned things differently (and behaved differently) than both his older brother and other kids. However, while he is a great consumer of individualized instruction and very focused, he is limited by what he receives. He is far less willing to learn a new concept with us at home than with a teacher. And we have left the reading, writing, and math teaching to school unless he specifically asks to learn something. While both my husband and I are college educated and bright, we both found elementary school and public education adequate and challenging. Getting our minds around the idea that our son might be (is?) different than our own experience is a little daunting. To add- my husband is in the military and moving is going to make things even more interesting if our DS's IQ indicates we are just beginning to deal with school issues.

    I'm going to look into the David's Young Scholars program. If they provide counseling and services, and our DS qualifies, it can't hurt to apply. Since we had to pay for the private testing, we did not have additional tests done outside the WISC (though he did do a quick reading assessment just to see what grade level he could read at... not including comprehension.) It looks like we would need additional tests to submit and qualify.. I'm hoping maybe the public school might offer those??

    Thanks everyone- it's great that this website exists!


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