Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion DD just doesn't seem gifted to me.

DD8 was just identified via the school district. They used the CogAT. I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. Her highest score was in 'quantitive' but she is doing middle of the road math, and is getting tutored in reading to remain at grade level. I have seen a lot of some aspects of giftedness such as creativity, intensity and social leadership but not any sort of advanced learning that I would have expected from this test. So, I don't really know what to do as a parent. She dislikes school and shies away from all types of challenge, athletic, musical, etc. I have never really been able to figure her out and this identification confuses me even more.

I would plunge in and start reading some of the books that others have recommended in another thread if you don't have another gifted child you've already done the research for in the past. When I was advised my youngest was gifted late last year, I gobbled up 10 books on giftedness over the summer months so I could feel prepared to advocate.

Just know that sometimes kids are really good at hiding their abilities. Ask her what interests her and go above and beyond to provide her enrichment opportunities outside of school.

My 12 yo DD is also gifted and her math scores on the Stanford 10 blew me away. She had somehow not gotten discovered through the normal screening process and we asked for an evaluation for her ourselves. I honestly expected my son's scores to be way higher than hers, but they weren't. She hid it well (plus, if you have a gifted kid as a first child, your perception of what a "normal" kid is somewhat skewed. You assume your kid is normal, when they are really not!) Good luck!

Welcome!

Many schools/districts are moving away from "identifying a child as gifted" to "identifying who qualifies for the gifted program or services".

To highlight the distinction:

A gifted individual is generally speaking a gifted individual throughout the lifespan, and once identified there is a high IQ number to go with it, generally in the 98th percentile or above. Being gifted does not necessarily describe the appropriate curriculum, gifted is not one-size-fits-all. Nonetheless, an individual who is gifted remains gifted (for example, after changing schools). Reading books such as A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children may help a parent determine if this is the type of child they have.

An individual identified as qualifying for a school's or district's gifted program or services may be an individual with the right "fit" for what the school/district has to offer in a gifted program or services. Qualifying for the gifted program anticipates a match to the curriculum offered. This may be based on a combination of achievement and IQ. The cutoff may be placed at different levels.
- On one hand, due to the small population of gifted pupils (2% of the population), extra seats in gifted classes may be filled by non-gifted students in order to reach a minimum class size to conduct the class.
- On the other hand, there may be a limited number of seats available. Quotas may apply. Lotteries may be in place if more students qualify than the number of seats available.*
- When the person identified as qualified for a school's or district's gifted program or services may move or transfer to another school, they may not necessarily qualify for the gifted program or services offered at another school, as advanced academic offerings may be different for each school's unique population of advanced learners.

There is a large difference between creating an educational plan appropriate for a child -or- selecting children for an existing plan. Matching the program to the child -vs- matching the child to the program.

* Other recent posts here and here have considered whether more seats ought to be opened to match the number of students who qualify.

This forum, the book previously mentioned, books from Great Potential Press & Prufrock Press, and articles on Hoagies Gifted Education Page and the Davidson Database are all good sources of information about being "gifted". These and more may easily be found with a web search. On the Davidson Database, you may wish to utilize the search function to look up "characteristics" and that may provide a great starting place.

Liberty, it's possible for people to be "gifted" in one area and not in another, and it's also possible for highly gifted students to have learning disabilities (I have two of those "twice exceptional" kids. You mentioned your dd is being tutored in reading in order to stay at grade level - you might want to consider further testing either through the school district or via private neuropsych eval to determine why your dd is struggling with reading - it's quite possible she's not "looking" gifted because she's got a learning disability - the catch with LDs and gifted kids is they also don't really "look" LD because they are able to compensate due to their other areas of strength. I've also seen with my own 2e kids that giving them the appropriate level of intellectual challenge while working on remediating the "e" at the same time was the thing that worked best to keep them progressing in their area of challenge. Take my advice with a grain of salt though - I'm not a professional or an expert

Best wishes,

polarbear

Is it possible that she has perfectionist tendencies? Challenge avoidance is classic for that -- being accustomed to doing things right the first time, one can get upset at the possibility of failure in a new thing. "If I can't do this the first time, I must be stupid. I hate this thing."

And dislike of school can be due to boredom, for a gifted kid.

My DD was identified for a portion of the gifted program and I don't have the faintest idea what her actual IQ score is. My DD doesn't seem to be what I would consider "gifted" in terms of developmental arc, at least to the extent that I am concerned about education beyond the public schools.

I consider my DD gifted-ish, but my DD sounds more gifted-ish that what you are talking about here with your DD.

Neither of my children seem to be at my level, so I think that you will probably be safe in not worrying about your DD right now unless you see a problem somewhere.

Gifted programs these seem to be more college prep than what I remember of the IQ-based gifted of the 80's.

I'm trying to get both of my kids into the gifted program for middle school. But that has nothing to do with whether they are "gifted" in terms of 99th percentile IQ's or advanced developmental arcs.

Gifted = College Prep in many schools.

To me, it's a shift in the language.

Thank you all. I do have an older DD10 also in the gifted program but she's a high achiever so that made sense to me. The younger one is more of a mystery. @polarbear I will look into LD. She had an unbelievably terrible teacher last year and fell way behind (along with the entire class!) so this year has been catch up and now we are continuing the tutoring to maintain. Her MAP scores in math are high but the daily work is mediocre. I've been reading a lot about underachieving and one of the reasons "expends little energy on tasks that are not interesting" would fit very well. She's very defiant and if the material isn't her cup of tea, I can see her checking out.

@indigo Thank you for the info. I am reading that book currently and it is so helpful. Our district takes all kids who score in the 98th or 99th %ile on the CogAT. There is no limit to the seats and we live in MN with decent gifted funding. Our district and in particular our school is affluent so we have a large gifted population. Not exactly sure if that's a good or bad thing.

@nautigal Yes, I think so. That makes sense!

@2giftedkids Yes, I will continue to try to find things that interest her. She has always declined or resisted any type of organized activity (dance, gymnastics, language, music, camps of any kind, etc.) even if she loves the activity itself. She just always says "I like to do it MY way" even if she doesn't know how to do it without instruction. Frustrating but I'm sure I'll hit on something sooner or later.

Anyway, thank you all for chiming in. I guess I just want her to enjoy learning. I've been feeling so confused and quite unsuccessful as a parent so I appreciate the support and feedback. I think I just need to take a breath and relax.

Yes, giftedness is not necessarily synonymous with high achievement, but with a bit of understanding and insight on how to tap into a gifted kiddo's processing they can often reach their potential.

LOL, these kids can keep us on our toes, we're all in the same boat and/or BTDT so you're among good company. IMO it's great you're focused on this: ... good parent!

One can be "intellectually" gifted while not academically gifted. Also, sometimes a child scores high on an IQ test but their lowest score is working memory. Working memory is related to doing well academically. I have been reading a lot recently and I read somewhere that in elementary school a lot of their learning relies on working memory--so you could have a gifted child with average working memory which would explain the grades. Or maybe just like you say...she is only going to perform if she is interested.

My highly gifted child was misdiagnosed with ADD two years ago.

Struggling mightily in school, grades all over the map, none of it made sense.

What finally helped me realize what was going on: The Mislabeled Child, by Fernette and Brock Eide, two neuroscientists who specialize in learning disabilities.

Anyone who thinks their child is too smart to be struggling should read this book, and get thee to a neuropsychological assessment specialist.