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    Joined: Mar 2014
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    Minx Offline OP
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    Hi! I have just found you all via the private psychologist who tested my boy; she recommended we look into the DYS program. First, I am working with the school to accelerate him two grades and wondered if anyone had any experience accomplishing this. Second, I am wondering how to best help him.

    I have just started to read the forums but if you have a handy link or reference, I'd love to view it as I have a TON of material to sift through right now.

    And I guess I should post some about him.

    He is 8 and in second grade; he's very bouncy and talkative but just an overall great kid. His test results just came back with:

    Verbal Comprehension (VCI) 158 (>99.9%)
    Perceptual Reasoning (PRI) 133 (99%)
    Working Memory (WMI) 141 (99.7%)
    Processing Speed (PSI ) 88 (21%)
    Full Scale (FSIQ) 141 (99.7%)
    General Abilities Index (GAI) 155 (>99.9)

    Thank you in advance! :-)

    Joined: Mar 2013
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    Welcome!

    You obviously have a very gifted DC on your hands! smile

    Our DS12 skipped 6th grade this year and went into compacted math so it's like he's taking three years of math in one. He's doing quite well in all aspects though he needs some support in his executive functioning. Your DS's scores have a similar distribution with the VCI being the highest, then PRI, then WM, and then PS. Your DS's working memory is much higher though and that will be a great asset when grade (2?)skipping I should think. The processing is lower than the rest but is still low average, right? Did you get some insight into why it was low? For instance, our tester attributed DS's lower PS to perfectionism.
    Davidson has some wonderful links to articles regarding lower processing speed as do other gifted sights. It's very common as you'll see, and remember, one of the reasons it looks so low is that the others are SO high.
    I don't know if you're in the states but another useful tool to determine whether or not grade advancement would be good is the Iowa Assessment Scale which takes into consideration a number of different factors.
    I would think your DC would be an excellent candidate.

    I hope this helps.

    Last edited by KADmom; 03/28/14 06:45 AM.
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    I would be very careful about a two grade skip at one time. Your DS scores are very high. However, you are talking about putting your 8 year old in the 5th grade and there is a lot more to school than academics. Will he end up being the "baby" of the class or do you think the other 5th graders will accept him as a peer (both in and out of the classroom). I might advocate for one grade skip, see how it goes and then decide later if you want to try for another. Also, we are considering a grade skip this year (1st to 3rd) and someone on the board suggested the Iowa Acceleration Scales to me. We used it and it was very helpful to us in making the decision. Best of luck:)!

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    We didn't skip two grades at once, but had a somewhat comparable situation (8yo in 5th grade). Have you done achievement testing with your son? Obviously, a highly gifted student will learn things very quickly, but I'm wondering why the push for two grades instead of one for the skip? Honestly, I'd have some hesitation. It wasn't a big deal for my first dd to be younger compared to her classmates, but I did find that her overall maturity wasn't really where it needed to be. There was no bad ending - she got through HS, went to college on full scholarship, worked for three years, and will be starting her PhD program in the fall at 23-but I don't know that I'd choose that route again. Our second dd started teaching in TFA at 20 (after college) and she will be going to law school at 22 after 2 years in the work force. And yet... I always felt that being a year or two older would have helped them, and I felt that even more strongly for my boys (we chose not to accelerate our significantly younger boys after choosing that route with our girls). Ds11 is very gifted, but we've managed to find accommodations that work (doing algebra in 6th, instead of 7th or 8th; strong gifted program) and I think he benefits from being with his age-mates. I might be over-reacting based on my own situation (ds is also "bouncy and talkative"), but I find that there is so much more to MS and HS than just academic ability. I'd also be-potentially- concerned about your ds's processing speed. It may cause no problem whatsoever, but it could affect him when he has much greater reading demands, timed in-class essays, etc...
    I truly don't mean to be negative. As I said, for the most part, my dds' experience turned out well overall and I don't know that we had a better option at the time, but my understanding of having an 11- or 12-year old in high school is much more comprehensive now than it was when we made the decisions. I was absolutely correct about the academics (neither has "hit the wall" there), but I wasn't as aware of everything else. In any case, there aren't any perfect solutions in these cases, so whatever you decide, I'm sure your son will be okay. smile I hope the board will help you find a lot of great resources!

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    You might want to have achievement testing done like the Woodcock Johnson Achievement or WIAT and see if those percentiles are high enough to warrant skipping grades. Or ask the school if they have done above-level testing, such as a computerized test for math/reading. You don't want him to miss a lot of academic material that he hasn't learned yet. Did the psych say anything about the processing speed score? That is a very large gap and it could indicate a disability. My 8 year old DD's scores are very similar but her perceptual reasoning score and verbal comprehension scores are reversed, with PR being the highest. She is very strong with math and not quite as strong with reading (but advanced with both). She skipped a grade already and is in third grade and doing fine, but because of her lowish processing speed (34th percentile?), she is slow with written work which has caused some problems. Her fine motor skills are not the best, so she writes slowly. Plus she has ADHD and that slows her down as well. Ask the teacher if he is slow with written work.

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    Two grade skips have worked wonderfully for my DD13, though I should note that they were two single skips rather than one double. Personally I would recommend that route, but I am probably (confirmation) biased since that is how we did it.

    --S.F.


    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
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    My DS was 8 in 5th grade this year, but he started kindergarten a year early and then moved up again from 4th to 5th. He's in a small school and was already really close friends with most of the 5th graders, so the bump up was good for him both academically and socially. He's also very tall and mature for his age, so he barely stands out. The biggest challenge has been with organizational skills (bringing the right books home, doing the right assignment), but the school has been very flexible and willing to work with him.

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    One of the reasons I was so hesitant about a grade skip with my own DC is consistent with momoffour above. I graduated from high school at 16 and left for college. While I was fine academically (university honors program etc) I was not ready in many ways. As a middle aged woman I still can't help but feel like I missed out on some experiences because I was a few years younger than my peers. I simply was not ready to deal with some of the social stuff. Academics are not the only thing that matters and sometimes dealing with peers that are having sex, drinking etc when you are much younger than them can put pressure on a child that they are simply not ready for. Also, how are you going to structure rules? Will your child have freedoms that are consistent with their age or that of their peers? It can get tricky:).

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    Your DS’s profile is very close to my DS who is now 10 (he was tested at 7.5) – his VCI and PRI are almost identical. My DS’s WMI is lower and PSI is higher. By the time he was tested, he had already been grade skipped once and we tested him for admission to an HG program. He has been in that program for 3 years and it was good for the first 2 and it is ok now. He is not going back next year.

    I will tell you a few of the issues that have come up with this type of profile for us. First, his mind is fast, but production is slow. He has never been the type of kid to blast through work. His written output is just starting to catch up – I believe this is partly age, but the relatively lower PSI has been an issue in completing work (his PSI is 109). He also has some executive function deficits. Organization is an issue, memory is good because his WMI is in the gifted range (though not as strong as your DS) but he forgets assignments, lunch boxes, etc. . and needs reminders to initiate and persist through tasks sometimes, especially those that are mundane or tedious or challenging for him. We work on breaking assignments down and setting small goals to complete homework or projects.

    My DS could use another skip at this point for the academic part, but because of the executive function issues, we are going to do a combination of online classes and brick and mortar next year – as a 6th grader. He will be able to do some subject acceleration through the online.



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    Originally Posted by Minx
    I am working with the school to accelerate him two grades
    Are you comfortable sharing what this double-skip is based on? Iowa Acceleration Scale? Having older friends? Strong portfolio of accomplishments? High achievement test scores? Teacher recommendation?

    Quote
    Processing Speed (PSI) 88 (21%)
    Some may see this as a red flag. Does he process what is being taught in a timely manner to stay on task? Finish tests within allotted time? Keep up in class so as to not disrupt teaching pace and slow down the class? Would he be able to compensate for any possible speed deficit amongst students 2 years older? If there are shortcomings in processing speed, while they could possibly be accommodated in the classroom, they may not enhance social relationships amongst new pupils 2 years older and the ability to make friends when introduced to an older cohort; Rather the older students may believe they are moving slower for him because he is younger.

    Quote
    I am wondering how to best help him.
    You don't mention especially what it is you wish to help him with. Many parents upon learning their child is gifted want to be prepared to help their child in a general sense. You may wish to get and read the book "A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children".

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