Gifted Bulletin Board

Welcome to the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

We invite you to share your experiences and to post information about advocacy, research and other gifted education issues on this free public discussion forum.
CLICK HERE to Log In. Click here for the Board Rules.

Links


Learn about Davidson Academy Online - for profoundly gifted students living anywhere in the U.S. & Canada.

The Davidson Institute is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students through the following programs:

  • Fellows Scholarship
  • Young Scholars
  • Davidson Academy
  • THINK Summer Institute

  • Subscribe to the Davidson Institute's eNews-Update Newsletter >

    Free Gifted Resources & Guides >

    Who's Online Now
    0 members (), 600 guests, and 19 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    parentologyco, Smartlady60, petercgeelan, eterpstra, Valib90
    11,410 Registered Users
    March
    S M T W T F S
    1 2
    3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    17 18 19 20 21 22 23
    24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    31
    Previous Thread
    Next Thread
    Print Thread
    Page 2 of 2 1 2
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 2,035
    P
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    P
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 2,035
    Originally Posted by KnittingMama
    Welcome, Bea!

    I will chime in with another "it's not your son, it's the environment" post.

    I can understand the "too immature to handle the workload" argument, although I think it is somewhat bogus. There is a certain level of executive function skills necessary to do some higher grade work, that younger kids may not have. But if I had listened to the people who advised me to have DS9 repeat kindergarten because he wasn't mature enough for first grade, he'd still be in kindergarten.

    We wound up taking both our kids out of school. For DS9 (also PG), he became a behavior problem (defiant, disruptive, meltdowns, etc) in 2nd grade that the school was unable to address. DS has still not recovered fully, and I regret keeping him in school for as long as we did.

    DD7 kept her excellent behavior in 1st grade, but her schoolwork started disappearing (she later told us she was dumping it in the trash). At home she would have meltdowns and mostly refused to do homework. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, we pulled her out soon after starting 2nd grade.

    Your son is doing the best he can given a lousy situation. Imagine having a job that required you to go to all-day meetings at work, with all the powerpoint slides covering topics you already understand, aimed at people less intelligent than you. You have to fill out worksheets and answer questions based on the presentation. You can't check your email or play Angry Birds on your phone. You have to appear to be paying attention, all the time. No matter how good your work is, you have to go back the next day and do slightly re-worded worksheets on the same topics (and do the same at home when the workday is over). Most of your co-workers appear to enjoy, or at least tolerate, these meetings; some are struggling to understand the information presented. And you can't quit, because, well, you're not allowed to.

    Why the heck would you bother expending effort and trying to do a good job, since doing a good job doesn't result in any meaningful change in the situation?

    The previous posters have offered some excellent advice. Your son needs to be in a different environment.

    And you don't get paid and can't quit and get another job. I swore once I left scool (without qualifications at 15) I would never stay somewhere I was that miserable again - this is not a good plan as my CV will attest.

    Last edited by puffin; 11/22/14 01:12 PM.
    Joined: Nov 2013
    Posts: 314
    N
    ndw Offline
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    N
    Joined: Nov 2013
    Posts: 314
    Move him from that environment as soon as you can because the sooner you reverse the underachievement the better. Your poor son needs to know school doesn't have to be like this. Twice our DD has been in this position. Outside activities didn't help. Being in the oldest grade and having trips and graduations were of minimal if any benefit.

    On the up side, both times when we were able to improve the situation, DD improved quickly. Which was good because there were signs of serious distress and depression while in the situation. She checked out academically the first time. The second time we drastically altered the academic program in place. She essentially did her own study at school. It was a bit of a help and made school just bearable to survive the last term.

    I feel bad even now that we didn't move faster to change our DDs world as it was a painful time but life is better now and really she is ok and your DS will be too when you can improve his educational situation.

    Joined: Feb 2014
    Posts: 337
    I
    Ivy Offline
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    I
    Joined: Feb 2014
    Posts: 337
    That's a good suggestion. I already pointed the family to some local resources.

    Page 2 of 2 1 2

    Moderated by  M-Moderator, Mark D. 

    Link Copied to Clipboard
    Recent Posts
    Testing with accommodations
    by aeh - 03/27/24 01:58 PM
    Quotations that resonate with gifted people
    by indigo - 03/27/24 12:38 PM
    For those interested in astronomy, eclipses...
    by indigo - 03/23/24 06:11 PM
    California Tries to Close the Gap in Math
    by thx1138 - 03/22/24 03:43 AM
    Gifted kids in Illinois. Recommendations?
    by indigo - 03/20/24 05:41 AM
    Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5