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 (), 591 guests, and 14 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    streble, DeliciousPizza, prominentdigitiz, parentologyco, Smartlady60
    11,413 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 1 of 2 1 2
    Joined: Nov 2014
    Posts: 41
    M
    Junior Member
    OP Offline
    Junior Member
    M
    Joined: Nov 2014
    Posts: 41
    We finally, after 135 days, got our district to hold an acceleration committee meeting. This has been a hard fought battle, but I fear the war is just beginning! (Just kidding, I know it's not a war) We live in Ohio, and Ohio law requires that a committee consisting of the principal (or designate), the gifted coordinator (or someone deemed by the district to have knowledge of gifted kids), the current teacher, the "receiving" teacher and the parents. The decision whether to accelerate is made by the committee.

    We have had some rather serious issues with the district attempting to deny DS8 services based upon them retesting and his scores being much lower, and attempting to use their lower score on the IAS as opposed to our psychologists' score, and also trying to use the FSIQ (131) and not the GAI (144). We have concerns that they may try to manipulate the data on the IAS...is that even possible? DH was wondering if we should get a copy of the manual so we know what the scores "should" be. What say you?

    Secondly, DS was "unofficially" accelerated in reading last year. They put him back in his normal grade this year for reading, but with the teacher he "accelerated" to last year. Both this third grade teacher and his second grade teacher last year made comments about his immaturity. I posted about it previously. I have done some research since that last post and tend to think it's more OE than immaturity, but how do I back that up?

    Third, and last (for now) - should we maybe check with our psychologists' office to see if he or one of his staff can attend the meeting with us? The district seems to be rather suspicious of our results and we wondered if having someone experienced in dealing with gifted kids will help us in the discussion. Our chief concern is that this district does not employ ANYONE with a gifted credential. So we are doubtful that they actually have anyone on staff that really understands gifted kids.

    Our meeting is next Wednesday, the 23rd,so DH and I have a LOT of prep to do in a short time! I am sure we can be ready, as I don't think the school psychologist knew what to make of me, I was able to show HER the answers on the state dept of ed website regarding how to handle third grade testing with an acceleration!

    Thank you all for your input. Honestly, I don't think we would have gotten where we are now without the many insightful answers to my previous posts!

    Mrs. P


    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 5,244
    Likes: 1
    I
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    I
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 5,244
    Likes: 1
    If the psychologist is able to attend the meeting, that may be a plus. Ideally, the IAS is utilized to gather and organize facts and information. Personally, I would purchase the IAS manual, if only to increase your understanding and de-mystify the process.

    This old thread may be of interest, and also the website of the Acceleration Institute.

    Regarding use of FSIQ 131 rather than GAI of 144: page 5 of the IAS form states that the range of scores "Between two and three standard deviations above the mean (130-144)" are assigned the same point value on the IAS form. Therefore, in this particular instance, it does not appear to be of material difference, as to which score is utilized.

    Joined: Feb 2014
    Posts: 582
    G
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    G
    Joined: Feb 2014
    Posts: 582
    Our daughter was accelerated mid year last Spring. Beforehand I Googled "Iowa Acceleration Manual" and found a copy to print out on some website for free. I filled it out ahead of time to see what score we would get. We paid our psychologist to come to the meeting (10 people or so!)so we would have someone on our side. It was comforting to have the good score and a knowledgeable person in the face of all those educators!
    Good luck!
    PS - DD10 is doing great in middle school. She went to her first dance and led a conga line!!!!! laugh

    Joined: Oct 2011
    Posts: 156
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Oct 2011
    Posts: 156
    For the IAS, a 131 IQ is plenty sufficient. So... you might think about using that as a compromise issue. Go in saying you want to use the 144 GAI, but show how willing you are to work with them by accepting the 131 to be used for the IAS. Then if there is another borderline decision, point out how you gave in on the IQ score.

    I would highly recommend buying (or borrowing) an IAS manual. There are lots of questions on it which you may want to have thought through your answers for. The school will likely try to dicker with you on some of them, so be prepared for a give and take game. But if you know what questions are coming, and how many gives you can live with while still getting a good score, you can make this process work.

    Having even one other person in the room on your side can be huge, so if the psychologist is able to come, I'd seriously think about asking him.

    Best of luck,
    --S.F.


    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
    Joined: Apr 2010
    Posts: 2,498
    D
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    D
    Joined: Apr 2010
    Posts: 2,498
    Originally Posted by SFrog
    I would highly recommend buying (or borrowing) an IAS manual.

    They are quite expensive. We got ours via Interlibrary Loan. Since you're in a hurry, you might see if there's one in a university or community college library near you.


    Joined: Sep 2013
    Posts: 848
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2013
    Posts: 848
    I'd recommend taking a look at the Davidson website database for some really good articles on this topic and on preparing for discussions with schools. In particular, we had good luck reviewing (we took printouts for them and pointed out highlights) the concept of asynchrony. We have found that is something that educators grasp once it is explained a bit, in terms of why immaturity isn't a reason to hold back a gifted child's education.

    Assume you have already been to the state of Ohio's site about gifted education? I saw some good case histories there, might be worth printing those to share.

    Good luck!

    Joined: Oct 2011
    Posts: 156
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Oct 2011
    Posts: 156
    Originally Posted by DeeDee
    Originally Posted by SFrog
    I would highly recommend buying (or borrowing) an IAS manual.

    They are quite expensive. We got ours via Interlibrary Loan. Since you're in a hurry, you might see if there's one in a university or community college library near you.

    If you just want the manual, without blank forms, you can get it for about $50 on Amazon. Not cheap, but for us it was well worth the cost.

    Best of luck,
    --S.F.


    For gifted children, doing nothing is the wrong choice.
    Joined: Feb 2014
    Posts: 336
    A
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Feb 2014
    Posts: 336
    Chiming in a little late, but I'd absolutely get a copy of the IAS manual if you feel they've been slippery with the test results and numbers in the past. If you feel like backup would help, by all means try to get your psychologist to come, too.

    Joined: Jun 2013
    Posts: 49
    G
    Junior Member
    Offline
    Junior Member
    G
    Joined: Jun 2013
    Posts: 49
    Just want to add some support to including the psychologist in the meeting. I say this not just as a psychologist myself, but from my own experience with my kids when they were going through this. It adds some authority when administrators, teachers, etc. start "debating" the merits of various scores, and you have someone there who is actually trained and can point out inaccuracies in their arguments.

    I had a situation with one of my kids a long time ago, where he was almost excluded from a gifted pull-out because of the GT teacher's misinterpretation of scores and inability to integrate information in a meaningful way. The school psychologist tactfully but forcefully let her know she was completely out of line.

    Good luck.

    Joined: Mar 2013
    Posts: 1,453
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Mar 2013
    Posts: 1,453
    For us at the I&RS meeting that we had with the school when we had our DD tested it was the district psychologist who broke the ice by telling the team what her scores meant in terms of exceptionality which had an enormous impact for us.


    Become what you are
    Page 1 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