Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy When Should I Asking the School to Do More

ajinlove, I don't have any specific suggestions for you since I don't know your ds, but fwiw, I've found that it's easier to be successful when advocating at school if you have an idea and outline of what you want as well as suggestions re how to make it happen when you go into meetings like this. It also helps to be able to present a plan for how to make this happen with as little impact on teacher's time and efforts as possible (I'm not saying that it's not the school's responsibility to appropriately educate your child, but instead noting the reality that most teachers are already tasked with quite a lot in the typical elementary school classroom where there is usually a wide range of abilities both academically and socially/emotionally). If there's anything you can provide to help make differentiation happen that's a plus.

Hope that makes sense!

polarbear

Ajinlove, you said you are not for grade skipping. May I ask why? Dd6 is grade skipped and in second grade. She is still performing at the top of her class and was selected for their pull out enrichment. It is not enough and she is not learning much but it is so much better than if she were in first grade. I was very concerned about the skip as well and worried about social and emotional aspects but I am so glad I listened to the school when they suggested the skip.

Lovemydd, my DS has had issues with socializing with kids his own age. Mentally and behavior wise he is not mature enough as a second grader. He's finally made some friends in his class this year and found connections with them. So we don't want to change that.

Thanks

Polarbear, Yes, this does make sense to me. Honestly I have not thought of what we can suggest the school to do. But I am thinking whether the school is going to do pull out or in class enrichment, they can probably give him more advanced material. Any other suggestions? If he is getting advanced material, does the school provide that or should we?

Thank you so much!

I've heard some parents of HG+ kiddos say that they've been more successful if they've offered a curriculum themselves. That way, they are not asking the teacher or school to do extra work. On the flip side, in the era of testing, the school may want everything aligned with their curriculum.

Yeah, I tried requesting use of outside curriculum for math and was denied. We get a little extension toward the next level in the standards rubric when the standard has been mastered.

One of the fundamental problems in these situations is that most kids especially younger ones are not sufficiently independent/motivated and still need an adult when they are really learning new material. If you're looking at options inside the classroom that might be more task switching than is realistically possible.

I had an interesting conversation a year back along those lines with a teacher who had tried a totally separate set of activities for a few kids in the hall. She ran into the issue where they drifted back into the main group because the peer group issues i.e. feeling left out of the main classroom were too powerful.

Does your school have iPads? There is an adaptive math program called Front Row that DS7's teacher is using. I believe that it has a free version. It is Common Core aligned. DS likes it (DD did not), but he is blowing through multiple grade levels so I am not sure how long it will help.

In some ways, I think that reading is easier - let him choose his own "right level" books to read and perhaps look into a vocabulary/spelling curriculum like Wordly Wise or Caesar's English at the right level (I would see if the upper grades or the gifted program at your DS's school already uses one of these).

I agree about it being harder with the younger set if they need to work independently. Ideally, they would find him a tutor or form a small "right level" group for him (but this can be disappointing, because the school often doesn't grasp just how advanced some of these kiddos are). Please let us know how it goes!

Ajinlove, we are also in IL and I will be sending you a PM momentarily.

Ajinlove, not sure if the school is public or private but have you looked into a school with multi-age classrooms. It could be montessori or not but they are typically more able to provide enrichment to a younger kid. Dd was in one till first grade and we all loved it. Now that she is in a public school grouped by grade, she is learning way less than she was before.