Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Acceleration/Grade Skipping.

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum and thought that some of you more experienced parents may be able to advise me. My son has been skipped from year 2 to year 3 (we are in Australia). In Year 2 he was basically a straight A student. His year 3 report is mostly B's a couple of A's and C's. I guess this is normal for the first semester. Socially he still plays mainly with his year 2 friends. He is a very social child and gets on with everyone but hasn't made any special friends in his new year. My concern is that he has been extremely emotional lately with outbursts over little things.
Has anyone experienced this sort of behaviour with an accelerated child? Are things likely to get better as he adjusts? He doesn't seem to know what is wrong but he is not as keen on going to school as he was last year. He says he is enjoying the work more though.
Thanks in advance
Summa

Hi Summa (also from down-under)... We're just heading into report season in WA. Everyone tells me that we should expect "middle of the road" year 4 results (miss 8 skipped year 3). To be the top of the class half way thru the year means that the skip may not have been enough (!) - although DD is not exactly a performing seal *groan* Sometimes a skip into a class with older kids results in your kid 'masking' a bit so they don't "make waves" in the new group. Do you suspect this? When my kids are emotional and teary, the first thing I do is measure them. When you're growing at a rate of 1cm per month, tears come. If there's no apparent growth wave, I then look for worms. If all else seems normal, perhaps you may need to explore some anxiety-related issues (?) Perhaps some home-grown art therapy might open up a conversation? Be patient. It takes time to integrate into a new class, meet new friends, get invited for playovers, etc. Perhaps you could do some friendship engineering to encourage things along with kids in his class?

jojo

Hi Summa,

Something to keep in mind is what do those letter grades actually represent?

If it's anything like our school (also in Australia) the A,B,C etc. doesn't mean the same thing it did when I was at school, as in it's not equivalent to a percentage level. Basically a 'C' means meeting year-level expectations, 'B' is above & 'A' is way above year-level expectations (ie. 2 years plus). If your school uses something similar, I wouldn't be surprised for him to no longer be two years ahead in every area.

As for him being emotional lately, I find mine tend to get like that towards end of term, especially at that age. I'd be watching his behaviour when school goes back and if it's markedly different from how he behaved at home in the holidays, that would be the time to approach the teacher to see if something is amiss.

It's nice to have a few Aussies on the forum - makes for more conversations that aren't 12 hours behind!

Cheers,
Cassandra

Thanks for the replies, all very helpful. I will look into the things that you suggested.
Your suggestion about the grades was interesting Cassandra and I will talk to the teacher about what they mean at our school.
I appreciate the quick responses
Will let you know how things progress,
Summa

will i just need to kno about homeschooling kkk and how can i get skipped up i wan kno wat ya do around heer i love to join