Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Update: new school and grade skip

I just thought I would give an update on how we are going with acceleration and a school change. This year we have switched DS6 from a public school which was growing rapidly (they had 5 Kindy classes this year) to a private school that has two classes in each year group. So far we are finding the new school fantastic. They seem to have the right mix of high expectations with caring support. They really take the time to get to know their students. We are 8 weeks in, and so glad we made the change. There have been some behaviour issues for DS as he adjusts, but they seem to be well handled.

We are also very happy with the grade skip. DS went from Kindy straight into year 2 at the new school. I was having a bit of a panic attack just before he started as he has handwriting difficulties, and he was really resisting all writing tasks in the last weeks of summer holidays. But I sent his teacher an email just before the start of school, and we set up a meeting at the end of the first week, and we organised for DS to work with the OT that they have on site, and he has been making great progress with his writing. He even wants to do writing tasks now. He still has a ways to go, but it is definitely not insurmountable. It worked out well for us that the grade skip and new school went together. Word is spreading that DS is well younger than his classmates and that he skipped a year, but it doesn't seem to be a big issue at the moment anyway. He needs to work on his executive functioning and social skills, but he is getting support from the school on that too.

There will still need to be differentiation for DS through the years, but I am hoping the school will do a relatively good job of tracking his academic needs. They were the ones who after only spending 1.5 hours with him suggested the grade skip, and I have heard from a lot of parents that they are very good at accommodating gifted kids as well as supporting 2e. (DS is not officially 2e, but he definitely has some areas that need support and some ASD characteristics). I am not under any illusions that the need for parent advocacy will disappear, but I feel like I can take a breath and relax for a bit. And I see how stressful last year at the old school was.

So for us so far, both a school change and a full grade acceleration were definitely the right decision for our family.

I always enjoy hearing how people are going and it is wonderful to hear positive stories. I think that is reassuring to those who are struggling with similar decisions. Sometimes you don't realise how difficult things are until you experience something better. The point is, there can be something better.

This is excellent news, Dubsyd! This sounds a lot like my experience of moving my kiddo after skipping 1st to an accelerated program for 2nd-5th. It was a great relief to find people who got GT kids. Re: handwriting - does the school teach cursive by chance? They started cursive in 3rd at DS's school, and his cursive was sooooooo much better than his printing. Maybe something about not lifting his hand off the paper so much. But as it turns out, now that DS is in 6th, his handwriting is still pretty crummy, but legible enough.

It really is a relief to find a place where you don't have to spend so much time on advocacy. I hope things continue going well!

It definitely is nice to relax for a bit! If my experiences can help anyone else get through a stressful decision making time, that's great too.

St pauli girl, as for Cursive, my daughter who is in K has started talking about 'running writing' and asking me if I know how to do it. So I think it must be discussed at least. The year 3 thing sort of rings a bell for me too, so maybe next year DS will get to start learning cursive. The psychologist who did his assessment also mentioned cursive might be good for him.

My own handwriting is still pretty bad too, so I just hope he gets to a functional level with his writing. It doesn't have to be beautiful, just legible.