Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Montessori Schools Capable of Identifying Gifted?

My son is 3 years and 4 months old. He attends a Montessori School all day in a 3-6 year old classroom. He has been enrolled for a couple of months now, and his directress has told us that his cognitive abilities are "extremely impressive." His favorite work is the 100-board and he is also a good reader. He has a wonderful sense of humor and likes to make jokes and make up his own songs. He's a good kid in general, but can be a handful. He doesn't sleep much and can be kind of intense.

Our family is considering moving in order to get into a better school district. Our current school district wouldn't be great for our kids, gifted or not. When we mentioned this to the directress, she said she strongly believed our son would be best served in Montessori or a private school. We feel this statement is extremely premature as our son is only 3.

Do you feel a Montessori environment is an accurate reflection of a child's abilities? We know our son is bright, but to say he is gifted and needs private schools seems over-the-top. Can a Montessori really assess this?

This particular Montessori only goes to Kindergarten, and right now our son is uses the Kindergarten (advanced kindergarten) level materials. We don't know what this means for his future at this particular school. I'm not clear on how flexible their curriculum is, or if they would order materials just for him. I know a lot of work they do is very open ended, but some isn't. There is another Montessori that is K-6 in another town. I imagine this is what she had in mind when she suggested a Montessori may be better for him once he is grade school age.

Any advice? Can a child be identified as gifted at age 3? Does my son sound gifted, "just bright", or is it too early to draw any sort of conclusion?

Thank you for your time!

We have several children who went through or are currently in Montessori schools including at the elementary level. Three years old strikes me as very young for either the school administration or anyone else to draw real conclusions. Montessori is very much about the teacher-student match. Instead of worrying about whether the school might obtain additional materials I'd suggest looking into the training of his teacher (more materials without a teacher trained in using them, or too busy to give lessons to just one child would be useless), give it time and see how that teacher-child relationship develops. A multi-age classroom may suit your child better than being in class with only other three-year olds.

It was pretty clear to everyone who met my son at age 3 that he was not going to be a great fit for the regular public school age/grade lockstep. This child is in the lowest age band in a mixed-age classroom with children up to 3 years older, and is already using the highest-level materials in the class. I think that it is completely reasonable to make some predictions that acceleration or curriculum modification is going to be needed. Whether that will happen best in a private school, a homeschool, or a public school really depends on a lot of factors, including the child's, teachers' and parents' personalities, the attitudes and resources of the local public and private schools, and the needs of the family.

We chose where to buy a house based on the idea that DH and I were 'above average' and the local schools were above average too. Priced ourselves right out of the homeschool option and made private school darn difficult. Turns out that their are levels of giftedness and our local schools are well above average but just didn't work for our unusually gifted son.

I see giftedness as having a developmental path that is unusual enough that 'off the shelf' solutions aren't likely to meet a childs needs. A kid who is 1 in 20 level of giftedness is going to be easier to accomidate than 1 to 200 or 1 in 2000. That is what IQ tests can tell a family. Weirdly to people with 1 in 10 kind of smartness it is almost impossible to distonguish beteen 1 in 20 unusual development and 1 in 2000. So any individual teacher might be trustable or untrustable but at least teachers have a wider range of experience than parents.

Giftedness has a strong genetic component so your child may seem perfectly similar to their cousins and to your memorises of your sibs. People seem to choose friends and mates from the same general level of intelligence so your vhild might again seem perfectly normal compared to your friends kids. Many of us end up in workplaces that are much less diverse than evn a classroom in a fancier school diistrict. Teachers and pediatricians have a huge advantage here. Go and observe a kindergarden classroom in a district you are aim to move to....not a tour be sit quietly iin the bacj of the classroom for 35 minutes. Look att the level of books on the classroom library shelf. Go to. The school library and see the books that kindy level kids are allowed to choose from....that's right many school libraries bar younger kids from reading most of the books in their library. Observe sevveral grades in several schools. Never listen to what the adults say about their program.

Anyway...welcome aboard.
Grinity

In my experience, (7 years of regular presence in Montessori classrooms) most 3 yr. olds are NOT doing the 100 board. I would say that because the classrooms are multi-age that it is likely if the teacher says your child is advanced she has seen enough typically developing children to know what she is talking about and I would for sure begin exploring options now to prepare for the future.

FWIW Montessori has been wonderful for my now dd11, and I know that she would have been bored, frustrated and unchallenged at our local public school. I think it depends on the flexibility of the school, the individual teachers, and the kid. There are many ways to extend the classroom materials (you can look on youtube to see the more advanced things they can do with the stairs and rods etc.) that could possibly keep your child challenged. And for a kid who might have a hard time sitting still at a desk a Montessori environment is far more accomodating.

So far it has been a good fit for my dd4, but I don't know if that would continue to be the case b/c her temperment/personality is so different than dd11. We are moving and she will be starting in public K in the fall.

Good luck with your decision.