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 (), 167 guests, and 10 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    parentologyco, Smartlady60, petercgeelan, eterpstra, Valib90
    11,410 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
    #121420 01/30/12 06:07 PM
    Joined: May 2011
    Posts: 741
    Member
    OP Offline
    Member
    Joined: May 2011
    Posts: 741
    When you were signing your child up for Kindergarten, did you have any one-on-one interview with the school? Did you have to ask for it, or did they do that for all the kids?

    I've heard of Kindergarten readiness tests...what are they?

    Sorry if this sounds ignorant...I've never registered a child for school.

    Ametrine #121422 01/30/12 06:23 PM
    Joined: Sep 2009
    Posts: 701
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Sep 2009
    Posts: 701
    This really depends on the school district. We've lived in several different states and it's always been different in each place.

    If your district does not regularly do one-on-one interviews with each new K student, you may certainly ask the school if you could set one up.

    Generally, readiness tests consist of basic things like rote counting, counting objects, letter identification, if a child can balance on each foot and skip, if they can name objects from pictures and describe what that object does or is used for, naming basic shapes, writing their name, etc. They always seem to ask kids to draw a picture of a person and to copy drawing shapes like an X or T. Often they ask about tasks like zipping, buttoning, putting on a coat, and tying shoes (not always a requirement). Often there will be an eye test. Sometimes they will listen to your child speak and take note of any speech delays that they could help with.

    Anyway, I'm pretty sure no public school can tell a student who meets age requirements that they can't sign up for K, they can just make recommendations yay or nay. IME, even if your child is light-years ahead of "normal" no one will really say anything about it. In fact, around here, if you happen to have a boy with a spring or summer birthday, regardless of K readiness, they will suggest you redshirt them! (A whole other topic! wink )

    Of course, if you're talking about a K interview to get into a more exclusive school, then that's a whole other thing . . .


    She thought she could, so she did.
    Ametrine #121424 01/30/12 06:39 PM
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 1,917
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 1,917
    Since you're posting on this board, I will assume you will want to discuss some GT issues with the school. If we didn't ask for a meeting, we would have just had our kiddo blindly placed in a kindergarten. Because we knew before kindergarten that our child was very advanced, we approached the school the spring before kindy. We contacted the district gifted coordinator to ask her advice about what we should do, even though we knew GT services didn't officially start until 3rd grade. We figured we would have our best shot at having the GT coordinator "get" our kiddo, and we lucked out. The best part of meeting with a school the spring before kindy is that if you are lucky, the principal can hand-pick a teacher who is good at differentiation and willing to take a kiddo who may be quite advanced.

    The school readiness test for us was very basic. We took DS at 3, as you could bring the kids in at 3 or 4. There were questions like "put the red block on top of the blue block" and counting to 10. Some balancing on one foot. I can't remember much more. I did ask someone what they did with kids who could already read, and I was told by the screener, "Oh, we have lots of kids who can already read before kindergarten. My kids could." So, basically, we got no advice, but a false sense of hope that there would be other kids like ours.


    Ametrine #121436 01/30/12 09:52 PM
    Joined: Oct 2008
    Posts: 1,167
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Oct 2008
    Posts: 1,167
    I just posted a HUGE thing on "overwhelmed, where to start" about this exact subject. Try that.....


    Shari
    Mom to DS 10, DS 11, DS 13
    Ability doesn't make us, Choices do!
    Ametrine #121442 01/31/12 06:36 AM
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 471
    7
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    7
    Joined: Feb 2011
    Posts: 471
    Public schools may provide kindergarten readiness tests to screen children but I don't know if this is widespread, freely available, or if you have to request it in writing. I think some school districts use kindergarten readiness tests to screen children for special needs, LD, grade skipping, etc., but it varies by state or district.

    In my state, except in two cities, late birthdays are redshirted and most districts are adamant on it regardless of the situation. Of course, I live in a anti-gifted state so there's also less chance of grade skipping or acceleration.

    Public schools also offer other testing for special needs or 2e children (or use it to test for giftedness). Parents may request this under IDEA (federal act/law), but I believe you to request it in writing. Each state has special education laws and regulations that govern special education.

    My state is anti-gifted and there are no gifted programs except at private schools. An eg/pg children might be assessed under special education if they suspect a child has ADHD, Asperger's, or etc. so they might get accommodated and services in the public schools but again this varies by district to district.

    At a private school parents or the child may be interviewed or the child may spend the day at the program/school and see if it's a good fit. We had one-on-one interviews with the private schools before we placed my son in pre-k/k at the gifted private schools. We also had one-on-one interviews with public schools due to the 2e situation.

    So yes, start vetting schools and teachers and what kindergarten entails in your area.

    Ametrine #121542 01/31/12 07:09 PM
    Joined: Dec 2011
    Posts: 85
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Dec 2011
    Posts: 85
    Our kindergarten screening was just that- a screening. It is meant to look for problems that the district will have to address and that's about it. DS flew through it and scored at the top of the range for the 5-7 year old 'test' (he did his at 5yo) and that was without answering some of the questions that he obviously knew because he felt "shy".

    You'll get different answers about what to tell who and when. Personally, I started researching the school in the area when DS was 3. Ask the questions that are important to you. My main concern was "What options do you have to engage a child who is coming in 2-3 years or more beyond the curriculum?" A pretty simple question that got a huge variety of answers and started a number of really good discussions.

    Our school had already scheduled before school conferences but if they didn't I would not have hesitated to ask to speak with the teacher anyway. I know a lot of people will say that its best to let the teachers find out for themselves but I just didn't feel like this would work for DS for a number of reasons. Ask for what you need and you might get at least some of it. Sit back and wait and you might get lucky or you might just end up waiting.

    Good luck and just do the best with what you have and try not to stress too much about it (I know easier said than done).

    Ametrine #124761 03/05/12 08:10 PM
    Joined: May 2011
    Posts: 83
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: May 2011
    Posts: 83
    Our public school had testing while all the kids were in the class they sucked because it took them forever. They also had lots of distractions. We are now on an online school and they are testing her tomorrow for kinder placement so hopefully it will be awesome and she will show her full abilities. We ended up having her looked at with an SST a few months into the school year.


    Moderated by  M-Moderator 

    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