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Posted By: Cathy A When to advocate? - 10/02/07 04:35 PM
I would like to reply to these comments made in the intro thread:

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Cathy...."btdt" (been there done that for newbies!) with the "waiting". Don't wait too long. It's hard to find the right time to call them on that though. Their hope typically seems to be that you "wait" them right out of having to do anything. Perhaps schedule a meeting now, giving them a week or two to have something to present. "How about we schedule a sit down for the third week of October, to talk about how he's doing with the _________". Good luck!

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BTW, Cathy: I second Dottie. Don't wait too long. If they don't figure out how to educate him pretty quickly, I recommend advocacy. Especially given how bright he clearly is, your waiting is not likely to work in his favor. Ask for a meeting, and bring those test results with you.

I sympathize with you. It's hard to know when to take action. I joke that I have my good and bad angels on my shoulders: my "don't say or do ANYTHING" mom on one shoulder, and my "go on the warpath NOW" friend on the other. All through my DS's preschool and K, I tried to thread a middle way between them, and I think he suffered for it. There is no middle way that I can see. You either advocate or you don't.

I've come to the conclusion that for me and my personality, the warpath (albeit the nicest, most polite warpath possible!) is going to be my most natural tack. But when it comes down to it, I'd rather be "that mom" than have my DS be "that kid." And it became clear to me over and over in the past three years that those were really the only choices allowed to us!

I really feel that I need to advocate for him soon but I am holding back because I am concerned that the school already sees me as a difficult parent blush . Both my kids have severe food allergies and I have been advocating strongly in that area for their safety. DD is anaphylactic to peanuts and DS to eggs. My husband and I already faced quite a battle with the school to get 504 plans in place for the kids' allergies. I think I neglected to advocate on the academic side of things for DD because of that frown .

How do I separate the allergy issues from the GT issues? I fear I have a reputation at the school already and they will dig in their heels...

Cathy

Posted By: delbows Re: When to advocate? - 10/02/07 05:05 PM
Aren�t allergies and giftedness correlated, or did I just dream that?
Posted By: Grinity Re: When to advocate? - 10/02/07 06:18 PM
Yes - the autoimmune-gifted connection is quoted in this book Gifted Children: Myths and Realities
Ellen Winner on page 160. Not sure if it's still a current idea, but you didn't dream it. LOL!
Trin
Posted By: Cathy A Re: When to advocate? - 10/02/07 06:22 PM
Originally Posted by delbows
Aren�t allergies and giftedness correlated, or did I just dream that?

It's also mentioned in Miraca Gross' book "Exceptionally Gifted Children". She took health histories of all the kids in her study and allergies were one thing that really stood out.

My kids certainly inherited their allergic tendencies from me! I have severe environmental allergies myself.
Posted By: Kriston Re: When to advocate? - 10/02/07 07:34 PM
Ruf mentions the allergy/gifted correlation, too, BTW.
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