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    #242084 04/13/18 08:09 PM
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    Brief background: We have a son, recently turned 5, who will enter K next year but who currently has at least 2nd-3rd grade skills in both math and reading. His skills in spelling are more like middle-school level, and he is an amazing chess player for his age. More importantly, he learns with almost no repetition and does not like direct instruction. He is definitely an autodidact, and he tends to focus on one skill/area at a time. So far, he has been in an educational environment where he has been able to manage his own learning due to the emergent curriculum philosophy at school and our efforts to follow his lead at home.

    We had a parent-teacher conference today. Our son has been in the same wonderful multi-age preschool classroom since he turned 3. The teachers are attuned to his abilities and have been wonderful about differentiating and incorporating his interests/obsessions into the curriculum. We are so happy with this setting that I almost wish he could just stay there instead of going to K next year!

    His primary teacher is actively working to strengthen the link between their university-based preschool and the local area's public school kindergarten. She has a meeting with several public K teachers in a couple of weeks to discuss cooperation/collaboration. She told us today that she plans to ask what the district can do for a student such as our son, who will need accommodations outside the usual curriculum in order to remain engaged and moving forward. She asked if there were any specific questions we would like her to ask on our behalf. (She has already offered to write a letter about our son's abilities from a teacher's perspective, as she says that many teachers are pretty jaded about parent reports).

    So, my question is, what would you ask? We live in a state with mandated but unfunded GIEPs. Our local district is heavily dominated by a small town with a high proportion of bright/high achieving kids who may not be served by the standard curriculum. All the same, for various reasons, I doubt many are functioning at the level of our little guy. What can/should we ask? I see this as a golden opportunity to find out what the district can offer without having to be "that parent".

    Thanks in advance.l

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    I would suggest not worrying about being "that parent". Represent him accurately and they will see you are not going special snowflake on them.

    Is kindergarten mandatory in your state?

    I would ask for written acceleration policies and written description of their gifted/talented programming.

    I would ask how students are identified for gifted/talented and acceleration. Find out specifically what tests they use. If they use IQ screening, you may want to have private neuropsychological testing done to ensure it is done individually, not rushed. My son bombed an ACT because he was rushing to get back to his classroom for an activity. However neuropsych evaluations can be cost prohibitive and less accurate in younger children, so it may not be worth it yet.

    I would ask when the gifted/talented program starts. You can expect it typically doesn't start until 3rd grade in most districts. This is a cost-saving measure since children who have "enriched environment" will regress to the mean by 3rd grade which results more accuracy in identifying gifted/talented children based upon acheivement testing.

    I would expect to hear a lot of talk about social and emotional development in the elementary years as a reason not to grade-skip accelerate. It IS an issue, but my experience is that their anxieties were unfounded and put my son in a worse social situation staying with age peers.

    I would also want to know how they monitor accelerated students and whether the school administrators perceive accelerations as inflexible, as in, if they are willing to reverse a skip that isn't going well.

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    Those are all really good suggestions, Sanne. Thank you. I know the answers to some already, as they are on the district's website. Oddly, the website contains fairly detailed information about the identification process, but very little about the actual services that are offered. I will be sure to ask about whether the IQ screening/tests they administer are group or individual and whether a supportive (quiet, non-rushed) setting is provided.

    We are very much hoping to avoid a discussion of actual grade acceleration for the time being, as our son is small for his age, on the young side of his grade anyway, and loves sports. So far, his interest in sports is the main way that he relates to other kids his age, so it seems important to consider. However, I think the question of how easily an acceleration could be reversed is really great to keep in mind if we do need to have this discussion.

    On further consideration of my own question, I have some "crazy" ideas that it might be nice to run by the K teachers. For example, since our son has nearly completed the second grade math curriculum in Dreambox already (his own initiative after seeing his older sister playing), could he be allowed to do something else entirely during math time? Subject to testing, of course. We could take care of his math education at home and let him have some breathing room at school to study his chess tactics, for instance, or independently work on a foreign language, or generally follow his obsessive interests, which are always worthwhile learning pursuits. This sounds dreamy and crazy, but the whole point of having his preschool teacher float these ideas for us is that I don't need to worry about that! I'm hoping we can harness his autodidact tendencies to open some possibilities for him. Is that a pipe dream or should we try for it?

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    My son had an AmeriCorps volunteer in Kindergarten. She sat with him and guided him on computer based learning for half the day, in his classroom. It was a nice arrangement where he didn't have to sit through the lessons he already knew, but he didn't have to leave the classroom. One of the more unusual arrangements that you can keep in th eback of your mind. It happened to fit the school's resources at the time.

    I am not buying the "small for age" argument! I have been pressured with it since my son was 4. He is 11 now. He was miserable in elementary school when accelerations were not taken over "he's small for age" and puberty worries. He did poorly socially - so poorly I used a home-based education until 5th grade/this year. He was skipped into 6th (homeroom, gym, etc) 7th (science) and 8th (math). He holds his own in gym class, even though he is not athletically inclined. He has more friends than I can keep track of now. He's still small for age and the second smallest kid in the school. (The smallest is an age-mate, girl, who was grade skipped past Kindergarten at the same time/in the same school that was ao insistent my son was too physically small). Gender discrimination much?

    Gifted children who are athletic have the best social outcomes. It's a protective factor. Your son is in a very good situation for however you choose to have his academic needs met!

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    Sanne, I love the idea of having a volunteer in the classroom that could work with him! I have no idea if this would be an option here, but we are in a university town with a large education school, so maybe a student doing their internship/service learning could be lined up. I took another look at the district's K math curriculum today and the disconnect with my son's current skills is pretty stark (like many kids on here, I'm sure, he had met the end-of-year K goals by age 3 and without instruction). So clarifying our options regarding math will be a high priority.

    Regarding being small - I completely agree that it should not stand in the way of needed academic acceleration. I would like to maintain his ability to participate in and enjoy school-based sports, in which eligibility is determined by grade level rather than age, because it is such an important social vehicle for him and allows him to fit in. However, it's only one aspect of his school experience and is years down the road anyway. I'm sorry the school has used "small for age" to try to deny your child needed accelerations!

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    I would ask for examples of students similar to your son that the schools or school district has dealt with in the recent past. And, it's a big ask, if they would reach out to the parents to see if you can get permission to speak with them.

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    Ooh, I really like the idea of potentially getting in touch with other parents with similar kiddos. Thanks, Philly. And we will definitely ask about how the school has dealt with similar students recently. I know students can get GIEPs in our district, but I'm not sure they start in Kindergarten, so I'll take the chance to clarify that as well.

    Anything else, anyone? The meeting is on Monday morning.


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