ETA: BGbarnes, I'm not questioning your choice, btw, and it sounds as though it worked out well for you. Just answering your question: I do not think the risk of an ADHD misdiagnosis should automatically indicate redshirting. [/quote]
DeeDee- I don't think it should automatically indicate Redshirting either but only the parent knows what is best for each individual child and should not be prevented from GT services if they qualify. It is much better being one of the mature ones vs being the immature one getting in trouble all the time. I actually chose not to Redshirt my gifted son when the Doctor suggested it do to what she thought was ADHD and experienced my son being the youngest and very immature. I only "Redshirted" when my son got seriously ill, missed over 30 days of school and we had no idea what his recovery was going to be like over the next year. It was not my plan. He technically was held back due to absences not for Redshirting purposes. However, having experienced K, 1st and 2nd being an immature youngest smart kid and the older smart kid in 2nd and 3rd-there is NO QUESTION it works so much better for my son- maturity wise being older in the class-even though that was not the reason he was held back. Since his brain has healed and is back to functioning back at his accelerated pace(it took almost 1 1/2 years to recover-easily his entire 2nd 2nd grade year was about recovery-mentally,emotionally and physically and relearning what was lost during his illness)- I honestly did not know if he was still going to have a gifted mind after he recovered- he had lost so much when he was sick. Now that his brain is turbo charged again not even the 4th grade class would not have the right curriculum in the classes that he needs acceleration in-(Spelling he definitely needs grade level-OUCH!) but the school does a good job of managing him and we supplement outside so letting him develop those positive social skills and self esteem beats the alternative of probably getting picked on. However, it is interesting to note that my sons birthday is after the baseball cutoff (June 1st is the age cut off) and we always had to play up a year to play with his friends from school before he got sick- quite the opposite of the redshirt for sports kids mentality. My daughter is the one we held back-repeated Kindergarten for maturity reasons-not academic. Yes- I Redshirted her-best decision I ever made for her and she helped make the decision. I have not tested her in any way yet as she does not present as gifted like my son did. With my son it hits you in the face when meeting him
. She will get testing done in the next month- just for our reference. She is a good student- smart but not sure if she is gifted and if she is, it is in very different ways than my son.
So I have experienced this from many different angles- choosing not to redshirt when recommended. Being forced to due to illness ( I actually was given the option of having him go forward even though he missed so much school because he scores were so high but he was just so sick- I picked the safe route and if he missed a lot of school again the next year- it would not matter as much.....) and choosing to Redshirt with another child. Every single decision was based on the individual child's need and never once did the thought come into my head about is this going to help him get into a GT program. I think in Texas most parents do it for sports vs. getting into the GT program. Just to mix it even more-I should mention that my step son ( we really use the word bonus instead of step) that I got when he was 12 is the absolute youngest in his grade- 17 Senior and was in the GT program since 1st grade-Duke TIP kid, is a great student, has a great GPA, ACT,SAT offered scholarships to every school he applied to. He is the most mature Senior- level headed teenager I have ever met and he is the absolute youngest in the grade. So it all depends on the child- the parents knows what is best for their kid. All of mine had to be handled differently- since they are all different kids. I know I have been pretty vocal on this topic but I have had a lot of experience with it in a number of different ways and at the end of the day the child should not be punished for a parents decision and it is the parents right to make the decision that is best for their child.
