Hello- first post here and excited to find a group of parents that I can openly question for answers and support. I've often felt alone and awkward trying to speak up for my son as we've gone from preschool into the public school system.
My DS6 has been upset with school (too boring, no one understands me, we never learn anything new). Since 3, we've known he has been advanced and picks up new skills quickly and with laser focus. We've given him all sorts of after school enrichment, to make up his lack of learning progress in school. It might sound silly here, but we were hoping this 1st grade year would get him closer on track with his age group and even if he was ahead, the longer school day would satisfy his desire to learn. The year has been going worse for him than K, last year. He asked to move up to 2nd grade- we backed him up, but despite high assessments at the start of school, the school initially sain no.
We just got a privately administered WISC-Iv today. We have to wait for the full report, but he gave me the main scores and briefly went over each category. All were in the gifted range- a few were lower but he explained that was a typical pattern. The GAI was 143 (PR was 145 which he said he would explain more in the report) I understand the old school idea of IQ and have read books on gifted kids- so I'm happy for my DS that this seems to confirm his desire to go faster at school. It makes sense why he has been so miserable and complaining about school. (he is well-behaved at school and doesn't want to hurt his teacher's feelings)
How fast should we move with this if he has been waiting on us for awhile? We have listened as parents, tried our best to ask for more challenge at school, talked with the school psychologist because he was starting get more dramatic in his "cry for help." Are just the main scores enough to get moving and advocate a change for him? Or should we wait a few more weeks for all the reports and schedule further ability assessments as suggested/ offered by the private psychologist to get a better hold on what is best?
Anyone out there face a similar situation? I wish I could snap my fingers and make school better for him- he is an eager learner. I feel like our southern ca school district has limited options- most have dropped gifted programs and so far, since our DS is well-behaved in class, teachers seem happy to have one less kid they have to worry about. This struggle has had the positive impact of helping him get his own voice and ask for challenge- but the little guy has been met with skepticism and slow moving adults (his parents included!). Where do we go from here after my first sleepless night worried that I'm going to have to step up my game to advocate for him.
Sorry so long - but I guess this has already been a frustrating process. Hope to find parents that understand because it's not a topic I feel I can discuss freely with other school parents.
