I don't think you sound like a loser at all for not doing it before now. I didn't mention in my PP that we knew at least one of our twins was quite "ahead" of his peers, but we didn't plan to ask for any accommodations/differentiation until first grade. K is a half day here, and we were told that they would be assigned reading based on their actual level (which was to be tested), so we thought we would wait and let him "enjoy" K, as there isn't much actual "work."
The problem was that he didn't enjoy it AT ALL, as it turned out that they just didn't want kindergarteners to advance beyond a certain level in reading (I was told he would probably stay at the same level all year). He literally began having physical symptoms of anxiety at school and home that could not be ignored, was having tantrums about having his homework/reading, and began to literally not care if he did his worksheets correctly. For example, he has been able to count to twenty since he was two, but started to make mistakes in counting on his worksheets because they were so boring, which were then counted against him for grading purposes. The change in him was frightening to me, and after I requested a teacher/parent meeting and it became apparent that she wasn't going to change anything, or try to teach him what he knew to pass the next reading level test, I started looking for help and reading our state laws regarding gifted programming. At one point, she actually wrote an email stating that it was fine if he just "maintained" his reading level ALL YEAR as he was already ahead. The problem was that it wasn't fine with HIM, as he was watching his brother change reading levels, and once his brother passed him it became a real issue, as his brother is a good reader, but not at the same level, and he knew it. It caused a huge amount of anxiety, as he couldn't understand why he could pass the reading test. Luckily I live in a state (PA) that mandates gifted programming if necessary, and requires testing if a parent asks.
I wasn't planning to have his brother tested, as he seemed to be doing fine (he needed to work on his handwriting, and was not way ahead in reading at that point), but right after I requested testing for the one twin, the other started having meltdowns about going to school, because it was so boring. It was about the same time they finished the handwriting portion of the curriculum.
We will not be doing grade skipping, as they are twins, and the Iowa scale only recommends grade skipping if both twins would benefit, which isn't the case (at least right now.)
We did find that the testing caused the resistant teacher to at least accept that what I was telling her about his reading and math skills was actually true, as she couldn't argue with his test scores (there was an achievement test component to the test.) I think he had more reading instruction in the last two months of school than he did all year, but by that time reading with the reading teacher caused him to feel physically ill, so it was still a problem.
Last edited by momoftwins; 06/21/13 05:33 AM.
