Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Worried we made a mistake with DD

DS6 is highly gifted and skipped year 1 this year.
DD will be 5 in May. She spoke very early, asks lots of great questions, makes connections between things, and remembers events that happened ages ago, or things we used to have. We have not had her IQ tested yet, but I have been assuming based on her early language and the kids of observations and connections that she makes, that she will test in the gifted range.

Originally we had her signed up to enter K in the public system this year, but then when we decided to move DS to a private school this year, we decided to move her too. In the public system, the cutoff birthdate is the end of July, the private school was the end of April, but after interviewing DD, they decided to let her enrol. All the school readiness things I had seen talked about the importance of the social and emotional aspects, and that a lot of the academic side would be taught to them. So I was pretty confident that DD was ready although she is young. And I thought it might serve her well in the long run to be a bit younger if she did end up being gifted.

We had our first parent teacher meeting last night after her first term of school, and she is struggling. The teacher is very good, she said, she is here now, lets do our best to keep her floating, and consider it a bonus year. If at the end of year 1, she has not caught up, she gets a chance to try year 1 again and still be in the correct age bracket. She said DD is a very kind caring member of the classroom, and that she is always willing to give things a go.

The main focus of the year seems to be on reading and writing. DD is getting through her weekly sight words, but she is having trouble with letter sound correspondence, and she is not ready to move from level 1 readers. She knows the sounds, but not always which letter they go with. This then leaves her struggling with writing.

She is making friends, and she is enjoying herself overall I think. But I feel sad that I sent her this year, and she is struggling, and behind everyone. She could have stayed home another year and had a much easier time next year. My husband says she is fine, and she is enjoying herself, but I feel bad. I really felt like sending her this year was the right decision.

Did anyone have a child who struggled with learning to read, but once it clicked for them, it was okay? I really don't want her to spend the next 2 years struggling and then have to repeat a year.