Yet his teacher says that while he is bright, he's not brightest in a class of 14
I do think it's possible, though, that there might have been another HG+ child in your child's class at school. I know other students who've been id'd as HG+ in our school district through district testing, and to be honest, they weren't necessarily the students I would have walked into class and instantly recognized (and some of these are kids I know well :))
Yes. I'm honestly not concerned whatsoever if there is someone brighter than him in his classroom. In fact, I think we'd all prefer it that way, as it would give him a much better chance of finding an intellectual peer in his classroom (something we hope he will be able to find more easily next year).
(we were told this was a reason they did not want to accelerate him when we asked).
Just because there are HG+ peers in his class isn't a reason to not provide an appropriate curriculum. Maybe it's an indication they should *all* be accelerated. Or maybe it's an opportunity for in-class differentiation. In any event, it's not a valid reason for the school to ignore the educational needs of your ds
To be fair to his teacher, we got that statement through the gifted coordinator. It was made at a time when we had not yet known his WISC results, and all she had to go on was a STAR reading assessment DS had done a few months prior (he made a significant reading breakthrough
after taking that test). When we shared the WISC with the coordinator, she seemed to acknowledge almost immediately that there was more to this situation than her teacher had thought and went about setting up one of those big meetings with the principal, school psychologist, teacher, etc. Unfortunately, we had to decide about the private school before that meeting could take place. I'm really curious to know how it would have turned out.
But yes, I agree completely. Who says you have to be at the top of your class before considering acceleration?
You'll know if he's getting what he needs by staying involved in knowing what's going on in class - you'll talk to your ds, you'll get to know the teachers, you'll stay on top of it. You'll advocate. It won't be a situation where you can just send your ds off to school in the morning and trust that all will be well... but really, no matter what the LOG (or not)... isn't that what involved parents *do*?
I had asked him to tell me if he wasn't being challenged at his current school, and within two weeks he came back and told me that he wasn't. My first thought was, "I put the idea into his head and he thinks he's telling me what I'm expecting to hear." But then I saw what he was learning and compared it to what I knew he could do. It was obvious that he was right. When I had approached the school about it, they felt like they were meeting his needs by extending the curriculum (have him read slightly harder books, do 2-step math problems instead of 1-step ones, etc.). But it hasn't made any difference; I simply don't think it's enough for him. And his teacher doesn't really see a problem.
I'm just hoping that he will continue to tell me if he's not being challenged in the school years to come, because I fear that it may the only way I will know.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, polarbear (and everyone else!) I really appreciate it!
