Well, they told me that they don't allow any children in the gifted program who have behavior issues. They also said that there is a checklist of things the kids need to have other than high IQ including high leadership ability and high maturity/social skills to be included in the gifted program. They said that a socially/emotionally immature child like my son would not qualify for gifted programming because it is not determined by just IQ.
Of course, that's illegal: discrimination due to disability.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20071226.htmlThere's a lot here that is going well, Panzer-- their response to the rough day is overall quite good. I'd say see how it goes, but I'm impressed.
Once DS shows his colors with regard to math, I am betting the attentive teacher will see what the needs are, and try to meet them somehow.
ITA with DeeDee - and so happy to hear your ds has had a good day, and that his teacher seems to be very willing to work with him and see him for the wonderful child he truly is!
Re the gifted program - we heard a lot of quick remarks such as this when advocating for our 2e kid - not exactly the same thing, but along the lines of "if a child has a challenge and is receiving services for that challenge, they couldn't possibly qualify as gifted also". One teacher actually told me that *I* needed to choose what ds would be - he could be in the gifted program or he could be in SPED but he couldn't be both because that "wasn't possible" - not as in the program set-up part wasn't possible, but as in this teacher truly believed that gifted kids couldn't have challenges just like anyone else. ARGH.
I wouldn't look at what was said today as a "no" to the gifted program entry. I would look at it as an uninformed remark made without thinking much on the part of whoever said it. It's most likely true that your district's gifted program has a matrix for qualifying - our district does too, and I've heard of this in other places. But that's the beauty of a matrix - it has more than one place/way to accumulate "points" to qualify. Your ds clearly will have test scores that will look great on his matrix. I'm guessing that if this teacher continues to work with your ds the way she has, she'll see his intelligence and will possibly proactively recommend him for the program = meaning she'd fill out her survey in a positive way. (I'm guessing she's not the exact person who said "can't do!" in the meeting - if she is, then I'm sorry I confused her with someone else).
I'd also prepare myself for the next time you might here that comment about gifted kids with behavior challenges not being allowed into the gifted program. I'm not sure how you want to reply, but having a reply ahead of time always helped me tremendously, because in the heat of the moment, comments like that throw me for a loop - because I hear it and just can't believe how naive and ridiculous the person stating it was.
The other thing I do is always write a brief summary email after school meetings (especially team meetings) and include anything I think was said that is important, to clarify and give the team a chance to say "no, that wasn't really what was said" (which happened to me a *lot* when our staff would say obviously not-legal things in meetings). So to follow-up on your meeting today, I'd briefly summarize everything that was discussed, include any decisions with pertinent details, and then also (very matter-of-factly) state that you asked that his ability scores be reported so he could be id'd as gifted, and you were told that he would not be considered for the gifted program because students with behavioral problems are not eligible for the program. Restate it exactly the way it was stated to you (as best you can remember). I'm fairly confident you'll get a quick rebuttal email stating that was a misunderstanding
I'd also check your district gifted policy and see if parents can make a referral. If you can, put the referral in writing and turn it in now
Best wishes,
polarbear
