My daughter just turned 6 (1st grade) and was recently identified as HG. Her school has no gifted programs whatsoever (we live in IL) and after meeting with her teacher it's clear very little differentiation will be done this year (for example, her reading level is grade 5.4 and comprehension is at grade 9+, and the teacher is putting her in a 2nd grade reading level group, basically because that's the highest level two other kids in her class are reading so she has to be grouped with them). I got the whole "she's only 6, she needs time to be a kid, she seems happy, sometimes things are challenging for her" speech from the teacher as well as "here's the two skills/things she isn't doing so she still needs to work on that". It's clear my daughter is not learning much academically in school (outside of Spanish because she's never learned it before!), but she seems happy socially. She doesn't seem to have some of the social challenges other HG/PG kids have. And yes, it's only 1st grade, so I can't expect much in terms of academics. However, my concern is long term: if we stay where we are at and keep her in the regular classroom, accept that her school district will not accommodate her giftedness, and let her just breeze through school, aren't we doing a disservice to her? The saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" but I'm worried about the bigger picture. It's so hard to say since she's only in 1st grade, but I was hoping some parents could chime in with their experiences in this regard. (Side note: there are a few public school districts in the area who offer gifted programming beginning in 3rd grade, identification usually begins in the spring of 2nd grade. We would have to move to a new town to get into one of these programs so it wouldn't be as simple as just switching schools. Private gifted schools are an option but they are 30-60 minutes away from us and that too would possibly require us to move because of the commute).
