Good Morning Thera!
First the easy one. DYS is an abbreviation for the Davidson Young Scholar's Program. Look to the Left of this area, and you will see some links. You can get to the info on DYS starting from the link on the left side of this page that says "Davidson Database."
Second, gifted children have a 'different normal development track, not mearly a 'speeded up normal track.' This can run a kid into problems with Montessori school teachers who have a very clear and linear picture of 'how children develop,' as they tend to believe that certian skills and behaviors MUST preced others. Be glad that youve been able to get this far without running into this common difficulty. It is not you or your child's fault.
Do you have any idea what LOG (level of gifted) your child is? LOG is a sort of new idea that although the group of gifted children is quite varied, that there are SOME meaningful distinctions between the majority of gifted kids, who score around the 98% and the more rare gifted kids, who just plain score above what the tests can measure.
Free Advice: Is your older daughter tested also? If not, I highly reccomend it - there are quite a lot of under the radar gifted kids in this world - many of them are girls.
Question: Will the montessori school allow your DD to attend K next year, but leave earlier all or some days/week? If your little girl is on the high side of LOG, don't worry about the year after that, just worry about the immediate future, mostly.
Yes - it is so unfair that we parents get blamed with pushing. See if you can arrange the Director to take her home for an overnight - HA! You deserve to be supported in trying to met your child's special educational needs, not blamed. You may have to stand up for yourself and say so, and let them know that you don't expect this kind of treatment. In a nice, but confident way, of course. If you have a husband or brother that can come in and be your mouthpiece - bring them in to say it for you.
BTW - be sure to look at the materials that the school doesn't feel she is using properly, and have the teachers show you what they are looking for and how they know when a child is ready. Like wise, spend a day with the Kindy students and see what they do, as well as some direct classroom observation in the public school K.
Finally,
I'm so glad you didn't rush. It's really hard to do this alone, and now you don't need to. YOu have us! These difficult situation require you to be long winded and give lots of details so we can give meaningful advice, yes?
Love and More Love,
Grinity
