Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Differentiated Education Plan (DEP)

I tried to do a search for this but couldn't find anything applicable. So if this is covered elsewhere (and I assume it is?), feel free to point me to an existing thread.

What is a DEP? Is one created for each individual G/T student, or is a DEP simply a curriculum outline created by the G/T teacher/s to be used with the entire G/T class (i.e., here's what we'll be working on in G/T this year, here's how it differs from what the kids are doing in their regular classroom, etc.)?

This link has a very good summary from the North Carolina Association for the Gifted and Talented. The section that talks about individual DEPs is near the end.

Yes, I had googled around a bit and read what a DEP could be, but I'm just curious how they're actually being developed and used in different schools. That link from NC says an Individualized Differentiation Plan is for kids who don't meet the criteria for the DEP. So an IDP and a DEP are different, at least in North Carolina. But does that mean that a DEP cannot be individualized? I'm wondering why gifted kids working at different (high) levels don't each get a individualized plan for their G/T class. My son, for example, is advanced in science, but his G/T class doesn't do science, they just work on "enrichment" of the things already studied in the general ed classroom, namely the subjects stressed on the standardized tests: math and reading.

Where are you located?

My understanding from the article I linked to was that, in North Carolina, at least, a DEP was individualized, and was for students who clearly needed differentiated individualized services, sort of like the IEP of gifted services, with the IDP being for children who didn't meet the criteria of needing a DEP.

If your child is in NC and has a DEP, but it is not being followed, or you feel that it is not appropriate, I'd talk to the school about your concerns, possibly after talking more with people from the NCAGT.

Just curious if anybody here can tell me what's in their elementary school child's DEP for G/T, and if it applies to just their child or the whole G/T group.

Different states use very different terminology for their gifted education plans. Many states don't even write gifted education plans. Florida, where we are, calls gifted education plans EPs or GEPs, and they are individualized, although the services listed may be very general, such as ability grouping or participation in a gifted pull-out program or a single period gifted class. How well the EP suits the actual needs of the child depends to a large extent on how good the parents are at identifying specific needs, writing specific, measurable goals to address them, and persuading the EP team to include them in the final document.

I am in NC. My older children have a DEP. News to me, but I just got a letter home from the school for my daughter and am paying attention now. My older son must have one, too, as he is in the same program.

The program they are in is NOT "individualized" (by my definition), it is a pull out for math and reading, and I would say about 20% of the grade participates. It has a more in depth curriculum, that all children in that program participate. My DEP refers to a "conference to discuss your child's plan" this week, and from my experience last year, it is a crowded meeting with tons of parents of all children involved, where you sign your form, and ask questions if you have them, and you are done. Certainly not a "discussion" to discuss "my" child, by any means of the imagination. Have never attended an individual meeting, discussed what they are being taught, etc. They are just at a higher cluster, and I am ok with that (they are technically "Gifted" by the program's standards, but I would not call this program acceptable for someone that is truly "gifted", rather kids that are above average)

Intresting.... that an IDP must be more geared towards the individual student's needs... if they don't qualify for the mass herding of above average students?? Seems to me that it should be the other way around.

My youngest is way above the above average herd, yet she has still to "qualify" for either, because the standards below the 3rd grade level are very high. I do think, from my recent reading, that she does and did qualify for an IDP, and they dropped the ball by not giving her one, because they excused her fully from all curriculum this year... with no "official plan" written down.

To be clear, if there is a "plan", it is the curriculum, and it certainly applies to the whole group. I certainly had no input in it.

Yes, this describes our situation to a T. They refer to the DEP as belonging to my child, but it is actually one document that applies to the whole "cluster" of G/T kids for that grade. The parents have no input whatsoever. It's just a curriculum for reading and math as taught in the G/T pull out. Ours also includes some "enrichment" done in the general ed classroom, which I take to mean different worksheets for the G/T kids (each grade level has a G/T "cluster group"--they put the G/T students all in one class, then add in other, non-G/T kids as well, I guess so they don't get accused of "tracking").

I was just curious if some schools create individualized G/T plans for individual students. Say, for example, that my child is in second grade but able to do 9th grade math, while the other G/T second graders are doing more like 4th grade math. Does my son get his own math "plan" for G/T so he can work at his 9th grade level, or does he just have to work at the same level as all the other kids in his G/T pull out?

I am not convinced that our G/T program is of any real value. There's nothing going on that couldn't be covered by the general ed classroom teacher, if she just did a better job differentiating instruction.

To clarify: an IEP is for a child with an identified disability. That's separate from this G/T DEP thing. A child can have both an IEP and a DEP, as my son does. But the IEP covers things having to do with his disability, while the DEP is just the curriculum for his G/T pull out class.