Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Gifted Program Requirements

My child has yet to be tested so this may be a bit preemptive. I was glancing over our school district's requirements for entrance into the gifted program and one of the 3 requirements is "no below grade level performances". So if my child is 2e and is below grade level in reading because she is dyslexic she will not qualify for the gifted program regardless of her IQ?

Have any of you ever encountered this type of difficulty with entrance to a gifted program?

I wouldn't try to worry about this before you've been officially told your child doesn't qualify, and if you are officially told it and have documentation of a learning disability, then you can advocate to have your dd placed in the program and we can give you info that may help you in advocating.

We encountered difficulties with our school district and 2e from all sorts of directions, both in recognizing ds' disability and also in accessing the gifted programs that ds was clearly qualified for. My advice, fwiw, is to be familiar with the policies in your district, but also to realize that nothing is set in stone - so never give up before you've attempted to advocate for your child.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I would print out the policy and bring it with you to your private tester and ask if they will write a letter stressing the need for gifted programing if they in fact do see a need, and possibly make a follow up phone call to the school if the school doesn't follow their advice in the letter.

Welcome!
Grinity

If you have outside testing, your school district may consider it. Our school district administers CoGat but takes a "body of evidence" approach. Also, what type of program are you looking at? If your child is performing below grade level in reading, it may be difficult for your child to keep up with the language arts curriculum in a stand-alone gt classroom. I would ask a lot of questions regarding their experience with 2e kids. How would they handle your DC if he/she is significantly below the ability level of the rest of the class? I also would find out whether they have any flexibility in their program, i.e. could your child be in the gifted class for math, science and social studies but in specialized instruction or a regular class for reading? If it is a pullout program, maybe your child could attend only in his/her area of strength. You may want to contact your district's gt department and start asking questions if you have concerns that can't wait until you get test results.

I have a highly gifted dyslexic kid who is in a gifted classroom. We are not in quite the same situation. DD9 still reads above grade level, though not as far above as many in her class, but she reads slowly. In 4th grade, they are studying books that many schools don't tackle until middle school. The teacher includes a lot of classic literature to challenge the students with respect to vocabulary while keeping content age appropriate. DD loves learning the new words but her comprehension skills are stretched to the breaking point by unfamiliar syntax and dialect. DD's big struggles are with writing and spelling, in particular, which make her feel "stupid." She constantly compares her language arts skills to kids who truly are advanced readers and writers. She has suffered from self-esteem issues being in a gifted class with a learning disability. That said, DD thinks deeply and differently than typical 4th graders so she benefits from being around peers who also think deeply. It is imperfect but, for now, still better than the alternative.

Yes, we've run into that. My 2e child has never been below grade level, but our district's policy when she was ided was not to accept individual IQ scores and only to take group tests for the ability piece of the id. We got that changed after two IQ tests with HG #s.

However, the policy still has two pieces that can be a hurdle for 2e kids:

1) it requires a 95th percentile achievement score or teacher recommendation in addition to the ability score & teachers generally won't recommend kids unless they are compliant, straight A students. Fortunately for my dd, she does hit the 95th++ at times, she's just wildly inconsistent so she's not always there and sometimes is well below that point on a specific test day. I guess that her school taking the highest # achieved benefited her in that regard, though!

2) it specifically states that, even with a GT id, there is no guarantee of services. High motivation, grades, and high achievement are pretty much the sole factors considered in placement in advanced courses, especially in middle and high school.

We have found that parental advocacy and working with our 2e kid on test taking strategies and study skills has managed to help her get to the point where she can pass the second hurdle and keep her achievement scores where they need to be to avoid being ruled out. It probably depends on what that second "e" is, though, and how severely the child is impacted as to whether that will work.

knute, we're in the exact same spot with our dd11. She has good comprehension & reads above grade level but her reading speed is slow and she struggles with enjoying reading b/c it isn't a leisurely activity for her. However, she too is a very deep thinker and just plunking her into the "average" classroom fails to meet her needs more than does putting her in a GT placement where she may struggle with speed and organization but still needs many components of the teaching such as greater depth.

I do love how a teacher with no training or experience with giftedness gets to weigh in on whether or not a child gets placed into a gifted program. My DS's school is the same way from K-3rd. (Hence my child having never been in a GT program, even though he reads about 5 grade levels above his own.)