Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional any public school happy stories?

Hi all -
I'm feeling discouraged about my options today. Does anyone have any positive stories about their twice exceptional child thriving in public elementary school?

I can't imagine that scenario right now. But what looks, right now, like the best alternative is SO expensive, it would mean major family sacrifices. So that doesn't feel right either. Tonight I feel stuck.

So any inspiration is welcomed!

Thanks,
Susan

Well, for elementary, yes-- reasonably happy story.

My DD is 2e and probably PG (she's now just polished off her second year as an honors high school student, after which she capped that by turning 13). I'd say that it STRONGLY depends upon the nature of the second exceptionality.

Most educators assume that 2e must mean GT/LD. That is clearly not so. My DD has a chronic hidden physical disability, and the reason we didn't send her to kindy in our (good) local school is that: a) she was already reading at at least a 3rd-7th grade level at barely 5yo, and more crucially, b) we were afraid that they would kill her. (Not gilding the lily there, and sorry if that offends, but it's the unvarnished truth.)

So. We homeschooled her. Well, more like child-led eclectic play and a little bit of Montessori/Charlotte Mason-esque directed learning. For a year.

Then, we were a bit horrified because she was accelerating her pace, and the gaps that had been obvious areas of asynchrony prior to that year were... um... developing into freakishly wide gaps and widening by the day. Her personality made her mulishly stubborn about working in: a) areas of relative weakness... like writing, and/or b) using non-preferred methods of learning anything.

We were also way out of our depth in terms of making sure that we weren't missing huge chunks of standard K-12 curriculum, since at this point we still thought that we'd be putting DD back into a regular classroom when she was "older." We thought that when she was about 11, she could probably be a little more proactive and it would be safer for her... but what we didn't (at the time) know was that she'd be entering high school work before then.

Enter a local virtual charter school, which we felt would help us to make sure that we didn't ignore gaps, and would provide DD with an external authority asking for her to work on less preferred areas (like writing).

We've been with Connections Academy since then. Now, it's far from perfect, and I'd be lying if I said that the way THEY (meaning the administration) think it 'works' is the way that it REALLY works for HG+ kids, but it fits better than a lot of things do, and it's pretty darned flexible through 8th grade.

It's a lot easier to deal with exceptionalities that result in special physical or emotional needs in this model.

We've had alot of success in our local public school. My son is highly gifted, hearing impaired and has an auditory processing disorder. He has an IEP for that. We had been in two highly rated private schools, which really were not helpful.

Hi Susan,

Well, I can't say that our public school story started well; it didn't, not at all. But after some time working on it and bringing lots of resources to bear (state legal rights service, advocate, etc.), we have our elementary school *really* understanding our 2E child. They are selecting excellent teachers for him and accommodating his gifts as well as his disability. Prospects for the transition to middle school look quite good.

The private schools around here would have kicked him out; they don't want to deal with kids this complex when there are more straightforwardly high-achieving kids for them to serve, who seem guaranteed to excel.

I get it that public schools are not everyone's cup of tea, but they do *guarantee* the right to an appropriate learning environment, and that was key for us.

DeeDee

ETA: BTW, the private schools that cater to people with disabilities were as poor a fit as the regular private schools around here, not least because they had never heard of someone needing the kind of extensive acceleration that DS would require. They seemed blindsided by the possibility of his existence.

No matter where you take them to learn, the 2Es seem to need some serious advocacy.

My DD is looking very 2E on paper this week, has always looked that way anyway. I understand that school is not the best environment for this.

Does your child like music or art and do they have a good program? moving into grade 4 we're hanging in there due to DD's enthusiasm for learning a band instrument. And her art teacher is so darn encouraging with her comments, bless her heart! Got to figure out how to get rid of the classroom color change issue by Sept. though. And rev up the appropriate academics for those strength areas...

DH and I looked into private and small Catholic and we're not sure at this time. DD won't homeschool for the moment, will take it one month at a time this coming year. We thought we'd spend the money on travel and lessons and LEGOS and counseling at the university this year to see if that helps DD with the fight that she seems determined to fight. Middle school there will be a change and I have something in mind but that is two years off now.

We love our public school (DS has ADHD + language processing disorder, waitlisted for CAPD testing, and DD has anxiety). Mind you, it's not typical, even though it's public. It's small (320ish kids) with a French Immersion stream and a Montessori stream.

My kids are in French (even my language disorder son :-). Language immersion can be tough on any kid, so the ones enrolled are either clever or more supported (although I must stress that sometime the brightest and most supported kids leave language immersion because it's just not the right fit).

Because there are curriculum objectives that must be met, regardless of the stream, the French kids are watched closely for signs of struggle and intervention comes quickly. My chess and math whiz (but language "crippled") son sees a speech pathologist, a TA and an LA teacher. He's learning (reading English ahead of schedule, actually) and he loves school, even though his stream is technically his weakest area.

AWESOME school.

Here's an interesting aside: DD9, in the language immersion stream, made the gifted math program for grade 5. There are only four from the school (due to district financial constraints), and three of those four are from her French Immersion class.