Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy acceleration

My son's school has decided he needs to be moved from 1st grade to 2nd grade so that he will be at his instructional level. However, once he moves, they will not cover him under a GIEP because he won't need any SDI's (according to them). I am hesitant to do this because I had to fight long and hard to get him identified in the first place. The school says he will still be gifted be not receive any additional modifications. The don't have a "gifted program" so I am not sure what to do.

I agree with MoN. Gifted is still gifted. What does the law say? They can't ignore the law.

I would push to keep the plan in place, even if it says, "He will follow the second grade curriculum." It's possible that he'll need more acceleration at some point, and it's easier to modify an existing GIEP document than to start a new one.

Sometimes schools don't understand giftedness, and they may genuinely believe that a grade skip is enough. It may not be.

Don't let them push you around if you have the law on your side. Be gentle, but firm.

They say they will still consider him gifted, he just won't receive any additional accomodations. We can reconvene a write a new GIEP if he needs more.
BTW, my daughter was accelerated several years ago yet she still had a GIEP which was worded much like Val suggested (same school district).
I am trying to find some other precedent or case law to bolster my position. The only helpful thing I found in the school's policy (which is very short) is this:

The district's gifted education program will provide: Gifted education that enables identified students to participate in acceleration and enrichment programs, and to receive services appropriate to their intellectual and academic abilities and needs.

I am hesitant to sign off on their plan because I fought for two years to get him identified.

This is interesting:
http://www.giftedpage.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/FAQs_Gifted_Ed_PDE_August2012.pdf

That info for laypersons seems to indicate that at least for a child with an IQ under 130 who is considered gifted due to multiple other factors, including working above grade level, being advanced in grade level might technically make them un-gifted in the eyes of the law, loony as it may seem. I didn't do any research into the actual statutory or regulatory law involved, though. One would want to consult with a Pennsylvania educational attorney to get a legal opinion.

That's bizarre, and completely wrong.

"Gifted" is measured in relation to chronological age, period. It doesn't matter what grade your son is in - it's his testing/achievement/development in relation to his AGE peers (not his classmates) that determine his giftedness.

I wouldn't let this one slip. I'd definitely fight back on this issue.

I guess the gist of what they are saying is that once they accelerate him, he will still be gifted but not in need of services or sdi's and there fore he doesn't need a GIEP. My argument was that the acceleration is his sdi. I guess now I just need to find a way to support that argument.

Our school (well, okay-- national, not local) tried this one on us after they did a second skip.

DD was supposed to be enrolled in the GT versions of math and language arts, and they argued that the skip was the enrichment. (We eventually won, but it took a LOT of politely persistent phone calls on my part and two weeks.) We also got hamstrung down the line by one of these Faustian, "if you do this, don't ask for anything else-- ever" agreements. Don't be us. LOL.

Use their policy:


Well, then that's it. Sounds to me like they are telling you that this is "or" rather than the "and" which is there in writing.

Make them explain how "or" keeps your son's education "appropriate to his needs" as a learner.

In other words-- polite but firm. They aren't following their own policy. Ask why not.

Do they take away the IEPs of special needs children once the accommodations are in place? Of course not, they keep the IEP and check periodically to be sure that the accommodations are working and that additional accommodations are not needed. IMO, this is the same thing.

Also being gifted is NOT equivalent to being an average 2nd grader in a first grader's body. As we all know, they tend to think differently, have different instructional needs, and often just experience the classroom differently. These differences will not disappear just because he's in a classroom with kids a year older. Appropriate gifted instruction is not/should not simply be an advanced regular curriculum.

I agree, I would fight this. It is illogical to remove the GIEP because they feel like they have fulfilled the necessary accommodations. Your child still meets the criteria for receiving the GIEP even if they feel the current accommodations are appropriate. The accommodations don't remove the need for the GIEP anymore than appropriate accommodations would negate the need for a regular IEP.

Good luck!

I would absolutely not agree to eliminate at GIEP for the reasons others have articulated. We made a similar mistake ourselves years ago when my dd14 was grade skipped. She had a 504 prior to the skip for sensory issues and slower processing speed. The new school, while keeping the "general intellectual ability" GT id, gt class placement, and an ALP (our variant of a GIEP) said that we could eliminate the 504 and just write the same accommodations into her ALP. We agreed.

Fast forward three years and she was changing schools for high school. The old test results were now too old for a new 504 and the high school said that it was not possible to include accommodations in an ALP at all: it was meant to address strengths only not areas needing support. We eventually got things worked out okay for dd but there were a lot of unnecessary hoops to jump through.

Like someone else mentioned, I'd at least insist on keeping the GIEP and writing the enrichment/accommodation as having him accelerated.

Does what lucounu mentioned here apply in your instance?
If it does, I guess that I'd be inclined to accept adequate placement over a GIEP (i.e. - I'd take the 2nd grade placement if you are sure that it is the right thing in the long run and give up the GIEP.)

I just talked to the special education coordinator again, and ger argument for not having a GIEP is that she doesn't know what to write for a goal. Within the first grade curriculum, he had been receiving enrichment for math and reading, but it was not enough, hence the request to skip him to second grade. She argues that once he is skipped, there is no more need for enrichment. she would agree, however, to reconvene in two months and write a new GIEP if he shows he would need enrichment in another area. In the interim, he would have no GIEP. Sounds a little crazy to me.