Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Labelling children = good, except gifted label

I think she is allowed to have her experiences,they are hers after all. She works in a magnet school and probably truly knows kids labeled gifted incorrectly. I believe with the way schools are run in the east many kids are probably labeled incorrectly. I bet there are quite a few assigned non gifted who didn't test well at 5 and quite a few that did test well at 5 and are not highly gifted in the way she would think. I have a son that tested extremely high but I take it with a grain of salt it doesn't matter how he tests. The true test is time as to wether he levels out or not. I di believe a parent can do harm assuming a idea of who a child is at 5 is how they will always be. However I think the sensitivity we feel as parents comes from knowing our kids think different and need additional support and many old fashion educators have a incorrect picture of what gifted looks like, and what support a gifted child needs. I am simply saying from where she lives and her life experiences she might be slightly jaded on the subject. In reality parents prepping for iq tests and forcing the gifted label is truly more the issue and hurts those with true gifted children that need services.

Sorry just want to add it is ironic however that she recognizes her child sees and processes things different but is reluctant to acknowledge that in gifted children. Also the assumption that parents don't hold their gifted kids accountable. I am pretty sure many parents on this site are just like her. They know their child functions different but it doesn't mean they get a free pass on life and responsibilities.

Just wow. What a stereotypical view. Of course an admin deals with some parents like that, but she sounds like such a snarky competitive parent with no professional, informed view of real students' needs. This is just unacceptable that educators are so uninformed... But yeah very typical and not limited to education I know. Ugh!

Are you saying that they are not accepting that she is gifted?

I am saying that they won't even discuss the possibility with me. If I mention the word gifted or accelerated, they tell me that she is bright and doing just fine. Yes, I know she is bright and doing just fine, but her NWEA test scores show me that she knew the entire 3rd grade curriculum in Sept, so I am not sure what they are expecting her to actually "learn" in 3rd grade. I am having her formally tested in Feb, so I will take those results and work from there.

ETA: There is no gifted legislation or funding in my state, so the Public schools are reluctant to test or identify the gifted/accelerated kids, IMHO, because any type of acceleration inside the classroom would require a curriculum change for individual students and would come out of their own budget money.

That's because it would cause serious inconvenience for them.

So they are using denial.

Denial is a standard-issue bureaucratic tool and normally works until it doesn't work anymore.

So, you will need to come up with a solution that involves them acknowledging a fact that they feel that they are being paid to ignore.

I agree. I let their denial shut me down for a long time, they made me feel like Alexis' mom but I am over that now. Moving forward in spite of them, with or without their help (and support).

I'm guessing the boy is a TP on the Myers-Briggs:

http://www.educationaloptions.com/resources/resources_rufs_tips.php

Ohhh... (sigh) been down that road. Oh that poor kid.

Phew. Talk about a tough one. I was in this situation some years ago with a friend.

She was bright, enthusiastic about learning new things, and capable of so much. But she just wouldn't work, and nothing could change that. Not strategies, not letting her define her own tasks as much as possible, not even the threat of losing a job, followed by losing it, and then going down the same road at another company. People would get the feeling that certain tasks were too menial for her, though she never said so out loud. It was more of an attitude that was perceived. If she didn't want to do it, it basically didn't get done, and that was all there was to it. And this was often blamed on others (who were, BTW, trying to help). IMO, there were other problems on the inside that were being expressed as a phenotype of laziness.

Does your student have any emotional or other problems that might be interfering with his ability to get stuff done?

If not, maybe you need to let him fail. He's young and may be able to learn a lesson from the bitter taste of self-imposed failure (as distinct from "I gave it my best shot and lost anyway, and that's how stuff goes sometimes.").