Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy new to gifted advocacy...any tips?

Hello!

My brief story: I've been in a bit of "gifted denial" about my DS6, first grade. When his MAP scores came back to us in the fall that placed him in the average range for a fourth grader in math, I started to look at my son a little more closely. We always knew he was "gifted" but didn't know what that really meant in today's world and didn't understand that it would be best for him to advocate on his behalf. (DH is PG and I guess I'm at least MG, maybe more. DH had his PhD at 21 - he hated school and thought the whole experience was "useless". I did "well" in school but I now understand that making me the class tutor all through elementary and middle school was really not the best thing for me. So, my DH and I developed a disdain for the label "gifted" and thought that gifted programs were pretty useless...as they were for us when we were kids.)

So, I've put my toe in the water of acceleration at DS school. It was met with a lukewarm reception. DS school is a new charter school. In a lot of ways, this is great...they seem to be receptive to some modifications. But it is clear that it will not be easy for me to get these modifications...I will need to heavily advocate. Any advice before I dive in? I do have an excellent working relationship with the teacher and the school, at this point. We respect each other all around. I don't sense any hostility.

Specifically, I would like to advocate for my son to either: accelerate in math by 2 grades or allow a small group to form in his grade and bring in another teacher to teach the group. DS has just taken the WISC IV. I will get the results in a few weeks.

Thanks in advance!

Wish I could help but I am in much the same place except there were no gifted programmes when I was kid and still aren't.

I want to wish you luck in your advocating!

You might want to wait until you have the WISC data, so the testing data is more concrete.

When my son scored exceptionally well on the Explore test, the teacher was mildly interested. But when I shared the IQ results plus the Explore a few weeks later and asked for a meeting to discuss accommodations, everyone from the principal on down was immediately on board, and they were extremely proactive in their ideas. (He is at an HGT school, however, so I didn't have to convince anyone of the need to accelerate.)

I would also suggest you go to the Davidson database and read as much as you can about acceleration, so you'll be well-versed in the research and can more effectively advocate.

Good luck!

I suspect that you'd have more luck asking for a single grade subject acceleration in math to start rather than two grades of subject acceleration for a few reasons:

1) schools often want to try out something less extreme to start to make sure that it works before they agree to more radical measures. If they aren't in the habit of providing subject acceleration at this point, anything like that might feel radical to them.

2) if he scored around the 50th percentile for a 4th grader in math on the winter norms for MAPs, that would be about the 99th percentile for a 1st grader, 97th for a 2nd grader, and 80th for a 3rd grader. I think that it would be easier to make a case that he would still be quite near the top of the class in a 2nd grade math class and not missing any pieces. Schools can be a bit worried about gaps in math education when multiple skips happen all at once and the difference between 2nd and 3rd grade math is greater than the difference between 1st and 2nd grade math.

Like the pp, I do also think that you'll be in a stronger position to advocate once you have his WISC scores and also if you have any idea as to whether there are other kids scoring near the same point on MAPs such that they can make a reasonable group within his grade if that is something that they are more willing to consider over subject acceleration.

I agree with Cricket that asking for a one grade acceleration first may be a good idea. And there is a good chance that there will be other kids one grade up scoring the same on the MAP. If the school has little experience with acceleration, the best way to show success is through increments.

Another thing to consider is your child's handwriting. We found resistance in our local school when we asked for our kiddo to go up another grade for math because they said he couldn't keep up with the writing. We found a school that didn't focus on the negatives and said that if he could explain verbally that he understood the concepts, that was fine.

It is good that you have a good relationship with the teacher and principal. This is crucial. You do not want to put them on the defensive by sounding demanding or telling them they are not doing enough for your child. What has worked for us is asking advice based on the data we have.

As for waiting for the WISC results, note that most teachers have little interest or knowledge about IQ tests, and many times that info doesn't help a lot if you are just presenting numbers. What helps more if the tester can write up the results in a way that discusses what types of school situations will work the best for a kid with those types of scores. I recommend that you meet and discuss school options and ideas with your tester if possible.

The Davidson institute has some great materials on advocacy in their resources section. Good luck!

Thanks so much for all the replies. We got the WISC results back. DS falls into the PG range. He actually hit the ceiling a few times. The tester did not use extended norms. I don't have a need to know how far he can go past the ceiling.

Here's the big question: can we stay in public school? At least for th e next few years? Has anyone been able to keep a PG kid in public school and get some accomodations and keep the child somewhat challenged?n