Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy gifted identification in a public school

Our public school seems very closed about how they identify children for their gifted program. They have said my DD6 will be receiving services when she gets to the point they are offered, but I am not sure how they make their decisions, and based on comments, I worry that her imperfect executive functioning might get in the way of having her needs met.

Right now she gets an enrichment folder full of boring worksheets and they get annoyed that she doesn't seem excited to do those after she has already been given extra work at her work stations. She is to seek them out herself or be seen as not needing enrichment. My extroverted, energetic child can only take so much of sitting at a desk and doing more worksheets alone. They said she will do all work asked of her with a big smile, but she needs to show initiative for more of the work available to seem worthy of gifted services. The extra things available are not very appealing to her. If someone came in with fossils or animals or stars or just about anything beyond sight words she knew at two, she would probably show more desire for extra.

She is "allowed" to read at her own reading level, but their idea of reading instruction consists of her having a folder with her book and some questions. She never has anyone to discuss books with or gets any type of instruction at her level. She is suppose to do all these things on her own. She also receives math from the grade above but no instruction on the material. That's it.

I often feel they are judging her executive functioning skills more than her academic abilities. She is the kid who will forget her book, misplace something, skip a question, forget to get her folder. This is a problem because in order to seem worthy of gifted services, she needs to be able to remember to do her packets, to work almost flawlessly above grade level, etc. Just because she needs a little organizing, doesn't mean she doesn't need more challenging academic work. They have also said they see no signs of ADHD (I've had my questions). While my child is clearly years and years ahead (she reads books at about a 5th or 6th grade level), she is prone to carelessness (she can often perform perfectly on piles of worksheets, but they have to point out that she will skip a problem or not cross a "T") in the stacks of worksheets they do every day and also often forgets to go seek out her reading folder (they pick a lower level book with lots of questions) and would rather just get lost in her own book, etc. They said they were placing her with kids "at her level" last year, but neither child seems near her LOG in terms of reading / language etc.

Do schools often give their own IQ tests, and if they do, do they have to notify me before they give them? She has had outside testing, but my sense is that they wanted to see more of their own proof and are almost looking for reasons to not provide more. Gifted funding has been drastically cut in our school. They seem to think that because so many kids are very bright, they don't need it. She has done well in class, but her flaws get pointed out: she sometimes skips questions, throws an upper case letter in the wrong place every fiftieth sentence, or makes careless mistakes. We have been told this is counted against her. I do hear wonderful feedback about her personality, how fast she finishes work, her creativity, and her abilities so they clearly think she is a very smart child, and is mature in many ways, but they seem very secretive about their process for identifying and providing for gifted children and I worry that her carelessness and absent mindedness will get in the way of her getting enough gifted services. She seems to snap to during a test and does well on all the tests they give her. I am just wondering if schools give their own IQ or gifted placement tests without notifiying me at all. They seem very protective about the information and I often feel I am met with a brick wall.

thanks, Master. In regards to the EF issue, they have said that they do not see it as a problem, but I do see a tendency to nitpick very minor flaws. I have wondered, as you do, if they are just trying to find a justification for placement.

Twinkle,

If there is gifted coordinator in school, you need to see him/her. Explain about your concern and they should open the file (including what your DD's score for aptitude test/achievement testing and what they have done and plan on doing.) If you don't know, it is probably the principal or one of the assistant principals. If you don't get a responsible answer, be familiar with the district policy and contact school district.

Good luck!

As a parent, you are perfectly within your rights to ask to see your DD's records, and to make copies of anything you find therein. You're also perfectly within your rights to request a meeting with whomever you feel is the right resource to sit down and discuss exactly how they arrived at the decision to approve gifted services for your DD.

As for the perceived executive function thing, it seems like they're looking for a particular type of initiative that they're actively discouraging at the same time. Think of it in culinary terms: they're telling her that if she really needs cake, she'll want to eat more liver. That's not an executive function problem... that's a revulsion problem. A kid who eagerly does work that's significantly below your DD's level is, by definition, significantly below her level. So they're not looking for gifted, they're looking for brighter than average. I would point this out. I would ask the teacher how much she'd enjoy printing her ABCs.

As for the minor errors... that doesn't sound like ADHD, that sounds like being a top-down thinker, who sees the forest and doesn't pay much attention to the trees. The downside of this kind of thinker is they're prone to careless mistakes. The upside is that this kind of thinker easily demonstrates mastery once they've learned the high-level concept, immediately integrates new concepts with those previously learned, makes new associations, and can even spontaneously arrive at the next concept without being taught. So, you teach the child to be a little more careful, and hang on for the ride.

I had a similar problem at my son's last school. My son is actually ADHD, but honestly, it doesn't matter in that type of situation. Expecting a kid to WANT to do a bunch of boring worksheets is just silly. Unless the child just enjoys writing, in and of itself, a kid is going to choose to do pretty much anything else over that.

I asked the Principal straight out "Why would he want to do that when he can just go read his book?" She had no answer, just sympathy. That's part of the reason we changed schools. Expecting young children to be okay with worksheets, and not receive any real instruction that teaches them anything is bullsh*t, IMO. We still aren't where we need to be, but at least I don't have people telling me they just can't help him because he isn't interested in doing 500 worksheets every day!

I would guess the answer may be different depending what state you are in. In PA (I believe it's statewide and not just our district), if a parent requests testing for gifted services, the school must start the process. In our district, once a parent requests the testing and fills out some basic paperwork, the school's gifted coordinator performs a preliminary screening (KBIT and TOMAGS) and the results of those screenings -- with some parent/teacher input - determines whether the child then sits for the WISC-IV with a district-wide psychologist.

This sounds just like the original school I had my dd9 in from K to grade 2. She was getting very depressed. We ended up moving her for third grade and it was the best thing we could have ever done for her. At her original school, their idea of G/T for 45 minutes pull out once/week and extra worksheets. Like your child, my daughter makes some mistakes along the way, sometimes forgets to answer questions, etc. She has a GAI of 143, some WM issues, but a high processing speed...so, she works very, very quickly, thinks quickly, but will make little mistakes along the way. This has gotten MUCH better over the last two years. I was worried about ADHD for a while, and though she has what I call adhd tendencies, it really seems to be more a matter of her brain being consumed with the bigger stuff over the small details, as Dude states. Anyway, to look at kids like ours and focus on their mistakes instead of their gifts does them a huge disservice. I think many educators forget that our kids really can be quite asynchronous in their development.
We have had to really work at getting dd to go back and check her work for those little mistakes. She doesn't really like to be bothered to do it and considers it to be a waste of time and boring. Anyway, I feel your pain and we were in your exact position not long ago. If they are not willing to work with you at the current school, is it possible to put your DD into another school situation? Where we have our DD9 now is not perfect, but it is so much better than where she was before.