Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments And this is how I knew they didn't get it...

My gifted coordinator: "Well, he definitely shows EVIDENCE of giftedness, but he doesn't really fit into our matrix, so we're not certain that he's really gifted."

158 on the WISC....

Grade 2 teacher (before school testing): "I don't think she's as smart as you think she is."

Grade 2 teacher (after school testing): "It turns out that she actually has ability that is several grades beyond her age peers."

It was actually kind of liberating, because the fact that they were so wrong initially was my cue to stop taking them seriously.

The Gifted Coordinator was being candid with you, what that person said is true in most public school districts who often don't have a gifted program at all until starting in likely the third grade and even then extremely limited. While you nor any other parent that frequents this forum doesn't like that answer, at least respect them for their honesty.

That would be true for our school district! Except ... we don't even have a gifted coordinator! ha! lol

I was considered lacking and retarded in elementary school. I never participated and refused to do my classwork due to the tedium and monotony. I find that feelings of boredom amongst gifted children are viewed as problematic; we are held back rather than promoted. I promise you things will get better though.

It was not until recently that I discovered I had an iq of 170; even though I have been teaching myself material and researching independently for years. The loneliness overwhelmed me and the "gifted" program at school--when I finally got in--still was not stimulating in middle school.

We are such a rarity that many in the school system do not know how to react to us. It is not necessarily an easy thing to be gifted--this disavows the expectations about giftedness.

Just hang in tehre and provide the best support you can. Sounds like you are already a good parent!

Classroom teacher - DS5(gr1) has been assessed at a level 11 for home readers as we want him to work on comprehension (what is there to comprehend about 'This is my nose. I use it to smell...'??) after we raised the issue that the readers were too easy and gave some examples of what he was reading at home. Made no difference until the gifted teacher assessed him and came back at 13 year old level. That caused some changes!

My all-time favorites from the folks who didn't get it:

Kindergarten teacher: "You just think he's smart because he sounds smart when he talks."

School psych: "Any child who can write their name at 5 can score at the 99.9th percentile on the WJ-III Cognitive test." Ironically, my ds is dysgraphic and had no idea how to write his name when he took the test... so I guess even 5 year olds who can't write their names can score at the 99.9th percentile.. but wait! Wouldn't that mean that all 5 year olds are at the 99.9th percentile???? Which leads to my next all-time favorite quote, from the head of the committee that chose the elementary math curriculum at my children's early elementary school:

"Then when I was 24 and I was shopping one day.... I finally *finally* got it - fractions made sense!"

~~~

And the all-time classic from one of ds' gifted teacher's who actually did get it, and was trying to discourage me from sending him to private school:

"Don't worry too much about where he goes to middle school. He's going to be bored anywhere he goes."

Yep, great. That pretty much sealed my decision not to keep him in our public school district...

polarbear

Why waste your perfectly good head when an empty one is within range?

Do you guys enjoy/appreciate being "gifted"?
Is it better to be in the average range?

It sometimes resembles a curse to learn things and retain them so quickly you (as a student) are penalyzed for posing excessive questions and challenging the textbooks.

Do any of you ever get the sense that professors/co workers/teachers/etc. view you as being "pretentious" or "rude" if you attempt to expound upon previously conducted work or ask for harder assignments?

I love being "gifted"; the benefits far outweigh the costs, IMHO.


Yes, I'd bet good money that each day at least one person finds my way of speaking pretentious/rude/elitist/adversarial/nitpicky/[fill in the blank]. Our household is an amalgam of management consulting, finance, economics, and corporate law...it goes with the territory. But, then, this way of speaking/thinking is what attracted DH and I to one another, so I'd say it paid off handily!