Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments I Don't Agree with Recommendation for Son

Oops - I was typing on my phone and didn't get to post my whole message. . .

I met with the Gifted teacher and my son's classroom teacher today. I really like my son's teacher. I really liked the Gifted teacher. But I was there to advocate for my son. The EP was already done before I walked in the room. Snip, snap, let's get this signed and done. I had to put the brakes on and say - "I actually don't agree with the recommendation for my son." All time stood still. Basically, he has to meet four of five criteria-
IQ of 124 (which is lower than what it takes to qualify for gifted at all) - he has an IQ of 155.
Average of 90% or above in all subject areas - he has that.
97th percentile in higher on SAT10 reading - he's in the 99th percentile.
Very superior rating on portfolio - teacher rated him moderate.
133 on the checklist for gifted traits - he has 91 (needed 75 to qualify for gifted).

I had a contentious meeting with the principal after that. And now, I'll be fighting with the district, it seems. Not one of the educators at my son's school today wanted to address the fact that he is highly gifted. I asked four times if they were aware of asynchronous development, underachievement, and extreme perfectionism in highly gifted children. Crickets chirping. . . I told them I brought examples of my son's work from home so that it could be included in the portfolio. Not interested. I asked to re-visit the checklist given what we see at home. No time for that. Please just sign the form. . .

I am so angry I want to cry. I have known for two years that this school was not a good fit for my child. I'm tired of sitting by and doing nothing. This time, I'm advocating for him.

It seems to me he meets all of their requirements. What am I missing? Are you putting things in place for next year or are you trying to get the full time gifted program for this year?

What is their arguments and reasoning?

ETA: ah, I see. They've not given him the points he would need. How frustrated you must be. I hope you come up with an agreement or solution that works for your ds.

Diamondblue,

Are these the requirements for the one-day per week gifted program at his current school that you mentioned in the OP or are they the requirements for a full-time gifted program? Whichever program they are for, I'd just add that it looks like the school is looking for the typical high-achieving-in-the-classroom student rather than an outside-the-box super-high-IQ type student... so you might find once he gets into the program that it was perhaps *better* than where he's at now but still not *enough*.

I can empathize completely with the situation you are in - we've been in that very same place, and had a tough time in early elementary getting a teacher recommendation for our ds to be considered for our local gifted program. Our is 2e so that's part of the issue that was up here, but really - now that he's older and has accommodations for the 2e issues etc in place - he still doesn't really "look" like that super-eager-to-get-straight-As high-achieving student that is also friendly, cute, adorable and all that. I'm not trying to sound snarky here either - that is basically the description of what our school district's elementary school teachers were looking for in referring kids for gifted screening. We did successfully advocate for our ds to be id'd as gifted... but ultimately we realized that we were getting a label but not getting what ds needed, and we gave up on our local public schools. We didn't have an HG program here offered outside of the public schools, but the school we landed in ultimately worked much better for our ds anyway, because they are willing to differentiate based on ability, it's a small school with an interesting, challenging, creative and fun curriculum, and most importantly - the teachers genuinely *like* our ds and they care enough to be interested in his deep thoughts and out-there ideas. Having a teacher who cares has meant more to ds than any type of gifted program could ever have. Ideally the teacher and program would come together - but when things aren't working, it's time to consider what your alternatives are.

Best wishes,

polarbear

eta - fwiw, I wanted to add, I think you have a very strong case for an appeal. I'd include work you have for his portfolio, as well as a recommendation from any other adults who know your ds well (preschool teacher, piano teacher, whoever...).

Isn't it lovely how the schools essentially control the IEP system, yet pretend it's a partnership with parents? Your DS more than qualifies based on three objective measurements (IQ, achievement, reading assessment) and fails based on the two subjective measures that are entirely within the school's control (checklist, portfolio). This basically gives them veto power. It's only a partnership when you're willing to meekly go along with them.

We ran into the same issue when we tried to accelerate our DD a year. Our DD was only offered a 2hr/day gifted pullout, which was actually a bigger mess than leaving her in her regular classroom, and her RIAS score wasn't quite as impressive as your DS's. We followed the institutional bias against acceleration all the way up to the district director of curriculum, before we gave up and homeschooled.

Based on our experience, don't be surprised if every facet of the institution rallies around itself.

In your place, I might try the foot-in-the-door approach:

"We have here three objective measurements which say he's an ideal candidate for the all-day gifted program. We have two subjective measurements which say he's not. These are, in essence, opinions... is it not possible that they are wrong? Could we perhaps agree on a trial in the all-day gifted class, of say, one grading period? This could provide the objective data we need to answer that question."

Excellent point, Dude, about subjectivity and a great idea for compromise.

Isn't it lovely how the schools essentially control the IEP system, yet pretend it's a partnership with parents?


QFT, this.

I, too, go with the "wouldn't it just be easier to TRY what I want? At least I'd go away then, as opposed to my distinct lack of inclination to stop BOTHERING you all at this point in time...."

It's really sad when the process deteriorates to the point that parents really only have pester-power on our side.

I'm also a big fan of what I call "Playing Stupid."

Can you explain to me why... because it seems like one of these things isn't the same. Why are we weighting these factors like this here? Is there a reason why (subjective thing) is more important than (objective external thing)?

What about a trial in full-time gifted AND a one year skip? That sounds like a feasible option given their structure in terms of suitability.

Wow, thank you so much for putting into words my frustrations with the subjective v. objective measures on the checklist. I thank everyone here for their feedback as well. I definitely felt defeated, angry, and sad yesterday. The bottom line is that it became an argument about full-time gifted qualifications, when all I really want is for full-time gifted to be an available option. Honestly, I'm not sure that even full-time would be the right fit. Sometimes those programs can be pressure cookers, and that's not what I want for him either. For right now, my husband and I are going to re-group and try to figure out what the right fit for him would actually be and then go looking to find that (whatever THAT is - lol).

For your amusement, I will share that the principal actually said to me, "WE'RE the educational PROFESSIONALS." I have a Masters in Educational Leadership, just like she does, and I taught gifted students in a different county in Florida. I wanted to say really rude things back to her, but I thought that might undermine my message. Instead I just looked at her and said, "As am I."

I am so very very sorry to hear this. Based on our previous experience I was afraid this might happen to you guys. I think the portfolio and rating scale are both ridiculous. My DD's rating scale was done by her teacher who had no gifted training whatsoever. The first time she completed the rating scale she scored DD at a 45. Yep, she scored my Davidson Scholar at a 45 which means she didn't think my DD was gifted at all. The only reason DD is even in the gifted program is because I asked for a meeting with the principal and teacher to disuss the checklist results. The teacher had no idea we had already done IQ testing and was extremely embarassed when she found out. She re-did the rating scale about a month later and gave her a 76 (just barely qualifying) and said she thought that perhaps DD's ADHD was masking some of her gifted qualities before. Complete BS if you ask me.

I know I mentioned it before, but even with DD finally getting into a full time gifted spot it wasn't nearly enough. It's the same curriculum as the other classes, but it's a quicker pace with some enrichment and special projects thrown in. Oh, and their spelling words are a year above grade level. Essentially, it would be a decent fit for more moderately gifted kids, but completely useless for the HG/PG bunch.

At this point you may want to start looking into a grade skip with perhaps additional subject acceleration. That along with a very good and flexible teacher may work for him. Florida recently passed a bill that requires all public schools to offer subject and grade acceleration options to all students regardless of whether or not they are even in the gifted program. Here is the link to it for more info. http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-6465/dps-2012-111.pdf

I also have the grade skip scale/criteria the school district uses if you would like a copy. It's a bastardized version of the IAS basically, but I had to go through a lot to get the school district to let me have it. PM me with an e-mail address if you'd like to see it.

I also feel I should mention that DD was placed in the full time gifted spot in error. She, like your son, only met 3 of the criteria. She was performing spectacularly in the full time program. High A's across the board with no effort at all and her teacher was the one to suggest additional subject acceleration before the first quarter was even over. For many reasons we ended up leaving the full time program at the end of the first quarter and moved DD back to her previous school. I found out a couple of months after she left the full time program that they had discovered the placement error shortly before we left and were getting ready to ship DD back to a regular class with once a week pull-out. That's right, they were going to put DD who clearly was doing great in a full time program and needed additional challenge even in that environment in a regular 2nd grade class.

My point is that the school district doesn't care if the full time program is a better fit or whether or not the child is doing well in it. All they care about is their placement criteria. I'm sorry, but I seriously doubt they will even consider a trial full time placement for your son.