Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Kindergarten identification

I'm looking for help on how to advocate for my 5 year old daughter. I've talked to 2 psychologists and they say she is gifted, however suggested on waiting to pay for testing until she's 6 or 7 years old. We live in CT where it's a identify but not treat state. I'm at a loss because her teacher in her public school is very defensive and dismisses my claims, wanting her to "deal with life and the fact that their are rules." I've plead with her to understand my daughter is extremely bored and beyond her basic kindergarten curriculum (Aubri is reading, writing sentences, does math problems in her head, etc.), yet she's giving her worksheets where she's copying letters. I'm so discouraged and would love it if someone would help me navigate the system.

I can't give much specific advice, but I'm replying to say welcome, and to bump the post for you!

I don't know if you intended to have your daughter's name in post, or whether it's a pseudonym? This is a public forum, and matters can get pretty personal, so most of us stick to DS/DD (dear son/daughter) - my son is not called Colin :-) Up to you, of course, but you can edit your post if you like.

Sounds as though the teacher is frustrated with aspects of your DD's behaviour? I know it's infuriating if you feel you know what's causing it, but I think you may need to focus on that to get anywhere, unless you have other school options.

Testing at 6 or even 8 is generally considered more reliable, but we had to have our DD tested earlier than that to get any traction with school. And it while it didn't solve a our problems it did instantly switch schools response from "crazy pushy parents" to "well if the psychologist says she's gifted and needs xyz.." We didn't magically get everything DD needs but we did get actual conversations... So testing younger than ideal was useful for us.

Our dd is 6 and in kindergarten (late birthday), and was just tested last week. I can imagine that her results will be more reliable than this time last year, but due to other issues our psych said we still won't get a clear picture of her iq. He said her numbers are probably higher than the scores will indicate, so waiting an extra year doesn't magically assure reliability.

We have always heard the right time to test is when the results will make a difference, and I assume they would help your dd now. I can imagine your frustration with the school; we were fed the same bs by the school dd attended last year. We immediately started looking for another option, because dd complained of stomachaches and would beg to stay home from school. Though a new school did not solve Dd's classroom issues, her new teachers and administrators want to help her succeed. It's no surprise that she loves school ths year.

I share that to let you know you aren't alone, and to let you know I wish you luck. It's not a fun journey, but I think you're doing the right thing to test now.

It can sometimes help when the child at least attempts to self-advocate. I know my son loudly announced to his kinder teacher that he could ALREADY READ BOOKS, THANKYOUVERYMUCH. There wasn't a lot of differentiation, and we still had issues, but she did at least give him 1st grade worksheets, and let him read chapter books to the other kids.

Maybe your daughter could write her teacher a little note (about anything, honestly!) to show the teacher she can do it?

Does your school have a gifted coordinator, or a gifted program for older students? If so, you could contact that person and ask for help. Our K teacher just thought we were pushy parents and dismissed our concerns until the gifted teacher got involved and we had the boys tested. Once we had the scores, it was a lot harder for the teacher to say that he wasn't that far ahead. He didn't get out of doing the boring work altogether, but she tried to give him some harder worksheets. Even though they didn't do a lot more for him after we had the scores because it was the end of the year, their attitudes changed, and they finally started letting him move ahead in reading. Also, we were able to get a GIEP in place for this year, which is already making a difference - two weeks into school.

If your daughter is already misbehaving due to boredom, I would definitely get her tested so that you have some proof for the teacher. Unfortunately, however, she is going to have to learn to behave even when bored. Can you ask if you can send in some worksheets or books for her to read when she finishes her work?

Worksheeting kids to death is not necessarily the solution, especially with kindergartners. It's not always a matter of giving them more worksheets to do and keeping them busy, but to make the content and material more advanced and challenging. And many, many public schools are reluctant to do this because they want to adhere to the one-size-fits-all mentality and do not fundamentally want kids to be so advanced of their chronological peers in a classroom.

Kindergarten, today, unfortunately is becoming more about behavior management than on play and learning for fun or the sake of knowledge, imo. The original concept of kindergarten was based on play-based or experiential learning, not on rote-based learning and worksheets.

I thought CT was only marginally better than MA or other states in New England with g/t, though I could be wrong. We moved back to MA from NYC when my 2e/pg son was 4.5 yrs old. He was soon doing what your daughter is doing (reading, writing, and doing math). I ended up withdrawing him from a special needs public school program and placing him in a private gifted school as a result. But that school and another school didn't last long and I'm now un/homeschooling him today.

Part of the big problem with g/t kids in kindergarten is that g/t services don't normally kick in until they're older or there's 'evidence' of giftedness in the form of standardized performance-based testing. So do you try to fight for services without the paperwork? You could. I don't know how far you'll get though. A lot is going to depend on the state, the school, the teachers, etc., which will be out of your control. After all, kindergarten is still NOT federally mandated and thus there are a loopholes here with public schools and g/t kids.

Testing is a can worms and can be a rabbit hole with a kindergarten kid. This isn't to say that you won't get the test score you're expecting. It's just there are many variables involved: the tester, the test itself, the day, whether a child is tired or not, and how willing/cooperative they are going to be on any given day or time. I've had my 2e/pg 7.5-yr-old son tested twice so far, but each time there have been issues and I still lack test scores for DYS. He's been blowing off the test (ie. in June he was using his fingers to count on the test when at home he's talking about how +2 and -2 are divisible but 3 is not so easily).

By all means, you could try supplementing/fostering learning at home and see how far you get, what happens, and where it leads you. See what she's interested it and follow it. There's a lot of things you could do to supplement what the public schools do if she stays.

Depending on how gifted your daughter is, you might want to assess your options: public schools, charter schools, private schools, un/homeschooling and what's doable and what's not.

G/t kids often act up when they're bored and this can increase with the level of giftedness, fyi.

I would avoid saying anything that the teacher might construe as criticism...I try to focus on the district or school curriculum rather than the teacher. So, for instance, I say things like "The curriculum is inappropriate since she already knows the material" rather than saying "My daughter is bored in your class." Also, phrase things as suggestions rather than things they need to do. (Teachers don't want to be micromanaged). So you could suggest sending in a workbook with more appropriate math. Or send in a chapter book that she's in the middle of at home. Act like you symptathize and understand how difficult it must be but want to offer help.

Check to see what your district's policy is on gifted kids (if they have any at all). Do they subject accelerate? Grade accelerate? Level kids according to ability? Have special pull-out programs? Here they have gifted cluster and a special gifted school-within-a-school (for highly gifted) but for K-2 the only options are grade or subject acceleration. The teacher didn't seem to know how to handle it in the classroom (having a kid so far ahead of the others) so we ended up going through the official district protocol of grade acceleration. They gave DD a cognitive abilities test and achievement tests in math and reading. And did some observations to make sure she was mature enough (turned out she has ADHD which I wish they would have picked up on--it's hard to see in kids that young).
But she is doing great--now 7 and in third grade and still at the top of the class for reading and math. Might be something to consider if the school will allow it, and will not give her work at her level within her normal grade. It's frustrating. I'm dealing with it with my DS as well. He has a disability so I don't want to grade accelerate him, but the teacher seems to be at a loss as to how to handle him. He is in first grade and at a third-fourth grade level for reading and math. It's not hard to have him read harder level books, but not so easy for math.