Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion sigh: update

My DD's is in the same ballpark FSIQ-wise and she is thriving after the skip.

I was very concerned about skipping but I ended up being more concerned about the effects of not skipping. She has always liked school, wasn't bored and teachers generally love her because she has always been enthusiastic about learning.

In kindergarten she showed no issues socially but they became more apparent in 1st and even more so in 2nd grades as her natural curiousity and just fey abilities to absorb knowledge started to make her a bit of an ugly duckling.

So far, I am really happy that we skipped her because she has bloomed (so far) without even breaking stride and the social issues that we had seen appear to have disappeared (touch wood).

Ultramarina, I LOVE what your DS's teacher is doing for your DS and I'm not sure I'd want to move him, either. I'd love for DS to get some similar differentiation. To be fair, though, my parents were both grade-skipped and have periodically mentioned that they HATED it (socially, not academically). So I probably have been over-exposed to negative attitudes about grade-skips!

What you are describing with your DS's writing IS impressive. My DS5 does not have either the fine motor-control, nor has he shown the interest in extensive writing yet. So your DS's writing DOES sound very advanced!

Indigo, you know, at this point what I get is more of a "feeling," about this school's comfort level with advanced readers. I actually would love to go look at the K-2 school library to see what is in there. Although I've always volunteered at the school, I've never had a good reason to be inside the library browsing . Since I frequently take my children to our local public library, the selection of books at the school library is not a huge problem for us. I have often wondered, though, about children whose parents do NOT have time to take them to the library. If the selection is limited of higher level books - that IS a real problem for them.

Last year in 2nd grade at this school, DD was said to have what I though was a VERY conservative lexile level - in fact, I have always though the school GROSSLY underestimated it (but DD just read more difficult books at home anyway), but I am starting to wonder if it wasn't actually because it is a K-2 school and kids aren't "SUPPOSED" to usually have such high lexile levels. This year, at a new grade 3-5 school, DD8 suddenly has a "school declared" lexile range 1100-1275...hmmmmm...she didn't suddenly become a better reader. This lexile seems closer to her actual reading level, though.

So I guess what I should emphasize is that the gifted magnet (which my DD has attended for two years+ now) is essentially equivalent to a 1-year skip, perhaps a bit more. (It is a true GT program in that they only take 130+ kids.) So, in essence, if we skip DS now, he will end up double-skipped, academically (though not socially or age-wise--there, he would be single-skipped). I think skipped kids are virtually nonexistent at the magnet. Basically, skipping him now would mean that we are saying that he needs MORE than a skip. Does that make sense?

Yes, it makes perfect sense and because it is only a one year 'age' skip it sounds tremendous because you will get only the one year age skip but really get a 2 year academic skip. I would give my eye's teeth for the chance to do that for my DD.

My DD should probably skip one more year frankly because she is advanced proficient right out of the gate but it just curls my toes to think of skipping her that much right now and potentially disrupting her social adjustment. I am planning on waiting until 6th grade (middle school) before getting back on the advocacy 'campaign trail' if she is still such a front runner by then for that. In the meantime I am planning on doing stuff with her outside of school just to keep the cognitive juices flowing.

We have a similar situation, but instead of a magnet program, a gifted program starts mid-3rd grade (DD survived screening and is going through the selection process now...it is a LLLOOONNNG process). Since I knew this was coming up, I figured I just needed to be patient, enrich at home (and outside of school at a local gifted center), and look for differentiation wherever possible. The "all leveling out at 3rd grade" myth has not proven to be at all true for us - in fact DD is showing a pattern of staying ahead, while also making rather large learning leaps. This has worked for us, but then again, my kiddos are on the young side of their grades.

It sounds like your magnet program will eventually provide more needed challenge, so I would focus on blazing a path to get him there. Positive, supportive mentors are HUGE along the way (DD was so lucky to get a teacher that really understood her in 1st grade and was so enthusiastic about having a student excited to learn!). It sounds like your son has a special teacher, who will support, challenge, encourage and nurture - such teachers can ignite a passion for learning that blazes for a LONG time!

Makes total sense! And, perhaps it explains why the principal is perceived to be against skipping K, as she understands that would make him double-skipped at an academic level.

Hmm, I'd think, though, that the principal -- since you mentioned s/he is over both gen ed and gifted magnet -- would want to be in on the planning for DS. Any reason to believe s/he wouldn't want to help figure out how best to accommodate him until he gets to the magnet. I'd presume they've had other kids in this situation, whether coming from your bldg or from other schools that feed into the magnet... and that the principal would be aware of options. After all, they should be aware that the need for such differentiation doesn't suddenly begin in 2nd. Good luck!

(And can I add, "Oh, how I wish we had a gifted magnet!")

When my DD had done 6 months of K and was being skipped to the start of yr 1 (she was supposed to do 6 terms of K in our weird system, purely due to being a mid year baby) she went into a 1/2 class were ALL the other girls would be yr2s. Because of this gender issue I was asked (clearly without much thought), if she as steady for yr2. Also without much thought (I had been so unprepared to be asked that) I said "No!". By the end of of yr 1 she totally could have to gone into yr3 and I really regretted saying no, and I still do. She would have had another year of working hard to do well... Writing, particulalry hand writing, was also her weak area and I had no concept of just how far she's come in one year.

I am already wondering what amazing teacher gift to get for this amazing teacher. Seriously, I keep telling her how grateful I am. She is young. It's a reminder that young can be great! But she has also mentioned having a mentor with a special interest in giftedness.

DH brought up, and rightly, that she may be struggling with the balance of doing all she can to keep DS interested and "alive" while also helping the kids in the rest of the class get up to grade level. The gen ed part of school is 90% free/reduced school lunch. Many of these kids need a lot from her. This made me feel bad for her, to think of it this way. No wonder she wants him to go elsewhere for instruction some of the time.


To be 100% honest, the magnet is about 1/4 of the school and I don't believe it's where the principal's heart lies. There are bigger fish to fry.

Weirdly, there is no head gifted honcho at the school. It's just the teachers and the principal.

Oh how I wish their was an affordable gifted anything.

Yeah, we are very lucky, and we realize it (though the gifted school has a few issues-very heavy workload, emphasis placed on competition, and, actually, no differentiation within the gifted track). K-1 is tricky, though, as can be seen here. DD9 had a totally different K-1 experience at a much more advantaged school, and ironically no one tried to differentiate for her or help her there really at all. So this has been pretty interesting.