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I've raised a few questions in the past but have mostly been lurking on the board for several weeks. I've seen a few other posters reference Florida issues and thought I'd start a discussion for the Florida folks to compare notes.

My research so far seems to show that the state rules are pretty generic and that it all depends on the county how things are implemented. I live near the county boundary and the nearest elementary school in my county past my neighborhood school is almost an hour away. No magnet programs at the elementary level in the county anyway. But the next county over has a gifted magnet for elementary - currently researching what it would take to get in there.

I had to push for testing my DD6 in K last year due to her unhappiness and acting out in regular class. After all the time frames - initial request in September, she was finally placed in a gifted pullout in late March, 1/2 hr a day. Since there was no K group she was placed in the 1st and 2nd grade gifted class where she fit right in.

Of course the evaluation the school did isn't used by anyone else for any other purpose (the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scale-RIAS). And everyone, from teachers, including the gifted teacher, to other gifted parents, to her ped (whose opinion I usually appreciate very much), to her counselor looks at me like I have three heads when I talk about accelerating her. At this point in time I'm not sure acceleration is her best option, but I'm in the process of getting private testing so that I have appropriate info to plug in the IAS and follow up with the school before it starts again in August.

Any other perspectives?

Hi Prissy,

Isn't is strange that people seems to have such strong opinions against acceleration! I have never understood this. A couple regular ed teachers have remarked to me that they are against accelerating students, hinting that maturity is far more important than challenge. They'd rather have a whole classroom of older than usual students (maybe better behaved in their minds). The other gifted parents definitely look that way, possibly because they're jealous or don't want their kids to fall behind a peer (or because they're not creative or courageous enough to do it for their kids, or maybe they recognize that their kids might not be ready for something like that). The other parents of NG kids are the worst critics, I've found.

Don't let them influence you!! You know what you daughter needs and is ready for better than others.

One defense: don't share unless with professionals who will help you accomplish what you want. It's lonesome to not be able to share, but that's what we're here for!

Being the victim of a "bad" skip, myself, I guess I do feel a little defensive of the people who oppose skipping. It's not that I think skipping is inherently bad. But I don't think skips solve every problem and they have the potential to cause a different set of problems. They are certainly not a good fit for every kid who could handle them academically. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I know that the people who skipped me meant well. But I do not think skipping was a good thing for me. Academically, I still remained unchallenged. Socially, it was devastating. I know others who have been skipped who feel the same way. So people are not just making up these stories. I am sure they are over-generalizing the moral. Skips are a good tool for some kids and not for others. Your job is to figure out which group your kid fits into.

If you do your research are really think that it is best, then don't let them stop you.

I suspect you needed a second skip, acs. I think you got all the bad and none of the good from your skip, sadly, because you bore the social pain but didn't get enough of a skip to get the academic benefit.

Not that I know what I'm talking about, mind you...

I think my skip worked because I was skipped into a GT school. I'm hoping DS' works because he was skipped early and will grow up with those kids.

I do know what you mean, that a second skip might have challenged me more. But I know the kids in that next class up pretty well, too. And socially it would have been even more of a nightmare. It was a very small town school and the social consequences of breaking rules very real. And I broke the rules once and the thought of what would happen if I did it again makes me cringe!

It did not bother me that they were teaching me things I already knew, because socially I had so much to learn from my age peers. My parents ran a family business and that kept me academically challenged but miles from other kids my age, so school, for me, was for friendship. And the skip ruined it for me.

I don't want anyone to generalize this to mean that all kids should be with their age peers, because that is not what I am saying. But I am saying that kids who are doing well with their age peers should be skipped only with caution.

I agree with what Dottie says above. Between the two of us, we represent a skip gone well and a skip gone bad. Keeping both in mind, I think, is the way to make sure you avoid the pitfalls at both ends of the spectrum.

[quote=Dottie
5. DS is global

[/quote]

IMO, this is key to whole grade skipping, otherwise subject acceleration is the way to go. ACS, do you think that you would have fit in the "globally gifted" category? I'm sure there were other factors involved in your situation, but I hve seen parents push for a whole grade skip for a student who is precocious in one subject only.

In our experience, we have one child who is very high in math/science abilities, but more down to earth on everything else. He fits in very well with age-related peers. Test scores show the 99.9's in his high subjects, but more high average in others. We did whole grade skip him once, but wll not do anymore, instead we have focused on subject accleration.

The other DS is very globally gifted, even test scores reflect this. He doesn't have the peaks and valleys of his brother, just a constant evenness across the board. He doesn't fit in with age peers. Two whole gradeskips have made the situatuion livable, but not the utopia we were looking for.

If you go by Ruf's levels, I think a level 4 across the board would do better with whole gradeskips than a child with mixed Level 5 and Level 3 abilities. (very simplistic but I think you can get my meaning)

I am very global. Academically, there was never any problem; I was at the top of my new class in a few days creating resentments from the previous top of the class kids whom I displaced. The problem was that I left the class in which I had already established friendships and was something of a leader and was put in a class that shunned me. I think this is more likely to happen in small schools/small towns. But girls I think can be especially sensitive to disruption of the social order.

My first grade teacher initiated the skip because she "didn't have anything to teach" me. It wasn't my family's idea. Because the school recommended it, my family and I went along with it.

I really appreciate everyone's responses - every little bit helps. I didn't really mean for this to turn into a discussion only on acceleration, but I'll go with that for now.

The comments from others have come up in the context of testing and research. I've spoken with the ped and other professionals to get recommendations for testing and they ask why. Well, because I'm evaluating my daughter's learning environment and investigating how to best support her intellectual needs - accleration is part of that picture. Hard not to talk about it.

The ped, whose DS is identified as gifted, immediately describes my daughter as too emotionally immature, based on the behavior issues we've had this school year. I perceive those behavior issues as mostly gifted related and to a lesser degree DD's emotional OE, maybe I'm just making excuses.

I've tried to discuss GT options with other GT parents and the teacher of the GT pull-out (whose DS has been accelerated 1 grade and is currently in middle school). I've also talked around discreetly to try and identify 1st grade and 2nd grade teachers that would or would not be a good fit for my DD6. All those discussions lead to the pull-out as the only option because 1)the school is not interested in skipping or 2)the parents are not interested (although they've struggled all year with a poor fit with their DC and the teacher) or 3)what will you do in middle school school and high school when she is younger than everyone else.

I know the answer to No. 3 (I'm more interested in finding a solution to the problem my DD has right now than a problem that may or may not even be a problem in 4-6 years) and that usually ends the discussion, but I can't respond to No. 2 - everyone has to make that decision for their own DC. Still working on No. 1; as I referred to before am working the Iowa manual to try and layout a reasonably objective evaluation.

One other comment we've had is that DD6 should be with other like ability same age children rather than older kids. I agree absolutely, and would love to place her in the GT magnet school in the adjacent district. They only start in 2nd grade, would need to get an exemption since we are out of their district. Therefore not an option for next year, unless we get a waiver and a skip - not likely.

I suspect my DD is more along the MG/HG side of things, but she is desperate to learn - soaks everything up like a sponge, synthesizes it and cycles it back out days or weeks later in some other context. I would decribe her as more global than subject specific, but that need to know is a driving force and it's generally not being met in her regular classroom

She is currently attending a science based nature camp and begs to continue going there rather than the other summer program with her best friend. That other program goes on daily field trips roller skating, swimming and to movies. The only field trip that she is willing to bail out on the science camp is to Busch Gardens!

I remember my personal experience, long ago though it was. The ones who were eager to learn at 5, 6, 7 yo didn't get the opportunity to do so in school and by the time many got the opportunity they either didn't care or had found other ways to feed that need. I've heard it gets easier after about 2nd or 3rd grade when they are better able to 'feed' themselves, but I've got to get her there still hungry, without emotional damage, and without a bad reputation for her emotional OE that she cannot yet control (we are working on it, but it's a work in progress).

Someone in another thread mentioned a coworker saying "What about all those bright kids who turned out fine with no extra accomodations" or something to that effect. My response is - what about all those bright kids who didn't. I know personally more than a few who either fell through the cracks altogether or had to take a long, hard, twisted road to get where they finally got. I know I can't save her from everything, but this is fundamental.

Homeschool is not an option for us - I work full time as the primary breadwinner and I do not have the appropriate tempermant - I love my DD6 dearly, but we already rub each other the wrong way much too often (I am so not looking forward to those teenage years!).

On another note about Florida resources. I've heard mixed reviews about one of the psychologists mentioned at Hoagies. The gist was that the local establishment might not have very high regard for results from that psych. Depending on your purpose in testing that might need to be a consideration.

If anyone needs specifics, please PM me.