Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Where do all the parents go?

At this point I feel like I need this forum almost daily and mine are 8 and 9 (almost 10). We are sort of just in a holding pattern with DD9 and somewhere in the process of a GIEP for DD8. I still learn things from all of you all the time and checking in to see what is being discussed helps me feel connected to others that actually get it.

I know we should be doing more for our girls, but life is flying by at this point. I know we will need the help of everyone here, probably for some time to come (middle school is going to be here before we know it). I hope you all continue to stick around so I can come to you for advice, support, and camaraderie.

I don't always have much advice to give, but I try to put my 2 cents in when I can. If I had a better handle on our situation I would probably feel more comfortable dishing out advice, but I don't.

What a timely thread! I haven't been back in awhile and now DD is a middle schooler. So true about wanting a place to read/post and just know there are others out there with similar issues.

It just occurred to me that this thread is the perfect place to acknowledge my gratitude to the older parents who have stuck around. Several of you helped me more than you can know! I am thinking in particular of Polarbear, whose replies are unfailingly kind as well as knowledgeable. Cricket2 also comes to mind. But there are many others that I just don't have at my fingertips. Thank you all!

Agree. Lately Polarbear and Pemberley have been helping me out of a bind... having a community of people who have BTDT makes a lot of things more manageable.

DeeDee

So many have helped and supported me on this board. I am so grateful to all of them.

But my child and I really owe a huge debt of gratitude to Polarbear and Lori H. Because of their willingness to share so much and take so much time, my DS's challenges were discovered/identified (I knew what to look into and what specialists to see because of them) and I was able to get the challenges strongly accommodated for and remediated prior to 2nd grade, which is wonderful. He could have languished for years and had God knows how many misdiagnoses.

Also following other's stories is so helpful - Pemberley, Blackcat... Just reading your struggles gives me strength and ideas/information. Nautigirl always makes laugh. Howler Karma always has such good insight and her wit cracks me up. I couldn't imagine where would be if it were the times before internet and I didn't have this resource. Oh and Jon Law... he cracks me up too.

Oh and Master of None... She is so awesome. We wouldn't be where we are without her either. She has helped me so many times ... particularly with the legal aspects of my struggles with the school!

I don't really post, but lurk quite a bit. My best guess is that DD(5) is just a hair below DYS...luckily, we are in a really good school district where the teachers adore her and have already figured out her abilities on their own...so I do not really have any advocacy struggles to share and other than some quirky over excitabilities (that I learned about here), I also do not feel qualified giving advice yet (she is only 5)...

I figure that as she progresses in school, there will be more opportunities through gifted programs and hope that she will continue to get more and more of her needs met. But I have to say, whenever she does something quirky, I check here and sure enough someone has posted about it and received numerous good feedback that I then leverage:)

So a big thanks to the regulars (mentioned above)and their ongoing good advice!

I think in terms of child development milestones and, intentionally take breaks from the subject of giftedness, so that it is not dominating our home life too intensely. I notice maturing in our child about every three months and we think in terms of long-term goals. The high IQ is such an advantage in standardized testing and in more advanced subject matter, that we do not really have problems with schooling as long as the school provides challenging assignments and projects. It is when the children are young and it is hard to assimilate their advanced cognitive ability into the much larger, average group that parents of gifted kids are just waiting for more rigorous education to start.

I don't know if I qualify as an "older parent" because DD is just turning 11, but I don't use the board as often as I did when we were first finding out how far out of the box DD was/is. Part of it is because we have gotten over the initial "what are we going to do with her" sort of phase, but also because as she got older she started advocating for herself and figuring out ways to get what she needed in school and out.
I've recently started back to the board because DD6 is now starting through the cycle of starting school and trying to get her needs met.
Both are also more involved in activities now so there is less time for me to spend here.
I always love the BTDT perspective, and it keeps me coming back, as well as the hope that I can help out with what we've gone through so far for others just starting.

LOL, thank you, and here is insight as to becoming computer-like: emphasizing facts, as seen in this recent post (thanks PB)