Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Work-place GT parents group?

Has anyone had the experience of creating an affinity group at work for parents of GT children?

I was talking with a co-worker recently whose son has recently been tested and admitted to a pull-out program in a nearby school district. She was telling me about all the issues she's gone through with the school until now (in that district they don't pull out until 3rd grade). It was great to have someone to talk to about stuff - and, while our children are of very different ages, we had some very common experiences.

She was saying she doesn't have a lot of people to talk to about this (her son is a "miracle baby" born from in-vitro, and she says she and her husband often joke that some day some "smarty pants" will come tell them they got the wrong baby). I take that to mean there's no history (at least not identified) of GT in her family - and her son's a fabulous mystery to them every day!

Anyway, i know of at least a couple of other parents at work (we have about 900 people in the company locally) who also have GT kids of different flavors (one was a mom who really helped me when we were looking at schools for my older son). And as my friend and i were talking, we thought it could be really helpful for many of us to have a place where we can get together and share info on resources, on challenges, and on cool news (without feeling like we're boasting or feeling bad b/c other people's kids don't do... whatever...).

Has anyone had any experience with this? There's a little part of me that is worried about how it may be perceived... but at the same time, i think it would be a great way - even for kids to meet other kids eventually.

Any suggestions on what to do, not to do, how to do it, etc??

I know a few people at work who either have children in gt programs or have questions about them. One of my friend's children is in a program that sounds great and another friend is struggling to figure out if her child is gt - based on test scores, yes, based on teacher recommendation, no (go figure!). I have pointed her towards some informative sites including this forum.
This is only a recent 'discovery' for me, and I didn't even have to bring it up! I am taking it easy, trying not to come on too obsessive about the whole thing even though I am a bit obsessive about it! So I guess that would be my advice, probably err on the side of low-key.
If you really wanted to organize something more structured, definitely run it by your h.r. dept. for their input (maybe that's really obvious).
If you do come up with a good approach I would be very interested in hearing about it!

Would it be possible to regionally label the group and make it open to the community but ask your employer to use a room in the facility to host the mtg - just like a weight watchers group might. Just as an FYI, Chris has an important note about starting with HR. And from HR's perspective you'll want to say clear of using employer webboards etc. for the group.

If you open it up to non-ee's and just request to use a mtg room - probably during non-work time or if lunch is accepted as personal time... Support is a wonderful thing.

Perhaps you can join your local Mensa group? Usually they have a directory of members and then you may recognize a few familiar names to start off with?

Anytime you define a group primarily on high intelligence, it can be viewed negatively by others, even though that is not the intent.

Perhaps you can define the purpose of the group more dynamically.

Hm. all good points, but doesn't seem like it should be so difficult!

We couldn't do open to non-ee's due to company policy. But i suppose we could do it word of mouth with the few folks we already know and hope it goes from there... less "formal" that way, i suppose. The other thought i had was that there should be a SENG group meeting in the fall, and we could advertise for that on the bulletin boards (real paper)... and see who shows up... but i was hoping to not have to wait till teh fall (october-ish...).

Hm. hm. hm. hm. *sigh*

Hey nobody is saying HR would say no... can't hurt to ask maybe you could be a group with an affliation to a larger group or just watch how you labble (avoid gt terms that might annoy in the name of getting what you want). It's not like you are trying to bring in a religious or political group...