Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional High School Options

ASVA, I would investigate why his grades in his areas of strength are dipping suddenly to B+. If he has a consistent record of performing at a particular level in a subject and there is a big deviation in recent months, it needs some investigation. If your school provides online breakdown of the grading, you can look at the scores for each section along with your son to see where it has dropped since the last report card. Sometimes, my son has a temporary drop in grade if he turns in an assignment late or gets just a single vocabulary word wrong in a single test and it picks up back to normal levels in a couple of months because the grading is based on various factors. There could be other issues like burnout, being bored, vision problems, stress etc going on and only your son can tell you what it is. If you conclude that there is nothing of concern happening, go ahead and apply to the magnet school. As you said, these schools have multiple admissions tests and some of them are standardized tests like the ISEE and your son might do very well in those tests. Most of them look at the whole child and not at the grades in one semester to get a good idea on who they will admit. Ask your son to do a shadowing day at the magnet school to see if he likes the school. Also, have your son prepare a portfolio of his best work, his qualifying scores for SET and other accomplishments and write a letter to the school on why he thinks that he would be a good fit in that school and also how that school fits his interests.
Good luck.

Ashley,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful suggestions. I feel it is exactly what we need to do to help him get back on track. Previously, we just reminded him about test and asked him to prepare for it, but we never sat down with him to analyze what have caused the drop in grade. We knew we didn't get the right coaching method but we had no clue, or maybe forgot how we should coach our ADHD kid, until I saw your post. Your suggestion is very enlightening and I do appreciate your every single input.
Best,

Thank you Val for your nice comments. We wish he could make his own decision, which will make everything easier.