Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy 'Gifted-blindness'

I'm bringing this over from the hothouse thread. I think we need a term for this inability to see the intelligence of highly gifted children. Any suggestions? Have you seen this? Did you live it?

How about ignorance

Oh boy, Trinity, you hit my hot button. I was mislabeled ADHD in third grade.
By 10th grade I was tracked for beauty school.
Not kidding.
My mom made them give me an IQ test.
OOOPs
It was too late, I was used to staring out the windows by then, although I scored high enough on my ACT test to get into college, even though I stopped going to school for about a year and had many incompletes and F's senior year.
It can happen and it is very, very bad.
However, it won't happen to any of the kids with parents on this board, that is certain.

Incog

My DS9 was very much in a box at school. Just doing what he needed to, not making waves, staring out the window when bored, etc. His 2nd grade teacher didn't get him at all and didn't recommend him for the GT program although he met the scores (laws in our state have changed since then). She kept him out of the GT program and I haven't quite forgiven her completely. His 3rd grade teacher had him a week and wanted to know why I didn't have him in the GT program!!! She brought him out of his box in her room and happily he has stayed out and is his interesting, creative self at school that he is at home. It is interesting how one teacher can see what another one is completely blind to.

So true! Even my already-GT-IDd kid was invisible to his 1st grade teacher. Sometimes people see only what they want to see.

I like ignorance, or hubris: ala "I know everything there is to know about kids, and you don't because you're not a teacher." Ugh.

Trinity - you are on fire!

incogneto - that is a shocking and sad story. My own elementary school experience was similiar. And it really makes me sad to think there are kids out there now in a situation whose parents don't have the time, energy, or resources to truly know and advocate for their child. They could easily fall through the cracks.

I've come to the conclusion that my GT kid is essentially invisible at our school. Around 40% of kids are designated GT by a NNAT > 92 or by portfolio (ie. borderline NNAT score + hothoused preschooler). So in the school's eyes, they are all the same. Whether they are performing at grade level (which most are), or years ahead of grade level. And it is just ignorance. There is a regular steady population of level 3+ kids through our school, but they aren't really served.

This absolutely happened when dd started K. I had told the teacher at the open house night before school started that dd was reading and I had asked if she had suggestions for books. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "Oh, I can't really think of any in particular".

We were only at this school for the first 3 months of K and then we moved to NV but before we left dd had gotten a progress report from her teacher. She had marked dd "at grade level" or below in every subject INCLUDING reading, of which hardly any of the other kids were doing yet. Two weeks later we were in NV and at our new school. Within a week I was told that they needed to do some testing with dd since she seemed quite advanced. A few weeks later I was told academically she tested out at 2nd grade level with her reading at 2nd grade as well. She was too advanced for any of the K work, but they didnt want to skip her yet due to maturity issues (and the fact that she had only just turned 5) and so all year she did accelerated work.

How did the first teacher not see this at all? My answer: Gifted blindness. Thank goodness we had to move! I can't imagine where dd would be right now if she was still in that school.

Tammiane - that is so annoying! My son's entire report card this fall said "AS EXPECTED" for every subject. You expect 1st graders to be working years above grade level? Ok - impressive. And he scored below that level in MUSIC. He's been taking piano for a year and a half and can nail minuets, etc. I did send an e-mail to the music teacher on that one. It's almost like if they acknowledge they're ahead of grade level, they'll have to do something about it.

May I join the club?

I do not think DD's teacher gets her at all. She is very well meaning, listens to what I say, but I do not think she actually believes for a moment that DD is that gifted. Bright? yes. Gifted? not really... After all she is not reading or doing maths yet.

So incredibly frustrating, isn't it Isa?

There's an audio book on the shelves of our library that entitled: 'When you believe it, you'll see it."

LOL! I don't think it's about Giftedness.

So Incogneato - your name goes way back! So glad you are here with us now! ((hugs))

Wow, I can't tell you how many times I've heard that one!

Do you ever find this "blindness" in other parents of kids the same age as yours?

Our K teacher who recognized DS6 was new, too. 1st grade teacher? An old hand.

Maybe I will throw in something else, to make this spin.
From my observation it is either really stupid teacher, or a gifted teacher that can't handle gifted students.
I have a few examples of stupid ones, that did not get my son at all, but also a really gifted one, ADHD but gifted, who could not handle him.

In defense of my son's teacher this year (who's not the greatest, most passionate teacher in the world) - she has 26 1st graders. Some who can barely recognize a handfull of sight words or add 2 single digit numbers (despite the fact we're at a high achieving school). She is trying somewhat with the high end kids. But I don't think she has nearly the resources, support, or understanding (no GT training is required at our school, unlike some other schools in our district) to make it really work. And no child left behind just accencuates this. I'm not making excuses for her. But I think the whole "system" is broke and doesn't make it easy to reach kids at the end of the spectrum.

We are probably going to stick it out for this year (socially, my son loves school and I'm about to start "hot housing" his math a bit (which he is excited about) with Singapore - thanks for the permission Trinity! ;-) ), but we're probably going to have to make some kind of change next year.

On the youngest comments, I was also going to say I feel like we get "Well, of course he's ahead, he's the oldest!" on our son as an excuse for his precociousness. He has an October birthday. As if 9 months would push him years ahead? We never really thought of early K for him. He was a very active preschooler and we were in GT denial.

The size one is good too. People are so weird! My son is a shrimp, so he's got that going for him. I've seen very little correlation between academic achievement and chrological age within grades. Behavoir - yes. Achievement - no. And size? I'm pretty sure there'd be no scientific correlation there! I'm surprised teachers feel this way. They must get kids of all size every year at all different levels. That seems really unprofessional.

Getting rid of rote stuff is a great plan. <filing that for later>

In our small town people do notice my 9 year old son's giftedness because he is very articulate and his intelligence shows in his speech and the comments and jokes he likes to make about what is currently happening in the news. We have been asked more than once by people in town when we would let him go to college. They also ask me what grade levels he is "really" working at when I tell them he would be in fourth grade by age.

His musical theater teacher noticed the giftedness when he was four and this is why she gave him several hundred words of script to memorize in addition to the songs he had to learn from "Babes in Arms." I don't think the bright four year olds that are currently in our group would be able to do this.

It is only when he has to do physical activities where he is not able to talk that people don't see the giftedness. He is definitely not physically gifted. It is hard for him when the choreographer and acting teacher tell him they think he is not trying when he is in fact trying very hard, but having to compensate for a mild physical differences for which he has never had any kind of physical or occupational therapy.

kimck: ds is also a shrimp -- not teeny, but on the small side for sure, and a May birthday. Not getting us anywhere!

I think it's absolutely true that teachers often don't recognize giftedness, not least because they have a million children to be watching. That's not necessarily their fault. On the other hand, if a gifted child is brought to their attention, with testing, and they still refuse to do anything, believing not that the child is gifted but slightly advanced or hothoused ... that's the tragedy for these kids, I think. The school district has to weed out the "bright" from the "gifted," and it seems like (at our school at least), they're throwing the baby out with the bath water.