Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How would you interpret this?

If during a discussion about asynchronous development and your DC, an educator said something to the effect that they knew somebody who was accelerated two grades and it was the worst thing ever to do socially?

I would think they are not for accelloration.

LOL, yeah - I think that's a safe assumption. Could just be me, but it didn't come across well, given the conversation.

My interpretation -

Sorry

Oh, and the educator is the GT teacher. I didn't come away from it with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

I'd think they had limited experience with one child. And they placed a lot of importance on being socially accepted. But I wonder if that one child was socially accepted by his age peers before the skip? And I wonder if anyone ever taught the older kids that it was socially unacceptable to reject another person solely on an age difference?

No, I don't think you would come away with anything even approaching a good feeling...

I think I'd recommend "A Nation Deceived" for the person. I might even order a copy for the educator. A gift!

I'm pretty sure I went through all these expressions in the immediate seconds following the comment.

The person who was skipped was a family member of the person I was speaking with. I was a bit perplexed by an anecdotal experience coming from an educator in an official capacity, not that he/she isn't entitled to a personal opinion.

I'm left with an impression that this is not a person likely to change his/her position or concede that it's not *always* a bad decision.

I actually found myself explaining that it was not a decision made lightly and there was a great deal of support and recommendation from staff (teacher/principal/psychologist) at the previous school. I hate that I felt compelled to do that, but I was taken aback. This is such a different experience than we've had before.

A lot of "GT teachers" aren't educated or experienced in teaching gifted kids. They can have the same backward ideas about giftedness that most general ed teachers have and their opinions often don't count for much.

OHGrandma has hit the nail on the head with acceleration: gifted kids have few or no peers, which is what makes it difficult to make friends; it has nothing to do with age. Unfortunately, they won't have many peers in a higher class either - older kids, like adults, may be able to match or exceed their knowledge, but they will never match gifted kids' intelligence. Therefore, I say it's best to choose their educational path based on its academic merit, not its social.