Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy To accelerate or not accelerate, that is the ?

Here's the background:
Grandson, now 8.5, is in third grade. Teacher this year recommended he be tested for the gifted program. He will begin the gifted pullout program for math that starts at the beginning of the next semester, in 2 weeks. They did language arts the first semester but his teacher in 2nd grade did not identify him as potentially gifted.
We've had custody of him for almost 3 years, after a chaotic start in life. He had a lot of emotional, behaviorial and social issues in school, which have diminished to a normal 8 year old boy level this year. As his other issues have diminished, his intellectual ability has become more apparent. At the beginning of 1st grade, he was testing on grade level. At the beginning of 2nd grade, he was testing at the 3rd grade level. At the beginning of 3rd grade, he was testing at the 5th grade level.
The pullout program will be a nice diversion, but I fear the pullout programs just make it easier for the teachers to work with the rest of the class, and don't teach a lot extra. His teachers have been great, and this year his teacher has been allowing him to work on a book he is writing, nothing big, just your typical comic book hero type of thing. But it's been a great learning experience while keeping him occupied when he's finished his other assignments.
We have immersed our grandson in extracurricular activities, 'Earth club' at school, music, swimming, Scouts, church, and included him in our farm business raising registered cattle. The more he does, the more he wants.
At this point he could easily skip a grade, but with a rocky start emotionally & socially in school, I'm hesitating even discussing it with the school. On the other hand, if he starts acting out in the next year due to boredom, it'll be bad for him, and bad for the kids around him.
We had recognized his giftedness when we got him mid-K. When discussing it with a friend who had just retired after 25 years as an elementary principal, he said "let him be the big fish in a small pond", meaning don't push to accelerate him.

Any advice on knowing when acceleration is the best option, or when it's better to supplement the education at home and let the child remain with his chronological peers? FWIW, he does have 1 buddy his age that is his peer, mentally and chronologically. I would probably talk to his parents about acceleration and see if we could request them be accelerated together.

Also, our elementary is K-5, with middle school being 6-8. Any recommendations on best year to accelerate, 3rd to 5th, or 4th to 6th?

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback.
I'll have to check with the gifted program supervisor to get the results of the additional testing. I was informed he was accepted but haven't been given any other information. That was shortly before Christmas break, so I'll check with them next week.
Some of the extracurriculars are similar age groups, his den is all 8 & 9 year old boys, but the pack covers 1st through 5th grades. He's in a several different organizations with cattle, those are junior groups that cover 8 through 21. We include him in the meetings for the adults, also. He does gravitate to older kids, and loves being included in the adult organizations.
His self-esteem is fragile. I can see acceleration giving him a boost, but the first time he struggles with something he would probably dissolve in tears. He tends to be a bit overbearing with his peers, he wants to help them a bit too much in class. So being the 'big fish' in the small pond hasn't always worked out. He is getting more popular this year as his social skills are maturing.
He definitely is not talented athletically, so I've had him in skating and swimming lessons to give him a challenge without direct competition with other kids. Piano lessons, and soon flute lessons, also have provided a challenge for him.
I'm concerned he will not develop good study & work habits with the current curriculum being so easy. His school does use the Accelerated Reading program through Renaissance Learning, that helps challenge him. He's a Civil War buff & reads anything he can find on it & Abraham Lincoln; but also likes to read books like the Hardy Boys, or space, or about anything.
I'd be happier if the school also subscribed to the Accelerated Math offered by Renaissance Learning.
I think I'll watch how things go this next semester.
How much time does it take for a school to make a decision about skipping a grade? We're in Ohio and the Ohio standards do include grade acceleration, but I don't know our schools policy on that.

Grandma-

Kudos to you! It sounds as if you have really turned that boy around. Whatever choices you make regarding school, he is one lucky kid to have such a loving and involved caregiver.

best wishes-

Hi OHGrandma!
I'm really celebrating what you said above. Yippee!!

You are correct in that he was probably being slowed down by 'other issues' and that now that he has found himself, he may continue to 'accelerate.'

I also like that the teacher found something for him to do with his spare time. Do you think it's true that he is learning to challenge himself with his superhero book.?

Personality makes Such a difference. Some kids are best left alone to push themselves through project they choose such as the superhero book. Other kids are more like my son, who is now age 11, who has the "Goldilocks Problem."

Everything my son did at school was either too easy - which led to disruptive behavior, or too hard, which meant that if he was required to make the slightest effort there was tears and whining and hopelessness. ((I could have handled the tears and whining, that's normal for underchallenged kids, but the hopelessness really scared me.)) Because there was no pull out, and no subject acceleration, and his LOG was really high, (more on LOG Later)we went for the full grade skip, and we have seen great improvement in his learning to deal with being challenged. After a little more than a year, he still has the Goldilocks Problem, but to a shadow of what it was.

I agree not to put all your eggs in the pull-out basket, but they can be fun and help with attitude towards school. Let's hope that the teacher uses the time to help others and not plan parties and cool experiential learning like in my experience. So much depends on the teacher, so if the school will allow you to observe the possible teachers for next year and help choose, that's a good thing. I agree that if you are going to go for the gradeskip, you want to get the system rolling now.

You didn't mention if your son is old or young for the grade. If he is young for grade you might want to be very careful to use the test scores and fill in the Iowa Acceleration Scale and to read the Manual. Perhaps your gifted coordinator can show you how it works? ((sometimes this is too much to hope for))

There are levels of giftedness. ((Here's the LOG talk.)) Most Gifted children do fine with pull outs, subject accelerations and rich afterschool and summer experiences. That's why most Principles and Teachers are against gradeskipping. OTOH, many of the kids here, on this particular forum, are in the top 5% of the group of Gifted Kids. They really really need 'extream measures.' I hope you can get the testing or test results you need to figure this out now, because a skip from 3rd to 5th is better than a skip from 4th to 6th, which is what we did. One weird thing about the Iowa Scale is that it is geared to the needs of the majority of gifted kids. When I hang around with parents of kids who are in the top tenth of a percent in individual IQ scores, they laugh at some of the cautions of the Iowa Scale! They have a short version of their own:

PG-parents version of IASM:
When do you accept a grade skip?
When the school will allow it! Bridge year, into a siblings grade, and against the child's will - all ok if your gut says "GO!"

So you can see that LOG (level of giftedness) makes a big difference. Sorry this isn't simple. One more caution - although achievment and ability tests are normally given in group settings, to get an 'acurate enough' IQ test to really determine LOG, one needs an individually administered IQ test. One thing I really like about the Iowa Acceleration Scale test manual is that it explains and groups all these wild tests that seem so unfamiliar at first.

So good luck and ((pats on the back))
Smiles,
Grinity

Wouldn't it be great if he could get the gradeskip WITH is best friend?

I contacted the director of the gifted program at school and received some information. After the teacher referral in the fall he was only tested on the math portion of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to see if he qualified for the gifted program(ETC in our school). He ranked at the 98th national percentile. Honestly, I was shocked that he ranked that high. While our school scores above average in the state achievement tests, the math scores lag behind the language scores. The school just doesn't have a strong math curriculum. Since the ITBS is an achievement test, I didn't expect him to do as well as he did. He does like to play with numbers, and he's been exposed to higher math at home, so he's been absorbing a lot without any formal plan past the school teaching him how to add double digit numbers.

This is the plan I'm formulating at this time:
1. The one extremely critical thing we have provided him is stability. I think we need to exhaust every option to keep his mind engaged & stimulated, while keeping his friends and his grade placement stable. That's what we have been doing, it just looks like we'll be stepping up the educational activities a notch.
2. His current teacher encourages & welcomes extra activities sent from home. He's allowed to work on his book, work on sudoku puzzles, read as much as he wants for their Accelerated Reading program. I get books from the public library to meet his demand for more books. I'm going to add a few more nonfiction, history & biography books to his selection.
3. I'm ordering Singapore Math books to provide a more orderly approach to his exploration of math at home. He loves doing things like this at home but it's been mostly workbooks I pick up at Kmart to keep him busy for a couple days. His school assigned homework takes less than 5 minutes, only because he writes slowly.
4. He's taking a foreign language enrichment class after school this semester, we'll see where that leads us.
5. We've reached a 'happy place' this year. He's happy and well behaved at school. I enjoy teaching him things which enhance his school education, but I work away from the home/farm and could not homeschool. If you don't have a farm background you may not be aware, but the farm provides a wonderful hands-on, live science labratory, and we turn normal activities into learning experiences. Friday he had first-hand experience with a newborn calf with hypothermia. Not only did he learn about hypothermia(he already knew quite a bit)--he got to save a calf's life. Last year we took a side trip to Gettysburg when we went to a cow show. He knows how to grow his own food, and cook it. I love listening to him practice piano & his flute. We love doing things with his scout den. I love planning projects with him. While building scenery for his model trains we study geology to build realistic mountains, what grows in different climates, etc.

I've read that 'hothoused kids' tend to level off around the 3rd-4th grade, whereas Joe(definitely not hothoused!) started level and has been accelerating at an increasing pace on achievement scores. If this continues to happen, a skip would be more appropriate for Joe in middle school, I think. If he levels off as 'just' a bright student, we'll just have fun doing what we do now.
I'll investigate some additional testing in the next year to have the results in hand should we pursue grade acceleration later. And I'll definitely keep reading here!

Wow!!!!!!!!!! That sounds great, I can seriously feel the happiness through the DSL!!!!
I had a grandmother like you who always seemed to intuit my needs and it made me who I am!!

Grandma's rock!

Incog

Hi OHGrandma,


With the test that was given, you basically don't know anything about his LOG, which is a large part of the answer to the question in your original post . It's a wonderful score, but It just doesn't tell you more than "Yes, you do need to check on this."

For say, 2/3rd of the kids all over the country who scored 98% on their Math IBTS for their age level, your enrichment plan is excellent. So if you are lucky, then you can afford to watch and wait. OTOH, there is a big enough chance that I would urge you to get that testing done ASAP.

You talk about social stability being key for him. My son skipped 5th, and I can assure you that the farther along the kid is in the public school track, the more destabilising the skip would be expected to be. And if your DG's behavior starts to downward spiral - you won't feel you have a choice, yes?

I love your plan, but I would urge you to get an individualized IQ test, and a Talent Search test to go with it. In the meantime, talk to the school about seeing if he and the BF can go to a higher grade just for Math. That seems like a fairly safe way to test the waters, and they can go together. DG can see how he feels about being with the bigger boys.

Bottom Line: As long as he is either close to moderatly gifted, or has an accepting personality, you really can do it all afterschool and at home. But please don't 'watch and wait' yourself into a corner, ok?

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Thanks Grinity!

Your welcome, dear.

Check out www.beestar.org
It is a great site for in home work. Math is free!