Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy New to gifted -- Advice Please

My 2nd grader scored a 208 in Fall math Map and 219 in Spring Map Math, English MAP score was 201 in Fall.
WJ III GIA Standard score is 131 (125-137) and working memory is at 144 (123 norm).
WJ III Norm for math:99th percentile.
Given these two test scores, Is it okay for me to approach my kids school regarding GT? Or should she improve a bit before I can approach them. When do they hit the wall learning wise?
The information on the net is all over the board, I am not able to make a decision.

Some help please

Welcome! The Spring math MAP is >99% for 2nd grade and 92% for end of 3rd. It seems to me like you have a strong case for her to be in a GT program. Hopefully the school doesn't buy into the myth that a gifted child must be gifted in everything. If so, they may deny her based on the lower reading score. Hopefully we can get appropriate learning environments so they won't hit the wall, LOL!
http://pickens.it.schoolfusion.us/m...ssionid=14d1e9266e4482d198ebc39c6e6bc9c3

it depends on your school's criteria. My school requires significantly more than the state criteria but it is also a private school.

Thank You for the input. Finally got an appointment with the school. I do as much as I can as a parent.

I am also looking at Private schools as an option, but...after looking at roughly 6 schools, I am not sooo sure, I want to spend the money on a second grader, who is 7. But.. Still did not make a decision yet? The teachers personality is what I am looking at guess, coming from a family full of professors.
Does it really make a difference for a second grader...

I am just rambling.. Sorry..

Early intervention is important so the child stays challenged and "learn" to work at learning IMHO.

Having things too easy and not challenging for a length of time can lead to other issues. Girls have different issues than boys (sometimes), when they are not challenged. Depending on personality/characteristics of course too. I would be in the camp that it does matter for second grade.

I have a 2nd grader and IT DOES MATTER! the in class accom. plus the pull-out just aren't cutting it and she is frustrated with school. She will never act out at school, but we see all the signs at home from her words, to her grinding her teeth at night when she is frustrated, to just saying "School is dumb! Why do I have to go! Babies could do this!" Just stay on top of it, is all I can suggest. If you notice it's not working, advocate, advocate, advocate!

Hello and welcome! I do think that you have hit the nail on the head right here - the teacher's personalitiy (and, dare I say it, intelligence level) make so much of a difference. It isn't 'automatic' that private school will meet the needs of a gifted learner any better than a public school, particularly if the public school is flexible, and will allow subject acceleration as part of it's accomidation package. Does it make a difference for a second grader? I can tell you that being in a poor-fit private school is not better than a poor-fit public school, and a lot more expensive. But it does matter to get the fit right, one way or another. Does that sound right?

Love and More Love,
Grinity

I'd agree with the others that it does matter even for a 2nd grader. Both of my girls had a lot of damage done in the early elementary years from classroom fits that didn't work well. We took dd11 out of first grade in the last quarter and homeschooled for a bit. She's a 7th grader now, has been back in school for some time, and has not had any lasting issues from 1st grade as far as I can tell.

Dd9 learned nothing in 1st grade and, with a different personality than her sister, didn't cause problems as a result but she came out with rather damaged self esteem when her achievement scores were no longer as high at the start of 2nd. She started to come back self image wise in 2nd and her achievement scores came back around only to have everything go downhill fast in 3rd. Her teacher was convinced she wasn't gifted and told her as much regularly. Anything she did well on was attributed to good guessing, which I still hear from dd - "I just guessed well." Being a compliant child, she isn't a problem in school, but she also isn't reaching her potential and she isn't feeling good about herself. We are trying to move toward hsing for her at this point as a result.

Having a good fit and learning something in school is important even early on IMO based upon our experiences.

I've been lurking on this board for a while, but seeing this question I finally had to register & post!

I think 2nd grade really matters. I have one son who was an amazingly enthusiastic learner K & 1st in a great public school system with an extensive gifted differentiation program. But we moved, and he had a wasted year in the new public school 2nd grade classroom. Because we had made no progress in advocating for him over the year, for 3rd we switched to a private school which was more rigorous and more flexible. (I still feel guilty that we solved our problem with $$ and did nothing to help those coming after us who may not be fortunate enough to have that choice. I ask my husband, what if Ralph Nader had only installed seat belts in his own cars, and not pushed for them in all cars? But that's another post...) I think this son stil suffers from his lost year. He has never quite regained his zest for learning. (He has DYS-qualifying scores on WJIII and Explore, but I'm still procrastinating on the portfolio thing. If I get it together I am hoping they can help me figure out how to help him get his spark back.)

On the other hand, his younger brother started K at the private school. The kindergarten teacher challenged him in math & reading, and helped him catch up to the other kids with his fine motor skills. He had an awesome year and literally skipped around the school and the house. We debated a full grade skip of 1st, but decided to keep him in 1st and accelerate him in math only to 2nd. He was miserable the first two weeks of school. Other than math he was bored stiff, and all the 1st grade work played to his weakness (fine motor skills). Every night saw fights and tears. Thankfully, by 10 days into school, the 2nd grade teacher approached US telling us that we'd made the wrong decision and he needed to be in her classroom full time. She worked it out with the school director and the 1st grade teacher, and voila, full grade acceleration.

Now he is finishing his 3rd grade year, still skips around home & school, and loves a challenge. He took the Explore test this Feb, and got DYS-qualifying score for 3rd. He even did better than his 5th grade brother in one or two subjects!

So, we worry all the time about the future of the son who was not challenged in 2nd grade, and are delighted with the progress of the son who WAS challenged in 2nd grade. I am sure there are plenty of other factors at work here, but we have certainly concluded that 2nd grade does matter!

Cricket2,
I too worry about child not getting enough challenge. Especially if my child is compliant and quiet and not one to disturb the teacher as child senses the environment and knows what the teacher likes/dislikes. We are considering home schooling also. I also want child to reach or understand their potential and to feel good about self.

But how, it is a difficult job...