Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advice on grade skip

Grinity--I love your way with words

This brought to mind something our school district's 504 coordinator said: "The law only entitles you to a Chevy, not a Cadillac." Of course, she was referring to accommodations for a life-threatening peanut allergy, not GT accommodations. My husband said later that he wanted to tell her he was only asking for seat belts in the Yugo...

Cathy

These are both great analogies. Most parents of GT children know the school's limitations on funding and staff. But there are many non-cost options such as grade skip, which actually save the school money. Educating a student in 11 or 10 years instead of 12 is much less expensive in the long run.

Clustering doesn't cost a dime.
Nor does Block scheduling,
and yes Grade Skipping saves lots of money.
Subject acceleration sometimes has the transportation price tag - but is so worth it!

The things we were asking for (like no peanuts in the classroom) did not cost a dime, either. Unfortunately, sometimes people just don't want to expend any effort to make changes for a child.

Pretty Sad, I think.

School administrators seem to fear that giving anyone "special treatment" of any kind sets some kind of precedent and that they will then be inundated by requests from demanding parents. Is that fear really justified? If not, where does it come from?

A perspective from a "skipper". One, many posts that you need to keep the child challenged. Ditto. And most important to install good work habits since so much comes easily, even with skipping.

I am a product of the 1960s acceleration idea. About 8 of us skipped through grade 4. In grade 7 & 8 we had "enrichment". There were only 5 of us from our school at that point. Enrichment gave us some different school situations but also brought in art appreciation -- Group of Seven, Van Gogh. Some music. Report organization methods. Etc.

I always hear things negative about studies and skipping. It isn't the skipping, it is the socialization skills of the home environment. My parents were party animals and I was a cheerleader and on the math team in high school, despite skipping another grade, so I was 2 years younger than my peers. I was also an athlete. My strong social skills translated in a Wall Street career that used both my brain and my personal skills. In my experience, the social skills are critically important.

Because of my track I can tell you many stories of academically successful people, living in beautiful homes, without friends.

Getting close to the personal. My husband did not skip. They did not have it in his small PA town. His parents supplemented with extracuuricular. He won so many scholarships and science prizes that his parents did not have to contribute to his schooling at Harvard. He went on to Medical school and a successful career. Although he did not skip, his parents' social skills were very introverted and his ability to make a friend is near zero to 1 on the ten point scale.

Although I have joined this board because of my little 3 year old, it isn't just about education. I live in NYC, I have great options. But as an older parent, it isn't as easy to create a socail environment as the one I grew up in. I put so much effort in creating a social framework to help her with those skills. I see now, she gravitates towards the smarter classmate as a buddy, though another may be nicer and more respectful of her, she gets bored. So you can skip, who are they going to be friends wiht. If it is the same small circle, they make miss out on building the necessary social skills to make friends and build a community for themselves as they get older.

Ren

Sorry for the quick post without spelling and grammar check. I am rushing out.

Ren

Exellent point, Ren.
DH and I put so much though and resource into DS's social skill development that when I heard the Rodney Dangerfield joke that 'my parents had to hang meat around my neck so that the family dog would play with me,' I thought - great idea! We were really in the dark that a child might have intellectual needs during elementary school that couldn't be met at home with Simon and Garfunkle lyrics. ((shrug)) Seems like you have the whole package! Can I be 'retrocativly jealous?' ((giggle))

Grinity

Thanks Grinity, but in every life there are things that happen that create their own issues. I hope I can figure it out before it is over.

Just got back from Peter and the Wolf at Carnegie Hall. Now I am for exposing kids to things but...they had John Lithgow reading, in English and then in Spanish. By the time he finished the segment and the orchestra started again, kids were miles away in distraction. Good lesson in overload.

Where is the limit, when do you know you have reached it. Even though we try and not pressure our kids, not praise the achievement but the effort, they know. I mean we are here becaue they are not stupid. So when do they know it is OK to relax, when it is hard, to say so? Maybe many of you know because you have seen that. With my three year old, she walks away, like with the scooter, until it got easier with size.

A friend had her second round interview at one of the gifted elemnetary schools today. All kids (286) got 98th percentile or above, for 48 spots. Many people say it isn't right for their kid after the second round, too much pressure. Isn't this forum about those kids of kids. Isn't a school of all gifted kids the right environment?

Now I am rambling.

Ren

Ren