Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advice and experience on grade acceleration

I'm probably out of the majority here in that I don't as quickly jump to the "you know your kid best" spot, but in the instance you've described, I'd say that you have a more than MG child as well. I do know parents of bright but not gifted kids who think they have MG-HG kids and it is usually in an instance where the child is brighter than the parent or there is some parental ego issue going on.

However, unless you're totally making stuff up in regard to development, which I'm going to assume you are not (especially given the achievement scores), I'd just lean toward thinking that this wasn't the best test for him, his age or other factors got in the way, or it was an off day.

I have an older dd (12) who, too, does poorly on timed tests and tended to stress tremendously when she was younger when pressed on time. When we had her tested at age 7 on the WISC (also by an intern although with a center known for GT testing), she came out with an IQ in the lower 130s. Her WJ-III grade equivalents ranged from grade level to grade 18+ and the subtest scores w/in the WISC were all over the place as well (25th percentile to beyond the 99.9th even within one subtest). Overall, we felt that a combo of things likely depressed her scores including anxiety, lack of cooperation on her behalf, speed issues, asynchronous development, and maybe an inexperienced tester.

She later skipped a grade none the less and is still an outstanding student who is regularly in the 99th percentile as compared to kids 1-2 years older than herself. It is a much better fit socially as well. Even assuming that my dd's IQ score was accurate and your ds' is as well, perhaps there are some MG kids who, due to personal drive, need more than in grade GT programs.

Mommy,
Hmm. I have one who looks similar and had doubts about IQ when I got the results as well. But maybe what is going on is that mine (speaking only for myself here) is gifted in appearance because he is gifted by the Renzulli model. That is, the intersection of 'bright' raw intellect, creativity and drive (coupled in our case with sensory issues) comes off as textbook highly gifted. I would be okay with leaving my ds in school if he were happy there, even if he weren�t progressing academically. I think. I�ll be interested in knowing how things go for your family.

Is kindy half or whole day?
Is there a history of previous issues in preschool/daycare with agemates?
Have you visited the school and observed what the classrooms are like?
Are they willing to do needed subject accelerations no matter what the base grade is?

Love and More Love,
Grinity

The kindergarten is half day. No issues with preschool age mates. He's pretty mild mannered and enjoys rules and structure, so a school environment is a happy fit for him. This has been his only year of preschool and it is just 2 hours and play based, so I know things will change a lot next year with either grade. The principle suggested subject acceleration on top of the grade acceleration so I'm sure he would also be willing to do pure subject acceleration without a grade skip. He's a very flexible principle and I feel really lucky that we are able to work with him on this. I have spent quite a bit of time in my daughters classrooms (both last year in kindergarten and this year in first grade) so I have a good idea of what happens and what it is like. I feel first grade would be a better fit. I guess I'm second guessing my ability to see him objectively. Of course every parent thinks their child is brilliant, and I tried hard not to let the mommy in me think that he was anything different than he was. He does have extreme drive and focus. It is an intensity that gets him to attack anything he wants to know. Maybe it is his drive an not IQ that has allowed him to achieve what he has.

Even if that 125 is right on target (and I'm not saying I think it is), it seems to me that this is still a situation where a grade skip would be in order. It is pretty clear from the achievement scores that your child has already mastered most, if not all, of the K skills, (and probably many or all of the first grade skills). So why would you want to repeat those K lessons? Give your child a chance to work with material that won't be so boring or even insulting or depressing. If the level of giftedness really isn't too extreme, this single grade skip could end up being enough to accommodate the need for acceleration for at least a few years, if not most of elementary school. And if you are right, and the LOG is higher, then it may be that another skip will be in order during this school year, and it will almost certainly be easier to get that from first grade than from K.

Aculady - True. Thanks. I think I needed to hear that. When we first got the results and the school agreed that it was the best thing to skip him, I felt so much peace with that. I think it is what my gut is telling me is best. I think I've been over thinking the 125 number. His achievement scores actually put him from mid 2nd grade to mid 4th grade on everything. I think well keep moving forward with the skip and hopefully I can stop worrying.

I think that this and the support of the school says it all - take the offered accomidations and remember that you can always shift things around later if it becomes clearly needed.

If you were being unobjective about your son, then why wouldn't you be unobjective in the same direction about your dd?

Enjoy!
Grinity

I can't remember if you and/or your school filled out the Iowa Acceleration Scale to determine whether a skip is appropriate. It is a very objective form that considers many different areas - test scores are only a part of it. And you come out with a score at the end that aligns with excellent, good, OK, or not so good candidate for grade/subject acceleration. I highly recommend it.

I second St. Pauli girl! We used the IAS when DD skipped a grade this past year, and it is a very useful tool and will make you feel better about your decision because it factors in more than just test scores.