Let the meetings begin - Gifted Issues Discussion Forum

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I have learned quite a bit from this forum and appreciate that it prepared me well for a phone call I received this morning from my ds8's teacher. She is concerned that he seems depressed in class. She has spoken with his pull-out GT teacher, who said he does great in her class (duh - he is getting almost one on one attention and is playing with k'nex and lego mindstorm - what's not to love.) My immediate response was to say (quite bluntly) "He's bored!" My ds has mentioned his being bored more as the year progresses and has been saying things like "I would like school/homework better if I learned something."

I don't know if she is fully aware of the results of his testing (WISC-IV FSIQ of 146 and VCI of 152) or how to work with him. His first grade teacher and the GT teacher from last year told us that they don't remember when they had a student of his level, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that his second grade teacher doesn't know what to do with him.

The good news is that everything I have been sharing with my dh in my crash course in the world of GT has definitely sunk in. He flipped out when he heard about the conversation and immediately began researching our rights.

So now, she wants to have a meeting with us and a few other people to discuss what we can do for him. Yippee!! I don't have to be the pushy parent to get a meeting with them. Now to get my notes in order and to go through all of the "going to meeting" threads I have seen around here...

One question - would it be a good idea to have ds there for part of the meeting?

Originally Posted by kec

One question - would it be a good idea to have ds there for part of the meeting?

Good question. I'm still adjusting to the idea of some children attending parent-teacher conferences, let alone a gifted planning meeting. Here's something for the pro side but I think it would be unusual to have a child attend the gifted planning meeting.

Quote

Marilyn Haring, Dean of the School of Education at Purdue University contends that students should be a part of the parent-teacher conference. As early as third grade, she states, students should be present at the conference, and by junior high, students should be leading the meeting. Her reasoning is that parents and teachers are not "all-knowing" about a student's performance, and that the student will benefit by playing an active role, developing responsibility for their own success. She further contents that having the student present opens the dialogue between teachers and parents, and provides the student with a greater level of self-esteem.

P.S. I'd plan to leave him at home unless someone from the school specifically asked for him to be at the meeting.

I would not have your son at the meeting.

Do, as your DH has and research, research, research, and not just your rights but your school and district policies as well. Know what is written and what isn't written. Sometimes, it just takes telling them (school/teachers/principals) that they can do something(it's not written that they can't) to open their eyes to other options.