Hi All,

I was just reading the post by JAXMOM and felt "relieved" and heartened to know that having my child tested by a professional psych due to test results by school psych is a good step.

The school psych had not given the WISC IV test before and hadn't worked w/ gifted children; her focus is on special ability children. We didn't agree with the reading #'s and also looked at the results and found a couple of blatent scoring errors.

We requested to have our child moved into 1st grade (missed cutoff by 3 weeks), but WISC IV showed gifted in math, but just barely average in reading, so they wouldn't do it. He comes home and says "I'm not being challenged in school."

How many also teach their gifted kids actively at home to keep them interested? I'm wondering what the next 11 years are going to be like if at Kdg we are all ready having problems.

Thanks.

I think a lot has to do with the individual psych. The psych who tested my son had limited experience with gifted - mostly LD. However, he was very good with my son and I feel very comfortable that the results were as solid anyone could have gotten at the time.

That said - yes, you should have your son retested. Make sure you meet with the psych ahead of time and bring copies of results of prior tests and your concerns about them. My understanding is that a second round of WISC so soon after the first round wouldn't be considered accurate.

It isn't unusual to have to do something at home to encourage your child to continue their interest in learning. Just an idea, but Highlights has several publications such as Puzzlemania that challenge the mind but don't necessarily feel like school work. That type of thing is often more productive than teaching them something that they will have to suffer through in school later.

Most school districts aren't in favor of skipping - even when close to the age cutoff. However, many times if you go with a private school for a year - and do a grade skip - you can return to public school without the grade skip being questioned.

My son (9) says: "Kindergarden is made to be boring." and he predicts that every year will be less boring. He suggests that you teach him math, adding 1- 50, then subtracting 1-30, then teach him multipling 0-11, then dividing 2-10. He will question stuff on his own, then teach him that right away. He may get bored later, but maybe they'll skip him up.

I've heard a lot of Moms and Kids liking the Singapore Math workbooks.