Hello everyone. First of all, I want to say what an amazing resource this place is and how excited I am to join.

Reason why I'm here is because like some of you, started having suspicions that my child was gifted. He would do this or that and being a first time parent didn't think much of it..thinking it was normal for this age. Then other people would see what he could do. And all of them consistently having the same reaction of "wow that's amazing" followed immediately by "...how old is he again?" made me look further into it.

After getting the same reactions from many different people, strangers, etc he then amazed his daycare teachers. One told us that in her 19 years of teaching she has never seen anybody read so well at his age (he started reading a few months shy of his 2nd birthday).

So mom and I are proud. We enjoyed his abilities and really were quite happy when we found out.

But now..the reality is sinking in..what on earth is he going to do on the first day of kindergarten? what about 1st grade? Then the stress...here in CA we have a state budget crisis and education funding is constantly being cut. Barely any schools here have ANY real gifted programs..we can't afford to take him to a private school his whole life, and we have nobody to talk to about this or any of our questions because nobody we know is facing the same problem with their child.

That is until I found this site. Like I said, what an amazing resource this place is to meet and talk to like-minded parents. I can barely mention anything about my kid's abilities to any of my coworkers or friends. I listen to my coworkers brag to each other about their kids. About how their little one is only 4 and is already starting to read, or how their little one is only 5 and can ALREADY do addition and subtraction. I have to listen to these comments and bite my lip and keep my mouth shut for the fear I'll sound like a total jackass (pardon my language). Needless to say, this will be a great outlet and release for me. jk

Thank you in advance and I can't wait to get involved.

Welcome!

Welcome! I hope that you, too, will find this a place where you can be yourself in regards to your child.

Welcome! Yes, this forum serves as an outlet for parents of gifted to keep our sanity. And letting it out is truly therapeutic :-)

LOL... flashbacks... I was asking DW this same question about once a week since DD was 2-3 years old.

Welcome!

Many parents help their children survive until college with a combination of acceleration, after-schooling and enrichment in areas of the child's interests, summer camps/classes/activities, and possibly even homeschooling.

You may find helpful information on the Davidson database, which has an extensive collection of articles by experts in the field... a combination of research, peer-reviewed, and lived experiences. Basic educational options for gifted students in schools and Types of acceleration and their effectiveness may be of interest.

Hoagie's Gifted Education Page has great information, also HoagiesGifted on facebook.

SENG, an acronym for Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted, has insightful articles and an annual conference.

PG Retreat and/or Gifted Homeschoolers Forum (GHF) may also be of interest.

Children who are "profoundly gifted" (PG) may qualify to join Davidson Young Scholars (DYS) at age 5. Application is based on a combination of IQ test results, Achievement test results, portfolio of child's work products. If your child's IQ and achievement have not been assessed, you may be interested in Hoagies list of testers as a possible starting point.

Welcome. Do remember that not all gifted or even profoundly gifted kids read early and that not all early readers are gifted. If you work in a high tech/high education field some of your work mates will have gifted kids as well.

I don't have any great advice. NZ has no gifted programming either but some schools do a better job than others.

I was using early reading as just one example to illustrate my point and I do not recall stating that all gifted kids read early nor do did I make the statement that none of my co-workers have gifted kids in my post. I apologize if it came out that way but that was not my intent.

Thank you! this is really helpful!

Welcome.


One advantage to knowing early that your child might have educational needs that are outside of the norm is that you have time to do your research.

Just as I was agonizing over school choices for DD4, two new schools popped up that could have worked out for her and one of them was a public charter school.

This forum has been a wonderful source of support for me and I hope it'd be for you as well.

At first, as a parent of a child with differences you are all agog and overwhelmed. Finding this forum is good - hopefully it will settle your nerves and the many BTDT testimonies will reassure you - it did me.

Thanks to this site I learned about the IOWA Acceleration Scale, books to suggest to my daughter, good ideas for engagement, handling challenges and many more things. I also saw success stories where kids were skipped grades and other success stories where they were not. It helps to see that you kid isn't necessarily doomed if they do not get into gifted program X etc - KWIM?

Eventually, as with everything, the 'new normal' becomes, well, normal - LOL.

I was using early reading as just one example to illustrate my point and I do not recall stating that all gifted kids read early nor do did I make the statement that none of my co-workers have gifted kids in my post. I apologize if it came out that way but that was not my intent.
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I was just checking you knew. Some of your child's future best friends may look way behind her now. They don't all even out by third as teachers often say but they do start at different times.

Try to relax and enjoy while you can and think if there is anything you can do to make home schooling a viable back up plan.

welcome! in addition to homeschool, another thing to look into for a child who is gifted where gifted resources are scarce is grade skipping. Ex: going straight to 1st instead of K.
Especially for the child who appears to do well in all subjects.
Probably too soon to get deep into researching it in your child's case, but I have heard some folks on this forum describe grade skipping as extremely helpful (not ideal for all kids in all situations, of course).
Best of luck to you and your family.

I don't post here at all usually, but I did want to let you know my experience. My daughter was reading before age 2 and seems to acquire language skills at an unbelievable rate. We sort of ignored her abilities until she was coming up on the beginning of preschool. We alerted her preschool teacher to her abilities and she was stunned. Our daughter was tested using DRA and measured 2nd grade reading level at age 4, 5th grade at the beginning of K and just ended first grade with an NWEA MAP score that puts her at average instructional level for the end of 11th grade.

All of this to say, every teacher we have ever encountered has been absolutely incredulous when it comes to her abilities and has insisted that she must have "gaps" in her reading comprehension. This has never been the case. We relocated after K and her teachers absolutely refused to accept that she was reading well above her grade level. Even after she demonstrated her abilities on the fall 2-5 MAP test, they still refused to differentiate for her. We moved her to a small, upstart charter school where she was getting lots of individual attention and thrived this year.

It is a struggle to advocate for a gifted kid in a place with no gifted resources. We're in Michigan and it's the same. You have to be willing to ruffle feathers to get the resources your child will need to be challenged. I wish you the best of luck.

We were finally able to locate a gifted program in a neighboring community that accepts out of district students. She'll be attending next year for second grade. It has been a very long road to get to this point, sadly. Hang in there.

Welcome.

I just wanted you to know that not all is lost in CA public schools. But it does depend on where.. but there are usually no programs until at the very minimum 2nd and more commonly 4th grade. GATE is officially statewide but for many districts doesn't start in 4th grade, and in some districts while a students can be labeled as GATE the school does very little.

My school district does have a highly touted gifted program unfortunately this also comes hand in hand with crazy amounts of homework and lots of stress. Not sure what to tell you about K. DS learned very little there except to follow directions from the teacher and get along with the other kids. Since it was only part time I didn't really stress all that much about it.

My dd became a solid reader just around her second birthday, and most of her speech development was aided by reading. Early on I sought out forums like this because it seemed pretty freaky. In her case, she started early and never slowed down. By 4yo, she stopped wanting us grown ups to read to her because she could read faster on her own. We followed her obsessions (dinosaurs, horses, Star Wars, etc.) and found *every* possible book for her to read. The public library has saved us many thousands of dollars as we indulged her obsession with books. She reads way faster than me and I envy her ability to go through a long novel in just a few hours. For several reasons, we never did a whole grade acceleration and do not regret that decision. She is now 15yo and just finished 9th grade (at a high performing public school with many professor's kids), at or near the top of every class she took, with plenty of time for extracurriculars and socializing, right up to finals. She has been subject accelerated in math since 2nd grade, and just finished her first year of calculus.

We did have some concerns about hyperlexia when she was 2yo - i.e., that reading was a savant skill without comprehension. It turned out not to be an issue for us, but it is something to look for in very early readers. Excluding cases of hyperlexia, I think most cases of extreme early reading are like ours, in that it is an early sign of an extremely capable learner.

This is starting to look like the case for my DD but she is also as asynchronous as a child can be. She isn't one of those super poised youngsters who is wise beyond her years. Manipulative, yes, but wise? Not so much, at least not yet.

One observation I do have about members of SO's family who read early is that most of them either became engineers, musicians, or both. None of them seems to have a life-long love of literature so it'd be interesting to see how DD evolves.

Welcome! I had two early readers like you, mine both started reading around 2.5 years old and are now avid readers and read several grades ahead of their peers.What has really helped is that they've been allowed to bring in their own books to read in school since first grade.


How nice to read about your experience with your DD, Amylou. I have been reluctant to ask for a whole grade acceleration for my DS for several reasons too. I think subject acceleration may be the way to go for them since they are already accelerated in the Math they do at home.

Makes sense, since early reading is fundamentally about pattern recognition, which also is important in both math and music.

Welcome! Our family is in SoCal (though we are about to move to Manassas, VA). If you decide to go the public route, be prepared for a challenging road. But, advocating for your child is possible with a flexible attitude and much patience.

Our DS9 starting "reading" early- trying to figure it out then sounding out words on his own at 3. Granted this wasn't fluent reading, but by most measures in the world of preschool, unusual.

At his private child care/ preschool, we were able to put him into their kindergarten program a year early. He loved it and really blossomed there, learning SO much.

When we went to register for public school- age was the rule and they made him enter Kindergarten again, despite being a fluent reader and knowing addition, subtraction and anything else they would cover that year. At the time, he seemed to enjoy the social aspect and that is was only 1/2 day. He asked a few times to go to 1st grade, but seemed to understand the situation.

Fast forward, we ended up skipping him from 1st-2nd in the early Fall after he showed signs of boredom and distress. It was hard to work with the school, but with private testing and actually having our DS sit down with the principal and explain his feelings, they let him.

It's been hit or miss ever since. 3rd grade was wonderful because of the teacher and her amazing ability to adapt curriculum and help him accelerate when needed. 4th- this year was definitely a year we saw underachievement and little response from the school.

If you believe in keeping kids in the public system (for now we do, how can teachers learn about the highly gifted and beyond if they never have the opportunity to teach them??) but you also have to accept that it won't meet needs without your attention and advocacy.

Keep on enriching and helping your child learn as much as they can in early childhood. Try a musical instrument. Our DS started cello at 4 and it has been amazing. Private lessons provide a gifted student with challenge at their own pace- at least when it comes to music development. As they near school age, make sure you have read plenty of books on giftedness and be as NICE, HELPFUL, POLITE, and INFORMATIVE as you can be when dealing with the public school system.

Great advice above from PP. Welcome!

Agreed. We too are in CA. With the new way that schools are funded (LCFF) you now have the opportunity to have a say in how your school district spends it's money. We recently were successful in having GATE students called out as a specific student group needing special attention in our district's LCAP (local control accountability plan). Each district's LCAP requires input from the community, so this is a chance to voice your concerns and needs as a parent.

Hi,

I am new to the forum as well. My daughter just finished 1st grade and has demonstrated her gifted capabilities by scoring very strong on her NWEA MAP tests (217 in Math and 206 in Reading at 6 years, 11 months old). My concern is making sure that she is engaged, but is not isolated in the process. She currently attends private school, so the teachers and administration are more receptive to strategies such as differentiation, clustering and acceleration. However, this is very much new to my wife and I, so any insight or information would be most helpful and appreciated. Thx!