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Thanks for the input! Unfortunately, the G&T program continues to be a dead end. Despite what their website says, it seems like the primary question they ask for admitting a student is "is the teacher able to meet the needs of this student in the classroom." If the answer is yes - no extra enrichment. It's incredibly frustrating because it's a subjective question - particularly for kids who don't fit into a typical G&T mold. Apparently they think the answer for my daughter is that her needs are being met, even as she's telling me she's bored and appears to be disengaging. The wonderful school psychologist thinks this is unfair because my daughter is reserved/cautious and not the type to be the squeaky wheel in the classroom - but she has no power to change the decision.

We met with the district-wide director of the G&T program last year and it was not a pleasant meeting - she wasn't very receptive and it was clear from the beginning of the meeting she was not going to change the decision, nor had she even taken the time to learn about our daughter. Our district is large (10k students/10+ elementary schools) with I'm sure a lot of overbearing parents, and the vibe I got from her is that she does not want to be seen as ceding to parent pressure. She was not a pleasant person to deal with, and I'm not sure how to get around her.

I do think there are some major equity issues here. My daughter has a serious, chronic blood disorder that leaves her very anemic and therefore constantly fatigued. She gets monthly blood transfusions for treatment, which help, but she is physically extremely small for her age and physically weak. I'm not sure how much is her medical condition and how much is just personality, but she moves through life at her own (slow) pace and definitely takes her time with school assignments, and tells me she is often the last to finish things in class. It's hard to know exactly how much the disorder impacts her academically because she's always had it, but common side effects of chronic anemia include brain fog, dizziness, and difficulty concentrating. Honestly the fact that she is able to keep up - and now excel - academically in the face of this makes her an absolute superhero in my mind. I am so impressed by her each and every day.

She previously had an IEP based on speech and physical delays, and transitioned to a 504 last year when she "graduated" speech. We don't currently have any accommodations with her 504 except for that she gets pulled for PT/OT and also sees the school psychologist weekly. She doesn't have any specific accommodations for extra time, although we're keeping an eye on whether that is something she may need in the future as she moves into middle school. She is often catching up on work she's missed due to medical appointments/getting pulled out for services in school, and just moving at a slower pace. She also can present as kind of...spacy? The school psychologist thinks she presents as very cautious in the classroom in part due to her medical history. I feel like this is unfairly impacting how she is viewed in terms of giftedness.

I didn't provide the exact WISC IQ score for privacy reasons, just the percentages for reference, but she is well above the typical IQ standard for giftedness (130). The G&T director knows this, but made a point of saying they don't base admission for the program on testing. They seem to see her IQ as a standalone trait, without the (externally visible) drive/motivation they are looking for to meet the G&T profile.

I'm debating whether to take this further with the district with an equity complaint, although I think this is unlikely to change things for my child in particular. I honestly think the program is in dire need of an overhaul and think other children could benefit from a less opaque admissions process in the future, and a less rigid (yet also weirdly subjective??) idea of what gifted children look like.

Long story short, I'm basically considering the program to be a dead end and wondering what else I can so to support her at school.

We have a 504 meeting coming up but I'm not sure exactly how to present what we need. It's not that she needs accommodation to meet grade level standard - she's obviously doing fine - but I truly think she needs enrichment accommodations to meet her full potential as a learner. I may do some research and post my ideas here, but would be super curious to hear what's worked with your son's 504/gifted combo (realizing that all disabilities/504s are different!).

Responding as a fellow parent of a 2e kid:

Make sure you’re looking at your child and noticing their interests. How those strengths present is individual to the person. Watch how she plays in her free time. Pay attention to activities she chooses.

When you notice the interests, you can support them: finding supplies for projects, setting up a workspace for the interest at home, reserving time to work on interests, when it’s a holiday buying gifts that support interests, taking her to places that explore her interests, seeing what activities or camps support this interest, checking out related library books.

Now if your kid doesn’t seem interested in things… then I would check back to those strengths and look for opportunities in your community to dabble. My kids are visual-spatial oriented, here are some recent opportunities in our community: 4H (big array of projects - sewing, woodworking, welding, rockets, etc), take and make robots at the library, maker space at library where they built whatever they wanted to out of cardboard, orienteering (follow map to goals), geocaching (basically treasure hunting). You can also do things at home: arts & crafts, puzzles, play doh/clay, Lego or other building toys. And as family activities: go to park or zoo and have her lead with the map, build from sand at beach or sandbox, visit a museum.

Sometimes your kid might be interested in something but be deterred by a weaker skill. If you can accommodate, scaffold or support the skill it allows them to access that interest. My son struggles with writing… when he was preschool/kg aged he was interested in doing challenging, advanced math, but didn’t have functional handwriting. We would do math with objects, mental math, count money, write numbers on circle stickers or use moveable wooden craft numbers in replacement of writing. And we worked on mastering number writing formation before letters, working at his pace with lots of repetition. He also loves to talk and read and can think up long elaborate stories, but his writing skills deter him from writing the stories down. I offer to scribe or type his stories, he also knows how to use voice to text. He continues to work at his writing skills and they improve, but at his pace.

Follow your kid’s lead! I wish you the best!

Your child is gifted given her WISC-V percentile, though somehow she has not been given any G&T pullouts. Considering how intelligent she is, and that she devours all the enrichment very quickly, she might be bored and looking for more.

I feel like it is plausible your child thinks her assigned work is far too easy, thus refuses to do it. Some gifted kids can act out in this way when the work is too easy.

I wonder if there may be any mental issues, or executive functioning (disorganisation) issues that might be contributing? Good to see a doctor just to rule things out.

There are various things you can do - ask for subject acceleration or even full grade acceleration. The school aspect won't necessarily work itself out, and even if it does I am concerned your child may feel pretty bored (just look at her outstanding performance!). Maybe your child is not learning a lot.

For acceleration, be sure to talk to your child about it, also the various pros (getting out of school earlier, etc.). It can be tough to convince the establishment to accept a grade skip, but many of us have managed it! Worst comes to worst, she could sit exams early if she wanted and had the drive to.

Also, regarding enrichment: it sounds like you’re on a good path to letting her follow interests and be challenged outside of school. My experience as a parent is that it’s a constant juggle - activities, family life, eating healthy dinners, cost of activities, travel to activities, having free time, having time to move our bodies. There’s no right answer… personally, I just adjust over and over again and know there are busy and slow seasons. My oldest is 11… so he’s shifting to having more ownership of his interests/activities/time/friendships and I’m happy to hand over those responsibilities and be more of an advisor as needed.

Hey!

I have a couple of kids in US public school and are ID’d gifted. So, I’m speaking from that perspective:

* my experience with state standardized tests is that the school sees them as a necessary hurdle to cross but they don’t read into them any further or use them to inform instruction. I think only if a kid couldn’t pass these would the school make any changes to support the child.

* in class assessments also sort of work the same. The teachers are working at getting the group to learn certain skills in a grade. If your kid is an outlier on the strong end, the teachers are just glad they have those skills.

* WISC-V our school doesn’t use this test. But I would expect this to have major weight in determining gifted identification. I would expect that score to be a IQ, not a percentile.

* the screener for G&T… I suspect this has survey questions for teachers about your kid. Sadly not all teachers will get your kid or have a good frame work for how gifted kids present in the classroom. My experience with teacher surveys is that they depend completely on how the teacher perceives your kid.

One of my kids didn’t turn up to be gifted with regular screening procedures… but, I know him & what he knows, so I did pursue further. Here’s what I’d do based on my experiences:

* look on the school’s website and see if you can find a gifted handbook. Read that thoroughly, it should explain how they identify in detail & what services are available. Decide if you think your kid meets or is close to meeting the criteria.

* figure out who is the leader in gifted services. In our school district they are called a “gifted coordinator”. This person is in charge of identification.

* reach out to the gifted coordinator with your concerns. Use the gifted handbook to make your case. For example, our gifted handbook had a list of gifted traits, my kid has many of them.

Our gifted coordinator is very black and white with what qualifies. But she also knows a lot about actual gifted kids, and how they present in classrooms. Initially what she did for my son was offered a retest with a different type of test. Because he was the only kid being tested this way, it was in a quiet room by himself. He met the criteria & was ID’d gifted. Since then he has picked up 3 other types of gifted IDs that our school tests/acknowledges.

The gifted coordinator has helped represent my son and ensure he has access to gifted and advanced instruction since then. My kid is intelligent and has a couple disabilities, she has gone in the classroom to observe him when school was not going well, and she sits in on every 504 meeting confirming over and over again that he will not be denied access to gifted services.

Think about this person as a potential advocate for your child… be honest and respectful in how you communicate them from the very beginning. Think of it as building a bridge.

The following press release from the U.S. Department of Education appears to complement, affirm, and reinforce the direction indicated in the "Dear Colleague" letter of February 14, 2025:
https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press...million-divisive-teacher-training-grants