Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Active Threads

I’m not an NPC. I read aeh’s response and I think, like me, she responded because we are both sympathetic to your obvious pain. I’m sorry if our replies had the opposite effect.

Yes, we are all self-centred. As a Christian who studies the bible, I understand we are all born that way and it is up to each of us to decide who should be the centre of our individual lives. My understanding is that, in a way, all of this physical universe is the matrix, but we each have ‘free will’, so we are not NPCs, however that free will was granted in order for each of us to decide who should be at our centre. If we choose the Creator, then we also choose others because our Creator’s wish is that all be saved.

I find existential concepts painful and scary. Acknowledging that I am merely human with a finite intellect is often the easiest option, but I have found this biblical verse ‘small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it’ to be true and with so many others being self-centred, it is a daily challenge to put others ahead of oneself and ‘feeling good’ is very much on the abstract level. OTOH, I am blessed with a family to look after and a workplace that is quite often heavily reliant on my knowledge and skills (finite as they are, not many others have the same set), so the daily physical slog and grind is rewarding at times.

Ecclesiastes reveals that even at the top of the Ponzi scheme of his society, King Solomon felt empty. He, too, was human, with a finite view of reality. For the rest of us, engaging with such a huge number of other aspiring self centred individuals in a gigantic arms race, the miracle is that most of us are still here.

That’s pretty much what I understand from the Bible to expect from humanity and human existence, but my own subjective experience of reality is different as I have surrendered myself. Perhaps from your perspective, that makes me an NPC, but it doesn’t feel that way to me - every day, I still have mountains to climb, battles to fight and evils to slay along the narrow path that I have chosen to trek, but the difference is, I believe I ultimately have a destination.

Hi - New poster here and long time lurker, hoping to get some (more) help from the community. Also, at the risk of dating myself, an infrequent poster to online forums in general, so I apologize in advance for any inaccurate abbreviations!

My DC recently took the WISC-V and I was hoping to get some help calculating GAI and FSIQ from someone who has access to the standard tables.

The report we received did not include extended norms, but did include raw scores. Because DC's scores on some subtests would change with extended norms, I think this would change GAI and FSIQ, but the summed scaled scores are too low to show up on the extended norm table.

GAI scaled score: 94
FSIQ scaled score: 120
Ages 6:0–6:3 band

Thank you in advance! These forums have been so helpful to us over the years as we navigate the lonely journey of raising a child at the edges of the bell curve.

I agree with you!

Thank you so much! This is really helpful, I will look into all of them.

I would also consider whether not having accommodations would keep him from accessing higher level material.

For example, He might have access to a gifted or advanced class based on cognitive assessment or standardized testing. But not be able to keep up with the pace of the writing assignments in the class. Then, having accommodations might be in order.

If a kid can interpret, discuss and analyze higher level reading… but can’t represent their understanding in writing, I think writing accommodations are in order.

Thanks for clarifying the background for us.

Even though the school situation is still a struggle, one factor that can make a big difference is that you have demonstrated to your child that you see and hear him, and are on his side. Just knowing that his parents believe him and care about his happiness in school is tremendously helpful.

Please do continue to post here--we are here for you!

I think the most important question is, what does your son want? At his age, he should be starting to think forward.

Also, is it possible that looking at this question from another perspective would be helpful? The real goal is to get a degree, not just an acceptance letter in 12th grade.

Test scores are important, but so are grades and an ability to finish assignments on time (maybe his teachers have a point about trying harder). If your son is having trouble with these tasks in a familiar environment where his family is present, how will he do in an unfamiliar environment with no family around? Could you find yourselves spending a fortune for a freshman transcript with a lot of Ds on it?

Community college can be a wonderful way to step into college without having to leave the support of home. It’s also inexpensive (free where we live), making it a good place to explore interests and potential interests. Staying at home takes some pressure off and gives kids extra time to mature. It’s also possible to get a part-time job while taking classes.

Welcome, Padrickk,

In addition to the suggestions above, your DC might enjoy some of the materials from Art of Problem Solving--which was originally a coaching resource for IMO-type students. They have full-course textbooks (digital and paper) and live courses with appeal and rigor for deep mathematical thinkers, as well as books focused on competition-type problems. Because the approach is quite different (far more conceptual) from many standard texts, even repeating algebra I (called introduction to algebra A) can be a valuable learning experience. The courses are accredited by WASC; some districts may accept them as transcript credit, or at least as leverage for placement to higher-level math at high school entry.

And FWIW, my upper school DC is in AP math class with classmates two years older, and does not appear to be having social concerns. But this is, of course, highly dependent on the exact child in question.