I have two sons who are being considered for various types of acceleration. My youngest is definitely ready for a grade skip, he's already two years ahead in our state curriculum and could be three, I think. His scores indicate it as well, he's a candidate for DYS.
My oldest was also accelerated one grade level in his previous school (so he did 3rd grade math, reading, spelling, language arts and writing while doing 2nd grade science and social studies). His scores are high enough (WISCIV of 135, GAI 138 and 91-99 percentile in his WJIII) to merit consideration of a grade skip this year from 3rd to 4th. His reading acheivement score was just 91percentile but that would qualify him for the gifted program in reading as well as in math if he were to be in 4th rather than 3rd grade. I know the talent and interest is there, he regularly picks up classics like Moby Dick, Swiss Family Robinson, etc. in their abridged versions (designed for 5-6 graders) and finishes them in an hour. Question is: if the kid is unsure about the skip, are they going to say no outright?
He usually chooses kids 2-5 years older than him to play with outside of school. He complains of being bored by the repetition. How would it be possible to provide subject acceleration in all of those subjects without a skip? He's already had 3rd grade. How do I best get this across without being told it's too much for him? He has a Jan. 30th b-day so he'd just be 6 months younger rather than 6 months older than everyone.
Also, he tends to act the way his peers act, if they are silly--he's right there. If they are very mature, that's him. I'd like to encourage the latter. I worry about underachievement if he doesn't grade skip and they attempt to ability group him in the regular classroom.
help!
Shannon L
