My DS13 is underachieving this school year mostly due to being under challenged and a few big emotional set-backs (his dog died, his grandfather died, being bullied, etc. in the month right before school started). I had a conference with all of his teachers after the first grading period to let them know about his emotional issues, and that I believed that with their encouragement and understanding, he could overcome his underachievement. I hesitantly brought up the fact that possibly his underachievement in school could be exacerbated by some of his gifted traits - over sensitivities, need for challenge and being visual spatial. I was told, "we are teachers, we are just here to teach. What do you want us to do?
My question to you is: When you have tried your best to work with your child's school, you know they are totally wrong, and you even have a private professional backing you up with facts, do you just walk away?
We know we are pulling our son out of school this week to homeschool because of his hostile learning environment, but it is so hard to resist the urge to let them know that they are ignorant of the unique needs of the gifted, and that underachievement in the gifted is almost never caused by a child not caring.
