Hello all,
This is my first post here, although I have been lurking for a while. I have learned so much here, and I feel like I already know some of you. :-)
I have one son who is 5 and in kindergarten. We knew early on that he was gifted. He was also premature, so we have a double-whammy of sensory integration issues.
I had DS tested by a gifted specialist before school started when he was still four (summer birthday). He scored in the Very Superior range (I would estimate him a Level 4 according to Ruf's levels) and the gifted specialist also commented that DS was one of the most "cognitively aware" children that she had seen in a long time. I took his test scores and a portfolio to the principal last summer. There was a lot of head nodding and agreement at that meeting, but not a whole lot of action has come out of it.
He could have skipped kindergarten academically, but he did NOT do well on the assessment with the school counselor (who had no prior experience with assessments and no prior experience with gifted children). Anyway, since he needed some time to develop confidence in himself, and since kindy is more hands-on, I felt that would be easier for him to take than sitting at a desk all day in first grade. As it turns out, I think that was partially the right decision.
He has a teacher who is very fast-paced. They do very little paperwork, thank goodness, since daily coloring and tracing would probably be unbearable for him. She lets him go to the library (usually) every day to exchange his Reading Counts book, and he is grouped with the two other "readers" in the class. He receives no specialized instruction, but he has been able to advance his reading skills independently in the past five months. I think it's amazing how he figured out the phonics stuff on his own, and can now breeze through words like "Delectable Diarrheah" (in his gross science recipe book, LOL).
However, I noticed around the holidays that he is actually going backwards in math. Before school started, he was doing single digit addition and subtraction, charts & graphs, and counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, and telling time. He lost skills in ALL of those things and more. I have started working with him for 15 minutes at night (I work full time and that's all I can squeeze in before his bedtime stories). Now he's doing word problems that add & subtract columns of numbers (no carrying yet), and understands fractions and multiplication/division concepts. For most things, if I can explain it, he can understand and retain it. The second time we visit a task, he has mastered it.
His teacher has vowed to step up the academics this semester by giving weekly spelling words. She is very independent. While the principal agreed to have a specialist pull DS out regularly for help, the teacher maintains that she can challenge him herself. I don't want to hurt her feelings, and I have been very careful to kindle a relationship with her this year. I admit she does include higher level thinking skills in her daily curriculum, but it's just not enough. If I insist on the extra help, I'm afraid she will interpret that as saying she's not adequate. She also seems to imply that DS is not as advanced as we think he is, while she doesn't seem to have a clear concept of his ability. She tests what she's supposed to test, and I don't believe she has looked at his ability above kindergarten level (except on reading assessments). He also replies with "I don't know" a lot when he actually DOES know. ;-)
So we're coping with kindergarten this year, but what happens next year in first grade? He's very shy, and won't ask for different work. He's a perfectionist, and frequently refuses to attempt a task if it won't be perfect. Handwriting is also an issue. The gifted program (if he even qualifies, since he does horrible on group administered tests), is only a one hour pull-out. We live in a very diverse area, and many of the resources are focused on ESL students. I almost feel too guilty to ask for help for my son. We have limited funds, so private school and tutoring are not good options.
I have followed along here and at SENG for a while, and have attended a state gifted conference for more insight. I read every book I can find (almost all of the books I have ever seen recommended here), but now I'm in a quandary as to the best approach. If anyone has input or ideas for me, I would appreciate it! DS is becoming more and more unhappy as the school year progresses, and I just can't quite figure this out!
Thanks so much for reading this novella. LOL! I have wanted for a while to jump in at some other posts, but I felt that I should introduce myself first.
Christi
