Hi Christi,
Thank you for the excellent introduction. I feel that I already know you too!
We discuss the situations of many advanced five and six year olds on this board. I�m glad you found us!
It�s a shocking and difficult time when you realize that your bright and happy child, whom you assumed would soar once they started school, is not well matched for the typical classroom.
When my daughter was in your son�s situation, I was constantly told that first grade really kicks in the academics. Until reading Dr. Rufs book, I felt that I was lied to. More recently, I am beginning to realize that my kids really are extremely different from the �norm�. In any case, what the school considered challenging for first grade and what my daughter considered challenging were not even close!
You mentioned that you place your son at a level 4 on the Ruf scale. That is unusually high! Most regular school gifted programs are not designed for level 4 children. If you cannot consider private school or tutor right now, you should definitely begin to educate the administration and teachers regarding the probable need for acceleration within the next two years. Maybe you could donate your books to the teacher�s resource library. One grade skip within the same school should hardly cause an academic ripple for the child. Really! The most prominent obstacle could be the attitudes of the school personnel and possibly other parents.
I really hope your school district is not one of the many that are opposed to grade advancement under any circumstances. If they are, you must determine whether this opposition is due to political or philosophical reasons. (The will never admit the political NCLB reason). If it based on philosophical reasons then they can learn of all the new studies that demonstrate that grade advancement it is often necessary and conversely, keeping highly gifted kids at grade level may be detrimental.
Diana
