Hi Forum Members,
I am new to this forum (so grateful to have stumbled across it!) and trying to figure out how best to support our 2 grade-school-aged kids. Questions are below; given that it's a public forum, I'm not including much detail.
#1 - Gifted or just bright?
The elder has many attributes associated with giftedness (super-intense, recognized numbers and letters early, highly sensitive, etc.). The younger is also very smart, very high EQ, and less intense. Both parents are gifted (likely HG/PG) so we'd always assumed that both kids would be gifted as well.
Elder has complained for years of headaches, blurriness, other vision problems; after multiple trips to optometrist, pediatrician, ophthalmologist, etc., we found a behavioral/dev optometrist who ID'ed some issues and VT starts next week, estimated to run 10-12 weeks.
We had them assessed this fall (we're evaluating school options - see next question), both on the WISC-V. Elder came in at FSIQ 125/GAI 124, younger at FSIQ 129/GAI 130. We didn't expect 140s but are a little surprised that they're not solidly in the 130s. What's the likelihood that elder's vision issues affected performance/score?
#2 - Whether or not gifted: better to change schools, or to advocate within their current school?
There are no public-school gifted options here. (Thanks, NCLB!)
There is one gifted-only private school with a threshold of 130 (though they'll consider scores close to that minimum) and high demand for available spots.
The kids are currently at a private school that claims to support every child via differentiation; in practice it is not supportive of accelerated/advanced learners and advocating will be an uphill battle. Elder has never been happy at school, for a mix of social and academic reasons (lack of challenge). Younger was unhappy in previous years (persistent classroom discipline issues involving other kids, plus not challenged academically), but this year is better as current teacher is more strict so the other kids have settled down. Younger has been underachieving on academics, largely because teacher is busy with the discipline issues so it's easy for younger to skate by unnoticed.
Other private schools might be better options but it's hard to tell from the outside. Switching schools requires a teacher or principal recommendation, so is not lightly done (and school admin may take it personally); if we apply elsewhere and either don't get in or decide not to take the spot, the current school will be even harder to work with. School applications are due early January so this is something we're wrestling with right now.
This forum is such a terrific resource! Thanks in advance for any help, advice, or feedback.
