I now work with families who for the most part, are composed of parents who speak little or no English and children who are bilingual. Every once in awhile I have a client who has that "spark", and because I parent a HG child I recognize the need to advocate on behalf of that child. It is doubly tough though, due to the fact that the parents have no notion of "giftedness" nor do they have the skills, language, or knowledge to ask for services from the schools. I do my best to find resources for these parents AND to educate them about their kids. Once the parents realize what is going on, they jump on board and start to self-educate (usually).
So, I now have a little client whose previous teacher had her teaching her classmates because she was so advanced. Current teacher responds to the client's desire for harder work with the statement that she will learn more next year. Mom can't read the homework so she has no idea what is going on. Client says she is getting "kindergarten work". Mom says she would love to find an online program so her daughter can work at home. So here are my latest wishes:
-An online learning tool that can flip between English and Spanish (other languages too maybe?) so the daughter can share/get help from mom. I will go check out Khan in a minute to see if it has this capability.
-A device that can scan a page in English and translate it into another language so my clients' parents can help the kids with their homework?
If anyone has any more advice on this situation, I would love it. My little clients are great, and I will not let them fall between the cracks.
