And although she was in every gifted program offered for her age we were told repeatedly that she needed to learn to fit in, be less arrogant, that �there are other kids just as smart as her,� �it�s a challenging curriculum,� �the teachers differentiate,� �just wait until high school, that�s when she�ll really soar� (this was in 4th grade�what should she do for the next four years?), �you can learn something in every class
We've had this exact experience....who else?
It was we, after a disastrous�in retrospect very misguided on our part�year back in �normal� school, who finally decided to have her tested at CTY. And when things started going badly in middle school (�We have many other students with her profile� sniffed the coordinator) it was again we who shared the data, who pressed the school to look at her in a different light, who argued that she needed more, different. All to no avail. There was no additional way to accelerate in the humanities. C. was made to be the problem and we were just unreasonable parents. In my opinion, the system failed her, failed us.
Dissapointingly formulaic......
It's illegal to say that any child cannot be accomodated in public school. Thus, the official mantra: "your child is being accomodated well, what are you complaining about"
In defense of administration: Here, they have attempted to be flexible and provide unique solutions. It still hasn't worked remarkably well, like offering up a band-aid for a sucking chest wound in one instance. Well meaning of course, so what now?
If we, who were well-educated, knew how to advocate and most importantly had the resources to get outside testing done, were so unsuccessful, what chance would a less-advantaged child have of being identified as exceptionally or profoundly gifted
Yeah, and I wonder if an exceptionally or profoundly gifted college student was ever written off by a professor as "not that smart", or "just doesn't get it" because the professor doesn't understand very very superior cognitive process? That would probably never happen..........
When do you dig in your heels and when do you decide it's not worth the effort to keep swimming upstream? Until there is a federally mandated IEP process for IQ scores that fall within a certain standard deviation above the mean we have weak legs to advocate on behalf of exceptionally and profoundly gifted students.
I would love to hear everyone's take on this.
