I think it will help to realize that LOG (Levels of Giftedness) is just now starting to be written about and thought about by Parents, Professionals,and School Folks. We're on the cutting edge. I would guess that of all the books published in the last 5 years on the topic of Gifted, only half a percent have LOG as more than a sidebar. Even in the last year, I'd guess it's less than 10%. Does anyone have real numbers for this? I'm totally guessing here.
Another "Brand new concept" is tht Full Scale scores mean very little. Since we are looking at Giftedness as a special educational need, even a single ceiling score in one subtest might be enough to be a signpost for a kid who is acting like a kid whos special educational needs aren't being met.
The idea of twice exceptional kids was yesterday's new frontier. Now most Professionals see this as a must address topic, and even some school are making attempts at helping our kids. The battle is by no means won, but it is "on the mental map" in a way that LOG is not yet.
Ironically, when we ask the public school about subject acceleration, they said :You think you kid is Gifted? He's nothing like a little girl we have at the Middle School. We told the parents that she needed to be skipped, but they said they didn't want that for her. ((Hint, hint - why can't you be like them?)) They do allow us to bus her to the high school for Math.
Of course I couldn't ask for details, but I was curious. If she is "more gifted" than my DS11, then perhaps a single year skip just wasn't worth her time. Or was she better at reading people and teacher pleasing? Or had she been red shirted to begin with? I wish her all the best, but I felt that the school had trotted out this example to "take me down a peg or two." You would have thought I was asking for the world!
New school totally gets that he is unusually bright, and all thumbs at negotiating the world of school. When I said he reminded me of a sports car with the wheels taken off, overheating his engine up on cement blocks - they all smiled. Well, except for one who seems especially worried about his lack of tires. Cool thing is that I can see the "tires" growing, right before my eyes! I am so proud of him. I didn't know if the school change would work, so I kept repeating - I want him to have a clean chance at learning how to learn. To DH, to DS, to the new school and the old school. I wasn't trying to fix him, just to give him the needed materials so he could grow himself.
Last night there was a lot of upset floating around during homework time, amplified by an unusual amount of homework. He suggested that he work for 10 minutes, then be allowed to watch TV for 5 minutes. At first I thought that was a very bad idea, since there was so much to do, and it was getting late. But I realized that he was still so upset over the various dissapointments of the day, that having chances to "turn off" himself probably made sense. I was so proud of how responsibly he turned off the TV when the timer rang, and worked hard during his working chunks.
Me: You know, I'd almost never agree to this, but I figure today you need to distract yourself to get the work done.
DS: It's not that. It's just that my brain wants to watch TV, but I want to get my homework done.
Here come those baby tires now!
Smiles,
Trinity
