I'd love to have an analogy to use when talking with teachers/administrators who don't understand asynchrony in gifted students. I'm specifically thinking of statements like, "Well, dd's handwriting isn't good enough to let her advance in reading," or "We can't teach dd anything new in math until she can do X math facts in one minute."
Any other suggestions?
Most children are on the normal developmental path, where their handwriting develops at about the same pace as their reading, and their ability to understand Math ideas comes AFTER they are wonderful at speed Math Facts. But the problem with norms, is that although they apply to most kids, they do not apply to all kids. My son is on a different developmental path, one which is quite common to gifted kids, and his learning needs need to be evaluated chunk by chunk instead of relying on norms. He is ready for bigger ideas, in Math and in Reading, right now, even though his fingers are still at age-level.
Best Wishes,
Grinity
