Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Taking high school classes early

I saw a story online recently about an autistic kid who ran afoul of the regulations and was kicked out of track and field just when he had discovered he was great at it. The problem was that he had been "in the high school" for five years (he is 19 and a senior now) although it was claimed that he did not "take high school classes" during the earlier year. Sports regulations do not allow competition by five-year students.

Now all was not made clear to me in the story, but I have been wondering if this might be a problem for some of us who will (or do) have kiddos taking high school classes from elementary or middle school. Of course, they probably won't be in high school at 19, but that didn't seem to be the catalyst.

I think it's a safe bet that my DS will not be worrying about competitive sports, but it could well cause a problem for other activities such as Knowledge Bowl, etc. Does anybody have any insight into this issue?

Edited to add:
Here is a link to a version of the story (not the precise one I read earlier, but the same story for the most part): Story

This is a Canadian incident, but I know there are similar regulations in schools in the US.

Some kids really enjoy physical competition with agemates, or academic competition. If that's a part of a family's expectations or history, then subject accelerations or grade skips have to be considered very carefully, since each activity has it's own set of rules.

It's tough to weight the day in and day out advantages of an improved placement through subject acceleration or full grade acceleration against the very amazing experience of participating in academic competitions.

I think kids who seem born with great work ethic and the ability for self-differentiation are more of a candidate for going the academic competition route, while kids who are clearly suffering day in and day out in the current placements have to give up future 'possibilities' for 'right now' solutions, that sometimes involve subject or full acceleration. Make sense?

Best Wishes,
Grinity

I'm sorry, Grinity, it may be the Benadryl I'm loaded up on today (all of New Mexico is blowing by outside, arrrgh), but what you said is not making any sense to me. Could you elucidate?

Edited to add: Ahh yes, I see now! Of course, I'm not on drugs at the moment, either, so that might help.

I tried again Nautigal - I hope I improved it! Maybe I'm missing the point in general?

There are plenty of CLUB extracurriculars where this kind of thing is a problem.

DD automatically lost two full years of 4H eligibility, in fact, via her acceleration. This is kind of an issue since it's both physical and mental-- so she is definitely competitive with her peers (as opposed to age-mates), but they all had eligibility as 4th-6th graders, and she didn't. (She wasn't old enough then, if that makes sense.)


I seem to recall hearing from another parent that Lego Robotics is another thing where this can be problematic. University, museum, and library-sponsored youth programs may also have (occasionally hidden) policies re: age minimums. When those are because of insurance underwriting, there may be little wiggle room.

In other words, there are quite a few things we've found where there are age minimums AND grade maximums at work. In those instances, yes, acceleration is trading away years of eligibility.

We still feel that in DD's case, it was not a factor in the decision to accelerate, but it is something to be aware of.

Yes, Cub Scouts is one of those:

Tiger Cub: must be under age 8, have completed K or be in 1st, or be age 7.

Cub Scout: must have completed 1st but not 3rd, or be 8 or 9.

Webelos Scout: Must have completed 3rd but not 5th, or be age 10 but not yet 11.5.

Clear as mud?

DS is in 4th grade (homeschooled) age 8. Right now he is a Cub Scout (Bear rank.)

I'm sorry but I did have to laugh at the absurdity of this, especially following that convoluted sequence.

Yes, we've found some flexibility in most things-- but learned never to COUNT on it, since it seems to be mostly a matter of largesse in the moment... and occasionally, as noted, we've run into insurance policies as a reason "why not" with being under the age recommendation.


4H has similar mind-bending language, btw. Very funny stuff-- until you have to try to figure out what it means.

Wow, all things that *might* be an issue for us at any given time.

We're not much into activities, but DS8 did sign up for Cub Scouts this year -- he's been to a few meetings, off and on, but the meetings are kind of random and so is he, so it's more off than on and it doesn't seem to bother him one way or the other.

We have been considering 4H, and it's big around here, but we're not sure exactly for what.

I don't think they have the Lego thing here, although there was a one-day special thing a while back.

The Scripps Bee might be an important sticking-point, but as mentioned above, competitions are not everything in life. We'll have to see. I don't think we'll be worrying about high school classes until after next school year; so far I think next year will be wrapping up middle school math, unless he gets ambitious.

I don't know, Little Cherub. I was just planning not to say anything and hope that nobody remembers DS's age/grade situation, lol!