Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Possible Grade Skip for Child

DS skipped mid-year from 1st to 2nd, at the recommendation of his 1st grade teacher but with serious push from us against the principal.

I have a few tidbits of BTDT advice for you. Use the Iowa manual! It's huge for reassuring yourself, the school and collecting data to ensure that you're making a well advised decision, no matter which way you go! We knew in our hearts that DS needed a jump but it was easier to swallow all of the "well he'll be too young to drive with his friends!" and "are you sending him away to the dorms at 16?" when we had concrete data to back everything up.

Now, having finished up 3rd grade (1 1/2 years into the skip) we've learned a few things. Your son is older so handwriting has probably resolved itself. But handwriting was a BIG challenge. If we had to do it again, knowing everything we know, I would have had him skip 1st altogether and we would have seriously hothoused writing over the summer. Now I have a grouchy 8 year old, rising 4th grader that I am forcing to learn to write properly so he doesn't get hand cramps. We had an offer to skip him to 6th this year (with a plan to undo it the following) but we couldn't do it because there's no way he'd be able to keep up with notetaking and handwriting in class.

Another situation we encountered was that the principal felt like since he'd finally agreed to the skip, he had done enough. One and done was his rule- no subject acceleration, no further differentiation, take your skip and like it. It was disastrous this year because DS had a BAD teacher who got up every day to prove gifted kids aren't that smart (yes she's the GATE teacher) and the principal wasn't in our corner. We did have the VP an our side and were able to make subtle changes. But that didn't help my 3rd grader who was doing 6th grade math at home and working on single digit multiplication worksheets daily in class!

Good luck with your advocacy!

About to BTDT (present tense).

The passionate discussion on this issue was nice to see BUT this is for a different child, NOT the one whose scores I posted a while back. That other child is very, very bright and I do not think the achievement scores are accurate because his ADHD and Anxiety are so much more debilitating but I would never consider him for a grade skip. He also is one of the younger ones in his class.

My other child is one of the oldest in his class-if not oldest, minus repeaters, and much, much more independent. He also has mild ADHD but it is so well treated that it is virtually a non-issue in school. He is also, as Dottie put it, "a teacher pleaser" as well as a "peer pleaser", and well loved by teachers and students alike for his great attitude, hard work, creativity, and intelligence. He reads during all "down-time" but never during class time unless given permission by the teacher. : ) We do have to pull his books at times during more social events but he is receptive and easily does other things when reminded he doesn't have to read! : ) He is a leader in many extracurricular activities and a good friend. We always joke that he is our "easy" child since he is SO independent.

I have no idea of his IQ scores since the last time he was assessed he was only 4 and it was a brief assessment. He took the grade level assessment from the grade he'd skip this past week and did very well per the teacher, although we don't know exact scores yet. He also took the IQ test this past week (telling me that on sections the tester repeatedly "ran out of questions", so it looks good, lol). He'll do achievement with him soon. We are also using a very similar document to the IOWA scale, which I was glad to see. In a preliminary look as parents we didn't see any huge issues at all, minus not yet knowing his IQ score (they recommend but do not require scores in the 130 range on at least one area).

Different kid Dottie...I posted on page 3, but all great points! He's oldest in his grade, there are acceleration options for classes in middle school but not high school so this is the only option at this point minus in-class teacher enrichment when the teacher that year is supportive and has the time (not a great plan). Yes, he took and will take end of year 5th grade state testing and some 6th grade assessments. We also pushed for IQ and Achievement, although they didn't feel it was necessary if the state testing came back as strongly as they predicted. I think part of the reason that they were so receptive is that the teacher who used to run the GT programming (when we had it) is now a classroom teacher and worked with my child in higher reading and math groups all year, and his classroom teacher has been telling administration all year that he needs to be challenged more.