Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Against Accelerating the Gifted Child

Thanks. That was informative.

It's a tough decision either way, made worse by inflexibility on the part of schools, which is driven in part by perpetuation of myths like the one in Motherlode.

I have not heard of sibling preference for gifted programs before and do not approve of them, especially in public schools.

DD's gifted program offers sibling preference, but the sib has to test in at the same level as everyone else. The preference comes in because qualified sibs get a spot automatically and don't have to go through the lottery. Since there really isn't a reasonable bus system for the magnet (DD would have to ride more than an hour to get to a school about 4 miles away--insanity) and all elementaries start at the same time, I feel quite grateful that they have this in place.

If there are more children who exceed a test threshold than there are available spots in a gifted program, the threshold can simply be raised to match the number of spots. The highest-IQ kids should be the ones who can most benefit from a gifted program.

I can see the rationale for sibling preference if the sibling meets the entrance requirements. Having two kids at two different elementary schools can be a huge pain for everyone.

Unfortunately, entry requirements can be very fuzzy, especially if they include teacher recommendations and low test score minima. A school around here sets the test score bar around the 70th percentile (a.k.a. "high average") and puts a lot of weight on teacher recommendations.

The requirements here are pretty simple--IQ is the main one. No teacher recs or achievement testing. Grades play a small part.

I sort of see the point about favoring the highest IQs, but I really don't think I could deal with 2 kids at different elementaries.

I think too that a skip can appear failed if the environment is wrong. My daughter was skipped in a school that simply didn't support her. She continued to be extremely socially isolated and anxious and the school decided this was because of immaturity and felt the skip had failed. We moved schools, retaining the skip, and it has been hugely successful. In part because the school is much more responsive her needs, but also because more of the kids suit her personality. Given our experience I sometimes wonder how often well considered skips (at least, well considered from the parent's side) appear failed when really it's just that a skip in itself isn't enough - it needs to be supported and the culture needs to suit your child from the outset.

My wife skipped two years and I skipped one. Neither of us think of it positively. She wasn't academically ready for a two year skip.

Looking back, I am against my skip because I was relatively small in my early teen years, and I was not competitive in sports. I think this physical aspect is something that parents should seriously consider, beyond the is my child intelligent and sufficiently social.

We have chosen not to skip our children. We are fortunate that my children attend a fantastic school system (a recent Davidson Fellow was from our school system). While DD could handle a one year skip, and DS probably needs a 4-year skip, we have chosen to keep in them in their normal grades and supplement through programs like CTY and AOPS.

I would have liked to have been skipped, but it was vetoed by my parents.

I was small in my early teen years and not competitive in sports. I was never going to be competitive in sports because I have two basic skills, endurance and accuracy. Which would make me a good biathlete, I suppose.

I wasn't particularly socially functional in the first place, so I wasn't going to lose what I didn't have by being skipped.

Agree completely.

My DD is a 13yo 11th grader, and she is happy and has friends from 13yo (several of them gradeskipped 9th graders) to classmates who are typically 16-18yo. Kids are such a range of maturities during adolescence that this really-- no, REALLY-- isn't the big deal that administrators seem to think that it is.

DD often feels as though she doesn't belong anywhere-- but she does just fine by regarding her childhood as a time of tourism... and not living "at home" as it were. Her closest cognitive peers are also her closest friends. I think that this is not coincidence, by any means.