Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Heard from Davidson...

My little man is a Young Scholar!

I told DS6 when I got the news in the mail today. He looked up from his legos, said 'uh, okay' and went back to playing.

For those of you with young ones in DYS, how did you explain the whole thing to them? My DS very much likes to blend in with other kids and I want to be sensitive to that.

YEAH!!!! For my almost 8yr old, I don't know that I would tell him as it wouldn't mean much to him. I've not told him the results of his testing beyond reading "The Gifted Kids Survival Guide" but I don't think he has related that to the testing. As for as the testing, I just told him we wanted to know how he thinks. The psych did tell him he's a smart boy with alot of words in his head even though he doesn't say much. Ha Ha Ha.

Congratulations, Jool's DS!

May your boy who likes to blend find others like himself

Hi Jool,

Yippee!!!!!
I hope this helps with the school situation. You can start researching the private schools now as see if you would want them if YSP could help financially. Although given the laws in PA it seems a shame to get chased out of the public system if you can avoid it.

We didn't explain much to DS11, but I did arrange some playdates with other boys in the program, and when we went to visit I told him about how I found the other boys.

Since your son is identified at school, does he have other kids who are also identified who do certian classes with him? That might influence how you frame it.

Another thing you can do right away is to start telling stories about other kids that you've heard about here and on the email lists through Davidson. You can ask your son for advice to tell the other moms. This give a great window into your own child's thought processes. I also refered to the organization when I found a book or resource that my son particularly enjoyed via these groups. So he would know that he isn't alone even if he is sort of rare locally.

In general, the less said the better - think of YSP as something for you 51 weeks a year, and for the child the one week of the Gathering.


Smiles,
Grinity

Congratulations, Jool! It's so exciting, isn't it!?

I did tell my son that he is a DYS--though it isn't a subject of daily conversation or anything--because he wanted to know why I was so happy on the day that the letter arrived. (Seriously, I did a little jig in the driveway!) I told him that he had been accepted into a group of other bright kids like him, where hopefully I can get some advice to help with his education and where he can make some friends. I didn't tell him that it's for PG kids or for kids with an IQ over X amount. I was as non-specific as I could be about that aspect of DYS. "Bright kids like you" was fine.

He has a DYS e-mail penpal, and we have plans to attend a couple of DYS-related events over the summer, one that required asking his opinion about some things and buying a plane ticket. Planning those events without explaining to DS6 what they were or why we were going would have been more trouble than it was worth to me. ("But why are we going? Who's going to be there? I don't understand...") It's not worth that hassle when I can just answer the question with a simple, "It's for DYS," and have him say, "Oh. Cool."

BTW, DS6 is homeschooled, so that might factor into my choice. He's pretty confident about himself and his abilities, so I'm quite sure he's not going to run around bragging about it to his friends (as he surely would have at the start of the year in public school).

YMMV...

Congratulations on the acceptance to the DYS program! It is definitely a good starting point for your future advocacy.

I think I just told my son that he has been accepted into a group of many kids just like him and that the adults in the group would help me to find solutions for his education.

Congratulations!

Well, we kind of didn't explain it to DS5. We mentioned Davidson, but he doesn't know why and how he got accepted there. When we meet other DYS I usually say something like "a boy like you" or "he too likes math a lot". I think it's pretty confusing for him right now since we have also met a few new kids not because they are in Davidson but because they are homeschooling (we plan to hs next year).

Congratulations. That is great.

Ren

Thanks all for the congrats and advice!

I ended up telling DS6 that he is going to be part of a group of kids from all over the country who, like him, also really love to learn stuff and think. I also explained briefly that it will help us work with the school so that he can start learning more in class.

He was excited about being able to pick his own password for the YS bulletin board. I do hope we can attend some of the summer events even tho we haven't even started our 6 month intro period...

Congrats!

I think we told our DS5 the same types of things as everyone else. He hasn't met any other DYS kids yet but we plan to over the summer. I'm sure I'll have to explain a little more at that time.