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    Joined: May 2009
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    Kai Offline
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    My son has a similar profile to your son (with the VCI and PRI reversed).

    We homeschooled K-4 and then my son entered a small private school the next year in 6th grade (skipping 5th). He skipped 7th and is currently in 8th. He is further accelerated in math (one year ahead of his current placement).

    Because of his processing speed issues, he has accommodations at school where he is allowed double time on tests, but he rarely uses it.

    Honestly, from a cognitive demand standpoint, two skips haven't been enough, but from an executive functioning perspective, it is bordering on too much. Since we don't want him to burn out before he even starts high school, we have decided to have him take a gap year (or two) before entering 9th grade. We'll be homeschooling again. I hope to work on skills that have been difficult for him and at the same time stretch him intellectually--something that's been lacking for the last two years.


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    Minx Offline OP
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    Thank you! Some of the processing speed was attributed to fine-motor coordination (not unusual in boys especially and also a problem for me as a child) and some was probably due to motivation. He is very unhappy in school right now and really did not want to be there doing anything school-related with a teacher (which is how she asked me to present it to him.)

    I ordered the IOWA Assessment manual and am just waiting on that to arrive but ty for the recommendation! :-)

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    Minx Offline OP
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    He would be going from second grade to fourth grade (February baby). He already has friends in the third and fourth grades from the playground and his aftercare program so I do not anticipate they will treat him like a baby. Added to that is his sheer physical size where he is often mistaken for a ten-year-old from being so tall.

    Thank you for the recommendation; we are waiting on the IAS to arrive! :-)

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    Minx Offline OP
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    Thank you for sharing your experience. I also am a middle-aged woman who was skipped up two grades and it worked out quite well for me but I took time off before college so that may have made the difference.

    We negotiate rules based on his maturity level, with the understanding that "I am not Jason's mom; I am your mom." That one is the least of my concerns. :-)

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    Minx Offline OP
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    His first-grade teacher (Montessori where he was working at a third grade level) last year recommended he be bumped to third grade. We moved and the new school assured us they would differentiate for him. The second-grade teacher has tried by getting materials from the fourth-grade teacher for him to use but he is miserable and has asked to move to fifth grade.

    The psychologist who tested him also thinks it would be good for him though she does not anticipate the school agreeing to it. Neither do I, to be frank, but I'd like to give it the best possible shot.

    He is very popular and has lots of friends across the grades but does not have friends who "think like me, Mom."

    He comprehends quickly and finishes his tests quickly; his Chinese tests on Friday, for which they allot one hour, takes him about fifteen minutes. I do not know how long it takes the other students. He is currently a peer helper for math, so I think it's safe to say he isn't slowing down the class and in fact, the teacher has asked him to let the other students have a turn answering.

    I have read a bit about the processing speed with respect to working memory and I am not convinced it would hold him back.


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    Minx Offline OP
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    Yes, I can see this being a concern; I'm still terrible with it and I want him to develop those skills now rather than in college or never. :-) We are working on habits of organization now but it's an uphill battle for both of us. When I was in college, I would type my papers without writing a rough draft the night before or the morning they were due and I still don't know how to study. I have a friend who returned to college for a biotech degree and I admire the relentless way he studies but I could never duplicate it. sleep

    We were very fortunate to have a Montessori program available to us for his first two years but that is no longer an option. We are considering the Davidson Academy for middle and high school, if I can transfer to the office there.

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    Originally Posted by Minx
    His first-grade teacher (Montessori where he was working at a third grade level) last year recommended he be bumped to third grade... The second-grade teacher has tried by getting materials from the fourth-grade teacher for him to use but he is miserable and has asked to move to fifth grade.
    Sounds promising, especially since your son requested it and a previous teacher suggested and it hopefully may back it with a letter of recommendation, or may offer to help complete the IAS?

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    The psychologist who tested him also thinks it would be good for him though she does not anticipate the school agreeing to it. Neither do I, to be frank, but I'd like to give it the best possible shot.
    Best possible shot is often the Iowa Acceleration Scale, you've probably seen this.

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    Minx Offline OP
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    LOL! Thank you! You are the third person to recommend the IAS; it must be good! We are currently waiting for the manual to arrive. :-)

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    Originally Posted by Kai
    My son has a similar profile to your son (with the VCI and PRI reversed).

    We homeschooled K-4 and then my son entered a small private school the next year in 6th grade (skipping 5th). He skipped 7th and is currently in 8th. He is further accelerated in math (one year ahead of his current placement).

    Because of his processing speed issues, he has accommodations at school where he is allowed double time on tests, but he rarely uses it.

    Honestly, from a cognitive demand standpoint, two skips haven't been enough, but from an executive functioning perspective, it is bordering on too much. Since we don't want him to burn out before he even starts high school, we have decided to have him take a gap year (or two) before entering 9th grade. We'll be homeschooling again. I hope to work on skills that have been difficult for him and at the same time stretch him intellectually--something that's been lacking for the last two years.


    This is about what our situation has been with our DD14, too. She's now (finally) catching up to peers in EF (that is, 17yo, not agemates) and surpassing them, even... but we were pretty nervous about this heading into her senior year, to be honest.

    The way that we did this is as follows:

    delayed entry into formal school until 6.5yo-- and at that point, provided out of level testing that was all 99's, arguing for a 3rd grade placement (that's 2y right there, since she didn't turn 7 until the summer after she finished 3rd grade).

    The FOLLOWING year, she compacted 4th and 5th into a single academic year, and the year after that, was placed as a 6th grader in the GT program.

    The last skip was finalized when she was a high school freshman, and her grade placement was adjusted at the end of that year to be "11th grade" without ever having been 10th grade, if that makes sense.

    What worked about this was that if her EF and written output hadn't begun closing the gap in 9th grade (it had) we wouldn't have HAD to have her graduate this year-- we could have had her graduate at (almost) 16y instead, and just spend 5y taking "high school" coursework.

    I can't say that the academics have been terribly meaningful, but some really good teachers can go a long way to helping your child find ways to enrich the curriculum as they go, provided that they are open and nurturing about that.

    IMO, the easiest way to advocate for a multiple skip like this is the way that we did it (and others here have done it, too); make sure that you're ENTERING a new educational setting, and that the child is way over-prepared to be dropped into the incoming grade, convincingly so via test results, etc.

    Homeschool to school is the simplest way of getting that done, because there isn't a "gap" for a school to really consider a "skip" in academics-- it's just that the placement is "individually determined" instead of "chronological."

    I'll also add, though, that the processing speed would be a red flag for me here, too-- ouput demands REALLY increase sharply now at Gr 4, and again at Gr6/7 (the transition to middle school) and Gr9. Each of those particular years is a "transition" year where kids are specifically taught EF and academic support skills.

    As far as we can tell, my DD's profile has only her written expression as a limiting factor in the 3y acceleration that she's effectively been operating at since 6th grade-- but realize that as a 7th grader, she was clearly at about the 80th-90th percentile there as compared with her GT (mostly MG) classmates. It's only now that it's bounced back up to 99 levels-- but like everything else about her, it's a total black box HOW that happens, and it's not been a slow steady improvement, either-- fits and starts. It's a step function, her development. {sigh}







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    Minx Offline OP
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    I would love to be able to homeschool him. Unfortunately, he likes to eat so I have to work. :-D

    How did you compact 4th and 5th grades? That may be a solution if they only allow one grade skip.

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