Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Grade Acceleration K-1-2

My DS turned 6 this past December and recently was identified as a gifted kid by the psychologist that tested him. He currently goes to Kindergarten at a public school and the school approached us couple of months with the recommendation to move him to first grade for rest of the school year and have him progress to second grade this fall with his new classmates. We got him tested after the school came to us about this (he had high scores on a test at school and the teacher's observations in class is what led to this). I've been doing a lot of reading and research on gifted kids and grade acceleration. I also looked at a couple of old threads here but I wanted to still post this and get some opinions.

He is a social and reasonable boy. He does do goofy things and enjoys silly games that any other 6 year old would but he also does say that he likes to learn new things and school is boring most times. We asked the school to challenge him in class with advanced materials so he can stay with same age peers and it can be done. However, it depends on the bandwidth of all his teachers up until 3rd grade when he will first be able to get the gifted programs for reading and math at his school.

I want him to learn if that's what he wants too and I want him to have friends and be happy. He is not particularly unhappy in his current class, rather just bored. Should we move him to half year of first grade followed by second grade? or just let him be where he is and try to give him whatever enrichment or advanced work wherever possible?
Also, would accelerating him this way negatively impact his readiness and confidence and ability to perform well on the second grade cogat test etc? I would love for him to get the gifted programs in 3rd grade regardless of acceleration now.

I have no professional experience with this, but if it's the school that's pushing for advancement I would consider it. I think it can be difficult for elementary teachers to differentiate instruction, and it may depend on the luck of the draw with a motivated teacher.

I do think it's beneficial that he's on the older side for a kindergartener - so it's not like he'll be miles behind other kids in age or socially. I assume your district has a Fall cutoff for kids turning 5 for kindergarten, so I assume he'll be the youngest in the class, but potentially only by a few months. My child has a late summer birthday, so she's almost a year younger than some of her classmates already, and so I'd hesitate to advance her if that was an option just from a social perspective.

Good luck!

That makes sense, thank you for your inputs @AnonMom

My dd (22 now) had similar experience. Prior to enrollment in K, the teachers who knew her from when she tagged along with older brother, recommended advancement. Principal said no worries, skipping never needs to happen. However, on enrollment, they had her visit the classroom and all thought it a great fit. We reluctantly agreed after negotiation.
And..... it was the right decision. As she grew, we would look at her age grade peers and realize it would have been a poor fit socially and academically. Never regretted it. (til drinking age, but that's another story)

What I'd recommend is to have him visit the first grade for one or two classes over the period of 2 weeks. Let them all give it a try to see if it's a good fit and what issues there might be. Now is the time that you have the most leverage for a successful placement. Is there a neighbor who is not a good fit? You might be able to keep them in different circles. Some math concepts he doesn't quite get? You might be able to see the curriculum and pre-teach for success in 1st grade. Now is the time to ask. Regarding the testing for GT, I'd negotiate that no matter how he does on that testing, he will be admitted to the GT programming.
My little one started to tank again in 3rd grade emotionally from boredom. So needed to skip to 5th (preplanned to be temporary) when the real GT testing happens. First timed test. Was really enjoying the test and no clue about needing to perform. Failed it miserably, but they put her in GT anyway (til we undid the skip and the middle school tried to take her out but that's another story). It's all in the negotiations.

Welcome, Sneha!
In case it may be of help, here's a roundup of prior discussion threads on grade skipping or acceleration:
https://giftedissues.davidsongifted...ration_Roundup_grade_ski.html#Post248163

thank you so much!

It's great that you're considering all aspects of your son's education and well-being. Since he is social and loves learning, moving him to first grade mid-year could provide more challenging material and alleviate some boredom. This transition might enhance his engagement without significantly affecting his social life, especially if he adapts well to new environments. However, acceleration might require some adjustment time, so monitor his readiness and confidence. Discuss any concerns with teachers to ensure support. If keeping him with age peers, ensure the school can provide adequate enrichment. Ultimately, choose what seems best for his overall happiness and development.

I wouldn't simply leave him be, as often boredom can turn into resentment. Many adults significantly resent the boredom of their early years of education. I would move him to 1st grade mid-year, even if it costs significant adjustment time.

Time can be saved. His studying can be scaffolded using studying techniques available on the Internet. Spaced repetition, pomodoro method, and other things.

I would prefer to move up. From the research it seems superior to enrichment. Good luck!

I would mentally separate all his skills and take an inventory. Reading writing spelling math social skills speech general self confidence, self care, organization, independence… anything you can think is important for school. Are all of those skills one year or more advanced?

My kid is super advanced in certain subjects but also has lagging skills that need time to develop. So I never have asked for grade skip and school has not suggested it. I’ve asked for single subject advancement in elementary but they said one grade level bump doesn’t even do him any service because he’s several years advanced and there’s no prebuilt path to do that. (For example, you can’t take 6th grade math in 4th grade b/c 6th grade math is taught in another building. Also a super advanced 4th grade reader doesn't necessarily want to read what’s socially/emotionally appropriate for high schoolers.)

He will get math acceleration in middle school, but there’s a track to do that that’s prebuilt. with that, he’ll end up in college math classes mid high school. Skills wise that seems fine, but there’s a lot to manage logistically - different expectations, different location or online, managing 2 school systems simultaneously, exam timing, etc. That’s a lot to ask of a 16 yo that may or not be able to drive yet.

I would think about what’s available, and where that path ends. Taking college classes in high school? Graduating HS early? Starting college early? Finishing college early?

In my kid’s case we have opted to keep him with same age peers, use some gifted and acceleration options when available. Expand his learning outside of school. Going for breadth and depth rather than acceleration. He does get bored sometimes. But he also has some luxury with his free time to explore interests. We don’t have a very achievement or competitive mindset as a family, we lean more into exploring interests. And having a whole life. for example my kid has spent a lot of time baking. It’s not academic. It’s not achievement oriented. He just likes baking a cake to share with friends and family. He’ll probably use that to be a good home cook down the line. That’s as much of a win as advanced math if you’re asking me.

He has such a mixed bag of skills and interests that I have no idea where it’s going to lead. He might be a mechanic or an electrician or he might be an entrepreneur or he might be a chemist or get a phd in math. I have no idea where it’s leading. I mostly care that he feels like a whole person, is driving his own ship and has a good self image.

Acceleration has good data to back it up as an intervention strategy and it works for some. I also think the success has a bit to do with how the school would facilitate it. But wanted to throw in this differing approach.

The internet provides access to a huge range of maths content. There are lots of interesting materials in the Numberphile videos, whilst Khan academy is curriculum based. Here in Australia, the AMT, which administers the AMO to select the national team for the IMO, provides resources aimed at mathematically able students from third grade upwards. I searched MAA, the counterpart organisation in the US, which administers the USAJMO and USAMO, to look for resources for your DC, but it seems that one has to join to access the full resources (https://maa.org/audience/students-k-12/). Might be worthwhile for you and your DC to look into this.

I would not only take an inventory but place it in the context of their likely advanced developmental level. There is a reason why ADHD assessments take into account IQ - significantly higher IQ leads to higher compensation of symptoms, or milder (or differently-presenting symptoms). Even if not all skills are 1 or more years advanced, one can still grade skip as long as they are not too bad, and academically 1+ year ahead. Though note such skill differences in organisation, self-care, as the developmental gap can indicate ADHD (though rule out other physical/mental disorders first). As my psychiatrist had keenly noted, even good attention (relative to age norms) is a deficit relative to a 98-99th% + IQ and thus is developmentally inappropriate compared to developmental level. I would also note any compensation strategies the kid has used to fix the weak areas (Pomodoro method, app blockers, etc.).

You can accelerate social development and compensate for hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattentiveness to a decent extent in various cases. This is why many ADHD teens are missed. If there are any big gaps, perhaps see a doctor or psychiatrist.

The Internet provides a huge range of maths content, as Eagle Mum explains. However, it is often significantly more difficult to self-study from the Internet than it is to learn with a competent teacher. For instance, not getting distracted by games, understanding the content/problem solving, etc.

If the stuff of logistics is too difficult, I would recommend graduating HS early and starting college early, or perhaps skipping a grade later. Taking some college classes in HS can be done concurrently - perhaps even AP/IB may allow skipping credits. As someone who used to quite like math but probably had ADHD that I compensated for to a decent extent at that age (getting away with little study/organisation, telling myself to study for a few minutes to ease myself into more studying) to the point few (Except my classmates) suspected ADHD... the self-care skills are good. However exploring interests should be limited to some extent... otherwise the kid may focus too much on interests.

But glad to hear you focus on the whole person! I follow that... just with some acceleration first (Grade skip) then work on the stuff, to save time.

Just illustrates that there are different ways to raise gifted kids.

In Yr 8, the maths HoD who was my son’s teacher told me that he had surpassed her and the rest of her faculty. From Yr 2 on, all his primary school teachers have made similar comments (often on record in his school reports), so we’ve deliberately encouraged him to be an independent learner. My daughters preferred to be guided, so as a numberphile myself, I often assumed that role.

My husband encouraged DS to play games (they often played together) and they discussed game theory and optimisation strategies with everything and by his teens, DS was bored of games and much preferred to seek better understanding of the ‘real world’.

Yes! This is what I was trying to say. There’s lots of ways to do it. Acceleration is a viable option. It’s backed up by research. But I chose more depth and breadth b/c of my kid’s particular skill contrasts and school access. I also think a kid can accelerate and be parented as a whole person, those aren’t mutually exclusive.

Approaching my kid in an wholistic way is important to me because I think it protects mental health in the long term. Giftedness/2e is a lot to manage from a mental health standpoint. I’m always thinking about how to prioritize movement, downtime, sunlight, sleep, in real life experiences, nutrition, opportunities to play and spend time with friends, etc. Basically I’m attempting to teach my kids to prioritize the maintenance of their mental/physical resources.

Framist Elite caught that my kid was likely 2e. He is, but with more obscure differences than adhd. He’s spent a lot of the last year learning about his disabilities, learning strategies and how to use/manage assistive tech. He learns about disability like a gifted person. So, he understands his rights and accommodations and has that “heightened sense of fairness/justice” that comes with giftedness and he puts it to use to advocate for himself. Maybe he didn’t speed ahead in an academic subject this year, but he’s making big strides in self advocacy and getting support for disability in the school system. He is laying a good foundation for his own needs that should serve him well as he gets further into school/life. (He also has the strengths to accelerate in math, reading or science, but we’re kinda putting one foot in front of the other, making sure he has appropriate support for disability, supporting strengths outside of school and waiting for built in acceleration opportunities within the school system).

To the original poster: Look at your kid, look what is available, assess and make an informed decision! There are no wrong answers. As a parent you’re in the best position to look out for their best interest & make decisions based on what you currently know about your kid.

I directed a previous post to you because my son, like yours to date, stayed with his age peers, increasing both the opportunities and imperative for them to pursue their own interests. If your DC is keen now to pursue maths interests, waiting for built in opportunities may not be the best strategy, unless he is happy and well occupied pursuing other interests, so I’ve been searching for resources in the US similar to those that my DS found useful over here.

I hear you. We have done a lot outside of school to support math skill and he’s set up to start accelerating next school year. He currently has gifted pull out. He’s done some math circle meetups and robotics this year. We’re not ignoring the strengths, just balancing it with other needs and interests. He shifts back and forth in his math interest. His strongest strength is visual/spatial so that helps with math, but he’s a bit more interested in how things work - mechanics, physics, chemistry, science, etc. So math will likely support his primary interests. This summer he asked me to help him work through algebra, so we have a plan for the coming months.

He has a lot to manage with a learning disability in writing and auditory processing disorders. So, getting him in college classes faster is not ideal. I’m more trying to support across all those needs so when he does get past high school he has a lot of knowledge and confidence navigating systems and knows what his needs are - both gifted & disability - and can plan for those needs and leave time for recovery. He has so many more things to manage with the contrasting skills, he needs experience, strategies and support and we’re using these years to let him navigate the school system and life with our guidance/support. People can go to college at 16 or 18 or 20 or 30 and learn throughout their lifetime… what I want is for him is to feel confident, successful and in control when he gets there. Or he might decide to do a trade like be a mechanic or electrician because he really likes 3D, hands on, physical work. Whatever he decides, I want him to be confident in navigating independently when he gets there.

For visual/spatial development, I highly recommend speedcubing, which has been very worthwhile as a pastime for DS, not only for visuospatial awareness (blindfold cubing is particularly helpful) but for finger dexterity which has served him well as a self taught musician (another example of him pursuing his interests entirely on his own terms). DS also played chess in primary school and though he did not actively compete in high school, his father, an avid chess player over the internet, shares chess puzzles with him, so he has matched strongly rated players at college.

He is currently enrolled in engineering and pivoting towards electronics, having recently been commended for the elegant layout and functionality of his FPGA and circuit chip designs, which very much draw on 3D visualisation skills.

As a parent of a gifted child, I resonate with the concerns around grade acceleration. It's crucial to consider not just academic readiness but social-emotional impacts as well. Balancing these factors can really shape their trajectory.

I don't really resonate with the concerns around grade acceleration because I believe that the "social-emotional impacts" that people are often worried about may be overblown (at least 1 grade) and a larger problem that I am concerned about is potential harassment or bullying rather than any social emotional immaturity. Sometimes a grade skip does force accountability which I very much enjoyed and I am more concerned with some red tape rather than these vague concerns.

If there are social emotional concerns perhaps they could be resolved... maybe some acting training for advertising, or even... advocacy for labels, if only to give a certificate that the person does not have a disability so people can stop mistakenly thinking the child is disabled (in some cases)

The appropriateness, or otherwise, of grade acceleration really depends on the individual child. My daughters were both early entrants and thrived, mainly because, as their school principals in both primary & secondary schools commented, no one would ever have guessed that they were younger than their classmates as they were globally advanced, so much so that when they competed at sports in their correct age group, their eligibility would often be questioned by other parents.

My son’s development was initially more asynchronous and it was absolutely the right call to keep him with age peers and advocate for radical subject acceleration.

While I concur that grade acceleration depends on the child, I do not necessarily believe that the threshold should be as high as sometimes stated. Even if they may not be globally advanced, I do not necessarily believe it would be the right call to keep the child with age peers, especially if the kid calls for it and is willing to sacrifice to make such acceleration happen.

There is a reasonable range of behavior and maturity, and if a school is not willing to accept a reasonable range, perhaps that isn't the right school for you. Not saying there is any wrongdoing, but personally, I do believe in giving people an opportunity and also giving grade acceleration to those students who may not be globally advanced. That is because they can accommodate them.

To clarify, I wasn’t suggesting that a child has to be globally advanced to be eligible for acceleration. I merely described that in our experience, it certainly helped make acceleration successful in mainstream schools which do not have any particular policies or provisions for gifted students.

School principals, who are responsible for the welfare of the whole student body, are most likely to support any proposal which minimises disruption. For my son, who remained with his age peers, the simplest way was to allow him to engage in parallel activities as a form of informal acceleration. I’ve given examples before - completing multiplication homework in Roman numerals, other number bases and choosing his own set of spelling words for each week’s activities of finding definitions and writing. By upper primary, he was given a lot of free time on class computers without being singled out - the teachers announced that anyone who finished assigned tasks to standard could spend self-study time on the computers - DS would very quickly finish the set tasks, thus meeting all of the school’s obligations for student assessment, and be allowed to spend a lot of time in self directed study.

The different acceleration strategies for my kids were all seamlessly effective.

Acceleration during the formative school years also sets the stage for the future years. Accelerating the student to the level at which the tasks become challenging for that individual but still mainstream for the cohort may meet their most basic needs at that stage of development, but doesn’t provide as many opportunities for the gifted individual to explore outside the box, whereas keeping DS with his age cohort made it obvious that he was so far ahead of his age cohort and even his teachers, that they were willing to support strategies that let him forge his own paths. At one of our top ranked universities now, he has usually mastered each course within the first few weeks of each semester and is at or near the top of every course, most recently being the only student to correctly solve a fluid mechanics question in a test, because he not only used the conventionally taught approach, but applied what he called a ‘sanity check’ and then critically analysed the solution to find a common trap of thinking. That is exactly our hoped outcome of education.

In that case I tend to agree as it makes things way easier, however I do not necessarily agree with the unstructured format of self-study as it could very well backfire with credit issues as well as procrastination and complacency issues.

Perhaps Principals are most likely to agree with the least amount of disruption - though perhaps to develop character, willpower and mental willingness to grind perhaps transfer to a school that would allow a grade skip even if the kid would not be the best?

I'm not the best student in my top ranked university even not grade skipped due to a discriminatory conflict before but if I had sent all the documents to that university in 2023 I think I wouldn't have mastered each course within the first few weeks and I wouldn't be at the top or near for every course, but I personally would not have cared.

I think that the way of radical acceleration in the same age group may (bluntly) often be an ivory tower that does not account for the realities of life. I personally would've preferred to be with an older grade even if I wasn't the top in every subject, I would've fought for my position and developed my character. It is a big reason why I enjoy long distance running.

@FrameistElite, it sounds like you weren’t given the opportunities to optimise your learning through your school years. If so, you have my sympathies. My kids experienced both forms of acceleration (whole grade and radical subject) and I do believe the different forms best suited their individual profiles.

That's what I would agree with because of my parents' problems and teacher problems even if I'd say I could have done better by taking my own initiative.

Though even if I had a more asynchronous profile I will still choose the skip in hindsight and fix my problems via discipline or if necessary a psychiatrist to advocate that I am fit for higher education early.