Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Update (Mixed Bag)

Me too Crisc. You may remember our story last year was very similar. I think you have a good plan. In our case the problem wasn't caused by boredom, or the teacher totally not getting C and doubting her high intelligence-overtly!-, or the fact that she wasn't provided with appropriate learning materials....It was a combination of all three. And who she is just made a bad situation that much worse.
Play therapy with a psyd. who understood that she is truly brilliant and TREATED HER THAT WAY....was a life saver for us.

However, I have to say(and I am a person with very few regrets) I totally regret not pulling her out. It was hands down one of the worst decisions I ever made in my life. I had no way of TRULY knowing what was causing the disress and I did the best I could with what I had......
But because of how she changed when school ended and how great things are this year, It's clear I should have trusted my intuition, but oh, how I struggled with it!

JB dad and especially you Crisc, sound like you have similar situations......but only you are privy to all the facts and who your child is.

Good luck and trust your gut

((hugs))

Yeah, exactly. And he got his first "yellow card" yesterday for a pushing incident. (The have cards that go yellow and red for various infractions.) Now it appears that this was a relatively minor incident, but we completely support the teacher's call and had DS apologize to her today. I am hoping this was a "one very bad day" type of incident. He did have a very, very bad day and was on restriction for the entire day before even catching the bus. Happens to the best of us.

And then there was the last library day where he picked out what I'd describe as a very "angry" book. I forget the title but it was a picture book (early reader book) about bunnies and a hunter and one hunter getting shot at or something. Actually very violent pictures. We didn't want to read too, too much into it, but it was suprising to us. DW said that she thinks he was angry...

JB

Re-reading what I wrote above, though overall he is pretty happy. Don't want to make it sound like a dire case. We just do have ups and downs with very intense down periods. And fretful parents!

JB

We're having a lot of behavior issues and are also seeking professional help. One this time that has experience with gifted kids, even though she's about an hour drive one way. And, not on insurance. But, we've just go to find the source for this. So, I am also commiserating and waiting and trying not to think too much about it. However, his behavior this week has been much, much better and he's on fall break. Coincidence? We'll see when he goes back to school on Monday. He brought home the book "Mom, You're Fired" last week. Might be an important clue.

I am actually surprised that my DS5.5 isn't refusing to do the easy homework papers yet. Each one takes less than a minute to complete unless he has to draw a picture---then he takes more like 2 minutes to scribble something quickly.

I agree JBDad-- it's not all awful at our house. There are some great times when my DS is happy. He actually seems to enjoy telling me about the details of his day and he seems to enjoy the socialization (when he is not biting or pushing, of course )

Wow--it sounds like a lot of the kids DS's age are having a hard time of it. I feel really lucky that we haven't had any behavior problems at all, in fact he seems eager to do his homework this year (unlike last year.)

I almost feel like I shouldn't talk about how well things are going; I might jinx it

ROFL!

Yeah, Dottie, K-3 is definately the worst! (said the mom with the third grader, hopefully )

So much depends on personality. Some kids tolerate drudge work they already understand and some just don't. Some would rather fight for an hour than spend 5 minutes doing the work. <shrug> Just how they're built.

The behavior problems seem far more troublesome to me. I really think those issues tend to be sincere cries for help from HG+ kids. Not always, of course--every child is different. But I think the anger and lashing out more often than not are signs that something isn't working, and isn't working in a big way.

Just my NSHO...

NSHO....hee hee hee.....

Here's the deal though. Number one is totally steady eddie. I think her report said something about her crazy attention span even during ridiculously mundane and repetitive tasks. She would never act out or complain at school. And she never complained to me until I started to give her other options about a year ago. Once she found out what she had been missing, yeah she started complaining to me, but never at school.

Number two has a short fuse and is more likely to rage: "2+2.......I'm mad as heck and I'm not takin it anymore!".

Do we just accomodate the squeaky wheel. Number one left to tolerate an inadequate learning environment just because she will?

Making a point mind you. Currently, the school is going to great lengths in an attempt to accomodate both of them......now.

Nope. I think you accomodate both of them, naturally.

I just think that a child who acts out is SCREAMING that something is wrong. A child who is not acting out may be in just as much trouble, and I think you worry about that one, too. But my big worry in this particular thread is the child who is *even* acting out and is *still* pooh-poohed.