Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Gifted child, but no program to support them ?

My 3rd grade daughter has been tested for the G&T program and scored in the gifted range on the WISC IV. Because of a lack of funding for the program, they can only take a certain number of students, and as such, she cannot get in(even though she scored well above the necessary range).

I am very concerned, because she has told me that she is not being challenged in school and was hoping that this would have been a remedy. I'm wondering if anyone else has been in this situation, and if anyone had advice. I just don't want to see her potential go to waste.

Thanks so much in advance.

Do you want to try to advocate for her to be in the GT program or are you looking for alternatives at school such as acceleration, differentiation or things you can do at home, such as afterschooling or homeschooling?

My daughter is in 4th grade and she is not receiving any GT services at school. For her, we are making do with enrichment and outside activities after school.

Our school also does not provide any GT services to kids before 4th grade, so we opted to have our son accelerated to 2nd grade.

You are definitely not alone...many parents of gifted kids have a hard time getting services for them at school.

And just to piggyback on what Cathy has to say, consider carefully whether the GT program is really worth all the effort it would probably take to try to get her into the program...not to mention the fact that there's a good chance they still won't let her in.

If the GT program is a once-a-week-for-a-hour pull-out program, you might be better off trying some of the strategies that Cathy has suggested. It depends on the child, of course, but that little bit of time is often not worth the hassle you'd have to go through to get a child into it. OTOH, it can be the highlight of the week for some kids...

FWIW, this problem of "We acknowledge that you're GT, but we still can't serve you" is not at all uncommon these days. I know the same thing is happening in our school system: money gets tight or rules about GT services change, and schools respond by narrowing the range of kids they serve. It's the reality of GT education these days, and I'm not sure you'd have much luck fighting it. After all, if they make an exception for your child, they'd have to let in every kid with scores at or above hers, and they just can't do that. If the resources aren't there, the school has to make hard choices. Not serving some GT kids at all is one of those potential choices.

Sad!

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably push for other forms of stimulation for my child. Sometimes it's best to pick your battles, and as I doubt you'll win this one, I think I'd save my political capital with the school for something I had a shot at winning...

Thank you both for the insight. I suppose it wasn't completely clear, however I was not intending to fight to get her in the program, but wondered as to alternative plans to help cultivate her mind and provide another option to a GT program. We have her read novels and do some afterschool learning/activities to support her intellectual curiosity, but fear for the "bored in school" syndrome.

Without sounding "preachy", it just doesn't make sense to have her do unchallenging math/english during a time when she should be challenged. Typically, school hours are the peak times for learning, and just feel its a shame to have them under-utilized. She is my oldest of four dughters, and this is a bit of new territory for me, so I apologize if I seem a bit overly alarmed.

Although its sad, I guess I feel a little less lonely knowing that others have been going through this too. I just wish the "no child left behind" partyline also applied to the entire spectrum of kids. I'll get off my soapbox now....

If anyone does have ideas for curricula, materials/software or general advice, I would be grateful.

Once again, thanks for listening and your kind advice.

Sincerely,
A concerned Dad

Hey, it's a good soapbox! Around here, we're big fans of it! You're definitely among friends.

Have you spoken with her teacher yet? Does s/he acknowledge that your daughter is GT and probably needs more than the normal child in the classroom?

If so, then you're in a pretty good spot. You can partner with the teacher to support her/him as s/he challenges your child.

If not, you have a much tougher row to hoe...

It's odd how it works out here. Apparently, due to the state's grant, it limits the number of students to the top 5%, so as a result the IQ bar is set higher, from what the testing letter stated. So despite scoring with a "gifted" IQ, it wasn't enough. I apologize if this doesn't make much sense, but this is the first child that I've gone through with this and its a bit confusing/frustrating at its baseline.

I do appreciate your insight and want to thank you.

Ok, are you envisioning her working at her level within her existing classroom or moving to a higher level classroom for one (or all) subjects?

In which subjects do you think she would benefit the most from acceleration? Do you have test scores or other hard data to back you up (you will need these for advocacy.)

Some books to read:

Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom

A Nation Deceived

Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual

Kriston,
Gosh, thanks so much for taking the time. I had paroozed the board earlier and saw how active you were and I really appreciate your adivce.

Without sounding too sappy, I'm very passionate about education and how important it is for children's futures. As such, I had spoken with her teacher at the beginning of the school year to try and see about challenging her, as she had been doing 3rd grade math while in 2nd grade, etc. I got a lukewarm response, but she suggested this GT testing/program, hence the dilemma at hand. I had planned on meeting with either the teacher or principal to see about a "backup plan" for her. I did see the EPGY and CTY website and wondered if either of these could be incorporated into her classwork.

On one hand I don't want to seem pushy, but on the other, I want to be an advocate for my daughter and provide her with opportunities, whenever possible. Do you have advice as to how to approach this ?

Cathy,

Those are excellent questions, and to be completely honest, I really don't know. She is a very mature 8 year old. Although she certainly loves to play and do the typical things an 8 year old does, due to her maturity level, she sometimes does not relate to some of the kids. For this reason, I don't think it would be unreasonable to see her in a higher grade.

I'm sure this is a typical theme, but I don't want to push her "too hard", but don't want her to stagnate either. Sure wish I had a crystal ball about now.....Do you have one you could spare ?

In regards to raw data, she took her WISC IV for the GT testing, but I don't have the entire breakdown(I think there are 10 sections, I beleive). Otherwise, she just has her standard report cards/grades. Currently, she is being assigned additional spelling words/reading/assignments in an attempt to challenge her(at least the teacher is acknowledging her talent). But her math is far to simplistic for her.

What I am really looking for are some suggestions for action plans/suggestions or particular key points that helped others in helping their children in similar situations.

Not pushy is always best, of course, but there are times when you have to step up for your child.

I'm not very good at advocacy because I come off as too in-your-face or--if I try to hold back--as shifty or manipulative or something (reasons we're homeschooling!). But I can tell you that while DS7 was still in public school, I realized that my fear of being "that mom" was overshadowed by my fear of DS7 becoming "that kid." I decided that I could take the label a lot better than he could.

I've learned a lot about technique from people here. Asking questions seems to be a favorite. Keep asking until they give you an answer you like. Then they feel like the idea is theirs and they're a lot more likely to make something happen and not just spout teacher-ese without action.

But I'll let others pass out specifics. Seriously, this is NOT my area of expertise!

I do think it pays to remember that your goals are for your child's growth, learning and general happiness; the teacher's goals are usually aimed at classroom management and general achievement on the end-of-year tests. Those are two different sets of goals entirely! Whenever you can make your goals support the teacher's goals, you'll probably meet with greater success. Making her life easier instead of harder is also a great plan whenever possible.