Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Testing anxiety... for the parent!

that's exactly it. A little mourning over what could have been my ND child. I love DS4 so much, but I think it is also harder because of my job. I work with kids and families, I work with pre-k and K and get kids all excited about going to K. Play with them, etc. It just pounds it in each day how different he is.

Shelly,

Welcome to my world. I knew it, all of your posts sounded so much like DS6. Our district doesn't have a gifted program specifically. We do have a GT coordinator that does pullouts for specific kids and situations.

We made the choice to send DS to K so that he could learn how to "do school". As it turns out he didn't need it. He's only in K for the first 15 minutes, lunch and recess. Then he's off and running. He is in 3rd, 4th and 6th grade classes all day. It has worked really well for him. Next year he is skipping 3 grades to 4th and I think it will be easier for him to not be moving sooo much. There remains a question as to what to do about math, but we'll figure it out.

I guess the point is that the fact that your school doesn't have a GT program might be a good thing. Most GT programs aren't geared towards PG. If they are willing to be flexible, he can get what he needs. Hang in there, the ride has just begun!

StPauliGirl,
I know what you mean about thinking about moving from a small town. We're thinking the same thing about our little town. Our school has been great trying to accomodate DD's needs, but I think she is going to quickly reach the end of what they are capable of doing. (like maybe by the end of next school year!)

We're just the opposite... We have the flexibility we have because we are in a little town.

I always watch your posts with interest, because I think we're in a similar situation (except we haven't been to school yet and haven't seen if it will work or not). It seems that with all the skips, your DS is actually learning things, but what are your thoughts about peers he can discuss his ideas with? I guess that's what I worry about for the future. Our district is being extremely helpful, and things might work out great, but it seems unlikely that our DS will meet someone like him.

Oh - and I agree that our school district is being more helpful than many i've heard of simply because it is small and has no set policies about this yet. So that part I like.

SPG,

Although my DS doesn't have a "best friend" he has many friends. He doesn't really care for kids his own age and he gets along great with the older kids. He's extremely personable and having people to pal with shouldn't be an issue. When asked about skipping and all the moving he does over the course of his school day, he's fine with it. He wants to be in classes that are exciting and interesting. It never occurs to him to question his own age in comparison to the other kids in his classes, it just doesn't come up.

Part of his willingness to fit in with all ages comes from growing up in a household of ever changing age groups. Whenever we get a new child in, the rest of the kids help them fit. So DS will play monsters with the 3 and 4 yo's then move on to play Bakugan with the 13 yo. He also spends time on his own everyday, his choice. He kind of understands what each group brings to the table and uses them to meet his various needs.

Sounds like a great fit for your DS then. Lucky! I suppose we'll see what sort of personality DS really has when he goes to school in the fall. Then we'll know if it will work or not. The trouble with our school is that due to space issues, they made "centers" - K-2 and 3-5 in different schools (yuck). So we don't have older grades that DS could move into if he's starting in K. So probably he'll be learning stuff by himself. Also, he's an only child so we don't have the benefit of all ages of kids always being around. Maybe I should rent a few!

I could loan you a couple!! LOL

Wow, we have the same exact grades per school in our district which concerns me. Before DS was born I thought it was great, now that he is how he is I see the problems with it. We will probably start him in first in the fall, but may do K with acceleration if they refuse to start him in first. But even then, he probably will need to be receiving some 3rd grade work pretty soon after starting. And even if they wait until next year for that, it still won't be in the same building, so they will have to bring over stuff from a different school. I guess that shouldn't be so hard, but I wonder if they will do it and I also know that means he can't be going into an older class but has to be by himself.


this is how DS4 is as well. He likes people for certain things. Older kids he has conversations with and does different advanced stuff with, younger ones he plays tag with. He doesn't seem to notice ages much. In fact I mentioned to him the other day that his friend was a year older than him (not sure why I even was mentioning it) and he insisted the boy was not almost 6 and that he was 4 just like him. So I let it go. It's funny though that sometimes it matters to adults, but kids could care less. So now I don't plan to ever even mention age to him. The only time he mentions it is when he is playing a game that says 8+ or something and he tells me that is just a suggestion and that he is still allowed to play it.

Reviving this old post - simply because today I've tried to make head and tail out of the WSCII-IV testing report that someone kindly published the link too a week or 2 ago. I was wondering whether DS6 test results (on page 4 I think of this post) had been looked at from the GAI perspective or not, seeing as they said he had ADHD. From what I can tell, the score they published in the diagnosis as his FSIQ was actually what I just calculated as his GAI. Does this mean they didn't bother to give us a regular FSIQ at all - and is that standard procedure if they are also diagnosing a DL? Or should I have 2 scores - one regular, one GAI?