Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion 145 FSIQ and ineligible for gifted services

My 5 year old son's Full Scale IQ score on the Stanford Binet V was a 145 (99.9-percent) and he is ineligible for gifted services. His academic skills also are advanced and significantly above his current grade placement. Once a child has the minimum 130 IQ score, Sarasota County requires a minimum number of points on a gifted profile worksheet for a child to be eligible for gifted services. Over half of these points come from grades and gifted characteristics scales provided by the child's teacher. My son's teacher converted his mostly "Outstanding" Kindergarten report card to almost all Bs even though he has earned As (mostly perfect scores) on all of his tests and this same teacher awarded him with an Academic Achievement Award. She said she based his grades on his "maturity". Interestingly, both the psychologist who tested my son and his previous teacher said that his concentration and focus were age appropriate. I am so frustrated by this result; my son is not challenged in his current placement and needs advanced work. Is there any way to get my county to reconsider my son's eligibility?

Are you saying that 50% of the points are derived from teacher observation? Could you give a breakdown of how points are calculated?

Neato

sadly this program may not even be worth the effort. i reccomend spending some time observing before you invest any more emotional energy. i also reccomend setting up a meeting asking the school for their plan to accomidate your child. Also reccomend applying to young scholars program. best wishes grinity

I hate to be negative - but from what I've read on the board, and experienced myself - schools and negotitation rarely works out. I find your post particularly disheartening because if in a state where you actually have GT services they make it THIS hard and base so much of it on one teacher's opinion (!) then WHAT hope is there.

I'm sure DS6's recent report card will likely NOT contain all "E" - and whereever he doesn't get Excellent - the reasoning will be his lack of attention in class, or be based on BEHAVIOR. There is a differetn between Academic ability/Intellectual ability and behavior - and in my opinion they should be judged separately from one another and then form the overall picture. To hold your child back from special services based on BEHAVIOR is just wrong!!

That's like taking a disabled child - and saying they have to behave perfectly or be mature before they get services. (Some other parent posted that remark on these boards elsewhere - and it helped me immensley see things in perspective!)

Sounds like your suffering from "Well, your kid is only borderline gifted, so as we only have so many dollars to spend - we'll do out best to make your kid too average to participant.) Stinks! And the contradictions (otherwise all A's in tests etc.) makes me angry!!

P.S. Try contacting your local Parent's Advocacy Group - which is run by the government - they might have ideas on how you can tackle the school. Good luck. I'm so burnt out from pointless negotiations - I've given up on our particular school for now.

Unbelieveable! There is no doubt in my mind that your child is gifted. It is sad that their "power" in this situation denies your child-- This is so disheartening. Hang tough and be strong for your child. I'm inclined to agree with Grinity. And her suggestion to check out the Davidsons YS program is a really good one.

Good luck and lots of positive energy being sent your way

PS. This board is an awesome resource. Spend some time looking around and reading old posts, chatting with others, etc. You may find some wonderfully helpful support outside of the so-called Gifted school program you are having to deal with.

Maybe some form of academic acceleration would work instead of the GT program. I also think that you should find out what the GT program provides; you may find that it's not worth the effort. In our district, being identified as GT doesn't provide any different curriculum. GT students are simply "clustered" in heterogeneous classrooms. We have decided to opt for a gradeskip instead.

Yes, even in our State where there is no GT program - and for 1st grade - all they will do is cluster the supposedly other GT kids with our kid. Exactly how they define GT remains a mystery to me right now. It might just mean "brighter" than the average. If your child is borderline - like mine - then it might be good to accelerate or home school and see if that makes a different to their ability over time. If you have the option to accelerate or subject accelerate that's GREAT. They are totally against it here for this age group (Elementary).