Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Want to play "Let's wildly speculate.."

My DD6 is gifted and is a middle achiever she blends right in with the high norm on achievement test.
This made me and my DD 1st grade teacher doubt her giftedness. Her K teacher saw otherwise and convinced me to allow testing. Boy was she ever right!
I agree with Grinity that it is a good sign that they want to bring in a gifted coordinator & to take lots of notes.

Good luck!
I believe kickball is right,
she must have had a vision to see your future so clearly!

Exactly!
I think that's why we've always been lucky with DS6 (clear back when he was DS2) having his reading acknowledged--we just let people figure it out for themselves. At the preschool, when we were registering him, we said "he can read anything" and as we were doing the paperwork he was wandering around the office reading everything out loud, and by the time we got done, everybody was convinced--and going out to drag other people in to watch him read, too! He just sells it himself. If you have a kid who doesn't read everything he sees out loud, it's probably harder. It's always cracked me up when a new neighbor comes along and says "did you know he can read anything?" because he's been over meeting them and reading everything they have. LOL!

If you've got a gifted AND a high achieving child then I reckon you've one the lottery!!! Coz boy, that would make my life so much easier with my girls...

But... a child could only be high achieving if they're being appropriately challenged at school, yes? Otherwise, how would they know?

I suspect that like many school administrators they think there's a difference between someone that is truly, genuinely gifted (on their scale a child prodigy) and someone that is just bright. I would be VERY cautious of the terminology they use because it could be hiding some deep-seated philosophies about the school's real attitude to G&T kids...

jojo

...and maybe some of it is because learned underachievement is so pervasive

Thanks for the comments everyone. This board is an amazing resource and very supportive. I am still waiting on the date and time for the meeting. If I haven't heard anything by next week I will go camp out in the office till we can get one arranged.

I definiitely needed your opinions on the high acheiving and gifted comment. Honestly they haven't met my ds's needs since starting school. I was very cautious when she said it because I am not quite sure what she meant. It almost seems like she thinks he catches on quicker than other kids and understands more but wouldn't that be a postive thing? The teacher has not taught him anything at all especially since she won't offer him more than cursory work because I kept asking how and what they are teaching him.

The more I turn it around in my head the more I think they will be offering the grade skip and hoping that I won't ask for any more differentiation. We are going to embrace the grade skip if they offer it especially if I get teacher approval. I was hesitant but the more I contemplate it the more I realize they truly can't meet his needs until we can get him to more challenging work. Not sure it will be enough but better then the nothing he is getting now. I am also going to try to tap into the GATE coordinator resources. I am hoping she offers more comprehensive testing but not holding my breath.

Is there anything I am missing that I should ask for? I don't want to put me homeschooling him half days on the table yet, even though I can see this being an option in the future. I would like them to step-up and offer my son an education. I was talking to another parent about how she feels they have dumbed down expectations and how fustrated she is with it. Her daughter tried out and got on the dance team as a freshman in high school and they only expect them to keep a 2.0 average to be eligible. She was shocked and appalled at the low expectations. In our community we are told how important it is that our children do well on standardized tests so the school can get money but they don't challenge them at all because of it.

*oops* got off on a tangent. Back to my original thought. Is there anthing else I should consider asking for that I haven't thought of?

I agree Dottie I would prefer them to do some actual testing of his IQ but I am getting the distinct impression that it isn't an option to be done before the meeting. We would get independant testing ourselves but can't because of financial reason's at the moment.

The GATE coordinator talked with ds's long term sub earlier this year about how to teach him and what strategies to use here is a link to the detailed post. http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....News_and_update_about_our.html#Post31538. As far as I know she hasn't done any testing even though the principal and I glossed over it at that meeting. I might be pleasantly suprised though but when I asked about what tests were given no IQ type tests were mentioned. Ds say's he hasn't taken any tests with anybody but his teacher.

He hasn't been offered the GATE pull out program cause they don't test for GATE until recommended in 2nd grade, the grade he will be skipping. I was going to ask that he be tested for the program but wasn't sure a grade skip was or is in the cards. In essence I was waiting for this meeting to discuss it. I am flying by the seat of my pants. The principal has given at least two grade skips to students in the past three years. She is the one that instigated it. When I asked the procedure for a grade skip she has said that they give him the end of the year test that he would skip (2nd grade) then have a meeting to discuss the results including her, us parents, his current teacher and maybe the GATE coordinator.

Looking forward to your wisdom and advice Dottie. Thanks again everyone for discussing.

I TOTALLY agree. The advice here is invaluable! The thing that I realized most over the year is that I have to try not to focus on what other people think my daughter can't do. I remember leaving first grade orientatiofirst almost in tears because it seemed like her teacher didn't believe me when I told her she could read as well as she can. By the end of the first month, my girl was the class "go-to" person if the teacher was in reading or math group with others and they couldn't read a word. I know now that no matter what anyone says, if I just sit back, she'll prove herself.

[quote=Dottie]

1. Add stuff that challenges your child
2. Remove stuff that "insults" your child

[quote=Dottie]

LOVE this and will definitely keep it in mind when we have our first IEP next year!