Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School 1st/2nd Grade 2010-2011

I can relate. That was us last year in first grade for DS6 (then 5). He had his own special words that the teacher did every week and so I give her much credit. But he always got 100% weekly and almost always knew how to spell the words before he got them. He never studied the words or anything. Also, some of the words were very odd and he had to use them in sentences so that took lots of time as he often didn't know what some of the words meant. He had words like: viscous, loafer, abode, ecosytem, lancet, biome. He had harder words but those were just some examples of ones he didn't really know about. LIke I said, I knew she was trying and it was his first year of school so I just let it go. We will see how things go this year for spelling. good luck!

I had hoped DS6 could fly under the radar this year, at least for a little while, since instead of skipping a grade like he did last year he's just subject accelerated. But tonight at his open house his teacher was talking in a normal tone of voice and volume(!) to DS about meeting his two other teachers, which the other parents -- including a parent who is competitive and often brags about her DS -- could hear. Oh well.

OTOH, the open house went great. DS6 was feeling a bit nervous about having to go to two other teachers besides his main teacher, but when he met the teachers tonight they were all so wonderful with him and truly excited to have him in their classes. Yea! And, this is the first year that DD8's teacher doesn't know that she's younger than the rest of the class, as far as I know. I'm looking forward to her being a "normal" student. Besides, her teacher, too, was really wonderful talking with her. AND, we bumped into the GC who told us about the really great projects they have planned for the pull-out program which actually expand upon topics covered more generally in the regular classroom.

I'm excited to see what this year brings. Crossing my fingers that DS6 can live up to the challenge both academically (which I'm quite sure he can) and behaviorally.

It sounds as if everyone is off to a decent start this year. That's always good to hear. This is our first week of school. We dabbled with school two weeks ago, but this was our first official week. (We homeschool.) On Monday we started our school year with a trip to a safari park and a few other special things. We jumped into things on Tuesday. So far, so good. He's not made one of his leaps in the past two months, so I'm on the lookout. Last year was full of surprises and I had to revamp our curriculum three times. I think we'll be okay this year, but one never knows.

Our big issue right now is that DS is really beginning to appear quirky to everyone. I don't mean funny quirky either, but eccentric quirky. I felt like I finally understood the "whys" of his actions last October when we got his WISC scores. Everything finally made sense to us. What a relief it was even though it took me several months to accept it.

DS has changed so much this past year (from 5.5 to 6.5), and he really appears to be very different than his age peers. We've always dealt with this issue, but now adults are commenting on it and DS is becoming aware of his differentness. He's had to deal with some bullying this summer.

I've had a couple of people mention Asperger's to us over the past five or six months. I did read a book on Asperger's that was offered to me. It was surprising to see how many of his quirks were labeled as AS issues. (I also saw many of my own issues, so...) I think that the unsettling part was when I would read phrases that parents of AS children find themselves saying a lot; I say many of these same things, and they are very specific things, not just general ones. Gifted issues? AS issues?

Do any of you get the Asperger's possibility brought up to you? Do you see that your child is really different from his/her age peers? Has that differentness become more obvious at six or seven? *sigh* I'm just so tired of dealing with these issues. Just when I think I have it all figured out, he changes and I begin to doubt everything.

On a positive note, I do think that I'm seeing an improvement in his fine motor skills. His handwriting has improved, but he still can't do a high-five without being spastic and missing your hand. We're working on it. (He'll be 7 in a few months. )

Hi Mom2MrQ

I want to send a virtual *hug* your way.

Would you feel comfortable sharing more about these "quirks"?

While my dd6 does not have Asperger's, she has two very good friends (both 7 and soon to turn 8) who do. They were both diagnosed in the 1st Grade Year. While I am no expert, I may be able to provide some insight about what I see in my dd (giftedness) that is different from these other children who are both gifted with Asperger's.

I also know there are several more experienced parents who frequent this board who could probably provide even better information.

Mine is 2E with Asperger's. What are you and others seeing that makes you suspicious?

You might want to visit the website and discussion forum at http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/ -- there are a lot of expert parents over there, including some parents of gifted kids.

DeeDee

Mom2MrQ: I don't have any advice for you, but sending a virtual *hug* to you as well.

We just finished our first week w/both boys in new schools. Going into the change DS6 was psyched and DS8 was happy, but more nervous.

So, at the end of week 1 ... DS8 had a fabulous week. Loves his teachers, is in a homeroom for the morning that's entirely kids doing math 1 yr ahead. And he loves his afternoon language arts teacher. I always felt that he could do much more than our old school pushed him to do, but he's not a kid who EVER asks for more than he's given. This new school simply expects more and it seems to work for him so far. It's nice to see him naturally step up.

DS6 meanwhile, has been really whiny all week. He likes his teacher, as do I, so that's good. She's been teaching for 25 years. She's going to start implementing an integrated curriculum where reading, writing, science and social studies units are all working together. Logical, I know, but not what our county has been doing the past few years. I think that will be good for DS6. She plays music in the class all day, which I think is pretty cool.

Don't yet know if this is good or bad, but he got placed w/the same child he was paired w/at our old school last year. The two of them were a bit too uppity about being the smart kids -- hence my nervousness about it. He's been pretty glued to her all week. I'm still waiting for the school to set the reading and math groups and am hoping that his reading group is more than just the two of them this year.

I'm not sure if this is the place to post - we are unschoolers and if my DS6 was in school he would be in reception (kindergarten) but I think he would be better suited to grade 1 or 2...

Having finally cottoned on (admitted) to the fact that my son is most likely gifted I've been doing lots of reading (here and elsewhere) and realised just how much my child has been bored. So I'm incorporating a little more schoolly type stuff into our day and he is clearly thriving with it.

I showed him how to do double and triple digit addition last week and he absolutely clicked with it. Kept asking for more and more difficult questions. He called carrying the ten "stealing the ten)LOL. We also pulled out some old mental maths books that I bought him about a year ago that were hidden under other books and he really enjoyed doing a few units from that, which had lots of new concepts in it.

He's reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, out loud to me and to himself in his head. He's about half way after 2 weeks.

We made a trip to the library and got some documentaries on Antarctica and The Galapagos Islands out. He also chose a Maths Dictionary and another book called Cool Stuff Exploded, which related to the How Cool Stuff Works book that we borrowed about a year ago.

The most wonderful thing about all of this is that both of us are enjoying his learning so much more now. Many of the activities he is doing are enjoyable for me as well as him. I am creating a list of different resources and materials I am going to find for him, such as an atlas, times tables chart, concrete maths materials etc.

Nothing too much to report here. We just started this week. I am still trying to figure our homeschooling schedule, mostly our afteschool activities. This is our first year without any big changes, which I hope will make for a peaceful start. Two years ago I started homeschooling DS8 and last year DS6 joined in.

I am happy to report 2 great weeks in the new gifted school for DS7! His new teacher LOVES him unabashedly and has already said she will be his advocate for finding appropriate teachers for the next couple of years! This is a first! Usually his teachers do not understand him or at best tolerate him. His challenging questioning argumentative behavior can be so draining, but she knows how to nip it in the bud. She said that he is not the student taking up all her time (which he always has been in the past). The best part is that he loves it! The strangest part is that his handwriting is beautiful!! I think he was previously so bored that he rushed through his work to get to read his book or play on the computer. Now he calmly takes the tests, does the worksheets, and completes the homework neatly. Amazing and unexpected side effect! Nan