Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Confused, 8 year old son is being tested tomorrow

Obviously, I need to do more my homework on the testing here in Orange County.

My son's birthday is in June and he started K when he was 6. He had all of the skills and social skills when he was 5 and could of started K. We choose however, to wait a year on the advice of many. Feeling, that it is better to be older the younger.

We always knew that he was extemely verbal and could understand concepts that was not in par with his age level. We chalked it up to being older parents and none of our friends having kids. We just took him everywhere and I would just constantly being teaching him and talking to him about things. Partly, so I would not be bored. I now have 3 boys... 8. 6 and 1 and still do the same thing. My 6 year old is in K and is also being recongnized for his ability.

At the moment, I have no idea if I am just a proud mom or if I have been missing the boat. When we moved to FL my 8 year olds K teacher talked to us and said to make sure that I am really involved with his teacher and make sure the push him. I have taken that to heart with my 2 older boys and now feel like I have not been doing enough. I can not tell you the HOURS of research I have done on schools and talking to people to make sure that we have the right fit. My 8 year old has had his life plan from the age of three and now has a well thought out plan on how to get there.

I so worried about not getting them the right oppurtunities and now feel like I have failed them after all of the work I thought I have done. I guess, we will just take it one step at a time and see where we go from here.

Don't feel bad at all! I had no idea that I had gifted kids until dd12 was 6.5. In hindsight, I don't know if I would have done anything differently anyway. It really only became an issue when school didn't work for her and we needed to know why that was.

I live in your area, so I sent you a PM with some info. Would love to share our "local" experience!

SO the latest....

Picked him up from school today and guess what....

Big surprise. The person doing the gifted assesment was a NO SHOW. He told me that his teacher called her 2 or 3 times and could not get a hold of her. This is the 3rd time that this has happened. Luckily, he was not too frustated. Me, not so happy.

We have an appointment on Wed for his dismissal from his Speech IEP and plan on talking the Guidance Counselors ear off.

I think I need to read up and really understand all of these tests etc.

Thank you for the support and info. It is so greatly appreciated.

How frustrating! I hope they are able to reschedule soon.

What I want to know is why on earth would the teacher tell him that six other kids had taken the test and not made it into the program? What purpose does that serve? I'd be keeping an eye on this teacher, if I were you.

No Kidding.. I was up all night thinking about that issue.

In addition, I think that it was extremely irresponsible for the Gifted Tester to not call or email the teacher that she would not be there. We have always taught our children to be responsible and accountable for what they say the are going to do and they hold me accountable when plans change etc... I was not really sure what to say when my son said the same thing to me.