Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Acceleration or not

Do you ever get more comfortable w/GT or do you always have this occasional nag that chirps - oh to be normal or happily bright?

We had dd #1 assessed last spring... after simply asking for special teacher selection at public school... we got the "sure your kid is special look." So, the post assessment counseling the guy was clear. K was not even an option and of, by the way, that great school district you moved for only offers pull-out so that won't work. Now, we did find a charter school (free but a really long drive) that offers self contained gifted classrooms. And, the skip went smooth as pie (minus her rough handwriting skills - she's still soring).

But here come the debate, along comes dd#2 who does not have that same first born self driven disposition... Her birthday is in jan so there maybe more fuss about acceleration than her december born sister. Last time we didn't see it coming - we knew she was ahead of everyone we knew but assumed in a bigger pond there would be others like her. But this time, we can't claim we are naive.... we can see it coming.

When I talked of dd#1 acceleration it freaked out everyone but was the right thing to do... With #2... it seems early k entrance, wait and skip k, wait for her to become an underachiever, or sell her to gypies. I'm not asking the nervous hens in the outside world, I'm asking here.

Outside of having the scores and ability... when do you know acceleration is a good fit. Does anyone have a highly gifted but (not profound 160+) who has a story to tell (especially for non-first born ... basically #1 is all the symterical/leadership etc. part of the gifted lists and #2 is all the humor/sensitive/creative side).

Sorry for being so wordy. By the way, #1 is home today and keeps interupting to point out she's finished another chapter of Addy (american girl) - she's just 6 (I know but i have no family outside this house so who else can i tell with a smile and not have talk behind my back that i'm a liar or a brag).

Thanks!

what's 2E (still new the lingo)? thanks, helpful.

2E = twice exceptional. A GT child with a possible learning disability or other known problem that can add to educational complexity.

Where is DD#2 "acadmically"? Does she attend pre-school? Is she engaged at preschool? Does she have friends her age or does she prefer older kids?

I have a son in first grade. We didn't know he was more than moderately gifted before kindergarten. He has a fall birthday, but I never thought of sending him early. And I actually still don't regret it. He is a very high energy kid, and our neighborhood all day kindergarten is more like 1st grade and really requires a bit of focus. He would have been a non-stop discipline problem a year early.

My point of all that is, another option is to do kindergarten (maybe even 1/2 day if you can do that) and skip to 2nd (as we should have but we had our sights set on another school we didn't get into, and no one does a grade skip around here) if she is currently happy and engaged with age mates. Kindergarten just seems to be a bit more flexible and less dry than first, and then you can make the skip after to 2nd.

And I'm sorry you got the "I'm sure your kid is special" look. I have to say, I'm quite sick of that look and attitude. I wonder if teachers/administrators get that many parents coming in looking for GT programming or acceleration for their kids that really shouldn't have it? I find that hard to believe.

My DS will be 7 in March. We had him tested in the spring before kindergarten would have started for him. I used the Iowa Acceleration Manual as a guide. I scoured A Nation Deceived, Genius Denied and other resources about educational planning for GT kids. We advocated for him to skip K. We eventually got that and then last year he was again subject accelerated in math. So this year he is 2nd grade but goes to 3rd for math. It has been working pretty well this year - although the acceleration hasn't solved the problem of boredom and slow paced curriculum. But at least he is getting new topics to learn some of the time!

MrWiggly is not profoundly gifted. More like the 130s IQ. He also has some of the "bothersome" characteristics of GT such as perfectionism, high sensitivity, emotionality and stubbornness. He is also very social. There have been bumps and our journey is far from over. But I would do the acceleration all over. I'm now thinking about how we can meet his needs even better next year, which may mean curriculum differentiation or further subject acceleration. Hope that personal story helps some.

Ditto everything she said about my DS6.5, only his BD is in spring so he was one of the youngest in his grade (in an area the loves to red-shirt boys). It all still applies.


I second this, too. DS6 was very happy in half-day, not highly academic K, but was miserable in all-day, "learn to read" 1st grade. I'm glad he had 2 years of preschool and was in the K he was in. I wish we'd skipped 1st grade entirely and gone straight to 2nd.

FWIW...

And, yes, to answer your first question, kickball, sometimes I think wistfully of the smooth-sailing educational track I had assumed my child would have, and I mourn. I think it's only natural. But then I sigh and go back to real life! <shrug> It's all we can do, no?

My ds5 is a spring birthday, so we never really thought about early entrance; he probably could have done that, but we honestly didn't think he was *that* gifted. though. Now we're looking for a skip to second in the fall, though the school is dragging its heels (have to email the principal today, actually ... ).

I did exactly what dajohnson60 did -- I read, read, read about the options. I also went right out and bought the Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual to see where ds would fall. I read (and still am reading!) all information I can find on gifted kids and learning styles.

Everything I'm seeing is pointing toward a skip for my ds5 -- including my own view of him. He's more sensitive and certainly more scatterbrained than he is on task; though he tested borderline EG/PG, his teachers are seeing him as spacey and tuned out. Well, sure -- he learned to read almost 3 years ago and they're teaching letter sounds! But even with his scatterbrained tendencies, it's clear that the K curriculum is nowhere near where he is, and I seriously want to prevent "slacker syndrome" from setting in. That's why we're pursuing a skip.


Agreed that this might be a good option. Probably what we should have gone for with ds5. Ah, hindsight ...

Anyway, I recommend you get a copy of the Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual (these can be found on Amazon) and see what you think. The "A Nation Deceived" report is also great reading. And have you checked out Hoagies' gifted site yet? Certainly worth a look and a goldmine of information.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Mia

Can we form a support group for "wish we'd done half-day K and skipped 1st altogether?"

It seems to be a common theme, no?

Hi,

Our dd13 was early entranced to K at very good private pre-school, then made to repeat K rather than enter 1st with the public school because they consider themselves more rigorous than other schools. We tried to reverse this poor decision for two years before we finally gave up and transferred our daughter to the local Catholic school where our son had been early entranced.

Although, we had tried to have our daughter grade advanced at PS, we really did not pursue it for the private school as we believe their curriculum really is more advanced than the PS, but she was offered the grade advance anyway.

It has turned out very well for her. She fell into a class of bright students where high achievement is the social expectation and she has had to work for her success. She was very happy socially at PS with age mates, but has been more challenged by her current peers.

Her personality is such that she will give exactly what is expected in school, no more and no less. Even though she would have been fine socially and received good grades whether or not she skipped 2nd, she is best served by a classroom where the bar is high and she has someone to chase.

Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual -

now I'm wondering if I really have seen this... does it address behavioral, social, or learning styles components. Again, the academic piece... her WSPPI is another 2 wks off (but thus the returned obsession on this)... but if I use her sister as a comparative... I only see #2 at or above #1 just without the easy first-born stero-type behavior. #1 falls between 3 and 4 deviations (I can't seem to make a clear guess on Ruf) above on wsppi so highly but not profoundly.

The IAS deals with it all, including sibling issues and height (so as to put off the adminstrators who think only stiltwalking kids can skip!).