Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Thread Like Summary - What’s important for gifted child at elementary?

Hi,

Newbie here and based in England where structured gifted and talented programmes are essentially nonexistent so thank goodness that I have stumbled upon this amazing forum!

I’m hoping for some pointers on what I should be expecting from an elementary school as a minimum.

My son is 7, summer born, youngest in his year. Currently in second grade. He’s seen as age-appropriate.

He has been struggling with the physical work and organisation of writing for a couple of years. I took him for assessment as the delta between his verbal abilities and written work was outrageous.

WISC V was highly superior in all domains except processing speed which was average. It’s currently looking like he’s dyspraxic but we’re waiting on final paeds sign-off.

His school have seen the Ed Pysch report and have just shrugged their shoulders. They seem to think that you can only be gifted if you are able to demonstrate it academically in very traditional modes - exams, essays etc - and currently my son isn’t able to perform in written tests under time pressure.

Consequently, he can’t get into the enrichment streams that are reserved for kids seen as high ability with the top test scores.

He’s happy at school and super social. It’s his main reason to go to school I’d say.

We do lots of projects and trips out of school that follow his interests but I’m worried that he needs more from the expert educationalists as he approaches third grade and they currently overlook him as having any cognitive talent.

Is home-led enrichment enough around an average education or is it now time to start pushing for more from a school to unlock his potential?

I’ll be so grateful for your views.

The "best" path for your child really depends on so many variables, including your family's values and priorities, who your whole child is (not just their cognitive profile), etc.

For our son and our family, things have worked out well at his private non-gifted / non-gifted-friendly school, and outside of school, we provide academic enrichment in math and in foreign language. He is in fourth grade in the US (10 years old). We only did neuropsych testing this year so to be honest, we are still processing his results: highly gifted and 2(e) (dysgraphia). His school is going to provide wonderful supports for the dysgraphia. We are on our own for the giftedness until 9th grade but we were already doing our own work there anyway, Our son loves his friends, and he's pretty sporty; the school does a great job accommodating the increasing absences he needs to take related to travel for competitions. So we are very unlikely to seek a different school, even though there is zero support for giftedness below 9th grade. Again, it all depends on the kid and on each family's values and priorities. There is no single right answer here.