Gifted vs not gifted what a load of crap!

[Todd2]

If your kid is that smart I would be irritated that he wasn't accepted into the program also. I was in the gifted program back in Elementry school and from what I remeber. They were looking for people who could "think outside the box". I don't know if your son can do this or not but I can kind of see where the psychologist is coming from. But then again in 2nd grade I was the best math student in our class and I don't know if I was exactly "gifted" but I was still in the gifted program. If he is doing THAT well you might want to get him into a private school where the material is more advanced and the classes are smaller and such. I switched to a private school in 5th grade because my parents weren't happy with my performance in school. They had talked it over with my 4th grade teacher and decided private school would be best for my education/future. On my 3rd and 4th grade report card the teacher wrote "...is easily distracted" "caught looking out the window often". This wasn't because I had ADD or anything it was simply because the material was too easy and I became bored with it. One of my good friends who was in the "gifted" program has the same problem. He's really smart its just that the material is too easy and he gets bored with it and stops trying. His parents/teachers are constantly on his back for it. I hope this doesn't happen to your son, but right now its too early to tell. Don't give up yet! Your school might come around and let him in. Have them do a second evaluation or something.

 

[Skyrmir]

Having been in the "Gifted" classes myself I'd have to agree with other posters here. Wait till middle/high school. Then take a look at advanced courses that may even be able to give courses geared towards a career later on. In the early grades the gifted classes are more a place to deal with 'special learners', not a place for socially normal kids.

 

[talloulou]

Yes, well the psychiatrist did talk about certain traits my child was missing. For example my son loves his peers and would much rather spend time with them than adults. He also does well on the playground and enjoys physical sports. He is also pretty happy and not overly critical of himself. He doesn't act out or show signs of ADD. Apparently these are some of the traits the gifted program looks for. 8O

They didn't give him an actual IQ test though which I thought was interesting. Apparently they are trying to pull away from using IQ tests as criteria for the program. I don't know ...I just think it stinks that they have programs like this and they exclude others. And not just others like my son, but all the other kids. The Tag class at my son's school has more computers and an overall more interesting look than his class. It doesn't seem fair. Plus by labeling some kids gifted you are clearly labeling others not gifted and that is just plain wrong. Especially when you tell them they are very bright and academically inclined...they are just lacking a certain subjective spark from a psychiatric perception.

I did talk to another parent today whose child is in my son's class. Apparently her child was tested and found not gifted too. He reads extremely well and also already knows most of the 1st grade curriculum. She said that she was warned that the tag program is almost impossible to get into unless you went to public school for kindergarten due to the fact that they have the public school kindergarten teachers from all over the city recommend the kids that should be in the program. And since they only have one class to serve all those kids they have to be very limiting. She believes that is why they don't do the IQ test. If they did the IQ test they would have to take more kids and they just don't have the room.

Anyway I'm just glad that apparently there are other kids in the class in a similar situation so probably the class will be just fine. The teacher made an interesting comment about how they stopped tracking kids and that is causing more problems. They have 3 first grade classes. She said a few years back these classes would have been set up as track A, Track B, and Track C based on academic ability but they no longer do this and it makes it harder to teach kids at the level they are at.

 

[deli_conker]

We are also thinking about letting him take karate.

Their are much better martial arts out there for kids than karate. If you're interested in knowing a little bit about ones that will do child good, drop me a PM; I've got tons of info.

 

[kimberly]

I am SO glad to hear that the teacher is going to work with your son and the other kids in the class who are ahead of the game. That is a very challenging job to meet everyone's needs. I know, because I was there for a long time! Anyway, I totally agree with not tracking making things so much harder for everyone. Trust me, even if the kids aren't in "groups" based on ability, they still know who knows how to read and who doesn't, who is quick at math and who isn't, and who the "slow" kids are. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. The real problems with tracking were when the kids in the low groups were never allowed to go past adding b/c they didn't fully master it, so they never learned to subtract and they ended up further behind the next year. Anyway...this is a subject I am very passiionate about, and I will step off my soap box now!

I think learning a musical instrument and/or a sport (martial art) is a great idea! You can also look into a foreign language.

 

[Toirtis]

So many possibilities....some children are 'normal', but advanced due to early education, some start quickly then slow down, some start slowly then speed up, some are truly gifted with exceptional IQ, some are 'bright'...between 'normal' and 'gifted', some are gifted in some areas yet retarded (in the true meaning of the term) in others...like most people with Aspergers (which the more I think about it, I wonder if I may have had a very mild form of as a child), etc....it is very difficult to deal with all these possibilities within out typical public (and even most private) school systems. This is why my local school board has a staggering number of 'alternative' type schools....science-based, arts-based, self-guided, numerous language schools (French, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese immersion and a few pure French schools), various 'traditional' type schools (some all-girl, some all-boy, all run much like private schools), etc.

 

[Ayesha97]

If your son is good at math, then a muscial instrument might be ideal for him. I started playing the piano in 3rd grade, it wasn't until I was in 10th grade that I realized that it was all math. I took a class in music theory and realized that music is all math. Might be enough to perk his interest.
Good luck!

 

[Blazeherd2306]

I think they should NOT label kids as "gifted" and "not gifted". When I was in 5th grade, I was reading at a 12th grade level. I am very good at math too and though English is one of my weaker subjects, I still get As in it.

So, when I was in 6th grade my teacher recommended me to take an IQ test to see if I was gifted. The IQ test was really easy, but I had problems with my verbal score, so my IQ came to 128. In order to get in to gifted I had to have an IQ of 130. I was upset for being only 2 points off, but I got over it.

Now I'm in 9th grade at a School of Choice. A school of choice is a public school, but to get in you have to go through a lottery. You also have to attain 3 more credits than a normal high school and every year you have to do 20 hours of community service. The classes are also more accelerated to prepare you for college and you can't fail or else you're kicked out.

As you can imagine, there are a ton of gifted students. And there are a good amount of "geniuses" too.

Anyways at our school we have homerooms, or classes in which we spend 15 minutes as a break from our other classes. But two of these homerooms are made up of pure gifted students.

This makes me mad because they are seperating gifted students from other students. From my understanding "gifted" only means someone who has a higher "ability to learn" and it does NOT mean they are "smart". So why do they seperate "gifted" from "normal"? Most of them aren't very bright and are "stuck up" anyway and I'm smarter than probably 80% of them.

If they are going to seperate gifted from normal, then why don't they make homerooms consisting of kids who make 5s on their FCATs or who get straight A's.

I think you should find a way to get your child to skip a grade so he isn't learning the same thing over and over again like I did when I was younger.

 

[DeFeKt]

I agree with Zagz (in the first page)
Teenagers don't want to be singled out.

As much as you think your doing something good for him, it will turn around and bite you in the 'A'

 

[megladonsharky]

Consider you son lucky... He is gifted in many ways ... I would lovve to over haul the school system... I got thru thanks to a high IQ and determined teachers in the upper years... I happen to be"gifted" and "disabled " at the same time.... Private scholl is not always the answer but for me it helped for five years..

 

[Sati]

I haven't read all the replies, but I was tested for the same program as a child. I didn't get in for the same reasons. And after looking at that list, I am certain it is because I had a real shyness problem. I think advanced learning where I really felt excited would have helped me be less withdrawn, but oh well

 

[talloulou]

Talk about beating a dead horse....but since this got "bumped" I'll give you all an update.

My son's teacher insisted that my son be tested again! I told her I thought it was pointless but she really believed that maybe he had an "off" day the first time he was tested. So they tested him again. And apparently he is still not gifted....well duh he just had the test not too long ago 8O

The woman who did the testing said he does great at math and is one of the best readers she has ever seen for a child his age. But there is a cognitive part of the test where they show pictures and ask questions. Most of these questions are "trick" questions so to speak so you really have to study the pictures and think about the question. She said my son answers really fast and doesn't put any thought or time into studying the pics. She believes if he slowed down he would do better. She also said that kids often need time for their cognitive abilities to mature. So they will test him again next year if I give permission. At that point I think I will just leave the decision up to him. If he wants to be tested he will be if not to hell with them
He leaves his class for reading and math and goes to the second and fourth grade classes. They discussed skipping a grade and we decided against it because after alot of research we worried he might have "gaps" in his learning and plus at this point he is confident and happy so I would prefer to keep him with his age group.

However he has started to have some problems with kids giving him a hard time. And he found an odd interesting way to deal with it. One boy was calling him a nerd and taunting him with "you think you are soooo smart." Well he handled it by saying "No I don't. There is actually a smart nerd class at this school and I didn't make it in. To the teacher's dismay that incident got the whole class talking about the "nerd class" and she found herself trying to explain that situation to a group of laughing 6 year olds. After that he had no more trouble with kids giving him a hard time.

Each time they tested my son they explained that they were just trying to make sure he was in the "right" class for him so I guess he figured out on his own that there was a "nerd class" as he calls it. Funny that he uses the fact that he didn't make the cut as proof that he isn't a nerd. So who knows if he will never ever want to be in the TAG program at all.

 

[j_a_wickstrom]

Have you thought about homeschooling at all? With homeschooling, you can cater to your child's specific gifts and he can learn at his accelerated pace. He probably won't be able to do the after school programs you mentioned, but you could take him to the science museums and libraries during the day when you don't have to swim through the masses of other children and frazzled parents. Plus, no worrying about the bad things kids always learn in school.

Where my in-laws live in TN has a really high homeschool percentage. My 9 yr old sister-in-law doesn't have time to go to public school because her social calendar is just too busy! She takes harp lessons, tap, ballet, jazz, and Highland dance, riding lessons, has weekly homeschool "meetings" where the mom's talk and the kids play, and is constantly talking to other homeschoolers on the phone or sleeping over at their houses. My sister-in-law has a bigger rolidex than her parents, and her mother has to keep a detailed calendar to keep track of where they're supposed to be each day.

 

[talloulou]

Oooh and as another funny side note......The TAG program starts in first grade. So the kindergarten teachers nominate children to be tested for the program. Well my daughter's kindergarten teacher has already said she will be nominating my daughter. I just had to laugh. I explained to her all about what was currently going on with my son and how the "testing lady" (yep there is just one lady who does all the testing) will probably love to see my daughters name on her list. At this point the testing lady and I don't exactly get along well....I may just have them not test my daughter. What if she passed the screwball test after my son didn't? They are little but they understand everything that goes on without missing a beat. Anyway I don't have to decide about that till the middle of the year. Good Grief what a bunch of nonsense. I sure miss the old fashion tracking....Class A Class B Class C. What was wrong with that?

 

[talloulou]

Have you thought about homeschooling at all?

Well maybe I am a bad mother but dropping my kids off at school is the highlight of my day My kids would go crazy or drive me crazy if they stayed home instead of going to school. Plus I believe a large part of "school" is socialization. Plus I have no background as a teacher. They learn enough from me as it is....I want them to learn from others as well.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

They didn't test me until 6th grade (I got all A's throughout elementary school), but tested me again in 7th grade saying the first one was "not the real thing". In my opinion, IQ does not mean a child is smart, just that they have a greater learning ability, or learn quicker.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

And the test came easy too me. I was good at assembling pictures in order and scored a perfect score on "block assembly". However, my verbal score was much lower than my mathematical score because when they asked me to give the definitions of some words, I couldn't put them into words eventhough I knew what they meant.