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Gifted Children
The principal came to us a month ago suggesting my son skips 1st grade. He reads at a 4th grade level, tested with an IQ of 155. He is almost
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Here is a suggestion. At our school students can move up a grade level in a particular subject, but then spend the rest of the day with their age appropraite peers for socialization. At certain times of the day, the entire school does math for example so it is easy for the students to move around. My daughter goes to her older brothers class for math and loves interacting with both grades.
There is a lot of fun stuff that your child might miss out on in the early years that the upper grades most likely won't be doing.
But the bottom line is that no one knows your child better than you do.
There is a lot of fun stuff that your child might miss out on in the early years that the upper grades most likely won't be doing.
But the bottom line is that no one knows your child better than you do.
My daughter now 8, skipped Kindergarten in the Northern California school system. She was already reading in Pre-school, can cut, color within lines, write, draw, count and recognized colors, shapes and spell her name. After getting her work done, she helped other students in the class and the teacher said she was disruptive and unfocused. So I started doing research and learned that the work was too easy and she was finding other things to do to keep her busy...challenged. The school evaluated her upon my request and they were reluctant in fear of socialization potentials however, gifted children perfer to interact with higher intellect level and do well. In N. California, a random test is given to kids. My daughter took it in 2nd and is a G.A.T.E. She has done very well in first, second and third grade both academically and socially. As long as your child has family support, he will do well.
I feel that having him skipped is a good and bad idea. Henceforth, goimg for the one that seems utterly logical sometimes is not the best.
Your son is very lucky to be at the grade level he is at. What i suggest you to do is first find out about how the teaching will be done for him if he does skip first grade. Make sure that the level he is taught is adequate for him. If not, then don't. He will have problems. Althought he is very advanced, he has certain requirements that other people from his new class may or may not have. Try to get the whole picture before you make a final desicion. Always find the pros AND the cons.
Dear ctrstens:
Thanks to god, your child is academically beyond par. Intellectually, he needs to be stimulated.Hence,skipping him is an excellent idea.Keeping him at his current grade would only lead to boredom and possible behavioral issues.You don't want that! Please, congratulate him on my behalf!
By the way, CONGRATULATIONS....MOM!
God bless!,
Jameela10
Thanks to god, your child is academically beyond par. Intellectually, he needs to be stimulated.Hence,skipping him is an excellent idea.Keeping him at his current grade would only lead to boredom and possible behavioral issues.You don't want that! Please, congratulate him on my behalf!
By the way, CONGRATULATIONS....MOM!
God bless!,
Jameela10
I agree. I also want to say that I retired from teaching 5 years ago and in my opinion, grouping children by age is performed simply for the school's convenience. They have no idea of how else to do it---even though other countries do use other methods. I would suggest that you look at some websites on asynchronous development. Here's one;
www.brighthub.com/education/sp
There are many others that explain the growth of a gifted child--emotionally and physically.
I can also say that in my last year of teaching (and we had a great year that year :-), my students ranged in reading ability from a first grade reader up to a high school reader--this was in fourth grade. The range of their emotional development, ability to be "social" and to have the same maturity in one grade level is simply ridiculous. Just think of people you work with--are they are the same age as you? Do they have the same maturity level as each other? Do they ACT at the same maturity level....?????? Are they all at the "right" emotional level for their age?
Kids can "socialize" everywhere--scouts, dance class, chess club, ball games, having friends over, but socializing goes much farther than that...it should reach into working with people in need or time spent with an elderly neighbor or time at an area park or with families or groups with all ages--that's society. That makes more sense than asking your son to be bored so he can be with kids whose behavior or maturity won't match his or have him in a class that keeps him with those born the same year instead born with the same intellectual ability. We pick teams for a sport and performers for a play so allowing GT kids education just makes sense.
Karen TC
PS also take a look at Jan and Bob Davidson's book "Genius Denied" and the article (Times or Newsweek? mag,) "No Child Left Behind--Except the Gifted"
www.brighthub.com/education/sp
There are many others that explain the growth of a gifted child--emotionally and physically.
I can also say that in my last year of teaching (and we had a great year that year :-), my students ranged in reading ability from a first grade reader up to a high school reader--this was in fourth grade. The range of their emotional development, ability to be "social" and to have the same maturity in one grade level is simply ridiculous. Just think of people you work with--are they are the same age as you? Do they have the same maturity level as each other? Do they ACT at the same maturity level....?????? Are they all at the "right" emotional level for their age?
Kids can "socialize" everywhere--scouts, dance class, chess club, ball games, having friends over, but socializing goes much farther than that...it should reach into working with people in need or time spent with an elderly neighbor or time at an area park or with families or groups with all ages--that's society. That makes more sense than asking your son to be bored so he can be with kids whose behavior or maturity won't match his or have him in a class that keeps him with those born the same year instead born with the same intellectual ability. We pick teams for a sport and performers for a play so allowing GT kids education just makes sense.
Karen TC
PS also take a look at Jan and Bob Davidson's book "Genius Denied" and the article (Times or Newsweek? mag,) "No Child Left Behind--Except the Gifted"
Read the article "A Nation Deceived" (just do a search--it's easily accessible). Have your school complete the Iowa Assessment Scale (available through the above publication).
The results will plot your child in one of 4 categories from highly recommending a whole grade skip to its not being recommended at this time.
My son is 6 and skipped first grade. Just started 2nd yesterday. We found the IAS tool invaluable! The process was a lengthy and often stressful one (the idea of grade skipping is just not accepted by the majority of educators in our country). Though our school was thorough and respectful and we're thankful, I struggled with (what I felt was a judgment of our "true motives") many of their long held beliefs that we were "pushing" our son or "robbing him of his childhood". Nothing could be further from the truth! I would eat my foot off before I would do that to my son. He's been reading since age 3 (NOTHING to do with me!) He simply has a voracious appetite to learn! He was becoming increasingly disillusioned within the first 3 weeks of kindergarten. Whenever someone asked him how he liked school, he'd say "Fine, but I already know everything we're learning about." Off-putting maybe to someone who doesn't know or understand him -- heart wrenching to us as his parents.
At any rate, throughout our year long decision making process with the school, I had to consistently remind myself that I was advocating for my child! It didn't matter what people thought of me (even though it always did! =) I had to fight against ideas that letting him skip first grade was bad, because even though (he attended first grade math most of last year, and finished with a 97%), as the principal once told me, defending her belief that he shouldn't skip first grade; "He still makes mistakes." (????!?!???)
Anyway, I've been there. Tough decision. Our educators need to be educated on the HUGE benefits of whole grade acceleration for the right children! Doing "nothing" to help a gifted child is absolutely NOT the same as "Do no harm"!
Good luck to you!
Oopsy! New here -- I think I responded to the same question twice! Sorry!
The results will plot your child in one of 4 categories from highly recommending a whole grade skip to its not being recommended at this time.
My son is 6 and skipped first grade. Just started 2nd yesterday. We found the IAS tool invaluable! The process was a lengthy and often stressful one (the idea of grade skipping is just not accepted by the majority of educators in our country). Though our school was thorough and respectful and we're thankful, I struggled with (what I felt was a judgment of our "true motives") many of their long held beliefs that we were "pushing" our son or "robbing him of his childhood". Nothing could be further from the truth! I would eat my foot off before I would do that to my son. He's been reading since age 3 (NOTHING to do with me!) He simply has a voracious appetite to learn! He was becoming increasingly disillusioned within the first 3 weeks of kindergarten. Whenever someone asked him how he liked school, he'd say "Fine, but I already know everything we're learning about." Off-putting maybe to someone who doesn't know or understand him -- heart wrenching to us as his parents.
At any rate, throughout our year long decision making process with the school, I had to consistently remind myself that I was advocating for my child! It didn't matter what people thought of me (even though it always did! =) I had to fight against ideas that letting him skip first grade was bad, because even though (he attended first grade math most of last year, and finished with a 97%), as the principal once told me, defending her belief that he shouldn't skip first grade; "He still makes mistakes." (????!?!???)
Anyway, I've been there. Tough decision. Our educators need to be educated on the HUGE benefits of whole grade acceleration for the right children! Doing "nothing" to help a gifted child is absolutely NOT the same as "Do no harm"!
Good luck to you!
Oopsy! New here -- I think I responded to the same question twice! Sorry!
For our son, I would have said yes--if I had only known what I know now. In his first grade class, he also started out reading at fourth grade level. The teacher had no training in gifted children or GT education (or how fun it is) and focused almost totally on the below grade level students. We started having some problems getting him to go to school shortly after Christmas. Since I taught in the same building, I was invited to stop in any time I wanted to. I found out why he was bored and unhappy. As the teacher did reading groups (a wonderful person with focus on the low end), the rest of the class had a stack of worksheets to complete--no learning centers, no exploration, no creativity etc. I walked in to see his desk covered with papers like "color six circles purple" when he was reading chapter books at home. Overall, many teachers don't know about differentiation or acceleration. Our son was accelerated for science in grades 1,2,3,4 and he had mentors from a nearby college for three grades. We decided to homeschool (and I retired) when fifth grade teachers refused mentors and acceleration. It has worked extremely well for us--we still had mentors, found a group homeschooling gifted kids for field trips and classes.
If you have an administrator willing to support this suggestion, go for it. Remember that this acceleration is only one year higher. You can also try just one specific subject to start with if you are worried about your son and accelerate more as school is willing.
When socialization came up after I told the school we'd be homeschooling, the teacher across the hall from my classroom asked about it. He's a young, very hard working and dedicated teacher--I simply pointed out that if we could only work with those our own age, he and I couldn't work together. I'm old enough to be his mother. It made him stop, grinned and understand, "I never thought about it like that".
In my classrooms over the years. the maturity level was never the same. The ages ranged at least 3 years in difference and the maturity levels were very extreme. In my retirement year, reading level (at fourth grade) ranged from first grade to high school level--we did many visual-spatial and hands on creative projects that year and had a great time (yes, objectives were met)
For more information on acceleration, just type it in online as well as Dabrowski's Overexcitabilties and Asynchronous Development--you'll find many websites. Each state also has gifted organizations to help families.
Davidson's is a wonderful website and school. This one at Hoagies is also great.
Best wishes and take the chance while you have it.
Karen TC
www.hoagiesgifted.org/portfoli
If you have an administrator willing to support this suggestion, go for it. Remember that this acceleration is only one year higher. You can also try just one specific subject to start with if you are worried about your son and accelerate more as school is willing.
When socialization came up after I told the school we'd be homeschooling, the teacher across the hall from my classroom asked about it. He's a young, very hard working and dedicated teacher--I simply pointed out that if we could only work with those our own age, he and I couldn't work together. I'm old enough to be his mother. It made him stop, grinned and understand, "I never thought about it like that".
In my classrooms over the years. the maturity level was never the same. The ages ranged at least 3 years in difference and the maturity levels were very extreme. In my retirement year, reading level (at fourth grade) ranged from first grade to high school level--we did many visual-spatial and hands on creative projects that year and had a great time (yes, objectives were met)
For more information on acceleration, just type it in online as well as Dabrowski's Overexcitabilties and Asynchronous Development--you'll find many websites. Each state also has gifted organizations to help families.
Davidson's is a wonderful website and school. This one at Hoagies is also great.
Best wishes and take the chance while you have it.
Karen TC
www.hoagiesgifted.org/portfoli
You might want to check the davidson academy website blog for parents becauase there's some great advice on those boards about skipping vs. not skipping.
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