3yo - reading - spelling - school

Chris - posted on 04/20/2009

Don't give up. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Continue to fight for her and continue to get the school to test her to put her in gifted programs. As she gets older, talk to the school board, the superintentant or whoever you need to talk to, to make sure your childs needs are met.

Deborah - posted on 04/18/2009

Okay, that's crazy. I went out to it just fine the other day when I posted the link and now you need a password and account? I will look into it. I think I downloaded the pdf files but it is on my other computer. If you want me to send them to you just send me a private msg with your email account.

Ellen - posted on 04/18/2009

Deborah - Nation deceived asked for a user name and password. Where do I go to establish one?

Deborah - posted on 04/15/2009

The best advice for an 8 mth old is to follow her lead and remember they learn best through play. So if she is interested in books then read read read. Books are really the window to a world of vocabulary and ideas. The sky is the limit on what they learn from books.

As for books you should buy the one I would start with is Deborah Ruf's book 'Losing Our Minds'. She really is the starting point in understanding giftedness and the levels of it and ties that into infants.

Nicole - posted on 04/15/2009

I see a lot of gifts with my eight month old! What do you recommend to keep her on track? What books should I buy? Movies? ect.

Deborah - posted on 04/14/2009

That is bad news and the sad thing is Katelyn is the exact same way when around other kids. I could have written that last paragraph and is why I am concerned about her placement with kids her own age that are not of the same level of intelligence. But I see the preschool as a way to help her overcome some of it and if not then we need to look at different options. Time will tell.

As for the advice of not putting your child in a class with older children ... it really depends on each individual child and the comfort level of the parents. I certainly would not push any parent into accelerating their child but in that same regard I would not completely disregard that option. If any parent is on the fence about acceleration I would suggest looking into research and documentation such as http://nationdeceived.org. I just always say make your decision an educated one.

Jane - posted on 04/14/2009

My 6 year old has been reading since just before his 3rd birthday, and we were in the same boat.  We had him in a private "learning through play" preschool which he loved, but we felt like he wasn't getting the academics the he in particular needed.  We live in St. Louis City and went and had him tested for the gifted magnet school (Kennard Classical Junior Academy).  He has been there since Kindergarden and is now in first grade.  Just to give you and example of what early learners potential can be; here are a couple of spelling words that he has learned this week:  gymnasium, proclamation, and qualified.  He is 6 years old and I think the best thing we ever did for him was research till we found a school that is strictly for the "gifted children."  I would not advise putting your child in a class with older children, but looking for a similar program so that she/he is around other children the same age with the same level of intelligience.

Ellen - posted on 04/14/2009

Developments - BFF is going to the public school's early childhood program as a "typically developing child" (I just find that statement funny on many levels). We could access the same program, but have had friends say that it's just not appropriate for gifted kids and their quirks can get bigger instead of smaller because they see that more as the normal. We have enough quirks thank you!

The kinder program at her school most likely won't be available next year - not enough students enrolled to keep it. Knowing this we've looked at other private kinder options, but no firm decissions yet.

Deborah - bad news. We've caught her dummying down on academics and socialization. She's a different kid away from class. She enjoys her circle of friends and the art projects they do, but asks when we an go back to Kumon for the academics. I just don't have the time for that many week nights at an actvity or we would totally be back at Kumon. I love that program for meeting the needs of all kids! When she's with her little friends she limts her vocabulary, uses tantrms for attention, pretends to not know things that she knows full well. Drives me nuts - especially the tantrums!

Deborah - posted on 04/13/2009

I guess the big question for you is does your daughter show signs of being bored in the program? Though we haven't but K. into school yet, we do have her signed up for a socialization program. She is so more advanced than their curriculum but she might like all the art projects. We will be watching for two major criteria: Is she bored and is she dummying herself down to fit in? If the later is present it doesn't necessarily mean that we would pull her out but use the opportunity to help her realize she needs to be true to herself.

Janet - posted on 04/13/2009

Had to read your 1st email again and realized that I didn't really answer your question. Yes, I agree that you should once again try to talk to the director to allow you to had DD try the kinder program and if she doesn't fit then she can move back to the other program. If she does keep up, then your director should have to think twice before she dismisses a gifted student again. If they don't allow you to try, then I definitely think that's unreasonable and you should look to another school. If they do, your daughter might still see her BFF around the school or possible same recess time. Either way, they will remain friends and you could add playdates outside of school to keep them bonded, who knows, she might make new friends and have more than one BFF like my daughter. Does your school have a junior kinder program? Something in between kinder and what she's in now. I remember my daughter's preschool had that option, but it was expensive like private school that we didn't do it. We actually kept her in the preschool, same classroom with a great teacher that she loved for 2 years before she enrolled in kindergarten and she did fine. She was never bored with the great art projects and activites, she was just happy to be around others her age and have things to do to keep her mind and body busy. We also supplemented teaching at home to help. I think as long as DD is happy with school, she'll be fine, I'm sure she'll let you know when it gets boring. But definitely try to at least get her in the kinder program on a trial basis with the director. Good luck!

Ellen - posted on 04/09/2009

Clarify - DD would enroll in the public school kinder the following year with same age peers. So the socal thing is not as big of a concern for now.  Also - frequently to make this kinder's numbers work out they end up putting 4yo's in there after the start of the year. I'm not much one to give GT kids extra work, I do believe that they should be provided appropriate work. I do not think her current class can differentiate between freshly 3yo typically developing children throuhg 5 yo typically developing and then throw in the GT kiddo who's learning faster than they can teach her. It's too big of a developmental span to work with. There would be less of a gap in the kinder class. The reason she's ahead now is because we do supplement at home. We do a lot of experienced based learning where we take our every day experiences as an opportunity to learn something. Even though I'm a teacher I don't believe in a lot of rote memorization learning or textbook stuff. I'm more of a develop concepts through inquary and experiences. It's kind of a different way to teach, but the kids learn a lot.

Janet - posted on 04/08/2009

I also agree with Mindi. My daughter was reading at the age of 3 in preschool along with her teacher during storytime. Mentally she was ready to skip a grade, but emotionally she was not. She still has trouble today controlling her emotions and still throws a temper tantrum. She was on the border/cut off date to start kindergarten and we decided to let her be the oldest of her group rather than the youngest and wait a year to enroll her. Now, all the kids look up to her in class and look to her when they have a question or problem that they can't solve because they know most likely she knows the answer. She's in first grade now, her brother is in 3rd and she continually tries to keep up with him and what he is doing. So, now she is doing multiplication/division and learning about astronomy, geography and everything else her big brother brings home. She loves a challenge and will continually challenge herself outside of school. I also agree with Margaret that your current school gave you a poor excuse as to what to do. I suggest looking for a better school that will cater to you and your child's needs and then maybe getting her friends to transfer with you. Online is a great way to find activities that will keep your child challenged and I always try to skip a grade when I buy activity books. Hope this helps!

Margaret - posted on 04/08/2009

I agree with Mindi's reply. Placing your child in a higher grade will most likely be difficult for her socially - for her whole school life as she would not be as socially developed as the other kids in her year.
However, I agree with you that sitting her in a room to hang out while the other kids learn things is a waste of her time and talents. Just because she won't disrupt the other kids like your other child is a poor excuse given to you. Someone is paying for her time at her school, whether it be yourselves, the government or a combination - so this money should not be wasted. Too often, slower children or those who are disruptive receive extra attention, but gifted children are ignored. If it is possible to spend extra time with those children who take longer to catch on then why is it not possible to spend extra time with those children who need extra work given to them so that their time is not wasted and they are actually learning something in their day. I would mention this to the school - are they giving your daughter extra work? Are they willing to give her extra work? If the answer to this is no then I would seriously consider finding a different centre which does.
Mindi's daughter is in a gifted and talented program which is great. Perhaps your school could create one of these programs. However, be warned, it is not good enough just to have a gifted and talented class - they need to actually be taught or be learning something during these times. I was in a program years ago at school and I found the program to largely be a waste of time as we were barely supervised and left to do whatever we wanted in the hope that we'd perhaps split an atom on our own. Teachers do need to direct and teach the children in these programs.

Hope this reply helps you

Mindi - posted on 04/08/2009

My daughter has always been ahead of the curve and her peers in her classes. She is now in the gifted program in first grade. One thing to realize about gifted kids is that they may be ahead of everyone academically, but they are not usually ahead socially and can sometimes be behind socially because they like to do their own thing. So my thought about your daughter would be this: keep her in the class with the kids her age so she can work on her social skills because that is mostly what preschool should be about for her. She obviously does not have trouble academically, so it is not important for her school to address that. You can do things at home with her if you want. I did A LOT with my daughter at home to challenge her academically, and she had her social time at school. Hope this helps in your decision-making.