OT - child skipping a grade

[DisneyCrazyX5]

I don't know the answer to that. When I was in school and was tested for the gifted program, I was given an IQ test and my entrance was based on those results. That was in Pennsylvania in about 1990.

Ohio has a few tests schools can use to identify gifted children. They can be identified by testing above the 95% in a specific academic area- Specific Academic Ability (math, reading, science, social studies) having an IQ above the state cut off to be considers Superior Cognitive (I don't remember it offhand), Creative Thinking or in Visual & performing arts. Most of the kids in my gifted class have qualified in a specific academic area or creative thinking. They tend to be the kids who think out of the box or are a bit weird. They do not always have the highest grades, though they are very capable, they often would rather work on what they are interested in and not what the teacher may be teaching.

I teach my own twin sons in the sixth grade class - they started school at age 6. But we made this decision due to the fact they were premature and had a language delay. But I also have one of the youngest 6th grader in the same class. I teach enrichment, 3rd-6th grader gifted kids come to my room one day a week.

 

[aprilgail2]

. I fit in and made friends just fine, but not being able to drive, date, and stay out at the same time as peers was difficult. I felt as though I had to be as responsible as classmates when it came to academics but socially I was being treated like a child. It put a strain on my relationship with my parents because I felt it was a double standard. I understand now as a parent it's just not possible to give the same freedoms to a 16 graduating high school as an 18 year old but at the time it was very frustrating.

I treat my daughter according to her grade level- some kids with early birthdays were turning 14 a month after my daughter turned 13-- but last year when they were all going to the mall shopping I let my daughter do that too, if she wasn't in the same grade as these kids I would have been waiting an additional year but I let her do what her gradewise peers are doing. Lots of her peers have boyfriends and I am open to that if it comes up.

 

[wallawallakids]

I think the point people are trying to make is that many people have an inflated belief of what gifted means.

I remember well my children not being interested in the alphabet etc. and having to listen to all the parents bragging about how gifted their child was because they knew all their letters. I admit, I always thought "let's compare GPAs when they are in high school!" (not that GPA always reflects giftedness, sometimes it goes the other way.)

I've spent years reassuring parents that not reading in K often doesn't mean anything other than they aren't ready yet. Yet we don't really talk much about how reading in K doesn't mean they are gifted - they're just early readers. (Although some people can be both!) As others have said, developmentally age 8, 3rd grade, is usually seen as the marker for when you should have really clicked into reading. Before that, it's kind of like when some people lose their baby teeth earlier than others.

I've seen gifted kids who don't read early, because they're too busy investigating other things that are important to them. I'm much more likely to suspect high intelligence based on how they evaluate their surroundings than by how interested they are in the alphabet.

This is VERY true.

 

[sonnyjane]

Ohio has a few tests schools can use to identify gifted children. They can be identified by testing above the 95% in a specific academic area- Specific Academic Ability (math, reading, science, social studies) having an IQ above the state cut off to be considers Superior Cognitive (I don't remember it offhand), Creative Thinking or in Visual & performing arts. Most of the kids in my gifted class have qualified in a specific academic area or creative thinking. They tend to be the kids who think out of the box or are a bit weird. They do not always have the highest grades, though they are very capable, they often would rather work on what they are interested in and not what the teacher may be teaching.

.

I have an eidetic memory, so grades wouldn't necessarily be a good reflection for people like me because I just remember everything I've seen, I'm not exactly "smart" if that makes sense lol. I mean I was clearly smart enough to have my IQ make it into gifted but I always got A's because I just would visualize my textbook and write the answers. It's good that your state (and I'm sure others) has different testing options. And I agree with the statement that not all "gifted" kids read early or things like that. I did, but I also wasn't exactly clamoring for more academic challenges lol. I was just a kid in school who knew stuff was easy but I don't think I ever came home wishing I had more work. I'd just come home and have very imaginative make-believe sessions.

 

[Ametista]

You are not skipping her a grade. You are putting her where the school district already said she should be. Technically, you were holding her back to start her in K a year late.

My daughter won the "lotto" and got into the "10" school in our county. That school wanted all the kids to start K at age 6, that's how they got "high" test scores but really they just had a bunch of 3rd graders doing 2nd grade work. I pulled my daughter out and put her in a normal school asap. Now, even though she is August bday and the youngest, she is reading more words per minute than any other kid in grade level at school. If I have held her back like the other school wanted me to, how BORED would she have been???

 

[dawnhaze]

I skipped the first grade and I was glad of it, it was one less year I spent bored out of my mind and being bullied relentlessly.

The only issue I encountered was not being able to drive until my senior year of high school because my birthday was 2 weeks too late for the cutoff to take driver's ed, so I had to keep getting rides from my parents to go to work (I got a job when I was 14). Dating in high school, age restricted events in college, etc only matter if you care about them and I never did. YMMV.

Heck, if my high school would have let me, I'd have doubled up my English classes and graduated at 16. It probably would have been better for my mental health.

 

[Ametista]

Ohio has a few tests schools can use to identify gifted children. They can be identified by testing above the 95% in a specific academic area- Specific Academic Ability (math, reading, science, social studies) having an IQ above the state cut off to be considers Superior Cognitive (I don't remember it offhand), Creative Thinking or in Visual & performing arts. Most of the kids in my gifted class have qualified in a specific academic area or creative thinking. They tend to be the kids who think out of the box or are a bit weird. They do not always have the highest grades, though they are very capable, they often would rather work on what they are interested in and not what the teacher may be teaching.

I teach my own twin sons in the sixth grade class - they started school at age 6. But we made this decision due to the fact they were premature and had a language delay. But I also have one of the youngest 6th grader in the same class. I teach enrichment, 3rd-6th grader gifted kids come to my room one day a week.

What are those tests? When I was a kid in Colorado we took the Ohio tests and I scored 97-99 percentile in every area, there were about 20 different areas. I remember the principal pulled me out of class and said he didn't know what to do with me, could my parents afford a private school? I started crying and said I wanted to go back into my classroom because my parents did not have the money to send me anywhere special. I was 12. It was pretty depressing for me.

Never mind I think those were the IOWA tests.

 

[MoukyMouse]

My quick 2 cents: Assuming I read your original post correctly, your DD is 6 now & will turn 7 this Sept. From my personal experience, it seems to me that she is on track to be starting 2nd grade this Fall on age alone. My bday is August 29 & I turned 7 the second week of my 2nd grade year. This put me graduating at the age of 17 & starting college at 17. I turned 18 about 3 weeks into my Freshman year of college. I spent every year in a small advanced private Christian school, had a graduating class of 28 & was Never the youngest in class. From your OP, I'm sure you are correct in thinking your DD is bored. With my experiences, even if she skips a grade she may still be a bit bored, but I wouldn't skip more than the one. BTW: I grew up in TN where it is required that you start school at age 5 in Kindergarten. However, we are now in PA where the law is you must start by 8 years old. In PA many if not most kids start Kind at age 6. My DSs both started at 5 and are now bored in 5th & 3rd grade. The option to skip is not there, so we're having to be creative with their schooling.

Whatever you decide for your daughter, will be a fine choice. It wouldn't/shouldn't make that big a difference in the grand scheme of things. Learning to cope with boredom made me a patient adult. My one concern in a school that small is does she already have friends that are in the grade she would be moving into. I know in my small school, everyone knew everyone else & in high school kids were placed by ability (as a Freshman I had classes with Seniors, etc.) so it didn't matter what grade you were actually enrolled in.

 

[DisneyCrazyX5]

What are those tests? When I was a kid in Colorado we took the Ohio tests and I scored 97-99 percentile in every area, there were about 20 different areas. I remember the principal pulled me out of class and said he didn't know what to do with me, could my parents afford a private school? I started crying and said I wanted to go back into my classroom because my parents did not have the money to send me anywhere special. I was 12. It was pretty depressing for me.

The one we use is the Tera Nova. Our 2nd graders take it each year. We use it only for identification of gifted students and it is only given once. It gives us an IQ score as well as scores for the academic areas. Students testing above 95% qualify for the program, if their parents give permission. Ohio has information for gifted on the ODE (Ohio Department of Education) site.
I don't know how this test compares to tests that were used in the past. All Ohio students take OAA's -Ohio Achievement Assessments now.

 

[carolinamom]

When we advanced our DS, it had become the "lesser of 2 evils". His academics were always really ahead despite being a year younger then his classmates. Our decision was based mainly on his interactions with peers. He gradually stopped having things in common with the kids he had been in school with all along and was starting to withdraw socially. After skipping 5th grade, he is 2 years younger then his classmates, but is developmentally among kids like him (socially, intellectually, etc). I lost a lot of sleep over that choice, but it has all worked out fine. He is incredibly blessed to have developed physically along with his peers and he "blends in". We have also kept him in rec sports where he spends time with kids who are older as well as younger.
There is no cookie cutter decision. Do lots of research, visit other schools and other classes, and know that there are pros and cons either way.
Good luck!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Wouldn't it be nice if they decided to make education educational? We'd have fewer "gifted" students if kids weren't forced to sit through dumbed down curricula for 13+ yrs. But we don't revolt and demand real education because we like our kids to be special above all else.

 

[dogluva]

My education. okay.

 

[dogluva]

While I agree with most of what you said I'm surprised that as a teacher you said you've never met a truely gifted child. There are definitely kids who have taught themselves to read at 2.5 and do long division at 4. (My DD was one and I have met 4 others as a teacher/parent.) You don't know of any kids who are taking math 3-4 years ahead of their peers? Or any with an IQ over 150? Yes, many gifted programs include "smart" kids but I would have to think that there are 1-2 every year who really stand out as being much too advanced for where they are. DD's grade of 400 has 3 kids who skipped and they are all doing very well. I get the feeling you don't believe what we are saying. My other child is above average and in the "gifted" program, but he does not stand out in any way like she does.

I was warned that DD might just be very strong "out of the gate". So far that is not the case as she is taking the hardest load possible in 9th grade and has an A average. She is not as motivated as some kids that might not be as naturally smart so she will not be Valedictorian. She is just now learning how to work hard since she never had to before.

Many of the stories here are not about children but about adults who dealt with this as children. I think that's a nice perspective to have as well.

Good luck OP. I know it is a hard decision.

okay, to be fair, I teach special eduction. But maybe my definition gifted id different? I have met many smart kids. My nephew being nor. However, gifted? No, I can't say I have. I don't go around asking for IQ scores. I am finding it hard to believe so many are gifted or have truly gifted kids. The term average means most of us are average. If the majority are gifted then where are all the average ( low and high) kids?

 

[platamama]

I recently went to a conference where the keynote speaker, Jim Webb, a well-known and respected figure in the gifted community, said," Never hold a child back for social reasons." If your child is bored now, just what do you expect is going to happen in the future? I have a friend who held her July b-day (super bright) son back and our cut-off is Sept. 30. He was miserable, and ended up "skipping" back into the grade he was supposed to be in after 1-1/2 years of being red-shirted.

Grade-skipping can become a rather heated discussion, and I've heard the "oh it was terrible, the worst thing ever" to "no problems, it was no big deal" stories when I was making the decision for my DD. So much of it depends on the individual child's character, tolerance, values, fortitude, and specific experiences as they go through the years, some of which you have control over and most of which you do not. What ultimately helped me decide was that the younger she was when she skipped, the less likely it would be disruptive to her, so my DD started 1st grade as a 5 yr old with a January b-day. (From reading the comments, she wouldn't be that young for the grade if we lived in NY.) It's worked out ok so far (academically still not a challenge, but DD is happy with friends and the nonacademic parts of school), and of course I have reservations about what will happen in middle school and high school. But we will deal with that when it happens, since all we can know is what's happening in the here and now. I have in my head that she will do a gap year sometime if need be.

One of my neighbor's DD had the chance to do the same thing as mine and she only missed the cut-off by 4 days (rather than 4 months in our case). She's since told me that every time she sees me, she regrets her decision to have her DD go into K instead of 1st. Perhaps it's just our school or our teachers (and our school district is one of the highest ranked ones in the state; our school a winner of multiple awards) but the system really doesn't work well for kids who fall under the far edges of the bell curve.

And as far as the myth of students "leveling out" by 3rd grade (as our school principal claimed), perhaps yes, some kids catch up then because they're finally developmentally ready for it. And perhaps for some of the gifted population, they've given up and don't see the point in performing for a system that just keeps cramming them into a box.

 

[dogluva]

okay, to be fair, I teach special eduction. But maybe my definition gifted id different? I have met many smart kids. My nephew being nor. However, gifted? No, I can't say I have. I don't go around asking for IQ scores. I am finding it hard to believe so many are gifted or have truly gifted kids. The term average means most of us are average. If the majority are gifted then where are all the average ( low and high) kids?

Sorry about the typos, obviously I was never a candidate for any gifted program!

 

[sonnyjane]

okay, to be fair, I teach special eduction. But maybe my definition gifted id different? I have met many smart kids. My nephew being nor. However, gifted? No, I can't say I have. I don't go around asking for IQ scores. I am finding it hard to believe so many are gifted or have truly gifted kids. The term average means most of us are average. If the majority are gifted then where are all the average ( low and high) kids?

My class had 96 students and 3 of us were in the gifted program. Hardly a "majority". The people responding to this thread are primarily the ones that have gifted children or experience with them. I'm sure there are many, many more out there that don't have gifted children. That's why they haven't responded to the thread saying that they did. Out of allllllllll the children in the country, to say that "a majority" of children are gifted based on the replies to this thread is inaccurate.

 

[pocomom]

Wouldn't it be nice if they decided to make education educational? We'd have fewer "gifted" students if kids weren't forced to sit through dumbed down curricula for 13+ yrs. But we don't revolt and demand real education because we like our kids to be special above all else.

we actually have less identified gifted kids then we should. In my district over 30% of students are labelled special ed. The district recieves an extra $7,000 per student to educate them. The district recieves no additional monies to educate a gifted student... percentage of kids getting gifted services in our district? Less than one percent. Now either we have REALLY bad water here, or something is not right.
But I'll agree with you on the curriculm, My second dd being homeschooled is 7, she's bright but so are a bunch of her friends in public school; she just finished her second 3rd grade math text this one for gifted students and we're starting 4th now, and frankly we don't do much sit there and do worksheets kind of instruction and we have taken plenty of time off. But she had gotten through two full years of instruction in this one year. I wouldn't have her go further ahead, but I have to prove 180 days of instruction. In school she was the agreeable, sweet, cooperative kid, so she just sat there when she was finished early and no one noticed her or cared.

 

[dogluva]

My class had 96 students and 3 of us were in the gifted program. Hardly a "majority". The people responding to this thread are primarily the ones that have gifted children or experience with them. I'm sure there are many, many more out there that don't have gifted children. That's why they haven't responded to the thread saying that they did. Out of allllllllll the children in the country, to say that "a majority" of children are gifted based on the replies to this thread is inaccurate.

Yes this maybe true. Have you been to the community board? Lots of gifted kids over there.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

We all live in our own personal Lake Woebegons.

 

[Hardy]

I'm not sure how my district identifies gifted....but I know iq in general, the "average" is 100, normal range being 85-115....so a "bright" kid isn't necessarily gifted, they can just be on the higher side of normal. I've seen some gifted programs require another degree above to be gifted, so 130+. But it isn't everything. An average child can be a dedicated student and easily do gifted work or an above average iq kid can be lazy and do crap work, or even have a learning disability working against their iq.