Help! My 6yr old is G & T. What provisions etc??

[Sallyjessy]

My daughter is gifted and talented. Are there provisions in primary schools? I dont know anyone with a G & T child. And I dont think her school knows what to do although she is on the register and has moved classes. What should be happening? Any help appreciated x

[castleonthehill]

My daughter is in the gifted and talented group. Each school has to have a list of children that they have identified. My daughter had extra time with one of the teaching assistants, their was a group of them. They went out once a week. One week they had maths and the other project work. The idea was to stretch them sideways and keep them interested. You need to watch what they are missing though. We had to have a word as she was missing computer on be week and stuff key to doing her homework the other. They sorted it. Not sure what is happening this year. The school also sets for maths and literacy so children are able to work at their ability. Last year she was in a year 4 group when she was year 3 and think this year will be building on what she knows and gaining confidence in doing it. Hope this helps

[DiscoDaisy]

In my daughter's school the g & t lists aren't worth the paper they're written on.
We're forever having to talk to our daughter's teachers about how bored she is in class because the work is too easy for her. Also in the whole of the last school year she only did 6 enrichment sessions even though she is on the list for 3 seperate subjects. This year one of her teachers is the one in charge of the enrichment policy so hopefully things may be better although the teacher is only part time so I not holding my breath!

[Sallyjessy]

she's the only g & t in the school and is currently with 8 and 9 yr olds. She is being put under the same pressure as them. Shes top of the class but due to the fact that she's a perfectionist her speed isnt. She wont put pen to paper unless she's happy and never makes a mistake, which the teacher says is wrong,but its part of being a g & t.

[seeker]

For a start, why has she mopved classes? Not usually thoguth a good idea to move a child out of theri age group - being academically clever doesn't necessarily mean socially advanced.

And she can't be thhe only G&T child in the school - the top 10% is usually identified.


How have they identified her as G&T?

[Millimat]

Do you have attainment levels for her academic abilities?

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

Maybe it's a sensible school that realises the top 10% of every class cannot possibly be G&T, and there are only ever usually a couple of exceptional children in the school who are actually G&T?

Just a thought . . .

[TheFallenMadonna]

If it's a state school, they aren;t allowed to be sensible

And if they were sensible they wouldn't be referring to her as gifted and telented unless she met the criteria for both of those. Which of course she may.

[Sallyjessy]

She is the only g & t child in the school. Pixie, are you mother to a child like this? She has been accelerated on the advice of qualified g & t coordinators for our county. Thanks Knitting, your with me here :). She is gifted in literacy, maths and talented in rt.

At the age of 3 she was an established reader, she is exceptional, which is especially hard to deal with as emotionally she is only 6. She does spend time with her peers because she has to.

I came on here on the advice of the g & t coordinator, who said I may find support and advice off others who have g & t children!

[Sallyjessy]

meaning??

[Sallyjessy]

and can i also say that you can only name these children in the top 10% IF they meet the criteria.

[seeker]

That's not true. There are no set criteria- what constitutes g and t depends on the cohort in the school. So the top 10per cent are identified subjectively - not against objective critea. I would fight hard against accelleration - what's goingnto happen when she reaches the top of the school? She cAn't go to secondary at 9.

[Sallyjessy]

We are conemplating private. This new for the school, they are working with the coordinators but I wondered what experiences other parents have? She's bored with her peers and loves the work she's now doing but has traits as a g & t child eg, she is so meticulous about her work and cannot make mistakes so she writes slower than the 8/9yr olds shes with. The coordinators tell me at 6 she is unable to accept mistakes yet but will do. Her teachers say she must go faster! i feel im in a no win situation :(

They can make provisions for her to enter sec school early but we dont want that. She wouldnt fit in anyway, I think she needs to be with kids on her wavelength.

[EleFunTess]

What do you want to happen? @ OP

My DS is so-called 'G&T'. To be honest, it isn't a helpful label and as others have pointed out, it means your child is in the school's top 10% of children in terms of attainment. That's about it.

A good school will set some extension tasks in class, perhaps some extended homework, while respecting the fact that your child is emotionally her actual age and needs a rounded education that will cater for her emotional and social needs as well as her academic ones.

If your child is genuinely some sort of child genius, it is even more important to nurture her emotionally and support her social development. I don't mean to sound patronising, sorry. It's just that truly gifted children can have real problems at school. My DS is in the top 1% for children of his age in verbal and non-verbal reasoning, literacy and numeracy. He is working at Year 8/9 levels in reading, maths and science (he is 5 yrs old). However, he struggles dreadfully with the social side of school and friendships.

Forget the G&T label and think about your DD's needs and how you and the school can help meet them.

[Sallyjessy]

My DD has awful problems, i could cry watching her with other children. She's gets fustrated with children her age (6) because she is so able. She is truly gifted, i want someone to talk to who is in the same position as me. I'm told there is no-one in my area like this. Im reading Gifted Children by Katie Distin which is fab, it's like a book aout my DD!

[seeker]

There are lots of people on here who can offer helpful suggestions - but you don't seem particularly interested in what they are saying. What do you want to know?

It is VERY unusual for anyone to go to secondary school early - please don't count on this happening. And best practice is generally NOT to accelerate. Just because she is incredibly able academically doesn't necessarily mean that she should be with her academic peers. It does sound as if she needs to learn to play as well. And I woul not allow her to be told to "go faster". It's nto fair to day that to such a little girl.

[magicmummy1]

I agree that the "gifted" label sounds rather like an excuse for your daughter's poor social skills. My dd loves playing with older children but she also loves spending time with younger kids and with those of her own age. I really think you need to think more broadly about her well-being and all-round development, rather than just her academic progress.

The fact that your dd is struggling to keep up with the older children in her class also sounds quite worrying to me - what will this do to her confidence in the long term? My own daughter's school suggested acceleration as a possibility for dd at the end of last year, but we refused, and I'm really glad that we made that decision.

There are lots of ways that you can stretch and stimulate your dd without rushing her through the school system. It isn't a race, and it's much more important that she enjoys the journey than that she gets to the destination quickly.

[Portofino]

Pixie, Aspergers was my first thought when I read this!

[EleFunTess]

Pixie, I was thinking about Asperger's,too. My DS is AS. The 'gifted' and 'struggling with peers' combination can be a bit of a red flag for AS. Not that I am qualified to diagnose ASD. Just thinking out loud.

There is a fine line between G&T and SN, which not all parents are happy/willing to acknowledge..

[Portofino]

Yes, my DN was diagnosed ASD when he was about 6 or 7. He is very, very bright, but struggles to socialise with his peer group. He always preferred chatting to adults. When he was 11 I rang my sister and spoke to him for about 10 mins before I realised it wasn't my sister!

[NickOfTime]

op, you can try looking at some of the 'twice exceptional' stuff out of the US, that might help you make your mind up. the yg&t unis sometimes run courses for parents on giftedness and additional needs such as aspergers/ asd. (there was a good one a couple of years ago)

i'm not sure why the school are struggling to cope tbh - it's not uncommon for children to be working some years ahead of their peer group academically, most school s are able to differentiate appropriately without recourse to moving years completely (this has somewhat gone out of fashion after the whole ruth lawrence thing). if the school are really this clueless i might be tempted personally to look at other state school options before considering private.

for example - the ed psych assessment dd2 completed in the summer term of yr r suggested that in some areas she was working at approx 12yo level, and in others only about 7/8 - school looked at moving her to a higher year group, but have decided against. instead they have re-arranged the school timetable so as a whole each class is timetabled the same subject at the same time, so there is greater overall fluidity between year groups - she can move up for some literacy project work - in fact any child can spend some time with a higher year group for maths etc. each of the children have always accessed reading material material appropriately from other year groups, and teachers have been good at stretching children sideways (broadening their horizons with specific music and percussion classes targeted at the brightest children) as well as appropriately differentiating standard curriculum stuff.

there is no reason why a child of high academic ability can not also get along with their classmates (that said, dd2's teacher was aware of the differences between dd2's interactions between her year group and with the older children - but believed it was more important for her to learn how to get along socially with her year group rather than moving her class iyswim). if your dd is having social difficulties, then it's important for school to be addressing those as well as her 'giftedness'.

many gifted children have an IEP drawn up to set out the targets for their attainment during the term/ year. does she have one of these?

these are also a common trend with sn children - so for example, it is not unusual for children to have 2 IEPs running - one for their 'gifted' targets, and one for their sn - so social targets etc. i'm not sure whether you would feel comfortable discussing with the SENCO whether this would be an appropriate way to help your daughter if you are concerned that the school do not know how best to help her?

lots of info on IEPs all over the web - lots of it aimed at sn, but used for all eventualities where children do not quite fit the mainstream norm, or require specific help to reach their potential.

(incidentally - all three of mine were labelled g&t at one time or another lol - i only use dd2 as an example as she is a similar age to your dd and also has issues that require some specialist assistance alongside the 'gifted' label. i'm shocked at the schools inability to cope, if i'm honest.)