GIFTED TODDLER - whats the way forward?

[minximoo]

Hi everyone.
We have always suspected our daughter was a chip off the old block, lol. This was confirmed when our daughter's nursery teacher asked us if we realised how bright she was, and suggested we support her and possibly see if the council ran an assessment scheme. We did all this. Was told yes, lady rang and said she would arrange one. Never happened.

Thirty calls later i find that she has left and not been replaced, so i was told to ask the nursery to sort it. I did that too; they tried and got no where as they drew a blank also.

I love spending time with my daughter so getting her into school for 'freedom' doesn't even come into the equasion. My concern is that she is a bright child and due to her birthday she will be the oldest in her class - and possibly 2yrs above her peers...

I've heard that school take children in and then occasionally move gifted children into higher classes (tho i've NEVER heard of this happening in our local schools, and you can't tell me that NONE of the children were gifted at all).

I'm concerned that my daughter Demi will start school and once settled she will either (A) be unsettled by moving class or (B) be left where she is and her potential left to whither, or become lazy.

Has anyone else had this situation ?

Is there a solution?

[gothicmama]

spend time at home with her doing things she would not do at school that way you encourage her but she won't get bored at school or become lazy

[MarsLady]

DS1 was a very bright toddler (still a very bright teen) but I wanted him to have a good social circle. I did things with him at home and kept an eye on how things were going at school. His primary school were very good at motivating him even with their limited resources. He's now in a selective senior school (and doing really well).

I suppose it depends what you want. I didn't want to go along the moving him up route. I wanted him to have a good time with his peers. He's turning out to be a well-rounded individual (and did I mention that he's blimming gorgeous?) lol

[misspinkcat]

I don't see how having her assessed as bright will change anything to be honest at this age.

[Jimjams2]

Wait and see if she is unsettled. IN the early primary years a lot of the work is differentiated anyway. And to be honest a lot of reception is about getting used to school rules, queueing, lining up, PE etc as well.

[hatwoman]

The thing is that scenario c - start school a year early - also has its downsides. however bright she is she is quite likely to not be socially and/or physically ready. If you are on top of it now then either moving up a class, or staying in the same class, could be well managed.

[nikkie]

DD1 (yr2)is on G&T but they don't move kids up at her schoolthey just differentiate the work (for example they have a teacher that does 'harder' maths with a select group)

From reception she has been involved in out of school clubs that keep her busy/gives her new interests.You could look into things like that?

How old is she now?Does she start next Sept?

[JanH]

I think what mars says about you inspiring her at home and then seeing how the school manages her is the best way forward - it really will depend on a large extent to what the school can do.

FWIW, the daughter of a friend, with a November birthday, was offered the chance to move up a class very early on in school, partly because she was exceptionally bright herself and partly because her also exceptionally bright elder brother (Feb birthday) had been moved up, either from R to Y2 or from Y1 to Y3, I forget now.

Anyway her parents liked the group she was in and left her where she was, and she had a very happy time at primary school and at secondary; hers is a very academic family though so she obviously had a stimulating background outside school.

At 18 she won the UK gold medal for her A level results and after a gap year as the English assistant in a German school she read languages at Oxford. She is a brilliant girl and also a lovely person.

[snorkle]

Message withdrawn

[TheWillowTree]

State schools will not accept children into 'different' classes because it affects thier SATS results. Private is an option, or if not for you perhaps trying to fnd a small State school with mixed age classes. If she was in a mixed Reception/Yr1 class she would pretty soon learn with the older children.

Whatever school you choose, you will need to watch carefully to make sure she is being stretched - so many just teach to a structure and the best and worst get forgotten. Look at the Foundation stage and what she should be achieving then look at the National Curriculum levels and keep on top of the teachers so they are aware what she is capable of and she does not 'get lost' in the 30 or so other kids in class.

You can do a lot to help too - find out what topics they are doing at school and get resources to extend her knowledge. I assume she will learn to read early if she is bright so lots of books will help in this - my dd loves reading everything she can get her hands on especially when it adds to the topics she does at school.

Good luck

[swedishmum]

Mixed age classes and small schools are something I would avoid - not always enough stimulation from other children and there comes a point where there isn't an older/brighter group. My dd1 suffered from this (workwise and socially), and a friend's son got very bored in his last year as he'd been in the same class 3 years! Moved dd2 for this reason - many more bright kids in her non-mixed class.

[Blandmum]

I would be happier with broadening out your dd's experiences, rather than pushing for rapid advancement. If she is advanced in classes, she may well lack the social skills to cope with being with other children.

A study of the g and t kids in the school i work in showed one unifying factor, they all had lots of hobbies and activities.....cause or effect I don't know. I do know that they are also very happy as well as very bright.

Resist the temptation to by the reading scheme for use at home, this will lead her to be bored in school, instead hit the local library and take out lots of other books to read with her.

It may well be that your dd will remain g and t....but don't be massivly surprised if other kids catch up on her, as all children have very individual learning curves. My dd was very able at an early age, at 2 she was taken for a three year old, taught herself to read at 3.5. She is now 10, still very able and reads at a 14 year old level, but she is no longer top of the class

[Blandmum]

to buy the reading scheme!

[drosophila]

I had same thing with DS and his nursery. Differnce was I never pursued it. Funny thing was despite going to a Nursery full time for 5 days a week when he started in school he was beside himself with tiredness. I am sure it wasn't the academics as his teacher always talked about how far ahead he was so I can only assume that school is a lot different to nursery.

It helps that his teachers have always recognised his talents and his weaknesses and within restaraints do all they can. I would suggest you send her to school and see how they handle her and establish a good relationship with her teacher.

[Fillyjonk]

I dunno quite how to put this. I understand your concerns. but what does she want to do?

Have you considered doing some work with her? Enrichment stuff? Which, IMO, should be what every toddler should be doing anyway-your basic cooking-colouring-wellie walking-making marble runs with toilet rolls-stuff.

She will take what she needs to from this.

I was accelerated 1 year, then 2, at school. It was hardly the worst experience of my life, but took the edge off school a bit for me, tbh. was much happier when I was "deaccelerated" for secondary (have stayed in this mode ever since" . a particular problem was sports etc. I am reasonably athletic-on teams at secondary-but could not compete with boys 2 years older and this was quite a big thing.