To get slightly fed up with post's about 'gifted and talented' children

[MrsMertle]

because I think some of them are just an excuse for parents to show off, when what they really want to say is "look at my DC, they are so much cleverer than yours!!"

Eve
If you mail me
Kiwisbird @ gmail dot com
How old is your dd?
And no at ds1s school, one boy same age similar level but only just meeting up and "merging" friendwise
Ds1 round peg into octagonal hole he fits but edges miss out iyswim

kerrymum I don't think theres any need for that.
In fairness there are quite a few parents who use the thread to show off without a real g&t child iyswim

And there's also alot of parents who use the thread for support or just to know that they are not alone. Kerrymum's right to be pissed off. If you knew how hard it is to care for a very bright child then you would also be pissed off. You're right, there is alot of people who use the thread to show off, but there's also people like us who don't have support for our children or ourselves anywhere else. We shouldn't be tarred with the same brush. No other section gets posts like this. No one would dream of placing a post in special needs complaining that they are fed up with people posting about their child's illness or disability, nor would they use it to boast that their child is more able than someone elses.

Thanks piffle, will do.

trefusis - or anyone else who knows - would you mind explaining a bit about the reactions children can get when their intellectual maturity exceeds their emotional level? sounds worrying, especially thinking about ds1 and my belief that DH talks to him at his "intellectual" age rather than his emotional age...causes no end of trouble. He's 3, btw.

avenanap, As i said in my earlier post I do accept that their are some children who are G+T and that these genuinely do need extra support. I get tired of some (not all) of the G+T post because they are parents just showing off, can't you see that this then means that the parents who have genuine G+T posts suffer, because people are less likely to empathise with then when 90% of the posts are just boasting parents.

You said in one of your posts about your DS

"I moved him to a private school beause the head had specific G&T knowledge. I've seen other children at this school who's parents take them home at the end of the day with extra homework. They spend all weekend doing homework and they spend most of their holidays doing work but even then they are not up to ds's level"

This kind of proves my point, you have a child who is truely G+T but what is your opinion of these other parents who are trying to make their children something they are not? you can't think that this is a healthy way to bring up kids?

Kerrymum, Nice, intelligent post. No danger of you ever been called Gifted and Talented

Don't look in G&T

avenanap please do not compare G&T with sn.
is a ridiculous comparison imo.

It isn't a ridiculous comparison at all. G&T children require special educational needs from the other end of the spectrum. They need additional support to maintain their enthusiasm and prevent boredom with school. If the latter happens it can result in them underachieving even though they have the academic ability to do well.

Also, please do not forget that there are children who fall into both categories, and are both G and T and Special Needs. My DSs 4 and 5 are both deemed G and T by their schools: DS5 has Asperger's and DS4 is currently being considered as possibly having Asperger's.
I do not understand the ill-feeling generated by the Gifted and Talented label. It is not the parents who decide-it is the schools. Why feel such anger towards parents who have chilren who have been given the label by someone else? Why the venom?

Here here tiggi, DS1 has tourettes is in the Asperger's spectrum and an IQ of 148, he is 12.

Stewie, good point...my son is considered G&T in art but academically he finds things more difficult....

mytetherisending oh come on, so you would compare a G&T child to a child who is has sn, like mine. severe cp and in a wheelchair
SEN maybe but not sn

stewie, the system used in Canada sounds fab. Much better than the one we use over here

Agree with tiggi - an individual child can be both, for a variety of reasons.

Just about to encounter an interetsing discussion at school re ds who overall is classified as average but in the opinion of Ed Pysch is potentially particularly able in one area (whether you'd call him G and T, I don't really know and tbh I'm pretty cynical about the helpfulness of such a label) but is dypraxic and cannot easily express it.

YABU.Agree with Hectates first post.

I don't understand this thread, does anybody actually talk about G+T registers in real life? I have only heard it discussed on MN (admittedly, I don't socialise much).

These types of threads make me wonder who I dare tell since (supposedly) DD is going on the G+T register for our school. She's an oft-neglected second-born child, by the way .

I don't think there's anything wrong with encouraging schools to identify their most able pupils and to offer them opportunities to extend -- our school was criticised (recent Ofsted) for not pushing the average and most able pupils hard enough. So our school does seem to need outside pressure to cater for the more able.

Whether you agree with the idea of G+T registers or not, at the end of the day, they do exist. And it's only reasonable for parents to discuss with each other what that means at their school, how it can be implemented well or badly, etc.

I think G+T register would be better accepted if it just had a different name -- "Especially able", or somesuch.

kerrymum, glad you can laugh at yourself and remember i am laughing at with you