Gifted and Talented - underachiever

[sleepyhead79]

I have learned this week that my ds is an underachieving gifted child.

I have been in touch with the NAGC and they have been very helpful but I feel a little unsure as to what this means.

I was about to go into a rant about the milestones that my ds achieved as a baby and toddler but they tell me that it isn't relevant now. Although you want your child to be bright you are never prepared to hear this. I hate using the term gifted because it sounds I like am being up myself.

On Monday I approached the school and they told me that they don't feel ds is because of a drop in assessment results and the failure to meet the predicted levels this year. Eventually they agreed to look into the situation with a view to getting an assessment by aeducational psychologist.

Has anybody been in this position? Help!!!!!

I am lost in all the information and feel like I am drowning very rapidly.

How old is he? It is true that toddler milestones aren't a particularly reliable indicator of academic progress (unless a child is delayed developmentally- that's what they're really designed to pick up).

When you say you learned that your ds is 'an underachieving gifted child' what exactly do you mean? Where did you get this information from? Likewise what do you mean by him failing to meet 'predicted levels'. To my mind being both 'underachieving' and 'gifted' sounds a bit contradictory unless you mean your son is not achieving his potential because he's not being challenged and is bored.

Exactly! That was my first thought. Apparently she has the potential to reach quite a high IQ. There are many determining factors. In my daughters case it all came to a head last week when she brought her spelling test results home.

Bearing in mind she is only 7.I wasn't aware of any homework being set for the whole year. She had been throwing her homework away but when it came to doing the tests she was passing them with flying colours but only in literacy.

When I asked her about her homewok she got really mad - not upset as I would have expected from her. When I approached the school their excuse for not inviting me in to discuss her homework was that it wasn't compulsory. If that's the case why set it in the first place?

In numeracy she has been moved down two sets in the past six months because she is seen to be struggling with the work. But she was doing this work when she was four.

All attempts to speak to the school for the past 3 and a half years have left me feeling very disheartened with the education system as this should have been spotted sooner.

The NAGC asked me a few questions about my daughter such as how she acts etc and they put it down to her ability to think abstractly. Thay say her teachers will see her as not conforming in class but in actual fact she is dissecting the info in a different way to what they are used to dealing with.

So being Gifted and Talented is not all about academic results but about thought processing aswell. I am unsure really of what to expect as the NAGC tell me that because the school have her down as doing ok they will struggle with the idea of her being gifted. Ifshe has been left too long without the right guidance they tell me she could have 'switched off' meaning it will be difficult for her to engage at a level which keeps her focused.

The label Gifted is not something I would have put on her. She is bright but I didn't think anything along them lines. If she is bored in class then something needs to be done. But where do I start?

But who told you she was an"underachieving gifted child?" I'm a bit puzzled!

And I'm not sure about having the potential to reach a high IQ - I thought that you were born with an IQ - am I wrong?

The thing is all children have unique learning curves. they may start off at a pace, and then level off for a while. They may well pick up again later on. They may not.

has she been formally assessed by NAGC? Have they seen her in the class? Because if not they can't really 'know' why she is acting as she is.

and also being good in one area does not mean, necessarily, that they will be good in all areas. It is quite common for a child to be good at maths, while struggling at english, and contrariwise

I was told due to her ability to think abstractly she may be being overlooked in the classroom.

For example when she was 4 I went up to her bedroom to check on her. I couldn't believe my eyes. The stuffing of her teddy bear was all over her room. I asked her what had happened and she told me she wanted it to snow so a man came in through her window, went down stairs got a knife out of the drawer went back upstairs and cut the teddy. After carefully picking at the stitching he went back downstairs to put the knife back in the drawer leaving her with the teddy to shake all the stuffing out of it.

The learning curves of children is something that I am familiar with but after a discussion with some friends they advised me to seek expert help regarding her behaviours.
Looking up info on bright children on the net I came across the NAGC. I rang their helpline and spoke to an educational psychologist. She advised me that the 'underachiever' doesn't like to be different from their peers so go out of their way to appear like them even if it means hiding their abilities.

There is a lot of info on this area on the NAGC websites both in the UK and the US.
If you find it confusing how do you think I feel?

I am told this is quite common and the government are trying to address the situation but that doesn't help me now. Until she goes back to school I am at a lose end and unsure of the process.

My dd cut her own hair when she was around 3-4. She told me the fairies did it. It isn't that common, is it?

If your dd hasn't had a formal assessment with NSGc, and they are only giving you telephone advice without having see your dd in situ, I would think it better to talk to the teaching staff who work with her and see what they suggest.

Avtually thinking about it, at that age I went to Sunday school, having had my hair cut V short, and told them all that I was a 'New Boy' and that it was my birthday, because I wanted to blow out the candles and have all the kids sing happy birthady to me! So I may be part of a family that just loved to tell whoppers!

Are you a teacher martianbishop?

I always assumed that when my son cut up his duvet with the blade he had removed from his pencil sharpener and scattered feathers all over his room with the explanation that "It just exploded" he was trying to get out of trouble... now I know he was thinking laterally should I feel guilty for grounding him?

Hi Sleepy
you sound angry and upset so I hope we can help.
So as I understand it you believe that you have a gifted child because of her acheiving milestones early. (btw is it ds or dd ?) and NAGC agreed verbally on the phone. Is that right?
So did the school assess her as being G&T? Has she an IEP in place? Has she been assessed by senco or edu. phy?
Sorry for all the questions just need a bit more background info to help

mrz

If your dd has a high IQ, she will be G&T. Wether you agree with it or not, it is one of the methods of recognising GT studentd.

GT students often underachieve (my son is one and frequently underachieves ( )

She needs an assessment to find out. The LEA may pay for this if you are very lucky, but you could gp private, although you are legally entitled to one from the LEA (ha ha)

What I don't understand is: How your dd's school have identified her as GT in the first place. How can she not be fullfilling her potential uless they can quantify what she is capable of Has she had any formal assessment or testing which indicates her GT. Also agree with MB, kids can be GT in one area and not very good in another.

She did reach milestones early but weren't relevant I didn't think. When she started school she began on half days bearing in mind she had been in nursery since she was 13mths, she complained of being bored and that she was sick of playing. She learnt how to read within a week and but as constantly told that she wasn't passing the reading assessments. By her 5th b-day she was reading th newspaper. In the meantime there were these little episodes and yes at the time I felt they were just the acts of a child. At 6 she was in top sets for all subjects and was working well but still complained of boredom in the classroom. Every morning it is a struggle to get her ready.

My field of expertise is with children with learning difficulties and behavioural problems. When I confronted her about her homework I just expected to get the usual shrug but instead she very angry and her bad behaviour continued all weekend. With this I spoke to my friends who have had more experience by far with this type of behaviour and they suggested that I get proffessional advice regarding the boredom in the classroom.

I searched on the internet and the NAGC kept popping up. I reluctantly phoned and was quite surprised with their response. Even though they have never met her they described many of her behaviours to me that I thought were the 'norm'. They told me that she shows all the signs of this type of giftedness and that to ensure she is catered for I needed to speak to the school asap. Yes of course it is only a verbal recommendation but the lady who is an educational psychologist informed me that this type of talent goes undetected because of the lack of time training and resources.

I spoke to the school and quite rightly they questioned my belief but eventually agreed to get me an appointment with the Gifted and Talented Co-ordinator. After the half term I will hopefully be meeting with the educational psychologist of our local education authority.

They are that sure of their position that they have offered to help pay for an assessment if the school refuses.

I am not angry or upset just completley frustrated!

Hmm ... you still don't say where the evidence is that your daughter has a high IQ. I'd be very, very careful and frankly quite suspicious of any organisation, person or people who are making judgements about your daughter's ability and behaviour having never met her. A bit like a doctor trying to diagnose a child's illness over the telephone or you trying to self diagnose using the Internet - potentially they or you could get it right, but any information you received could equally be misleading or downright dangerous.

I also think that the behaviours you describe - throwing away homework, the teddy bear incident, the doing well at spellings and apparently regressing at maths - could indeed be a sign of a bright but bored child but they could equally be typical of a child who was struggling academically, or a child who is good at some academic areas and less so in others or a completely average child.

If this were my child I'd really want to concentrate on the specific issues at hand - why is she throwing away homework? What exactly are the problems with maths? etc and talk to her teachers about these. TBH a G & T 'label' has limited advantages anyway but really means very little if your child is actually underachieving at school unless its going to mean that her teachers work with her and you to find strategies that are particularly effective for her happiness and progress at school (which is really just good teaching anyway).

But again sleepy, I the students that I teach who are most likely to complain about boredom are at the opposite end of the scale. I'm not saying your daughter isn't bright just that the advice you are getting doesn't seem to be very specific, evidence based or helpful. What you really need to do is talk to her teachers who should be in the best position to advise you.

I don't think it goes undetected in Secondary schools, we have loads of stuff going on in my school, BUT, I do agree that it is often just left in primary schools.

Hope the assessment is useful

At our primary school nothing has ever been mentioned about G&T assessment. Whether they do it unbeknowns to the parents, I wouldn't know.
Lots of G&T stuff at secondary.

I totally agree fivecandles.
I understand that you have talked to your school from your previous post but what are they actually saying? I presume your dd is in year 3. How did you she do in yr 2 sats? did the school discuss her abilities then?

Also, what are the reading assessments that she is not passing.

It's not particularly unusual to be able to read the paper at 5 BTW. My dd certainly can. Most newspapers have a reading age of about 7 and my dd has a reading age at 5 of 7.5. I know my dd is bright but she's certainly not gifted. Neither is it unsual for a child to complain of being bored at school or to be a nightmare to get ready for school. My dds do the former sometimes and the latter every morning!

I know this is flippant but I'm really, really hoping that my students never get hold of 'my ability to think abstractly means I am being overlooked in the classroom' as a line for explaining their underachievement .

LOL fivecandles

LOL fivecandles