Okay folks - I am aware that I may be opening a can of worms here but why does this topic piss so many people off?

[Theclosetpagan]

I mean if someone has deemed a child G+T (or is it G or T) why is it that they seem to be flamed when they post about any difficulties here?

If the label has come from outside the family and the family struggle why can't they post here saying "Help" without people leaping in to say "your child sounds normal to me"

For what it's worth I don't have a child labelled as G+T but am glad I don't given the response some posters get to this topic.

Surely it's okay for some children to be extra bright. Or is it that there is distrust of this label?

Just interested really.

I do agree that one has a natural leaning- but i think that area can be very wide. For example, mathematical ability can lead to an array of It, Engineering, planning, electronics, mathematical, trader, analytical careers- all tings within Dh's ability range (he is a logistics planner ansd also runs his own electrionics business) and completely out of mine, whilst my interest at the most absic level is people- so I have studies psychology, sociology, literature, and religion at higher levels. Pretty wide ranges of topics, covering pretty much all human experience!.

Buta s a child I was encouraged to take on other interests- I was into the uniformed stuff mainly, guiding and St Johns- and that helped me too. I do think its wrong to acccept a childs interests and abilities as formed, people develop throughout their lifetimes.

Math ability is a weird thing and I still don't understand it really. I'm still taken by surprise out how unimpresive by basic arithmetic is. I sometimes find basic arithmetic paralysing. It's embarassing!

I think it's definitley good to encorouge as broad a range of interests as possible, then let the actual direction be student-led.

I wonder how the age of the internet will affect reading profiency and reading as an access to learning. Everything is so much more visual and snappy now. More breadth and less depth? Jill

Perhaps, but then it directly folows the age of the TV so at least reaidng is coming abck albeit in a new form

Mum and Dad had to use a compass to get out of Tokyo by car SueW. They couldn't read the signs.

What I mean Acinonyx is early as in doing A Levels at 13/14 or even earlier. I don't think there's any harm in doing a subject a year earlier, and is quite a common thing to do actually, though it is more tricky now in the days of As/A2 I think (i.e. not just doing 2 years in 1, but doing 2 lots of exams). What I mean is that the twins weren't separated from their peer group, or isolated by being the 'clever' ones. And I think potentially they could have had problems, but are totally balanced, largely thanks to their fantastic parents, who are both very high achievers.

Ah yes - that would be odd. Actually I think what made it a good experience was that we did it as a small group, together and that was better than normal classes. But I imagine there would be only one pupil taking A levels at say 14 in a school - very isolating. I wonder where the cut off point is - 2 years early - 3? 5 students in a group - 2 - 1? Jill

Kerrymum, just to avoid confusion (because the words mean different things in American English and English English), a Public School in the UK is a very posh private school. Eton and Harrow are Public schools.

Crazy but true.

Re 'special' schools for the bright, I don't think this is ever going to happen. At the moment children with quite profound SEN cannot get into specialist SEN schools are they are being closed, as a cost saving exercise.

according to my Mum, there's a school somewhere in Wales for the gifted, but no-one else I've spoken to (NAGTY parents) has ever heard of it.

Yes, I can back up mb's point about special schools - the places in our area are so fiercely fought for, and require years of campaigning by the parents, along with specialists all along the way telling them that their child's problems are imaginary and that they are just being neurotic middle class parents(!) When in fact their children are severely autistic.

Abslutely TS, ds3 can't get a palce even though he can barely talk and is still in nappies.

Only children I know in SN have been to MS and failed, either behaviourally (in which case the parents have probably had a hell of a time getting anywhere- and may face a significant journey ro residential palce), or when a profoundly disabled kid can't cope at secondary level- one child we are friends with is blind, asd, GDD and has just been moved out of MS- crazy!

ds1 spent 4 terms walking round and round mainstream completely isolated. He;s now fully included in an SLD/PMLD school. And they're shutting it. Or at least fidlling with it. IN 2 years time apparently. (building a unit on a mainstream site) Not remotely impressed.

Oh bloody hell, no! How awful- it always sounds so wonderful

there are some children who can never be satisfactoraly included into MS.

the closing of special schools is just plain wicked IMHO.

The children we now get coming into year 7 with a full statement would have gone to a special school 5 years ago (according to our senco). Their special needs are simply too great to integrate them, even of they have 32 hours of 1 to 1 support (which is damn rare anyway)

After a year of being failed in MN school they are usually expelled ot withdrawn, and end up in a special school, which is where they should have been in the first place . because a special school meets their needs, and allows them to make progress. With us all they learn is that they fail.

and insight into the level of SEN that we are getting. A child of 11 who is 'working towards using sentences', school action level! Not even School action plus! No support for that child in lessons. And is there any wonder that we fail these children????

DS1 has alsted a fortnigt in juniors and we're in over him being bullied- twice aprents ahve reported they ahev picked him up in the playground after being thrown over, and he binned his coat today because a child laughed at it- these are his friends. A Sn school might be able to teach him about friendships, MS cant.

And thats ds1- DS3 is far worse (working towards sentences about right)

I get so angry, because with the proper level of support, and a meaningful and appropriate curriculum, all of these children can make progress.

But in MS, with next to no support, all we teach them is that they fail. And I can't surprise anyone that after a while they start to switch off,

It is heart breaking. And all to save money

Reading these messages is soul destroying

When ds1 left his mainstream school my mum's neighbour asked his mum if he'd changed school. So she explained yes etc etc, He said "good", neighbour was shocked and asked why and he said 'because he was always standing in the playground by himself crying and looked really sad I hope he's happy at his new school'.

That was during lesson time btw!

Ds1 won;'t be in the inclusive unit (I assume - over my dead body anyway), but because children are leaving to attend they're combining the 2 remaining SLD/PMLD schools. They're incredibly different schools- the other one wouldn't suit ds1 at all- would be a disaster. We'll have to see what happens. I can't see our LEA managing to build several new schools within 2 or 3 years.

Oh Gess, that's so sad, poor little blighter. I hope you work out something satisfactory for him for the future.

Well supposedly they want to consult parents. We'll see......

Peachy, I've been thinking about your son and athletics. If you think he'd enjoy it, why not give it a go? There is a team element to it (e.g. relay races, different people doing different events and cheering one another on - and accepting they haven't been picked to do a particular event), it's an activity people - from a wide range of backgrounds - continue to do in adult life (unlike most board games) and it's good healthy exercise. There must be lots of parents who wouldn't want their child to go to the highest levels because they wouldn't want to put them through the mental stress, or let their school work suffer too badly - it's not just a SN issue.

I really wouldn't worry that if your son's really good he will be put under pressure to take the sport to a higher level than you would consider right for him (or him for himself) - ime sports clubs generally have policies against that (you may find details of those policies on the club website). We don't live in a vicious dictatorship where any little girl caught pushing Baby Annabell sufficiently fast is taken away for intensive training only to stride purposefully back twenty years later with bulging biceps and a row of gold medals on her hairy chest, do we?

Wow - what a fascinating thread. I usually only dip into the am I being unreasonable threads!!

However, I would like to throw in a thought - feel free to shoot it down!! I think all children are gifted and/or talented in a variety of ways. This thread (and I understand why) emphasises intellectual ability and thought, but workplaces/businesses are now recognising the impact of other talents (e.g. emotional intelligence) on outcomes and on the bottom line. The ability to work in a team, to link with others, to create networks, to listen. I am not, by the way, denying or seeking to reduce the impact of intellectual ability, but think we should encourage a broader growth.

My children have varying abilities, but they are all gifted and they are all talented. (And because I'm their mother, I also think they are all beautiful!!)

Thoughts??