Exceptionally bright child being overlooked by school and left behind, what to do.

[PinkyU]

My dd, 8 years, is a very bright child, who in standardised testing in school has been assessed as working at a 12+ age level in literacy and numeracy since age 6 (this is primary testing where 12+ is the highest bracket available hence she hasn’t changed/progressed in the two years).

Her previous school where patchy at providing support due to significant medical absence and dd also being autistic and delayed communication and emotional development (not really always understanding where she was at academically or how much dd understood the lesson and she couldn’t/wouldn’t answer questions).

Dd is now at a new school and the support is the same or worse.

I understand the school’s difficulties but dd is coming home with 3/4 sentence per page reading books and 3 digit subtraction work, for a kid who easily completes her 1st year sisters secondary maths homework without breaking a sweat. School is unwilling to push as DD’s disabilities make her appear to also be cognitively delayed when she is not.

Do we accept that dd will likely never be supported correctly in any school and continue to do learning at home on top of 6 hours at school or is there an alternative?

What assessments did the school use?

What are the school saying about how she is in class? If a child in my class was that clever, they’d finish the work I gave them in 5 mins and I’d soon be giving them harder stuff! It sounds like she can only complete the tasks with significant help in understanding them first. Is she understanding the books she is reading or just very good at decoding the words? It seems you and the school need to listen to each other more in order to make progress. Good luck.

Is she happy at school? Or frustrated at the simplicity of the work?

I would want support in the areas she is behind i.e communication and emotional development. Not the areas she is so massively advanced in.

Do you know what it is that allows your DD to perform well in the standardised tests, but struggle to show her ability in class? Is the type of work set very different? Is the problem that she does not speak at school? Is she anxious during lessons? If you can work that out it will make it easier to suggest ways for her teacher to help her show her ability.

@Soontobe60 we’re in Scotland so it was the standardised testing used by the government in schools for different year cohorts.

@FoxandFeathers this where the difficulty comes in that dd will only do what is given, works slowly due to physical disability (using fine motor skills is exhausting and painful for her), she is given 20 minutes extra to eat her lunch for example. When given written work (ie work in a written format) she requires no extra help understanding just additional time to complete. When asked questions verbally she struggles to answer, can’t verbalise her reasoning but can in written format.

@SummerHouse she is horribly anxious with transitions at school, often not understanding what’s happening next even with visual supports. She is adored and lovingly cared for by the other pupils this makes her happy. They are patient with her which means she gets opportunities to observe and practice social skills.

@siegriedswaistcoat I think it’s the fact that they are solely observed assessments, there’s no interaction, it’s all written with no time limit so no pressure.

She is anxious in class, struggles with noise, movement being bumped or touched. She struggles with deadlines often becoming upset that she won’t finish. She will speak but has a format of turn taking so will wait and wait and wait until it’s her turn which often ends up not happening. In her old school her teacher didn’t know she had language for an entire term as she never spoke in class for that entire time, her teacher heard her speak for the first time at a parents meeting, teacher had never asked she just assumed then never approached it, hence why a lot of the time it’s assumed dd has a cognitive disability.

My ds is autistic.

He's the opposite in that he can verbalise his answers very well but cannot get it from brain to paper!

Personally I'd say it's best to focus on her social and emotional skills and get support for her to work in her gaps - Eg understanding what's asked of her.

I'd also be asking for an Ed psych assessment. If she's struggling to get her ideas out on paper due to difficulties with writing she should be using alternative methods - Eg laptop or iPad.

In England we have echps and I understand Scotland have something different but equivalent? I'd be applying for this.

Things with academics is there is always only ever a ceiling that can be reached (in U.K. it's 9 at gcse). Extreme academia is useful mainly once you leave the general 5-18 education.

Getting her skill set properly analysed and supporting her strengths and developing her weaknesses is the main game right now.

And if they send home books that are too easy in the meantime just get her to whizz through them and then let her free read.

With regards maths I'd get her some workbooks for years ahead and let her do them if she wants rather than forcing her.

My son has a knack of learning some things amazingly. (He's 17 now) but when it comes to the actual cognitive ability to do school work and complete exams it's never shows.
Now he's in college and doing a work placement a day a week as part of his course and the industry he's in cannot believe how much knowledge he has and are all talking about offering him employment when he leaves (he wants an apprenticeship )

Dies she have an EHCP (or Scottish equivalent). It sounds like they really don't know her very well at all. Poor thing.

@itsgettingwierd I’m glad your DS has found people who appreciate his skills, it’s really all we can hope for isn’t it.

I think the reason we’re sticking with school is because of the immersive opportunity for dd to observe and practice social skills. I think I’m reaching the acceptance that school will be less academic learning and more social and communication learning (if we can get the right support in place). It’s a lot of pressure to strike the balance between wearing her out after a day at school but making sure she’s continuing to be challenged and progress academically as well.

It’s heartbreaking that she may never be able to show her amazing ability solely just because the current exam set up will work against her.

@CrumbsThatsQuick the only statutory plan (a CSP) that exists in Scotland just now really more relates to the coordination of medical needs and academics, for example if a child requires tube feeding the plan provides funding for training and a specialist assistant to do so, getting one is like finding a unicorn, I’ve personally known kids dependent on 24hour oxygen not get one.

The other plans that exist are not worth the paper they’re written on, they’re suggestions and guidance as opposed to necessities. It’s grim.

If you could, I would keep her there in the mornings and do more challenging things at home in the afternoons. Also you could show this work to her teacher.

dd is coming home with 3/4 sentence per page reading books and 3 digit subtraction work

My average ability 7YO does much more challenging homework than that. I would suggest it might be the case that the teacher is mistaking your DD's other barriers to learning for being behind in ability. I'd ask for a one to one meeting and take some examples of the standard of work she can complete unaided. I'd get the SENCO in that meeting too, if possible.

My DS was similar. I home educated him until he was 13 then sent him to a private school which has worked well for him.

The teacher was not helpful in my son’s case (I’m a teacher myself).

It’s heartbreaking that she may never be able to show her amazing ability solely just because the current exam set up will work against her.

It shouldn't because they should be working towards finding what works for her to be able to express her knowledge.

My ds had a reader and scribe for exams. He got what we expected and very high science and maths results and just passed English!

He's not have had those results without the right adjustments.

What I mean by the academics is she'll be taught and learn the right level for her school age. There is a ceiling. They learn what they need to for the highest exams they can take. For your dd if she can absorb info like a sponge (like my ds) it's not extra curriculum work they need it's work in helping them express it, understand what questions mean and finding the way they can get their knowledge across.

1. join the "parenting high potential" facebook group and ask your question there. There are several members who can probably offer good advice. Link :
   www.facebook.com/groups/422127737839473/

2. request an educational psychologist evaluation from the school and/or local authority. Ideally they would involve an OT to do a multidisciplinary assessment. They may make recommendations such as acceleration, which would be helpful. It sounds like she needs a strength-based approach and a reduced volume but higher level of work, and later she will need extra time and other accommodations.

3. read the literature on twice exceptionality (aka dual and multiple exceptionality / DME / 2e)
   e.g.
   www.davidsongifted.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Twice-Exceptionality-A-Resource-Guide-for-Parents-15-June-2018.pdf

belinblank.education.uiowa.edu/research/docs/pip2.pdf

www.pegy.org.uk/twice%20exceptional.html