to think comparing G&T to sn is

[saint2shoes]

bloody silly.
how can you compare it to a child who has no speech and is in a wheelchair, suffering from epilepsy.
makes my blood boil.

Oh there's a shit stirrer on that other thread now.

My 5 year old is g and t. He also has autism. He either gets his gt ignored or his sn ignored. Either way he is mostly unhappy at school. Each teacher views him differently, some see a very bright child, who should know better; other see a child who is just naughty. He is always anxious, and has alot of behavioural issues, and does not get enougt support at school for his autism. Getting him a statement of sen, is going to be extremely difficult. He exhausts me, and I am almost in tears every evening with the sheer tiredness, both mental and physical. Not to mention the emotional strain. Some days I don't know how I will make it to the next day, others I don't know how to get through the next hour.
I know someone who is jealous of my ds being g&t, and has now found out through my dh that he is also autistic. She is very pleased about that. I suppose there will always be people like her in the world. I will ignore all of them, because I am a bitch.

" Getting him a statement of sen, is going to be extremely difficult. "

And this is just plain wrong. The statementing system needs a shake up to allow educationally bright children to be statemented (in the most part because of other issues such as AS, but in certain cases because of extreme giftedness).

It's completely bonkers to compare G&T with SN, but few people have experience of both.

ds1 is exceptionally bright, which brings it's joys and challenges. But he's 11 yrs old and I fully expect that in 10 years' time he will be completely independent of us, financially and socially, and maybe even earlier!

My brother (40, non-verbal, incontinent at night, wheelchair required except for moving round the house, etc.) is still cared for entirely (pretty much 24/7) by my mum, who is rapidly approaching 70. This situation will probably continue until one of them dies, or there is some major crisis. My brother could never be in any sense independent, and would not meet the criteria for a 'group home' or similar.

To compare that with a G&T individual is insane.

dD1 has AS and is G&T (well i think so), she's ahead of most her age.

She's ahead with reading, writing and maths but socialy she's way behind.

We want to get her a statement for the reason that people judge her as being sn/AS and asume she's behind not ahead.

Of course its stupid; present a parent with a completed dla form for even a mildish sn and they might realise!.

I do think these silly comparsons rise from worried parents, and if your child isn't happy or being bullied at school thhen its right and natual to be worried so I'd pesonally cut a bit of slack.

But obv its a bit thoughtless and ill judged to say the least! 'Oh no my child has a chance of financial success and indeoendence' V (in this house) 'Oh no One of my kids will never be ndependent and another will always strugle or (imo) quite likely end up on prison'

Hmmm, yes. I happen to have a dd who is both G&T (and I believe also truly gifted) and disabled, and I can tell you which part of it is causing me problems...

I can always support her giftedness with a few more books and another discussion of some interesting topic, but I can't take the pain away...

But of course, it depends on how disabled you are and what form your G&T takes.

As I keep pointing out, some of the greatest geniuses mankind has known have not actually had social problems. Some extremely gifted people are perfectly happy. And not all people with Aspergers etc are at all gifted.

On the other hand, some mild disabilities may bring no more suffering than that which a gifted child feels from not fitting in or being unable to find friends.

It is even possible that on some level dd who has chronic pain but lots of friends is less unhappy than a child who is bullied and wonders what's wrong with them.

I disagree. G&T, genuinely G&T not just top of the class and bored at school, is a special need and should be recognised as such. Within a mainstream environment the curriculum needs differentiating just as much as it does for a child with severe learning disabilities. That's the educational bit. Social side of things, finding common ground with peers, that can be an additional problem.

And no, my daughter is in no way gifted and talented (oh well, aside from finding new ways of making doctors go "hmmm well it shouldn't have that effect on her") and that in no way changes my opinion.

It should be possible to get a statement, and the extra support which ought to come with a decent statement, for a child who is genuinely G&T. It shouldn't be any harder than it is to get help for any of our children. That isn't to say it's ever easy...

"the curriculum needs differentiating just as much as it does for a child with severe learning disabilities."

I don't agree - because the child needs extending, but will generally be able to learn using the same sensory modalities as any other. Even if they're working at the a higher level. They can still use the same tools and learning methods or approaches. This simply is not the case for children with severe learning disabilities.

If the child is ahead of their classteachers (and yes that can happen - very rarely) then of course there should be some sort of system in place to allow the child to access the particular help.

Chances are though that if they're that unusual then parents will have to do the same as we've done- which is seek out the world experts. There's one person in the world that I'm aware of who has taught children like my son to read and write (she's not in the UK) so we're working with her. Sometimes children are so far from the norm that the educational system might not be able to meet their specific needs in terms of giving them the best education (although they might be able to give an adequate one- that's an LEA's legal responsibility - for any child- not the best)

I think it's aspergers, isn't it?

I think the 2 need to be seperated. DD has sn, but she's not g and t.

Sorry to be pedantic

The difference I see is that with dd's giftedness, she can do something about it herself (read more books, write her own books etc), but with her disability she is dependent on other people.

I knew more than my class teachers in several subjects at secondary school, but I never had any problems with that. Books do not easily run out and my imagination never ran out; I could always think of more interesting problems. But dd's physical strength does run out.

I think that's a good way of considering it cory. Disability is about access. Currently ds1 can access very little without changes from the 'norm'- either in the outside world or in a classroom. For example we're having to teach him to read and write when he doesn't yet have the ability to understand a sentence. This needs changes in our way of teaching that far outstrip changes we would have to make to teach a gifted child at their level. With a gifted child we would be doing work at a higher level, but not in a fundamentally different way as we are having to with ds1.