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?? about Talent searches, special programs, etc.


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I just read the thread about Duke Tip and SCAT. Earlier this year I learned of the Davidson Institute and a few other programs. How did you learn of these? Were your children selected somehow? Did you find out and contact the various organizations and begin the process yourselves?

 

I am asking because I am distressed that DS has missed out on many wonderful opportunites. DS was public schooled until this January. We live in a small city (appr. 30,000) with one school district. The district treats gifted children as if they have a disability. There are no gifted programs in any of the schools and their idea of an advanced class is to put all of the kids who score above a certain level on a standard test together in the same room. They use the same teacher, text and tests as all of the regular classes. The idea is that the students will challenge each other.

 

DS has maxed out on the state's standardized tests (99th percentile) since third grade and has an IQ score that qualifies him as highly gifted. Even with these results, and the hard copies to prove it, we have never been contacted by any of the talent search organizations.

 

Some questions I have are:

-will missing out on these opportunities affect him negatively? Are they important for college scholarships, college entrance, etc.?

-do the programs really help the student? So many of them are outrageously expensive. It seems more like a way to take advantage of caring, concerned parents than a way to encourage gifted kids.

-Will they help DS find a peer group? OR are the students so scattered it wo't make a difference?

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Hi

 

You aren't alone in having a hard time finding these programs. We learned about Davidson from the folks who did the testing for my daughter. They told us about it after we knew she qualified. I had never heard of them before that day. She wasn't selected by anyone. We were given a name and told to go home and do a Google search on them and find the application and submit it. None of the smart kid groups I know of do any outreach. They are not looking for you. You must look for them.

 

Will missing out on these opportunities hurt him? Probably not. The opportunities are expensive. Even though we have qualified for a while, it didn't help because the money wasn't there to take advantage of it.

 

Are they important for college? I don't know. Everything and nothing seems like it is important for college.

 

Do the programs really help the student? Sort of. There are email lists that I find helpful and if I am happier so are they. So far the kids haven't benefited from the programs because we haven't had the money to do the programs.

 

Will they help your child find a peer group? I was very hopeful on this one. And it hasn't happened. My kids are still different than other kids, even other smart little kids. I am hoping that we will find some true friends at the gathering later this summer, but even then the friends could literally be anywhere in the United States. I am not sure how helpful a friend in Alaska would be to a child in California. There is just a lot of distance.

 

I hope that this helped even a little. If you have more questions I will try to help.

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We found out about these things from this group. Some of them have financial aid to help out with the costs. If you live in an area where you can take advantage of being on campus at the place then it could help your son find friends but not if you don't live where he can go to the classes and stuff they do. I am not sure being apart of the talent search will help with college but I have heard if your children want to go early to college some of the tests (early ACT and SAT as well as Explore) could help them be accepted into programs for that. I hope this helps some. I am still very much learning and mine is not highly gifted so I don't have any specific advice having never been there done that.

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Your DS is 12, so he's actually right at the point where these things can get more interesting. Before then, there's some benefit in the out-of-level testing opportunities, but as Jenne said the classes they offer are pricy, and it's questionable whether they are important for anything or not. But as of middle school or high school you might have some summer camps or early college stuff that an older kid would be able to take advantage of, where he probably wouldn't have as an 8-10 year old. Not all of these are talent search related, but one of the benefits of being on the mailing lists is hearing about them...

 

DS has been involved in talent search stuff since he was fairly young, because I wanted the out of level testing and it was an easy way to get it. He's never done a class or camp, so other than occasional mailings it doesn't really appear on his radar at all. But as he gets closer to college age, we might be looking for some lab internships or other opportunities that I keep an eye on through those mailings and email loops. I don't think anything he's done before then is really going to matter in the long run. If we were dealing with an unresponsive school system it might be a good outlet, but with the flexibility of homeschooling we really do what we want anyway, with or without official recognition. :)

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Are you in one of the states for the Duke program? They only cover certain states in their geographical area. We're in MN so they referred us to Northwestern (in IL). Anyway, the way I understand it is that once you do the talent search test, Explore or ACT or whatever, with one of those types of programs, they then start sending you a lot of info about camps and other offerings. Even though they are called a talent search, they aren't actively searching for your son. His teachers or you have to recommend him. The testing itself is usually pretty cheap, it's the classes/camps they offer that seem pricey to me. As for whether it will be worth it to you, that will vary widely. But just getting in the door via the initial exam won't cost a lot and may open up some options for your son.

 

Davidsons is free and with your son's test scores he should qualify. That is another way to learn about a lot of different opportunities as well as network with other kids and parents.

 

Here is a TAG organization that has an active mailing list where you can connect with other parents: http://www.tagfam.org/

 

Hoagie's is a website with a ton of info too:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/

 

Also Mensa has a mailing list for homeschooling gifted kids but I am not on my laptop right now so I don't have the link handy.

 

And of course this very forum has tons of great info too!!

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I just read the thread about Duke Tip and SCAT. Earlier this year I learned of the Davidson Institute and a few other programs. How did you learn of these? Were your children selected somehow? Did you find out and contact the various organizations and begin the process yourselves?

 

I am asking because I am distressed that DS has missed out on many wonderful opportunites. DS was public schooled until this January. We live in a small city (appr. 30,000) with one school district. The district treats gifted children as if they have a disability. There are no gifted programs in any of the schools and their idea of an advanced class is to put all of the kids who score above a certain level on a standard test together in the same room. They use the same teacher, text and tests as all of the regular classes. The idea is that the students will challenge each other.

 

DS has maxed out on the state's standardized tests (99th percentile) since third grade and has an IQ score that qualifies him as highly gifted. Even with these results, and the hard copies to prove it, we have never been contacted by any of the talent search organizations.

 

Some questions I have are:

-will missing out on these opportunities affect him negatively? Are they important for college scholarships, college entrance, etc.?

-do the programs really help the student? So many of them are outrageously expensive. It seems more like a way to take advantage of caring, concerned parents than a way to encourage gifted kids.

-Will they help DS find a peer group? OR are the students so scattered it wo't make a difference?

 

Our twins were invited to take SAT's through the Northwestern University talent search at public middle school. Ds took SAT in 6th grade and is currently taking it right now as 8th grader.

 

I don't know for sure.. but I think you can just enroll your kids to take the SAT/ACT via internet. Here is the web site that I go through.... www.ctd.northwestern.edu.

 

We are not enrolling in any classes from them... just taking the SAT so we have an idea where Ds is. Also it will help place him in college classes as a 14yr old.

 

 

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Our twins were invited to take SAT's through the Northwestern University talent search at public middle school. Ds took SAT in 6th grade and is currently taking it right now as 8th grader.

 

I don't know for sure.. but I think you can just enroll your kids to take the SAT/ACT via internet. Here is the web site that I go through.... www.ctd.northwestern.edu.

 

We are not enrolling in any classes from them... just taking the SAT so we have an idea where Ds is. Also it will help place him in college classes as a 14yr old.

 

 

 

I have looked into DS taking the SAT/ACT this fall. He wants to register for classes at the local community college when he is old enough and I have been told having current test scores will help.

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I was one of the gifted kids in the talent search programs, and am now a parent raising ds who I think is gifted - testing to be done in the fall. I didn't really start participating in the programs other than initial testing until 13-14 yrs old, because that is when the offerings started getting interesting. I enjoyed the classes and found them challenging, and it was good for me to see that there were other people who were as smart or (gasp) smarter than me. And I got some great college essay topics out if it.

 

OTOH, I didn't keep in touch with any of the friends I made for very long, and I could have written college essays about volunteer work or other things as well.

 

So at this point I'm sure your ds hasn't missed much, and he is at a good age for you to start actively pursuing getting him involved if you choose that route. You do have to go to them, unless you have contacts at the school system that will recommend him for you. Davidson you just fill out the application and send it in. When I did TIP they automatically contacted us because of my score on the SAT I took in 7th grade, but if my parents hadn't been told by the school to have me take the SAT then I would have missed the program. Of course, that was almost 20 years ago.

 

Hope that helps!

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Are you in one of the states for the Duke program? They only cover certain states in their geographical area. We're in MN so they referred us to Northwestern (in IL).

 

We are in IL so Northwestern is where we are referred.

 

Davidsons is free and with your son's test scores he should qualify. That is another way to learn about a lot of different opportunities as well as network with other kids and parents.

 

DS does qualify but we missed this year's deadlines for the Explore test. I will submit his SAT/ACT scores this fall.

 

Thanks for the links. I have looked at the Hoagies site before. I have also joined a local gifted network. I am working on increasing my knowledge base for programs, etc.

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DS does qualify but we missed this year's deadlines for the Explore test. I will submit his SAT/ACT scores this fall.

I wouldn't bother with the Explore. CTD allows 6th graders to do the ACT through them, and once you've reached that point I'd just skip over the Explore altogether.

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I think the talent search programs are very useful. We spent this afternoon at an awards assembly at Northwestern because my 6th-grade ds was a third-place medalist in reading on the ACT. My husband insisted we attend this event, even though I thought that it was just a sales pitch to sell Northwestern. However...

 

There were two speakers who have studied talent development for years and talked about their research. They encouraged the kids to keep asking questions and assured them that they could change lives with their talent. AND there was an archeologist who give a talk about her dig in Mexico where she researches the impact of the Aztecs on the non-Aztec tribes. My son, who is a reluctant test-taker and thinks he is just above average, walked out of that ceremony completely pumped, jumping up and down with excitement.

 

It was very cool, and as a parent VERY ENCOURAGING to experience this positive reinforcement. And I think it was very helpful for my children to see that other gifted kids are just like them--they are not alone.

 

The classes ARE very expensive, and there is a large part of me that takes quite a cynical view of this, particularly regarding the enrichment classes. However, CTD is an accredited program, which means that the core classes count as high school credit: a kid could take a 3-week, intensive algebra course and get a year's high school honors credit from a nationally accredited institution--great for the transcript for college!

 

My husband and I take the view that we need to take advantage of ALL the resources we have available to us to feed the need our children have for more more and more learning.

 

Maria

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I think the talent search programs are very useful. We spent this afternoon at an awards assembly at Northwestern because my 6th-grade ds was a third-place medalist in reading on the ACT. My husband insisted we attend this event, even though I thought that it was just a sales pitch to sell Northwestern. However...

 

There were two speakers who have studied talent development for years and talked about their research. They encouraged the kids to keep asking questions and assured them that they could change lives with their talent. AND there was an archeologist who give a talk about her dig in Mexico where she researches the impact of the Aztecs on the non-Aztec tribes. My son, who is a reluctant test-taker and thinks he is just above average, walked out of that ceremony completely pumped, jumping up and down with excitement.

 

It was very cool, and as a parent VERY ENCOURAGING to experience this positive reinforcement. And I think it was very helpful for my children to see that other gifted kids are just like them--they are not alone.

 

The classes ARE very expensive, and there is a large part of me that takes quite a cynical view of this, particularly regarding the enrichment classes. However, CTD is an accredited program, which means that the core classes count as high school credit: a kid could take a 3-week, intensive algebra course and get a year's high school honors credit from a nationally accredited institution--great for the transcript for college!

 

My husband and I take the view that we need to take advantage of ALL the resources we have available to us to feed the need our children have for more more and more learning.

 

Maria

 

First - congrats to your DS. That is quite an accomplishment.

Second - I would of loved to have been there for the speakers.

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

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I think the talent search programs are very useful. We spent this afternoon at an awards assembly at Northwestern because my 6th-grade ds was a third-place medalist in reading on the ACT.

 

My son, who is a reluctant test-taker and thinks he is just above average, walked out of that ceremony completely pumped, jumping up and down with excitement.

 

Maria

 

Way to go to your son!!! Just awesome how this gave him encouragement and positive reinforcement. Glad he is so excited now.

 

My 14yr old Ds took the SAT yesterday. He was not a happy boy coming out. He says he did terrible. He said he couldn't concentrate well. We will see... I hope he did better than he thinks.

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My 14yr old Ds took the SAT yesterday. He says he did terrible and he was very upset with himself.

 

He took the ACT Explore in April at his middle school and he did very well with a composite score of 22/25 with a 24/25 in math (he forgot to do two problems and got one wrong-- he thinks he colored in wrong oval by mistake... he had it correct on the test booklet when teacher showed them their test booklets), 22/24 in science,21/24 in English, 19/24 in reading. I think the reading threw him off a bit. His teacher said something about some of the questions were a bit obscure and for kids on autism spectrum it could be difficult.

 

I told him to not worry about the SAT. It was really just for "fun" for him taking it. It will give us an idea of what he needs to work on for high school. He of couse doesn't think it is okay. He is such a perfectionist. His poor teachers in school would try to correct him and he would keep saying he got it right. He always had to be proven wrong before he could accept that he was wrong.. drove his teachers bonkers-LOL. He has this belief that if he made a mistake... then something was wrong with him and that is unacceptable. I think we are finally getting him to understand making mistakes are okay- that he needs to use those mistakes to learn more.

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