Educate me on gifted & talented programs for a 7 old

[Rachel]

My 7 year old nephew was recently referred to the gifted talented program at his school. His 1st grade teacher was convinced he had ADD because he stared out the window a lot, I told my sister I suspected he was bored. In the time I had spent with him and how she described him I didn’t see any signs of ADD. 

He’s now in 2nd grade and because the ball had been rolling for testing, they went through with it. It revealed an extremely high IQ (can they test iq that young?) and he is in the 99th percentile in several areas including math and reading. Socially he is very much a 7 year old.  His processing speed (and something else that I don’t remember) are very average. My sister didn’t want him labeled as ADD and she is having similar feelings about this. They meet with the coordinator next week to discuss results in person and learn more about the G/T program. 

 I told her this is completely out of my knowledge area but I suspected she would feel a lot better about whether or not to pursue G/T after the meeting. Right now she doesn’t really know what it looks like at his school.  What kinds of questions should she ask to determine if this is a good fit?

[HomeAgain]

We explored G&T programs with the youngest.  Our questions were these:
1. Is it a pull-out program?  If so, what does he give up in his regular class?
2. How often is the program? (some schools are daily, others are weekly)
3. Is there a plan for individualized learning or is there a group curriculum?
4. How do you address the different aspects of gifted and talented children, especially asynchronicity?

I was in a G&T program growing up.  Most of the time the small group of us were kept together, either in a separate classroom or within a mixed class (for 3rd grade they made a mixed 3rd/4th class).  When it got to middle school we found that we also had to give up other electives like band if we wanted to stay in the program, which was not a good fit for those who were musically or artistically gifted. 

[katilac]

HomeAgain has a good list of questions. Programs and quality vary extensively by district and school. Neither of the gifted programs I was in were any great shakes academically, but were worth it just for the social and supportive aspect. That was junior high and high school, and of course a VERY long time ago. 

As far as a label goes, the other kids are going to label him and anyone else at the top of the class no matter what. Having a group can be great support. 

 

[Xahm]

One thing to keep in mind is how he will feel about each label or the rejection of the label. I imagine it varies by kid, but I think that as they get older, most will feel better knowing "my mom didn't want me labeled adhd" than "my mom didn't want me labeled gifted." I suppose he might never find out, but I think most kids have a clue that something is up.

Like others said, GT programs can vary so wildly, there's no way off guessing what the one at his school is like. One year my brother got stuck doing test prep during the pull out time because someone decided it would be easier to raise average scores by having the high achievers score even higher. His gifted teacher, not coincidentally, quit that year.

[Jackie]

A few thought...

Yes, they can absolutely get valid results on IQ for a second grader. The preschool tests have more issues, but the WISC is commonly used in elementary.

What are the options other than the gifted program? Know what you are comparing to. Is the other option to do nothing? A private school? Homeschooling? In evaluating options, you need to know what the range of options is.

Was the other low score his working memory. While it isn’t a diagnosis on its own, having processing speed and working memory notably lower than other scores is something that does frequently occur with those who have ADHD. It was one data point among many that was used in my daughter’s diagnosis. I don’t fear labels. Both my husband and I suffered very much from not being labeled and helped as kids.

How high is high? There is a difference between 99th percentile and 99.9th percentile. What score is the cutoff for the G/T program? The further he is from that score, the more difficult it may be for the program to meet his needs.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Jackie

[SanDiegoMom]

Regarding the ADD diagnosis -   your sister needs to think about long term implications as well as short term. It only gets harder navigating responsibilities the older you get. A diagnosis might get him coping strategies, Executive Functioning scaffolding, and just the affect on self esteem - knowing that certain difficulties he might face aren't personal failures but are due to brain wiring. 

My almost 19 year old is pursuing a diagnosis now. The psychologist she is seeing doesn't believe she has ADHD because she has such a high gpa and because she's not hyperactive, lol. She hyperfocuses on academics but the more things she adds to her life the harder it is to focus her attention. So she's coping, but at a high cost. 

She took the WISC and while she doesn't have the results back yet, she totally rocked every section except for working memory and attention. 

 

 

[Rachel]

Thanks for the thoughts, I’ll share them with my sister. He will be in public school no matter what. I don’t have a ton of details because my sister isn’t a detail oriented person.