Chookie wrote in message ...
In article ,
"Vicki" wrote:

We have discussed getting
appropriate challenge in her classroom--the teacher has been helpful, but
there is only so much she can do. We chose not to skip dd to the next grade
as she is already the youngest in her class.

I've just been reading a book about exceptionally gifted children by Miraca
Gross. She comes down heavily in favour of acceleration for the profoundly
gifted, on the grounds that children (and adults) tend to befriend their
*intellectual* peers rather than their age-peers. Her research/literature
survey indicated that profoundly gifted children are usually socially and
morally advanced as well as being academically advanced, and fit in well with
*and are accepted by* older classmates, once they are officially members of
that class. My only hesitation is that this book was written in 1989 and more
research may have changed the picture a bit.

No, the research still supports Gross's postulation that PG kids do
seek their intellectual peers and do better socially with kids they
can relate to rather than their age peers. But we're talking
PROFOUNDLY gifted...kids with IQs over 180. That kind of kid is rare,
really rare. A school might see one in a lifetime of teaching. Or
none. I've read that an IQ of 180+ is a million to one shot.

As the parent of a PG child, one who is radically accelerated and
having the time of his life socially, I'd have to agree with Gross
that socially acceleration is a G-dsend. *However*, we're having a
*terrible* school year this year, and I'm really at my wits end, as is
the school, with my PG child. I'm not going to go into details, but
having a child who is 2-3 years younger than his classmates who are
all going through puberty at a rapid clip, whereas my kid is not, has
really been difficult for all concerned. My kid has a ton of friends,
no doubt about it, but he's such a jerk right now that I just can't
believe they still allow him to attend school every day. The age
difference has really caught up with him, and he's not dealing with it
very well. I don't think my child is alone in this, either. From my
contact with other parents of PG kids, there seems to be a real issue
in middle school with a child either leaning towards academics and
being socially isolated, or socially popular but school suffers. I
suppose it's the nature of middle school, but it seems fairly acute
from my viewpoint.

Hard to believe, but I'm not sure I'd recommend radical acceleration
for any kid right now. I'm seeing the struggles first hand, and it's
painful to watch. Although I know for my child, this was the right
decision at the time, but I wish I had been less cavalier in my
attitude a few years down the road. Maybe I'll feel differently once
we have this all ironed out, but who knows. As has always been my
experience, every school year brings totally different challanges, and
what works one year might fail miserably the next. We've done the
gamut, private, public, homeschooling, and nothing has been perfect or
even close to it. These are tough kids to raise.

Marjorie


However, I agree firmly with her that a child that is left in a class where
everything comes very easily will not learn to apply herself, may become
naughty through boredom, may underachieve through a desire to fit in, may be
socially isolated because she is developmentally and intellectually so far
ahead of the rest, or may just retreat into misery. Your DD may not be in the
"profoundly gifted" category, but the same thing is true -- just to a lesser
extent -- for gifted children in other categories.

I think you should reconsider acceleration.