Does my pre-schooler require a gifted school?

Question

She can count to 10,usually 20 lately 30. She knows all of her letters upper and lower case. she can spell her name. She memorizes all her books after 1-2 read through. She speaks in clear scentences better than most 10 yr olds. she is 2 1/2 with a sept b-day. we are just starting to think about pre-school for the fall. If we go with the typical program, she will be waiting another year to be in school. If anybody knows of an affordable good pre school in western burbs of chicago let me know.

Answer 1

someone else on here asked about gifted preschoolers recently and i told my story about my daughter who (like yours) has a september birthday. when my daughter was 3, we put her in preschool 2 days a week and worked with her at home (since academically she was ahead of what they were doing there). here is my story:

my daughter was in the same boat. she could identify all her capital and lower case letters in isolation before the age of 2, would walk around spelling her name for people, etc...and i was given a terrible run around because i'm a young, single mom. i called the school district and said that i wanted her to be tested to start school early. they were like, 'oh, it's really hard to pass the testing to start school early. your daughter has to have a iq over 130...blah blah blah'. and i said, 'right, i want to have her tested to start school early.'

so they set up her first test with the school guidance couselor. of course she passed with flying colors and went on to take 2 more tests with the school psychologist on a different day. after passing those, they then gave her yet ANOTHER test and passed that. it was quite a lot of testing.

after the four tests, we had a 'team meeting' which consisted of me, the school psychologist and the school principal. again, my daughter was in the same boat as yours, reading at 3, writing, drawing, adding, patterning, sorting, etc... the school psychologist still didn't recommend her starting early. luckily, she passed all the tests so highly, that i had the right to say, 'well, i want her to start.' and she did.

and i don't regret it one bit.

she's the youngest in her class, yes. she's in second grade. still the highest reader in the class. doing basic multiplication and basic division. she's not any smaller than the other kids and fits in great.

in my senior year of college (my daughter was 3 at the time and i knew she was gifted), i did my critical inquiry paper on whether it was advantageous to place gifted children in acceleration programs or simply in enrichment programs. i'll be honest with you, i was hard pressed to find information saying that acceleration is not good for gifted children. you really need to pick up and read in a hurry:

Genius Denied

you'll love it. you should read it before you embark on your daughter's grade school adventures. YOU are your daughter's best advocate.

since your daughter is younger, you don't need to go through the testing yet, but get familiar with your state's information and policies on gifted education before you call and before you go for the first round of testing.

a good site to look at is the davidson's institute for talented development. there are so many articles on early childhood giftedness that would be so helpful to you. here's the link to their articles on giftedness in early childhood education:

http://www.gt-cybersource.org/

i have found their website extremely useful for all sorts of information and guidelines.

good luck!

most studies say that gifted students do better with their intellectual peers than their age peers.

i wrote and defended my senior seminar on this matter.

please please PLEASE read Genius Denied and go to the website for the davidson institute for talented development.

you will learn all about the advantages of putting your daughter in school a year early. you will read how, with kids like ours, it is quite normal for them to start school a year early or skip a grade. when i did my paper on gifted studies, there had just been published a longitudinal study on a group of highly gifted kids who had been accelerated vs one who had not. it followed these kids from early childhood through their 30s and the facts were astonishing. the kids who were accelerated did better their whole lives, including socially. \

EDIT:

i know what you mean about talking to other parents. when my daughter was younger (like your daughter's age), i stopped talking about what she was doing when with other parents. they automatically assume that you're being pushy. i've never been pushy with my daughter. she picked up things so easily. for example, she's been able to do basic multiplication for about 2 years and picked up basic division right before she turned 7 and i don't even own flash cards or workbooks for her. she just gets it. things come easily to her. having a gifted kid doesn't mean you're a pushy mom! i can totally empathize with you.

Answer 2

Really it's a personal choice.  I've heard positive and negative remarks about starting their "gifted" children in school early.  Some think it was the greatest thing for their child and others...now that their student has entered Middle School and High School...say if they could...they'd go back to allow their child to start when they were age appropiate.  They didn't have a problem at all in elementary school being the youngest but definately had problems in Middle School and High School with the changes that take place.  Peer pressure is high.  So really... you decide what is best.  I would suggest a high quality preschool program that allows for her to continue to grow at her level.  Preschool does not focus on academics so you may wish to "home-school" her in this area but the socialization part of it will definately be a benefit.  Please don't put her up on  a pedestal... they will fall sometime or another and it will not be a good situation.  Be practical...make learning fun...teach about how everyone learns at a different level whether high or low...please don't make her feel she HAS to do everything right because she's so "smart".  I've seen many a child who is progressing more quickly than the typical development and the parent's are proud (and they should be) but then they push push push and the child starts to back away, cause problems, won't apply themselves and some love it and then feel that they are better than others and then social problems arise once they start school.  :-)  My 2 cents (or 3, 4 or 5 :-)).  You do what your gut feeling tells you.

Answer 3

i don't know of any good pre school there as i'm not from that side.  but you sure do have a gifted child there.  all the best in school hunting. for your information, by 6 years, most kids are able to read.  by 4 they can write their names (though not all kids)

Answer 4

You do have a gifted child, however it is up to you whether or not you want to push her academically at such an early age. You could 'home school' her until she is old enough for pre school in your area - i.e. teach her a new word every day but make it fun, children need to learn how to play and interact from an early age. I can see why you want your child in school now as she is clearly very intelligent, but I personally wouldn't want her to grow up too fast and lose her childhood. I'd opt for playing educational games at home, so she can learn in a fun way. And at pre-school I would let her play with the other kids, don't push for too much schooling but at the same time watch out that she isn't getting bored. When she starts school it is likely that she listed on the Gifted and Talented register (if they have them where you are - I'm in the UK) and her teachers will be able to best advise you with the best course of action to take to fulfill her potential.

Answer 5

Just something else to keep in mind,  her social interaction at this stage is as important as her extended learning. I know a friend of mine who is highly intelligent for her age, and her parents and the school put her up two grades, she only had her education. Children can be cruel sometimes and for her making friends with kids who were older than herself was hard. She was very isolated and of course labled.

If you choose to find her a higher learning environment, just make sure she is with other kids not only as smart as she is, but closer to her own age as well. At this stage in her life you should be proud of how well she has grasped the materials so far. Maybe waiting a little longer to place her in any "Special" school would be socially better for her at this stage. The more ideal thing might even be to see if you can find a smaller preschool that has kids with a range of ages in the same groups. I know in Chicago that might be tough to find, but would be well worth it.

Good luck!!!

Answer 6

You do have a gifted child, however it is up to you whether or not you want to push her academically at such an early age.

http://www.buzziboy.com

Answer 7

Be careful in thinking your child is gifted at this young age. Parents assume their children are when they can recite numbers, letters, etc...but all they are doing is spitting back what they have been told by YOU. You even said..she "memorizes" all her books. That's not learning, per se.

Formal gifted testing does not begin until age 7  because of the inconsistencies young children have with testing. It is NOT appropriate for a 2 1/2 year old to sit through hours of unnecessary testing.

When your child enters grade school, the teachers can request a gifted program for your child if she shows criterion within the classroom setting. Or you can request a hearing. Most preschools, though, will NOT test for giftedness just because your child can memorize things.

Good luck to you.

Edit: Why are you letting your 2 1/2 year old child listen to things on the Internet?

As I said before, there is no way to test if your child is gifted at this early age. Continue to use verbal language with her and put her in a school to interact with her peers. Curriculum shouldn't be the be-all at her age. If you think she is 'ahead' of her peers, then a preschool program would be good for her to 'mentor' other children who are not as fortunate. At least your child would feel good about herself that way, and learn to interact with children of ALL levels of development.

Answer 8

The things you described don't mean your child is gifted. It's her critical and creative thinking skills along with the way she views and processes information that would make her truly gifted. What you described is merely smart child (not that there is anything wrong with that). Rather than worry about putting her into school to challenge her why don't you find a program that will help her develop her social and thinking skills. If she has difficulty interacting with her peers it's important that she works through that now. My daughter has an astounding imagination that caused her to have difficulty interacting with kids her age. She go along way better with older children who were able to understand her pretend world. A year in pre-k with children her own age taught her how to interact well with others.

Answer 9

by 6 years, most kids are able to read. by 4 they can write their names,and they can read most other children in their classroom