I Have Had Enough…

Jason’s teacher is on my last nerves. She tells me he is having problems, but has yet (in 12 weeks) given me one solution that she is going to try. She has suggested some, but never implemented them. It is all issues within the classroom, so there is nothing I can do about it at home really other than punish him or reward him for what he is doing in the classroom. I have had enough. I am considering moving him out of the public school system entirely, the TAAS test in Texas is insanely stupid (and Duhhhbya thinks it should be implemented across the country… but we all hate it here!) and it is not required at the private schools. So I did a quick bit of research on gifted kids (which is what Jason is) and so forth. His current school is “Open Concept”. There are no walls between the rooms & no doors. Hmmm. This is not good for a “gifted” child like Jason, as he is too easily distracted. And get this – they don’t have desks! They sit at tables. With a “community cup” of supplies. That’s no fun. It doesn’t teach much responsibility either. Anyways… I wanted to save my links so I could return after the Scout meeting at 7:00. Here they are:

+ Choosing a school – good list of questions to ask the school. Good point in “finding the ideal environment” for your child. Open concept is NOT it for Jason. Never has been.
+ Dealing with Problems at School – yep, that’s where we are at right now. The teacher is lucky I haven’t shown up on her doorstep SCREAMING. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Ummmmmmm (my yoga sound).
+ Gifted Resource Library lots of other information, great stuff!
+ A Gifted Child Center for Evaluation and Psychotherapy – felt like I was reading about me here as much as I was reading about Jason! (I was a “gifted” student too. And a pain in the ass for the teachers, just like Jason can be.)
+ Kinderstart Gifted Child Links – links to many other sites!
+ Helping Your Highly Gifted Child – good reading material for me.
+ The National Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children – more good information. “Many gifted children are being falsely labeled with ADD as well as ADHD.” I think Jason’s teacher is convinced he is ADD and not gifted… and she is wrong in so many ways, but I’ll go into that later.

Characteristics of Gifted Children (from the the NFGCC) – click the “More” link…

A. High sensitivity

B. Excessive amounts of energy.

C. Bores easily and may appear to have a short attention span.

D. Requires emotionally stable and secure adults around him/her.

E. Will resist authority if it not democratically oriented.

F. Have preferred ways of learning; particularly in reading and mathematics.

G. May become easily frustrated because of his/her big ideas and not having the resources or people to assist him/her in carrying these tasks to fruition.

H. Learns from an exploratory level and resists rote memory and just being a listener.

I. Cannot sit still unless absorbed in something of his/her own interest.

J. Very compassionate and has many fears such as death and loss of loved ones.

K. If they experience failure early, may give up and develop permanent learning blocks.

Gifted children may also withdraw when they feel threatened or alienated and may sacrifice their creativity in order to “belong”. Many children that we test exhibit a high IQ, but they often exhibit “frozen” creativity as well. Often there is an ability to express their feelings initially. We work to assist the child to become open, flexible and to be able to accept failure by developing higher frustration levels.