BellaOnline Forums Education Special Education Special Education for the Gifted

I know this might seem superfluous to some folks, but a lot of the disruption in normal classrooms comes from those who have already finished the assignment and are bored.

I went to grade school in West Virginia, and there certainly wasn't any money for a special program for gifted students, but some of my teachers, with the principal's cooperation, had some pretty good strategies for keeping us busy in productive ways.

And some didn't. (For example, the teacher who demanded that we put a rubber band on our reading books "walling off" what the whole class hadn't worked on yet and who marked math papers down when we didn't show each and every step, even though the answers were right.)

Discuss

DJC in Norwich, UK

Gifted/talented programs have been discontinued in many schools because of funding issues. Some schools permit students to visit a class in the next grade for a subject or two (reading or math), if space and staff permit; or, may encourage parents to let the child move up a full grade. Many others just leave the kiddos where they are, unfortunately. These (the ones that are left to sit idle/bored) are the kiddos, like my DH, who become the problem children of the classroom; and are either routed to special ed. for behavioral issues or drop out and do a GED (my personal experience--not in any way grounded in research). I just see this over and over again. It greatly saddens me.

I have been learning more about the strengths and needs of students who are gifted. I'm really interested in a website I found that speaks to the emotional aspects of students who are gifted and the high rate of misdiagnosis that is occurring through a lack of understanding and information. I'll put a link under giftedness later, but some of you may be familiar with it already. SENG...Many websites on giftedness have a legislative link as well, which I think is so important for those who already see the importance of ensuring that truly ALL children will have a curriculum that meets their needs to grow academically and progress at a rate of learning appropriate to them. Some don't see the legislative need, but may if the information is out there.

And some didn't. (For example, the teacher who demanded that we put a rubber band on our reading books "walling off" what the whole class hadn't worked on yet and who marked math papers down when we didn't show each and every step, even though the answers were right.)

You are so right! Every child, from struggling to gifted could use an IEP of some sort to outline resources and objectives to meet their own unique learning styles and rate of academic growth. Then the school structure would need to be in place to support this.

So many behavior problems are a result of an underlying issue. See my article atBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!