Why do gifted children need a peer group

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not necessarily the peers. It's the curriculum.

Your child will not merely benefit from the advanced curriculum, they would suffer in some way without it.

You're child doesn't need a peer group for motivation or anything like that. They are not there to benefit from their peers

Peers matter a lot. Why do you think so many gifted kids suffer socially?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are some resources that might be helpful to you:

Hoagie’s website covers all topics related to gifted children. They also have links to websites for enrichment for all subjects and ages.
https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/

https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/links.htm

Tamara Fisher was a teacher of, and advocate for, gifted education. She had a blog called Unwrapping the Gifted on the Education Week website. The number of articles you can access for free is limited, so keep that in mind when deciding which articles you want to read.
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/unwrapping-the-gifted

The Davidson Institute also offers some free resources on gifted issues.
https://www.davidsongifted.org/resource-library/

I was going to say this. You need to go look at the gifted groups for this. Fairfax County Association for the Gifted might also have stuff.

[Anonymous]

The appeal letter is for you to correct mistakes in the process, not write a convincing sob story. They know why kids "need" LIV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the question I’m stumbling on in my appeal letter. My child is already getting part time services and I’m trying to justify the need for level IV, but I really don’t know what the benefit is. I’m just trying to do the best thing for my child and I think they would benefit from more challenging material (which so far we’ve been providing at home).
Can anyone help describe the reasons children thrive in a separate AAP class vs. clustered in a gen ed class? I feel like an idiot here, please help!
He has excellent test and HOPE scores, I think it’s the work samples that were bad so I’m resubmitting with a letter.

They don't need anything really. These kids could be safely ignored and will be fine.All our efforts and resources need to focus on the lowest performers.

[Anonymous]

Mine eats lunch daily with group of friends that each reads book while eating. There used to be 2 good friends of my DC, the 2 friends started to get into fashion/makeup and skipped classes daily, that my DC no longer friends with ( they don’t even greet each others), since they have totally different interest in life now.

[Anonymous]

NT kids might do better in a special perr class so they don't have to try to blend in with the rest of the class. I was a NT gifted kid and I faced tension between my mother's desire for me to "show my ability" and my desire for friends and self preservation.
In 3rd grade we did have a special cluster of what I now see were the gifted kids and we did projects like research a country and write a booklet about it. Nice. Lifelong interest in Japan.
IMO the best thing about a perr group would be learning that others are as good or even better than you at academics, no matter how hard you try. I ended up at MIT and it came as a shock to many.
The classic was orientation day when the MIT president asked the freshman class "how many of you think you will be above class average?"
Almost everyone raised their hands.
He said "Look around you. Think about that."
Sheepish dismay abounded.
If you don't know why...well...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NT kids might do better in a special perr class so they don't have to try to blend in with the rest of the class. I was a NT gifted kid and I faced tension between my mother's desire for me to "show my ability" and my desire for friends and self preservation.
In 3rd grade we did have a special cluster of what I now see were the gifted kids and we did projects like research a country and write a booklet about it. Nice. Lifelong interest in Japan.
IMO the best thing about a perr group would be learning that others are as good or even better than you at academics, no matter how hard you try. I ended up at MIT and it came as a shock to many.
The classic was orientation day when the MIT president asked the freshman class "how many of you think you will be above class average?"
Almost everyone raised their hands.
He said "Look around you. Think about that."
Sheepish dismay abounded.
If you don't know why...well...

One of the perks of going to TJ was having this experience at 14 instead of 18.

I don't think most AAP kids get it, because AAP is 20% of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the question I’m stumbling on in my appeal letter. My child is already getting part time services and I’m trying to justify the need for level IV, but I really don’t know what the benefit is. I’m just trying to do the best thing for my child and I think they would benefit from more challenging material (which so far we’ve been providing at home).
Can anyone help describe the reasons children thrive in a separate AAP class vs. clustered in a gen ed class? I feel like an idiot here, please help!
He has excellent test and HOPE scores, I think it’s the work samples that were bad so I’m resubmitting with a letter.

They don't need anything really. These kids could be safely ignored and will be fine.All our efforts and resources need to focus on the lowest performers.

I hope you're trolling and don't actually believe this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, does your child have many friends in the classroom? Are they picked on for being a nerd or being weird? Are they making a point of not participating or not raising their hands because they don't want to stand out? Do they have a favorite book series or academic area that they'd love to discuss with other kids, but they can't because no one else is at that level?

Are they the type who goes along with the flow and doesn't put in much effort when the bar is low? If so, would they be much more motivated around high achieving peers? After many of the bright kids are placed in AAP, would your child still have many/any peers in gen ed?

This is what I am most worried about - we are at a center school and it seems all of his closest friends are going to be in AAP next year. So while he has great peers at this point and doesn’t get made fun of/has great discussions with classmates, those kids are also very smart and will not be his peer group next year.
Thanks for all the advice!
-OP

I completely understand the concern and had the exact same worry myself, but not sure that should go in the appeal. Also how do you know they are all going to AAP? I asked my dc if anyone talked about AAP and dc said no, so it's a mystery who is going.

You've gotten some good advice on this thread. Good luck!

This is OP - the parents mentioned to me that their kids got in and will be accepting. His closest friends are neighbors or on his soccer team so we see the parents frequently. I don’t think any of the kids are aware of it at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They thrive because they aren't stuck with the kids with special needs that are super disruptive?

I teach AAP. There are MANY students with special needs in AAP, and there are disruptive students both in general education and in special education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They thrive because they aren't stuck with the kids with special needs that are super disruptive?

I teach AAP. There are MANY students with special needs in AAP, and there are disruptive students both in general education and in special education.

But not many that are disruptive and in AAP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They thrive because they aren't stuck with the kids with special needs that are super disruptive?

I teach AAP. There are MANY students with special needs in AAP, and there are disruptive students both in general education and in special education.

But not many that are disruptive and in AAP?

Of course there are some who are disruptive and are in AAP. General education includes AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the question I’m stumbling on in my appeal letter. My child is already getting part time services and I’m trying to justify the need for level IV, but I really don’t know what the benefit is. I’m just trying to do the best thing for my child and I think they would benefit from more challenging material (which so far we’ve been providing at home).
Can anyone help describe the reasons children thrive in a separate AAP class vs. clustered in a gen ed class? I feel like an idiot here, please help!
He has excellent test and HOPE scores, I think it’s the work samples that were bad so I’m resubmitting with a letter.

They don't need anything really. These kids could be safely ignored and will be fine.All our efforts and resources need to focus on the lowest performers.

I hope you're trolling and don't actually believe this.

Of course I believe this because it's true. What these kids don't get in school their parents will make up for with outside enrichment and tutors. They'll be fine no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They thrive because they aren't stuck with the kids with special needs that are super disruptive?

I teach AAP. There are MANY students with special needs in AAP, and there are disruptive students both in general education and in special education.

Are there many disruptive kids in AAP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine eats lunch daily with group of friends that each reads book while eating. There used to be 2 good friends of my DC, the 2 friends started to get into fashion/makeup and skipped classes daily, that my DC no longer friends with ( they don’t even greet each others), since they have totally different interest in life now.

I got into fashion /makeup and got into MIT.