On the chopping block: AAP Centers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

Agree with pp. Gifted kids have specific social and emotional issues related to just that - being gifted. You would understand if your kid was gifted. Everyone wants their kids to be "gifted" but I can tell you it's not a walk in the park. It's tough to watch your kid struggle with these issues just like those struggling with a kid that has LDs.

Kids can be extremely mean to gifted kids when they are younger (before app starts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

You really have no idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

You really have no idea.

Ditto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

You really have no idea.

Ditto.

Yes, the truly gifted have potential specific, documented social and emotional issues related to being gifted that most gen ed teachers don't understand or know how to handle. Nor do the counselors at the base schools. This is why the special ed, trained aap teachers are so important for gifted kids. This made a huge difference for my kid.

I do feel like the aap classes have both hard working, high achievers and truly gifted kids. If they need to cut the program down, they should raise the testing cutoffs much higher and have less app classes at the centers. Not cut the whole program.

[Anonymous]

Just a question - I always tested in the 99th percentile, tested at genius levels as a child, was skipped a year but never had social or emotional issues as described. Would I then not have been considered gifted under these rules?

No judgment - just curious. I get that there are kids that do have true problems due to giftedness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a question - I always tested in the 99th percentile, tested at genius levels as a child, was skipped a year but never had social or emotional issues as described. Would I then not have been considered gifted under these rules?

No judgment - just curious. I get that there are kids that do have true problems due to giftedness.

Guessing you would be Type One: Successful.

http://thefissureblog.com/2015/08/01/gifted-101-the-6-gifted-profiles/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a question - I always tested in the 99th percentile, tested at genius levels as a child, was skipped a year but never had social or emotional issues as described. Would I then not have been considered gifted under these rules?

No judgment - just curious. I get that there are kids that do have true problems due to giftedness.

Guessing you would be Type One: Successful.

http://thefissureblog.com/2015/08/01/gifted-101-the-6-gifted-profiles/

Agree! My daughter is challenging/creative. We were warned by her ped (developmental specialist) and her K teacher that if not addressed she could pull away from school within a few years because she's not getting the challenges that she craves. With outside activities (destination imagination type programs) and trained special ed teachers in the aap program she has become more of the autonomous. Her K teacher said many times that she was an intrinsic learner so she didn't worry too much about her not continuing to learn while in 1st/2nd grade because she knew how much she was doing outside of school, but she was concerned with how she would feel about school if the teachers didn't get her. First grade was a nightmare, but 2nd was better and 3rd in aap was amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

You really have no idea.

Ditto.

Yes, the truly gifted have [/b]potential [b]specific, documented social and emotional issues related to being gifted that most gen ed teachers don't understand or know how to handle. Nor do the counselors at the base schools. This is why the special ed, trained aap teachers are so important for gifted kids. This made a huge difference for my kid.

I do feel like the aap classes have both hard working, high achievers and truly gifted kids. If they need to cut the program down, they should raise the testing cutoffs much higher and have less app classes at the centers. Not cut the whole program.

Potential does not equal to ALL. I do not believe that in order to be considered "truly" gifted the student also has to have emotional and social problems. I agree that some gifted people do, just as in the rest of the population. We all have potential for problems based on our own set of circumstances. Thinking that gifted children are and treating them like hot house flowers does not do them any good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

You really have no idea.

Ditto.

Yes, the truly gifted have [/b]potential [b]specific, documented social and emotional issues related to being gifted that most gen ed teachers don't understand or know how to handle. Nor do the counselors at the base schools. This is why the special ed, trained aap teachers are so important for gifted kids. This made a huge difference for my kid.

I do feel like the aap classes have both hard working, high achievers and truly gifted kids. If they need to cut the program down, they should raise the testing cutoffs much higher and have less app classes at the centers. Not cut the whole program.

Potential does not equal to ALL. I do not believe that in order to be considered "truly" gifted the student also has to have emotional and social problems. I agree that some gifted people do, just as in the rest of the population. We all have potential for problems based on our own set of circumstances. Thinking that gifted children are and treating them like hot house flowers does not do them any good.

I never said all, nor did I say that to be gifted you had to have social/emo problems. I said that most gen ed teachers don't understand the specific social/emo problems that many truly gifted kids have. My child had one amazing teacher that got her. She had another that told her to stop raising her hand FOREVER because she knew that she knew the answer and she was not going to ever call on her again. She was constantly sent to the "reading" corner as punishment for talking (which was a joke because it wasn't a punishment to my kid who goes through books like she does changes her underwear). She was told to just "play nice" and let the other kids win at academic games. Another teacher told me she thought she might fail the grade because she couldn't finish her school work. The K teacher told her she was crazy (in nicer terms) and then her test scores came back and she scored perfect. Same teacher then came to me to tell me that she was wrong about my DD and she is really a very gifted child - too late!

She was constantly told by classmates that she was weird when she tried to talk to them about subjects that interested her and none of her classmates had a clue what she was talking about. They would hold made-up competitions and be the "judges" only to tell my child that she lost every single time resulting in a lot of tears. In aftercare she would try to play with the older kids since she liked their games better but they don't play with the little kids. That left her with not many options for playmates.

For several years my DD didn't understand why the kids were being mean. What do you tell your kid when they're 5, 6, 7 yo and they tell you that they know they are different and weird but they don't understand why or how.

I don't treat my DD like she's an more special than her siblings who'd not highly gifted, but I do have high expectations for them both when it comes to trying and challenging themselves. The aap center has been a god send. She came home after the 1st week and said - there are other kids like me. They like science and math and talking about books they read. We tell her that she's there because she learns differently than her sibling. I know she hears other kids say that it's because they are smarter but we explain that all people have their strengths and academics are hers. Her sibling is more athletic, but we expect them to both work hard at a everything they do. She couldn't do that at her base school.

Sorry for the long post, but again, if you don't have a child like this I don't think you understand that it sometimes comes along with challenges. It's not just - my kid is so smart.

[Anonymous]

I don't get the angst. Hasn't the decision already been made to keep kids at level IVs in schools where there is critical mass and center overcrowding, and leave them alone otherwise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

Agree with pp. Gifted kids have specific social and emotional issues related to just that - being gifted. You would understand if your kid was gifted. Everyone wants their kids to be "gifted" but I can tell you it's not a walk in the park. It's tough to watch your kid struggle with these issues just like those struggling with a kid that has LDs.

Kids can be extremely mean to gifted kids when they are younger (before app starts).

So glad that I grew up and had kids before this nonsense fully took hold in FCPS. Kids can be mean to each other, period. I was 99th percentile on just about every test, went to the Governor's School for the Gifted one summer, double Ivy, millionaire by 30s. And blessedly spared from any of this nonsense that I was so unique that I had to be in special programs away from the common kids, lest they call me an egghead or a bookworm. It teaches you essential social skills and how to recognize the non-academic strengths of other kids. The current generation is deprived of so much of this because their helicopter parents are absurdly over-protective, insecure and prejudiced. This endless prattle about the special needs of gifted kids would be amusing were it not so offensive and, ultimately, damaging. Your kids will be better off in the long run if they learn how to get along with other children, rather than being hustled off to a "special" classroom because Mommy wants to keep them away from the riff-raff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the angst. Hasn't the decision already been made to keep kids at level IVs in schools where there is critical mass and center overcrowding, and leave them alone otherwise?

No decision, only whiffs of policy change - not even a formal proposal yet.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else get tired of the same old arguments for and against AAP over and over and over again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky, or whatever, but if you don't have a gifted child or work with gifted kids, you really aren't in a position to dictate what gifted kids need. Truly gifted kids do have special social, emotional, and educational needs that are not met in a Gen Ed classroom.

I am the parent of two gifted children and this is BS. Some gifted children have special social and emotional needs, just like the rest of the population. THis is snowflake thinking.

Then your DCs are smart, not gifted. There is a difference, and, yes, AAP screening has trouble making the distinction.

Agree with pp. Gifted kids have specific social and emotional issues related to just that - being gifted. You would understand if your kid was gifted. Everyone wants their kids to be "gifted" but I can tell you it's not a walk in the park. It's tough to watch your kid struggle with these issues just like those struggling with a kid that has LDs.

Kids can be extremely mean to gifted kids when they are younger (before app starts).

So glad that I grew up and had kids before this nonsense fully took hold in FCPS. Kids can be mean to each other, period. I was 99th percentile on just about every test, went to the Governor's School for the Gifted one summer, double Ivy, millionaire by 30s. And blessedly spared from any of this nonsense that I was so unique that I had to be in special programs away from the common kids, lest they call me an egghead or a bookworm. It teaches you essential social skills and how to recognize the non-academic strengths of other kids. The current generation is deprived of so much of this because their helicopter parents are absurdly over-protective, insecure and prejudiced. This endless prattle about the special needs of gifted kids would be amusing were it not so offensive and, ultimately, damaging. Your kids will be better off in the long run if they learn how to get along with other children, rather than being hustled off to a "special" classroom because Mommy wants to keep them away from the riff-raff.

+1000 I couldn't have said it better!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else get tired of the same old arguments for and against AAP over and over and over again?

Absolutely.

This madness is posted here continuously, and has been for at least eight years.