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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If so many of you believe that AAP kids shouldn't be separated out, I assume you will be fine with my uncoordinated child being on your travel soccer team.  K, thanks.[/quote]

[b]I think the real issue is that many people believe AAP should be for only the highly gifted; yes, separate those kids out!  If they need a different classroom atmosphere because they learn so very differently, by all means, give it to them.[/b]  However, do we really think the majority of AAP kids fall into that category and need to be separated out because they just can't learn properly in a Gen Ed setting?  Absolutely not.[/quote]

I have one of these "highly gifted" kids and we prefer a larger group of about 2 classes to having just a tiny class of a dozen or so kids.

The way AAP is structured now normalizes the educational experience for kids like mine, gives them normal socialization, interaction with a broader spectrum of kids, and a class pace that helps to engage instead of frustrate them.  The way the program is currently structured, while not ideal, works very well for the highly gifted.

Really, unless you have one of those "highly gifted kids", please don't argue that a tiny, uber-selective, self contained class of just a handful of highly and profoundly gifted kids is the right way to design a gifted program.  It is not.[/quote]

AAP is not a gifted program.  [b]If I did have a "highly gifted" child, I would look for other options that would challenge them far more than AAP[/b].[/quote]

As a parent of a highly gifted child, I want as normal an education experience for my child as possible.  One where my child is not being used as a constant tutor for other kids as he was in an early elementary grade (2nd) where we were told he had far mastered the curriculum for the year so perhaps he could learn something by tutoring kindergartners who were struggling instead of doing his own work, or other years where he had a wonderful teacher who differentiated but by the end of the year he was embarrassed to always be doing his own work and he asked the teacher to please be very discreet when giving him extra assignments so the other kids didn't notice.  One where even if the work is easy, it is at least engaging enough that he doesn't spend the entire day daydreaming, making up stories in his head or sneaking books.  A class where he can learn that even if he is one of the "smartest" kids, if he doesn't get his rear in gear he is going to be passed up by the harder working, slightly less smart kids.  One where he is not the smart weird kid spouting off facts or where he is a trick pony of intellectual skills, and where there are kids who are just as smart or even smarter than he is.

AAP is not ideal, but after being in all sorts of schools around the country and seeing all sorts of ways of dealing with highly gifted students and gifted programs, fcps' AAP structure is one of the best that we have seen.  Can it be improved?  Definitely.  Is shuffling off just a handful of kids into a tiny "highly and profoundly gifted" class the solution?  Heck no.  Ask and parent of one of those kids if that is the best and least restrictive environment for their highly or profoundly gifted child, and they will likely agree with me.
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