Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Parents decision. Sounds like a ambitious mom pushing average/borderline kid in AAP. Very not desirable.
This is not a solid assumption. I can attest to having a highly sensitive child -- who scored 99th percentile on verbal and 97th composite. Seriously, when a kid is in the top 5 % of all kids in the country, you can't really say that they are "average" or "borderline" and that their mother is pushing them too much. If you had a sensitive kid, you'd know it doesn't matter if it's AAP or regular classroom, the kid tends toward the drama. Yeah, they may be average or below average on Emotional IQ. Be careful who you're judging if you don't have a PhD in child psych/development.
The difference is your sensitive child qualified qualified for the program through scores and I assume your sensitive child isn't in tears every night over schoolwork. I also assume you don't have to tutor your child on a regular basis.
Nobody here is saying gifted kids can't be both sensitive and gifted. Plenty of gifted children are emotionally complex. The issue here is are the tears because this is gifted stuff or because a child is being pushed beyond his ability and he is stressed out. Kids have many years of school ahead of them you want them to feel positive about learning, even if it's just the child loves Science, but doesn't enjoy Math. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but if the issue is the program is not the right fit why should a child have to spend his nights this upset. Even if he is gifted and he's just not a good test taker, that doesn't mean the AAP program is what is best for his individual needs. It sounds like once a kid is in the parents are the only people deciding whether or not the fit continues to be ideal.
Re:school counselor. I would assume if the child appears stressed the teacher would recommend it. Don't get the sense this mom would refer her child to a counselor or at least would be open to the suggestion from another parent.
Actually, my sensitive child wasn't in the pool b/c last year being 97th percentile wasn't good enough, and I didn't refer primarily because I thought the homework would be too much in AAP. And yes, my child was in tears reguarly this fall b/c DC has NO resillience. As I've observed DC this school year, I've come to the conclusion that it's probably not the difficulty of the material, it's just DC's emotional ways. The approach to challenges would have been the same whether it was AAP or not.
Oh well... I'm o.k. with having a kid who's not at a center. Might consider referring DC in another year if I see some maturity bloom. On the issue of tutors -- yeah, I agree that it's kind of questionable if a kid needs a tutor in AAP, but whatever... it's not my problem. On the issue of drama -- I think there's a lot that is personality driven and it doesn't necessarily reflect a inappropriate placement in AAP.