Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HGCs are wonderful for students who enjoy writing, projects and are self motivated/can stay on task work independently. The HGCs don't do much math acceleration. I have one HGC child and 1 ADHD child. My ADHD child struggles with writing even though he understands the concepts, have great ideas and knows the answer. He just can not write it down in a timely manner. He also compensated early on but the ADHD was obvious from the level of hyper activity.

This completely knocks him out of the candidate pool for HGC even though his IQ is higher than his HGC older sibling. He would struggle with the writing output requirements and need an aide to keep him on task with independent work.

MCPS really fails bright kids with learning disabilities. MCPS is perfectly happy for the child to produce no work and stay at the same level year after year as long as they don't fall below the bottom bar. Its VERY hard to get accommodations enforced in MCPS. I hope that the burden of proof legislation passes because there is a horrible arrogance in MCPS that we don't have to provide the accommodations we agreed to in the IEP or 504 because they are NEVER required to document that they did this.

Unless this changes, your child will have a roller coaster in MCPS. Some years you'll get a great teacher who takes it on herself to provide accommodation and your kid will soar. The next year you'll get a teacher who ignores them and your child will end the year no farther than when he started.

+ 1000 - AMEN poster.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the responses, especially poster 16:34 who got to the heart of my question. I obviously do not know if my DC will be admitted, but he is a strong candidate based on his teacher's comments in 2nd and 3rd grades, his standardized test scores to date, and private WISC testing we had done last year in anticipation of applying to private schools (which we did not do). DC also shows many indicators that he may have adhd and he definitely struggles with anxiety, but he holds himself together pretty well in school via compensating techniques - that was my point about bright kids, not that all kids with adhd are bright, but that kids with adhd can often compensate for/mask their lack of attention/focus in younger grades, especially those with inattentive type adhd - his teachers say this to me each year, that they recognize there are flags but he is still one of the students who needs and so far handles the more challenging concepts. So I don't think he'd be excluded from HGC consideration due to the issues I am concerned about, but I know him much better than his teachers and the administrators in the HGC program and I don't want to set him up for failure or more anxiety. Anyway, thanks for all of the replies - once we even see if he gets in we'll have lots to think about!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP might have better luck posting topic in the special needs forum.

Have you asked to see the teacher questionnaire about your child? It is after all an educational record of your child and you do have a right to see it under the FERPA Act. I saw a copy several years ago and it basically would exclude a child exhibiting ADHD symptoms from the HGC program.

??

My child has a 504 plan for ADHD/anxiety. He is in an HGC and is doing great. He loves the challenge and unlike last year (3rd grade) has not complained once about being bored in school. We're still working on getting him to do all his homework on time, to bring things home, and to return things to school... but he's learning. He's proud of the fact that his desk is not nearly as messy as it was last year. They even have taught cursive this year and his handwriting is actually more legible than his printing, which is helpful.

We were told that a lot of HGC kids have "issues" and that teachers are used to dealing with quirks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP might have better luck posting topic in the special needs forum.

Have you asked to see the teacher questionnaire about your child? It is after all an educational record of your child and you do have a right to see it under the FERPA Act. I saw a copy several years ago and it basically would exclude a child exhibiting ADHD symptoms from the HGC program.

That's not true at all! My kid was diagnosed with ADHD before we applied to the HGC. They were well aware they were accepting a very gifted/2E kid.

He's not the only one. There are several kids who also happen to exhibit more glaring ADHD symptoms in his class. HAVING ADHD WILL NOT PRECLUDE YOUR CHILD FROM BEING ACCEPTED AND EXCELLING AT AN HGC. DO NOT LET THAT LIMIT YOU FROM APPLYING OR GOING!

Anonymous wrote:OP might have better luck posting topic in the special needs forum.

Have you asked to see the teacher questionnaire about your child? It is after all an educational record of your child and you do have a right to see it under the FERPA Act. I saw a copy several years ago and it basically would exclude a child exhibiting ADHD symptoms from the HGC program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[, but he is a strong candidate based on his teacher's comments in 2nd and 3rd grades, his standardized test scores to date, and private WISC testing we had done last year in anticipation of applying to private schools (which we did not do).

that's not what gets someone into the HGC - admission is mainly based on result of the test they take when they apply.

Which you would assume someone who has done well on standardized tests and the WISC would also do very well on.

For a child with ADHD, the test environment could influence how well he/she did on the HGC testing. Without a 504/IEP, the child will take the HGC test with the rest of the students in the school that applied and no accommodations. At our school that was about 38 kids in one room. For the WISC, I'm sure your child had an ideal test environment and therefore could perform at his or her full potential.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[, but he is a strong candidate based on his teacher's comments in 2nd and 3rd grades, his standardized test scores to date, and private WISC testing we had done last year in anticipation of applying to private schools (which we did not do).

that's not what gets someone into the HGC - admission is mainly based on result of the test they take when they apply.

Which you would assume someone who has done well on standardized tests and the WISC would also do very well on.

Anonymous wrote:OP might have better luck posting topic in the special needs forum.

Have you asked to see the teacher questionnaire about your child? It is after all an educational record of your child and you do have a right to see it under the FERPA Act. I saw a copy several years ago and it basically would exclude a child exhibiting ADHD symptoms from the HGC program.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for gate-crashing your post, OP, I'm interested as well.
In the perhaps improbable scenario where DS is accepted to an HGC, I'm afraid his diagnosed ADD and executive dysfunction will hinder him.

Are there classroom aides and do they willingly give accommodations to HGC students?

To OP, my son has an IEP at school and receives speech therapy, particular attention from the classroom aide, as well as a front seat in the class and typing help. A private evaluation for ADHD was the trigger for all these accommodations he receives. If you are worried about impact on academic progress, I would first ask your ped for references to evaluate your son. Then go from there with the school.

Anonymous wrote:16:34 here. A couple of comments. The HGC teachers are amazing and seem to be experts at dealing with smart yet disorganized kids. In fact, it was the their presentation at the parent meeting that sealed the deal for us. They touched on all the issues we were worried about: terrible handwriting, problems with organization, anxiety. The guidance counselor even came out and touched on the organization stuff and the supports they offer. My DS does not like writing or shall I say he didn't. He was reading at the 10th grade level but struggled with getting his thoughts on paper. He is no longer afraid of writing. He writes tons now. Before I would have said that his biggest problem was writing - the organization, getting ideas down on paper. Now after, 2 quarters I can say that the biggest challenge is editing. Amazing.

Anonymous wrote:How do students with adhd, add, executive functioning difficulties do at the HGCs? I know there is a 2E program but obviously for logistical and other reasons, such as the child shows signs but has not yet diagnosed, there could be reasons the 2E program is not an option. DC shows signs of adhd, inattentive type, and anxiety, and has trouble staying focused and getting organized (including organizing thoughts on paper) - but teachers consistently say they can't tell if it is a "problem" yet, which I've heard is very common with bright kids because they can compensate in the younger grades. I am starting to worry if admitted to the HGC will it become an anxiety inducer given DC's other struggles. Thanks for sharing any experiences - preferably first hand ones but I'd also appreciate your observations of such kids in the HGC program even if they are not your own.