First and foremost, don't panic. Your child has been this way all his/her life and you have been dealing with
it reasonably well up to this point. You can do even better now that you know. In Nebraska, this identification
letter simply means that your child met your school's criteria for gifted identification. Each school district has
it's own criteria, and you will have to talk with them to know specifically what characteristics your child displayed.
Though your child was probably not identified with an IQ test, since they are not commonly given in Nebraska,
the following diagram may help give you some idea of how your child is different.
Note that the majority of the population (over 68%) falls within one stardard deviation of the mean, or center
of the curve. Also note that a child with an IQ of 132, which is generally considered to be in the moderately
gifted range, is in the top 2.5% of the population and is as different from average as someone with an IQ of 68.
Our first suggestion is that you learn as much as you can about what it means to be gifted. A good place to start is
with Hoagies Gifted Education Page www.hoagiesgifted.org/parents.htm. Start with the
Guide for First Time Visitors Link at the top of the first page and be prepared to come back again and again.
School districts in Nebraska are not required to provide any special services to children identified as gifted.
If your school receives state funding for its gifted program, your school does have to provide some sort of services
to students, but your child is not guaranteed any particular services. Each school determines what services will be
provided by its gifted program and which students will participate in each service.
Each district has their own criteria for identifying gifted students, and there must be multiple ways for students
to qualify. There also must be an appeals process. Contact your school for information about the various criteria
and the appeals process in your district. Another option for some students may be to transfer to a different district
under Nebraska's open enrollment policies.
Each district determines its own criteria for identifying gifted students. Your child might meet the criteria in one
district and not in another. You might want to consider filing an appeal in your new district. See the gifted
coordinator in the district for more details.
It is quite possible for a gifted child to also have a learning difference or disability. These children are called
"twice exceptional" in the gifted literature. There are websites such as
www.UniquelyGifted.org
and books such as
Uniquely Gifted by Kiesa Kay that address these issues.
Further research in this area should begin to help you understand what is going on with your child.
Gifted is not a "one size fits all" situation. Gifted students tend to differ greatly from one another,
both in interests and abilities. For example, one gifted 10 year old may be ready for 6th instead of 5th grade math
- another may be ready for geometry or even calculus. It is important for you, as a parent, to advocate to have your
child's need to learn met. If your child is consistently ahead of his/her class, you might want to investigate
alternatives to the gifted program, such as some of the different types of acceleration.
By law, all districts in the State of Nebraska are required to identify gifted students. If your district is
not identifying, you need to discuss this with the State Department of Education.
Think of it this way -say you take a 3rd grade math test and you get all, or nearly all of the answers correct.
It is impossible to know from this if you simply know all the material covered in 3rd grade math, or all the material
covered in college calculus. The test didn't ask hard enough questions to judge. All current IQ tests have ceilings.
They were not designed to accurately test the highest or lowest scorers, but those in the middle. If your child is
consistently getting top scores on achievement tests (CAT, TerraNova, CTBS, Iowa Basics, etc.), you should consider
having your child take an "out-of-level" test to more accurately judge their abilities. For more informaton about
different types of testing, check out the GT-World site on testing
www.gtworld.org/gttest.htm
Because schools, in general, don't pay much attention to the results, having a child's IQ tested is not the norm
in Nebraska. Since most IQ testing is done on children who fall below average, it is important, especially when
dealing with young children, that the person doing the testing have
experience in testing young, GIFTED children. Since testing can be quite expensive, a lot of research should
be done before testing is undertaken, so that you understand what is being tested and why. Starting points
for learning more about testing would be the Testing and Measurement page at Hoagies Gifted
Education Page www.hoagiesgifted.org/testing.htm and the
Gifted Development Center www.gifteddevelopment.com/
You have taken the right first step, you are seeking to learn more
about what it means to be gifted. Research shows that parents are much
better at identifying giftness than educators. You need to continue
this quest by reading books and articles and joining support groups and
organizations. You can then judiciously select
pertinent information to pass on to the educator involved. You may, or
may not, be able to educate them in the area of giftedness.
Believe it or not, teachers in Nebraska are not required to have any
training in dealing with gifted students. Some
educators understand gifted issues, some don't, and won't, no matter
what you do. You may need to accept that
you can't change the educator involved. Remember that you are your
child's best advocate, and you know your child better than anyone.
On-Line Support Groups The Internet has allowed the creation of many different types of virtual support groups, both public and private. These sort of support groups can be invaluable, but some cautions should be noted. We recommend that you are extremely careful when giving out any personal information over the Internet. Please remember that you don't know who may be reading the information, and in the case of some email lists, the information may become a matter of public record. That said, the Internet can be a wonderful way to share experiences with those who have children just like yours. While many different types and styles of groups are out there, some of the more established email lists can be found at: GT-World: www.GTWorld.org and The TAG Project: www.TAGFAM.org
Perfectionism. The important thing is to not stop with just one book or article, but to read as much as you can about the areas that apply to your child. The reccomended reading list for each parent is completely different because each child is completely different. A place to start for a book list is Books on Gifted Topics.
