Getting Information

So your child's gifted. What now? If you've poked around hoagiesgifted.com website you may find the sheer quantity of information overwhelming. Who knew that there was so much to know? Isn't it enough to know they're gifted?

I have two second grade gifted girls. The younger one was whole grade accelerated. They both go to our local public school and it's been an amazing journey for our family. I also have a 22 year old son. He was tested in fifth grade and his school told me he was gifted. I did what I think most parents do, I said to myself, "oh, how nice. Well, now the school knows and they'll take care of him." In my defense I didn't have the benefit of a robust internet that we now have to look up information. But to my son's discredit, it didn't even occur to me to find out what the school or state policy was on educating gifted children, what being gifted means, and if his needs were any different than his same age peers. I didn't try to talk to a single teacher, parent, or look at a single book. He paid the price for this later, always struggling to fit in and me not understanding why he couldn't seem to finish his homework, why he was so dramatic and sensitive, and why he was not interested in school by the time he reached high school. 

I don't mean to tell you that you had better find out about these kids or your doomed. Every child is different and not every parent is as naive as I was. Additionally, we had extenuating circumstances that muddied the water and confused the issues. It was easy for me to deflect any issue onto his difficulties adjusting to the divorce. 

I like to think I'm older and wiser now. Maybe I'm just older! But when my youngest started to retreat into herself in kindergarten and her personality began to disappear I knew it was time to do something. Our pediatrician recommended that we join the Connecticut Association of Gifted Children, I did. I also joined the National Association of Gifted Children and Advocating for Gifted And Talented New York. Then I watched and waited for a volunteer opportunity to arise so that I could connect with other parents and hopefully find some resources. Katie Augustyn, president of CT Association of Gifted Children came to the rescue. By connecting with her through volunteering for their (FAUBLOUS) Minds in Motion events, she led me to the Hoagies Gifted website which opened Pandora's box for me. 

I'm a reader and researcher. I immersed myself in the research and articles and books and was completely captivated by what I was learning. I've come to understand that not everybody operates this way. Many people find the prospect of having to pour over this much information overwhelming at best and a turn-off at worst. 

In my excitement I became over-zealous. I copied packets of articles for the other parents of gifted children in my children's grades and for their teachers. I started emailing links and articles almost every day. Nobody responded. I didn't get it. I thought this was the coolest stuff I had ever read! The other parents thought I was a nut job. My one cause for hope was the school principal who stopped me in the hall one day nearly leaping out of his shoes, "isn't this exciting?!" he exclaimed. "I can't stop reading it!" 

I'm still really turned on by the research around gifted people. I'm learning to put my passion to use in places it will make a difference. The reality is that New York State legislation does nothing for gifted children. That's why the vast majority of teachers and administrators don't know anything about gifted children, any more than I did when my fifth grade son tested in the gifted range; oh, isn't that nice. I've had to reach out beyond the parents in my local school district. I've worked with local politicians, the school board, the president of the teachers union. I'm working with gifted organizations, and now starting this resource blog to connect families with local resources and each other. In addition I'm going to develop art programs for families of gifted children which they can access online. 

I would love for our local public school to know what to do with these children, to ability group them, to give them a teacher certified in gifted education and provide them with stimulating, deep educational choices that are right for each of them. And I will keep pushing for that for my children because that is in their best interest. But I know the problem exists on a broader level and so I'll work on a broader level, and pace myself. I still feel a little isolated in my community. But we've not yet lived here two years. I hope to meet some of you soon. 

Kind Regards, 

Kate Vrijmoet

P.S. Here is a link to an interesting article I came upon this morning! You'll  have to cut and paste it into your browser address bar:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/549632/?sc=rsln

Synopsis: Gifted Children Shape Personalities According to Social Stigma

[Newswise Mon, 02 Mar 2009]

Gifted youths already know what they want to be when they grow up, but when they are asked why they made their choices, they are not able to explain. Society identifies the gifted child with high intelligence and is often hasty to identify this intelligence with specific subjects, especially exact or prestigious sciences. The maturing children are quick to adopt this identy, renouncing the...