The most common question we get when I explain to people
that my son (and now daughter) is a GT kid, is “What is GT?” We get it often enough that I wanted to take
a moment to explain what GT is, just for the simple understanding. Many children are never identified which cause
issues of frustrations and such with kids in school.
GT stands for Gifted and Talented. Here is the actual definition provided by The
State of Colorado, and federally.
“Children and youth with
outstanding talent who perform or show the potential for performing at
remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their
age, experience, or environment.”
- US Department of Education, 1993
- US Department of Education, 1993
"Gifted and talented children" means those persons
between the ages of five and twenty-one whose abilities, talents, and potential
for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they
require special provisions to meet their educational programming needs.
Children under five who are gifted may also be provided with early childhood
special educational services. Gifted students include gifted students with
disabilities (i.e. twice-exceptional) and students with exceptional abilities
or potential from all socio-economic and ethnic, cultural populations. Gifted
students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or
exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas
of giftedness:
- General or specific intellectual ability.
- Specific academic aptitude.
- Creative or productive thinking.
- Leadership abilities.
- Visual arts, performing arts, musical or psychomotor abilities.
-Colorado Department of Education
Now exactly what do those definitions mean? We asked ourselves that quite a bit when
Shawn was first identified as being gifted.
He was tested and identified at the age of 3. One of the very many traits of a GT kid has
to do with speech, whether they have advanced speech or delayed speech, it is
often a trait. Preschool actually asked
us to have his speech tested, because “it wasn’t right”, but couldn’t really
explain how. That coupled with answers
provided by us on a questionnaire led to the testing. They can test a variety of things from IQ
testing, to cognitive testing, skills testing, test scores if they are already
in school, observation, etc. At 4 years
old Shawn tested at (depending on what was being tested) an average 7 year old
to a 9 year old. His IQ then was in the
160 range. They sat us down, and
discussed the findings, told us he was a “GT Kid” and we should be proud, but
that there would be challenges, gave us papers to read and sent us on our
way. We really had NO idea what that
meant, we just knew there were already challenges…the kid was different! For several years we did research, but never
had a 200% grasp on what exactly that meant. We just adapted our parenting
style to fit his needs, as we do with both of our children.
Then one time we had a teacher tell us gifted is pretty much
a disability on the opposite end of the spectrum. I wanted to be a Special Education Teacher (so
a lot of my teacher training was in special ed), so once explained that way
everything clicked. I got it…….
The one thing the definitions do a good job of is explaining
all the positives that come with being GT.
Nowhere in either definition does it explain all of the negatives that
come with being GT. Often the kids are
highly emotional, they sense things on a different level, so they tend to be
seen as over dramatic. Shawn is very dramatic.
They are persistent…..Shawn will often get on a subject and just bug and
bug and bug and bug about it. They are
perfectionists (which we see in both of our children). They often struggle
fitting in with kids in their age group. And they may also have some sort of some other disorder along
with being GT. This is known as Twice Exceptional. For example, Shawn also has Anxiety disorder
with OCD tendencies. Some other children
may be Bipolar, or may have ADD, or ADHD, or some may even be Autistic.
Instead of having an IEP, Shawn has what they call an ALP (Advanced Learning Plan). The particular District the kids are in has recognized these kids have special needs and had good intentions in trying to work with them. Each school has a GT liaison that are supposed to ensure their needs are being met. They are supposed to meet with the kids regularly; whether in a classroom setting or an individual setting to ensure the needs are met (this is one of OUR frustrations, especially at the Middle School level). It’s by far not perfect, but they are improving. But none the less it has been helpful.
I have spent most of the time discussing Shawn as an
example, and that is because he is an obvious GT kid, he by far meets and
exceeds almost every single trait. However, sometimes they may not show all or
any of the traits, or because they are introverted the traits are missed, in
the case of our daughter. She is very
shy, and doesn’t do a lot of talking in a public forum such as a classroom. She has always just gotten her work done
without question, and gotten good grades.
We always knew she was very smart and motivated. But she didn’t really fit the classic traits,
with the exception of maybe 2. Then this
year when the school put her in a GT and advanced class, we thought…….how the
heck did we miss this? Having 1 GT kid,
we thought over the years we had become pretty well versed in the subject, so
we felt awful for missing it! After the
typical yearly meeting at the school (and them elaborating even more), and
doing yet MORE research we learned that we still had MUCH to learn on the
subject (and figured out how we all missed it until this point!). So now we are on the journey of fighting to
make sure both of our children get the proper education they need to be
successful adults (not that we didn’t fight for both before, the fight is just
different). She does not have an ALP
yet, but she is very happy with the classes they put her in, and she is doing
well. At this point we will not push the
ALP until she can get used to the challenge of the advanced classes. We also aren’t sure that a traditional school
will be the answer for her. One of the
traits she DOES show is the frustration with other kids in the classroom (group
projects and interruptions). She has it
figured out down to a science, and she wants to be there to learn and get her
stuff done and any interruptions to this, she sees as a waste of time. So we
will get there in due time.
For us though….this doesn’t change a thing. From day 1 of being parents, we knew what we
wanted for our children (happy, healthy, compassionate, confident, independent
adults who aren’t afraid to create goals and reach for the stars), and gifted
or not that doesn’t change. It might change how we help our kids get from
point A to point B, but that’s part of parenting…being able to adapt to their
needs.
For anyone further curious, I have provided some good links
below that help explain much much more.
And if you are further curious yet or have any questions about either of
my children, I would be happy to answer them! Just let me know.
http://www.giftedkids.ie/index.html
(the one above is based in Ireland but it does a good job of explaining things!)
(the one above is based in Ireland but it does a good job of explaining things!)
