Carol34446

Congradulations on your son and know he continues to do well.

trolleystation

You have every right to be very proud.

CMARAS1234

My Daughter is fifty now , and she was a gifted child, I did keep her with her same age group, they wanted to skip her three grades. She is now working for Uncle Sam , as a computer geek and is a member of MENSA. I couldnt be more proud.cmaras. Ps she was reading the BIble at four

bibi

I would suggest that you don't put this on FB. You can always note how well he is doing in school and mention in general terms that he is doing advanced work. Being gifted indeed as someone mentioned brings along its own challenges and in today's digital word of cyber bullying please be careful not to give other kids an additional opportunity to bully or negatively single out your child. Some things are best kept private in order to protect your child today and most significantly in the future.
In the meantime enjoy your child's accelerated intellectual path in life and help him adjust socially with his extraordinary gift. Be sure to keep him intellectually stimulated and also offer positive non-academic challenges into his life. Is it not wonderful the possibilities that might exist for him? Best wishes always and enjoy your gifted child.

red-warrior

I do not blame you for being proud of him and it is just the beginning I am sure. I have a grown daughter that was in
the gifted class at school and everyone started calling her "the brain". She actually backed off on grades ,until she got
to college, so she would have more friends and excelled in sports so they would know she was like them.

GrandmK

Gosh Good advice. I wouldn't think of putting it on FB but I guess I have maybe shared to much with friends and family. Just didn't think of the "down side of it so thanks!! Our grandson as aspergers and is 16. At a recent IEP meeting the principal said "so what did you think of his scores on the MAP test or didn't he tell you. I said well he didn't tell us but I bet he did well. He (Grandson) said I guess it was OK. Princiipal said I would say 100% better than anyone in your grade in the US is a little better than not to bad. Our Grandson said No I think it was just this school. Principal said no all the US. I guess they are some kind of test they give everyone?? My husband and I went home just shaking our heads. His mom knew and didn't share with us either!! But............. He has NO common sense like someone on here mentioned. Just hope we can keep him out of trouble!!! If we can he will go far!!

Rose_P

I noticed that you're in Florida. We lived in Titusville when my boys were in the early grades. Both of my sons were in the gifted program there. (They are now in their late 30's, so that was a long time ago.) At the time, Florida was way ahead of most other states in providing a good program for these types of students. They were able to do it because they recognized that gifted students have special needs that are frequently not met in regular classrooms, and so they funded the program in the same way that they would other special needs programs. My kids did well there, and when we moved there were gifted programs, but not as great as the one in FL.

Boredom is a real concern for gifted kids. Sometimes they just kind of turn off and fail to excel to the extent of their abilities. It's a real waste and a loss for our communities when some of the brightest minds are wasted because of mismanagement in their early school experience. Sadly, a significant number of high school dropouts have been identified as gifted. As a parent, you might find it worthwhile to go to the library and read whatever you can get your hands on about gifted kids.

As for posting it on Facebook, I wouldn't. There is nothing to be gained by it, and one of the worst things you can do is make a kid feel socially "different", including in a good way. From the earliest grades they will encounter other kids who resent them for the simple fact that teachers tend to like them and give them more attention and more rewards, and also because sometimes other parents make comparisons or teachers grade on the curve, and the high achiever is going to throw off that curve for the other kids. When my daughter was in kindergarten the class was rather large and the teacher actually recruited her and one other girl to help teach some of the slower ones to read. She had mixed feelings about that, but luckily they didn't seem to hold it against her. There is a strong social instinct to want to belong, and sometimes kids will deliberately fail at things just to avoid the negative response that they might get from some of the other kids.

The main thing about posting this sort of thing on FB is that it's just one area of a kid's development. You don't want to give him the impression that it's enough just to be brilliant. He also needs to be caring, friendly, hard working, etc. and needs to know to appreciate those qualities in others, even if they might not measure up to him in brain power. When we were given our son's high test scores as you have been, we were told not to even tell him the numbers because it's too easy for a kid to sort of think that the numbers themselves are a measure of himself as a person. It's just one aspect of who he is. I agree with quiltmom04 that you don't have to toot his horn - others will definitely notice his achievements all along the way, and they will be much more impressed with team spirit and hard work than with test scores. Rather than focus on the scores, focus on what he is learning day by day; help him to explore the many opportunities that are available. At the same time, let him still be a regular kid. Soccer, swim team, band, volunteer work and all sorts of other non-academic things can also enrich his life and help him to grow into a well-rounded individual, and - just by the way - look good on college applications, too. It's not too soon to notice that an officially high IQ never got anyone into college, all by itself. Wishing your little guy the best possible future!

Pepita

I would imagine you are thrilled with your son's giftedness. I guess I think about the family who posted a picture of their 11 yo son who was in camo and had a rifle. Someone on the fb friends called CPS stating that this was child abuse! His father was an instructor for gun safety, and his son had all the courses, and a hunting licence. Not everyone thinks the same. To me this really underlines that whole concept. I have children who were in the gifted program. There are some great things about it and some problems as well. I feel sure that the schools must be doing better each year(--at least I hope so.) I guess my point is I would feel very proud that my son was in the gifted class, but I would encourage him to include others that aren't in it to be friends as well. My son really pressed himself to do well in GT. When he got to 7th grade he was struggling in a couple classes. It seemed that he was gifted in English, and math, but history wasn't his thing. At the time, the program was ALL gifted classes, no exceptions. So when he no longer was getting good grades in the one class, he was taken out of all GT classes. (I thought that was really dumb.} So he went into a accelerated and achedemic (misspelled) classes. He was distraught(his whole social circle was in those classes), until he figured out that he didn't have to work at a grades the rest of his jr. high and high school years. Just be careful.

Yooper32

Congratulations on your gifted child..That said, be aware, "gifted" is not always "great". Sometimes, the gifted have a not so great relationship with most of their classmates and it is a hard road they travel at times. I speak as the mother of several of them.

coopah

Gifted children are wonderful and full of promise at the age yours is. What you may not see coming is the antagonism and discrimination of other families who think you are bragging. Also, being gifted with such a high IQ will bring with it other problems that you may or may not escape. Do some research before publishing anything in such a public forum as Facebook. Gifted children are not gifted in ALL areas of life. We had a child that scored in that range, also. The highly gifted child has obstacles, but also opportunities, that others don't. Be sure not to let this child "overshadow" your other child/children. All that said, I wish you the best on your journey and much success for all of your children.