<p>Hoagies</a>' Gifted: Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted Students: An Underserved Population</p>
<p>For those who are interested in exceptionally/profoundly gifted students, this is a very good article.</p>
<p>Has anyone on this forum had their child identified as profoundly gifted, and if so, how has this determined your decisions relative to boarding school? Did you investigate BS with a Lower School? Did a BS offer admission to a younger-than-average 9th grader?</p>
<p>granny2 - both our kids are identified PG and are members of DYS. They will both be starting at different boarding schools in the fall (one as a 9th grader, one as an 11th grader). Please feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Our kids are also DYS and all four qualify for Mensa- We have tried almost all types of schooling- parochial, homeschool, public, magnet and boarding schools. Our oldest is finishing his second year at Exeter. Two of the kids (our daughters) have grade skipped and our oldest daughter was accepted at Exeter last fall as a freshman. If you have specific questions on our boarding schol experience- feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Mountainhiker, may I ask how old is your 9th grader? Did he/she skip any grades in school, and if so, when? Did your school (public or private?) test your children, or did you have them tested? May I ask what did they score to be identified as PG? </p>
<p>Vegas1, you mentioned home schooling; when/how long did you do this? Which grades did you (or your school, public/private) did they skip. Did the school test your children, or did you have them tested? At what ages did your two children enter Exeter?</p>
<p>I appreciate your responses.</p>
<p>granny2 - here is some general info you might find helpful: </p>
<p>DYS: The Davidson Institute is a fantastic resource for PG kids and their families. Info at:
[Profoundly</a> Gifted Children Services and Programs by the Davidson Institute](<a href=“Davidson Institute | Programs & Support for the Profoundly Gifted”>Davidson Institute | Programs & Support for the Profoundly Gifted)</p>
<p>Schooling: We’ve tried about every educational option available: full-time homeschool, full-time public school, part-time homeschool/part-time public school, and now boarding school. (Private school is not an option in our rural community.) I learned early on that it was best to only make school plans for about six months at a time - our kids’ needs changed dramatically and rapidly at various stages of their lives, so different approaches were best at different times.</p>
<p>Acceleration: For our kids, radical acceleration (multiple grade skips in school) was not a good option for a number of reasons, but I have friends who have had great success with that approach, and I know kids who have started full-time college as young as 14, and others that started taking college classes at 12. One advantage of homeschooling is that your child can learn at their own pace, with material that meets their academic needs, without worrying about what “grade” they are in. You have the ability to go “wide and deep” in subjects where they have aptitude and/or interest. Our son has a winter birthday, and did a grade skip in early elementary school (he was part-time at the school at that time). For a host of reasons, he is “undoing” his grade skip now, and he will be starting BS this fall as a repeat 9th grader, right in the middle of his class age-wise. </p>
<p>Testing: There was ample evidence from a young age that our kids’ development was “out of the norm.” We started homeschooling our daughter when she was in kindergarten, and when she was in first grade (homeschooling), she and her younger brother were both tested privately to help us determine appropriate academic options for them. When they were older, they participated in the national Academic Talent Search process, which provides “out of level” testing - Explore, ACT and SAT - to younger kids to help determine their capabilities, since highly gifted kids often “top-out” on age/grade appropriate tests. There are several different organizations that administer Talent Search: Johns Hopkins CTY (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic & West Coast), Duke TIP (South and Southeast), Center for Bright Kids (West), and Northwestern-NUMATS (Midwest).</p>
<p>Thanks, mountainhiker, for your response. I knew about the DYS; it is one of just a handful of programs for PG children. You and your family have apparently worked ‘your’ way through the system, and I wish you continued success. Your information has been very helpful, and I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions.</p>
<p>The best (and as far as I know only) program specifically for the profoundly gifted is the Davidson Academy of Nevada, located in Reno. We moved from New England for my oldest son. He thrived there. The teachers really knew his abilities better than us parents and recommended that he start college courses at age 11 in certain subjects. They arranged for prerequisite waivers from the university because they thought he had enough general knowledge in certain subjects that he did not need the introductory courses. It made the move to Reno well worth it. My younger son now attends it as well. </p>
<p>The problem is what to do with the kids once they finish all the high school level courses at Davidson and if they want to be with their own age group. My oldest is graduating at age 14 and is going to try out Exeter (a sort of halfway house between a small day school and college). We hope he will be adequately challenged there. If not, he can always work on his extracurriculars, art, music, and sports there or just apply early to college (he will already have almost 50 university credits). We were undecided about his staying at Davidson, deferring graduation and just taking all university courses until he hit 18 (Davidson would allow him to do that), but he was adamant about wanting to take classes with his own age group and with more motivated students than those at a state university like UNR.</p>
<p>Have your profoundly gifted kids who attended Exeter been adequately challenged and accepted for their strengths academically?</p>
<p>IIamama, thank you for your response and relating your experiences with your PG children. I have not, however, identified my son as PG. He did graduate from Exeter and continued his education with eight years in the Ivy League. Yes, he was challenged at Exeter and well prepared for college. While he was in college, he and his Exeter friends who were also attending Ivy schools indicated that Exeter was more of a challenge than college. I do believe your son will discover that Phillips Exeter Academy is more than a “halfway house.” May I ask what year is your son entering Exeter?</p>
<p>Best wishes and continued success in your journey.</p>
<p>He wil be entering as a lower. We are just kidding about the “halfway house”, as we are when we say he is repeating most of high school:). I suspect he will be kept very busy, even though he will be repeating some courses that all lowers have to take (health, lower English- he already has an AP).</p>
<p>My DYS D15 is completing her prep year at Exeter. There is another DYS young woman in her class. They are both happy, challenged and thoroughly enjoying Exeter. </p>
<p>My daughter seems to have found her soul mates; is happy to be with other bright, passionate kids, admires the teachers and finds the work intriguing even though challenging. Get a bunch of crazy bright kids together and let them teach each other. Neat concept.</p>
<p>She was 2+ years subject accelerated in math and science, we chose Exeter because it could give her 4 more challenging years of both math and science.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the information- sounds terrific! I hope my son finds soul mates his age as your child has. I am glad your daughter has had such a great experience.</p>
<p>The very best thing you can do is to send your child to a state Math and Science school. If you look through a couple of them, you’ll find that the bigger ones tend to have a ton of pressure. Essentially, what they do is force so much studying and homework on their students that EVERYONE is challenged. The youngest kid at my state school (IMSA Illinois math and science academy) ever was 9. Usually profoundly gifted kids are geared towards mathematics which makes some schools less likely of an option.</p>
<p>IMSA is not all about the homework. In fact, the majority of the homework is research and not busy work. The benefits of a school like IMSA are the availability of student initiated research, access to teachers who hold PhD’s and have taught at the college level, a problem-based learning curriculum, college level courses such as Differential Equations, and the chance to live in an environment with peers of the same high ability.</p>
<p>I wish Ohio had such as school as a residential state math and science magnet high school. It does not. Around my part of Ohio, there is not even a reputable math and science magnet DAY school. Many states do not have selective/specific high schools of excellence.</p>
<p>It’s true that IMSA isn’t about homework, but there’s definitely a lot of it (from what I hear). I would think that if a child was profoundly gifted, they would benefit from a large workload that isn’t just long, but also difficult. </p>
<p>@2prepMom You should definitely try to get your state to create a school. IMSA in Illinois has a large presence in all academic gatherings (ICTM Math, Scholastic Bowl, a multitude of Robotics competitions).</p>
<p>@bison
I tried for 5 years to get some interest in a state residential exam entry math and science school in Ohio; as a parent I was part of the state assoc of gifted, and went to Columbus several times. It takes a certain opportunity and a critical mass, which Ohio does not have. Ohio does completely support PSEO (pays tuition at college for 11th and 12th graders), and supports wonderful state universities, so it’s not all bad.</p>
<p>If you have a gifted child, check out the opportunities in your state. We almost moved to Indiana for their wonderful Indiana math and science academy. Most states have such schools.</p>
<p>My IQ’s a little over 200. Would andover or Exeter be challenging for me? Any personal experience?</p>
<p>HarvardRox, may I ask your age? Did you grade-skip, and if so, when? Thanks.</p>
<p>Sorry, granny2. I’m not going to post my age since I also posted my IQ and I don’t want to reveal too much.</p>
<p>Coming into this late, but since we’re in a new application season I thought I’d add my DYS’s experience to the mix. She is a one-grade but 1 1/2 to 2-year young skipped freshman at an excellent non-HADES school where she is thriving. </p>
<p>The flexibility of her school’s independent study program and unbelievably warm environmant was what tipped her (and us), toward the “lesser-known gem” over Exeter, where she was also accepted. While her first quarter was more “engaging and inspiring” than “extremely challenging”, the social and academic environment and fact that she can still carve out a couple of hours a day for music practice without keeling over from overwork, is working so far. She seems to feel that the teachers are ramping it up and will push her (after Parents’ Weekend I’d have to agree–very inspiring), and that the other students are driven – no one, in her opinion, is phoning it in. </p>
<p>For some PG kids it might be different, but ours is less concerned about being surrounded by the PG crowd than that she has found a critical mass of self-styled "geeks"particularly “girl geeks”. That many of them are possibly PG or HG as well is just a bonus. </p>
<p>For our part, we have found that if we focus only on issues of “giftedness” or academic competition, we miss half of what our DYS is all about. But I’ll absolutely echo every other DYS parent on this thread and attest that DITD is an unbelievable resource. Not every PG kid is, or needs to be, involved with Davidson. But for those who lack local resources or really could use help with advocacy or simply the support of a vast network of parents of PG kids (especially in the years before high school), DITD is invaluable.</p>