Does Your Child Need More Challenge in School?

As a parent of a bright and motivated child, you may wonder if your child is being challenged enough to maximize their potential. In recent years, parents considered promoting their child to the next grade level to impart new challenges. Skipping grades is legal in some counties (i.e. Hillsborough) and illegal in others. Newer research cautions against advanced grade promotion due to the social development issues. Gifted programs that allow students to stay in their grade resolve the social development issue. Public school systems offer gifted programs under the umbrella of Exceptional Student Education (ESE). Gifted classes are taught by teachers who have special training in the most effective ways to challenge these children. The first step towards gifted education is getting a gifted evaluation done by your public school psychologist school or through a private psychologist. The benefit to getting tested privately is a shorter turn around time to getting the testing complete as well as having the option to submit the results to your child’s permanent academic record to keep the results to yourself. If your child scores within the gifted range the next step is to take the report to the ESE department and your principal to request admission into the gifted program. Gifted evaluations are done at Life Connections by myself and Dr. Adams. My charge for gifted evaluations is $550.