[Oz-gifted] Update on L

[Ellen Hrebeniuk]

At 12:53 PM +1100 14/12/06, Richard Robertson wrote:
>Testing, for us, proved incredibly helpful.  As parents, we were
>(embarrassingly)unaware our son was gifted.

The reason that I was not was because I'd done some psychology 
courses on child development, and L's language use was well ahead of 
the norm.  According to the WSPPI-III he is in the top 0.4% of the 
population for language skills, and top 2% generally.  I suspect the 
informal comments of his teacher that she'd "never taught a child 
quite like him before" kicked things along a bit.

>   It also appears 'the powers
>that be' at school tend to take notice of validating test results and
>recommendations prescribed by psychologists whereas a parent's opinion
>is of little value on its own within the system!!

I wasn't particularly keen on getting the testing done, but it 
appears to have worked for good.  The numbers not only validate the 
informal observations of the teachers; they provide CYA for when some 
senior bureaucrat asks stupid questions.

TBH I can understand why parents' opinions aren't always taken too 
seriously.  There are "Lake Wobegon" areas of Sydney where all 
parents believe their children are above average, and woe betide the 
teacher if the report card/soccer ref/etc doesn't agree.  Fortunately 
I do not live in such a place, or my discussions with the staff would 
probably have been discounted.  Also, I have been able to make it 
clear that I want intervention now BEFORE L becomes bored and 
naughty.  He is most definitely not a "problem child" (and it helps 
that they have REAL problem children at my school, too).
-- 
Ellen Hrebeniuk
Sydney, Australia

Being a librarian is how you change the world.
Nancy Pearl