My youngest child is smart and he knows it. He almost knows it too well. It has always been a challenge to keep him focused and moving in the right direction. Every year his teacher calls us in and tells us how smart he is, but that he is having a hard time with things that don't interest him. It's not a matter of study time management or something that should be fixed with elementary tutoring.
Every year we create a new plan to make sure that he finishes his work, and sits still when he finishes a test 20 minutes before everyone else does. This can cause stress in children.
When he was in the fourth grade, his teacher called us in for a conference. She knew that my son was extremely bright, but told us that he was also showing some of the signs they see in children who don't do as well in school with student homework.
Chris was not handing in assignments that we did with him at home, and failed to finish the work that was given in class. He was disorganized and "disruptively social." She knew that he was more than capable, but was getting concerned that he might be headed on a downward spiral. She thought that his abilities were making him overconfident.
She suggested that it was time we taught him a lesson, so she planned to let his grades reflect his efforts, instead of his abilities. Sure enough, when the report card came in, Chris had a rude awakening. Where there had always been As there were some C's and even one D.
Even though the teacher had warned him that his grades would suffer, he was clearly surprised when the report card showed up. In his whole school career he had never had to face a bad test score or grade.
"That's not fair," he whined. "I know all the stuff they teach. I'm the smartest kid in the class."
I had to explain that achievement was as much about effort as it was about your natural abilities. This is often a hard lesson for a gifted child to grasp.
It was even harder when we saw his attached standardized test scores, showing scores in the 95 to 99 percentiles in all categories. "See, I told you I was smart."
Meeting Needs at Schools
Many school districts have programs for children who are academically gifted, and some charter schools and Montessori programs allow a child to work at his capabilities, not necessarily at grade level. But in some cases, it's not enough.
Clearly we need more programs and systems to nurture and encourage the children who are considered gifted. Many schools are strapped for resources for their special needs programs and in providing basic education for their core group of students. It becomes nearly impossible for them to create programs and divert resources to the small amount of intellectually or creatively gifted children in their schools.
According to the Council for Exceptional Children, gifted children are sometimes shortchanged by their school systems and even their families because few people truly understand their needs. Because many gifted kids are so far ahead of their classmates at the beginning of the school year, they often exhibit boredom and start showing low achievement and poor grades over time.
They also say that when grades become so closely linked to a gifted child's success, she may not be willing to take on anything that does not ensure her an A. The pressure to be the "smart one" also becomes overwhelming, and she starts to shut down much the way that young athletes or musicians do when they feel too much pressure.
Meeting Needs at Home
One of the things we had to deal with was the notion that since Christopher could grasp most things thrown his way, he needed less of our help than our daughter did. We had to change our way of thinking.
Where we don't spend as much time having to explain math concepts or practicing spelling words, we do spend more energy making sure that assignments are completed and handed in, that book bags are ready and that notes from the teacher are brought home.
I also spend more time working with the school to make sure that Chris gets more challenging assignments and works with children in the higher grade levels.
Bringing It All Together
Gifted children seem to present a special set of benefits to a school (they raise a school's standardized test averages). But they also present problems for teachers and administrators who don't understand them and who don't have the resources to devote to their needs.
Experts seem to agree that managing the needs of gifted children like Christopher has to start and end with the parents. Get much more creative about coming up with books that would fuel your child's imagination. Tap into his interests and find community resources, like the summer programs at universities and community colleges that can give him outlets that his regular school programs might not.
And most importantly, keep the lines of communication with your child and his school open. It's all about teamwork.