Learning process, when to be concerned?

[gibbney]

My 6 yr old 1st grade daughter has entered into a new school.  This new school is a very progressive and fast pace learning ciriculm (k= 1grade 1= 2nd grade etc..).  She missed the K program that sets the foundation to 1st grade success. Her previous school did not prepare her for phonograms,reading, writting, and math.  Needless to say she is struggling to catch up to the other students. When we do the work at home she is doing well.  Her spelling has made improvements though when she is tested she performs poorly. Her math is rushed and not complete with many mistakes.  Her grades are poor.  She is outgoing and makes friends easily. I have observed her in class and she fades in and out of attention.  She fidgets in her chair, though she is not disruptive at all in class.  She is advanced in her logic and has been labeled as gifted by the local university child study lab(education dept and Psych dept)where she attended preschool.  She can repeat a book back to you word for word and writes and memorizes poetry. I am just so surprised that this has not come easier for her.  As parents we are not putting pressure on her, but encourage her strenghs. My questions to you are what could be going on?  Should there be a concern with the pace of learning? What is the normal learning progression?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

There is little reason to be concerned at this point. She is doing what first graders have traditionally done. There is every reason to be suspect of a curriculum which attempts to teach skills which developmentally may be inappropriate. To some extent, if it were wise to be teaching children across the board how to read in kindergarten, educators would have done so long ago. This is not to say that there are not some children who are able to learn to read prior to first grade, but in general it is not a reasonable expectation. It may well be that your child is not a good match for this particular program, but that reality does not mean that there is something wrong with your child.

[lmroswell]

I have been through exactly what you are going through.  My daughter tested gifted at the end of second grade, and was almost a straight A student.  She did most work on her own with no problem.  She was a great reader in Kindergarten.  After testing her for gifted, I enrolled her in a full-time gifted program at our local elementary school.  Everything was accelerated a year.  She was miserable.  Cried everyday, was getting horrible grades.  It was not what school is supposed to be...I ended up pulling her out and placing her in a regular third grade class.  What a turn around.  She is happy and is excited about school.  Things are easier for her, and sometimes challenging, too.  Bottom line is that even though a child tests at a gifted level, the program may not suit the child.  And at such an early age, a child's impression of school should be a positive one.  It's the later grades that your gifted child will excell and where it counts most.