Parent Advocacy for Their Gifted Child
Beneficial Teaching Concepts for Gifted Students
This article is at the heart of parent advocacy. In it parents are introduced to acceleration, enrichment, extension, and differentiation with examples. The article talks about working with your child’s teacher and principal and provides opportunities available to benefit your GT child’s educational journey.
How to Advocate for Your 2e Child
This article provides perspective and resources from Jeffco parents for advocating for a twice exceptional (2e – gifted with a disability) child. This article also explains how to apply for gifted and special education identification in Jeffco Schools.
Understanding Student Assessment Scores
To better advocate for your child, understanding assessment scores and how to find them is essential. This article explains the main assessments Jeffco Schools uses: DIBELS, MAP, CMAS, PSAT, and SAT and how to access Student Insights to find your child’s MAP and CMAS scores. In addition, it discusses what to keep in mind when reviewing your child’s assessment scores. This article also touches on graduation requirements and how to access NWEA’s College Explorer Tool which shows where your child is tracking for college using MAP scores as early as 5th grade.
JAGC’s Parent-Teacher Conferences Checklist
Find some helpful hints for a successful parent-teacher conference for your gifted child. There are also links to articles that offer guidance in advocating for your child.
PSAT - What You Need to Know Before Your Gifted Child Takes the PSAT
We have highlighted this article over the last many years and wanted to bring it back again this year. Thank you to Ginny Riley for writing "One Day Matters: A Mom's Journey" about her son who was a National Merit Semi-Finalist at Conifer High School. She brings to light how gifted students often score lower, typically in math, each time they take the PSAT, why this happens, and how to keep this from happening to your child.
Note: PSAT/NMSQT is offered in the fall, typically October, to high school sophomores and juniors. Please check with your high school as to when they are offering it. This is a different version of the PSAT than what is given to 9th and 10th graders in the spring.
Misperceptions of Giftedness: Are You Struggling With What Those Around You Believe Gifted Is? This article provides some tools to communicate to parents, teachers, and school administrators about what gifted is and what gifted is NOT.
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children by James T. Webb, Ph.D., ABPP-Cl
Many gifted and talented children (and adults) are being misdiagnosed by psychologists and other health care professionals because specific social and emotional characteristics of gifted children are mistakenly assumed to be signs of pathology. In other cases, gifted students who have a diagnosed disability (twice exceptional or 2e – gifted with a disability) often don’t have their giftedness considered in educational planning or treatment. This article discusses these issues.
ADD/ADHD vs Gifted Behavior
While some individuals may be both gifted and have ADD/ADHD, there are cases where giftedness is mistaken for ADD/ADHD. In this chart you can see the similarities side by side.
Beneficial Teaching Concepts for Gifted Students
This article is at the heart of parent advocacy. In it parents are introduced to acceleration, enrichment, extension, and differentiation with examples. The article talks about working with your child’s teacher and principal and provides opportunities available to benefit your GT child’s educational journey.
How to Advocate for Your 2e Child
This article provides perspective and resources from Jeffco parents for advocating for a twice exceptional (2e – gifted with a disability) child. This article also explains how to apply for gifted and special education identification in Jeffco Schools.
Understanding Student Assessment Scores
To better advocate for your child, understanding assessment scores and how to find them is essential. This article explains the main assessments Jeffco Schools uses: DIBELS, MAP, CMAS, PSAT, and SAT and how to access Student Insights to find your child’s MAP and CMAS scores. In addition, it discusses what to keep in mind when reviewing your child’s assessment scores. This article also touches on graduation requirements and how to access NWEA’s College Explorer Tool which shows where your child is tracking for college using MAP scores as early as 5th grade.
JAGC’s Parent-Teacher Conferences Checklist
Find some helpful hints for a successful parent-teacher conference for your gifted child. There are also links to articles that offer guidance in advocating for your child.
PSAT - What You Need to Know Before Your Gifted Child Takes the PSAT
We have highlighted this article over the last many years and wanted to bring it back again this year. Thank you to Ginny Riley for writing "One Day Matters: A Mom's Journey" about her son who was a National Merit Semi-Finalist at Conifer High School. She brings to light how gifted students often score lower, typically in math, each time they take the PSAT, why this happens, and how to keep this from happening to your child.
Note: PSAT/NMSQT is offered in the fall, typically October, to high school sophomores and juniors. Please check with your high school as to when they are offering it. This is a different version of the PSAT than what is given to 9th and 10th graders in the spring.
Misperceptions of Giftedness: Are You Struggling With What Those Around You Believe Gifted Is? This article provides some tools to communicate to parents, teachers, and school administrators about what gifted is and what gifted is NOT.
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children by James T. Webb, Ph.D., ABPP-Cl
Many gifted and talented children (and adults) are being misdiagnosed by psychologists and other health care professionals because specific social and emotional characteristics of gifted children are mistakenly assumed to be signs of pathology. In other cases, gifted students who have a diagnosed disability (twice exceptional or 2e – gifted with a disability) often don’t have their giftedness considered in educational planning or treatment. This article discusses these issues.
ADD/ADHD vs Gifted Behavior
While some individuals may be both gifted and have ADD/ADHD, there are cases where giftedness is mistaken for ADD/ADHD. In this chart you can see the similarities side by side.
