Early Entry - One story

The following appeared on the Oz-Gifted discussion list in response to a request for information about early entry.

Dear OG,

In reply to your email regarding your child starting school at 4 1/2, I have a daughter that has this year become the youngest child in the ACT to attend school. She will be 5 in November.

We made the decision to start her at school after having a horrific time with her at day care. She was too young last year to attend preschool since she was only 3 (they begin preschool normally in the year they turn 4 in ACT) so we placed her into a day-care centre that agreed to place her into their preschool room. She was already a little shy and clingy, but while she attended this centre, she withdrew completely, never joining in with their activities, not making any friends, and screaming for a good 15 minutes every morning after we left her there (only 2 days per week). I already have one gifted child that began school at the right time, and had a horrible time with him in his first year of school (until moving him to a school that has an accelerated learning program), so I thought that she may be bored there, but also thought she needed the social interaction, so I persisted for 9 months.

I then took my eldest along to a social function at the school he was going to, and my daughter was also with me. She seemed to fit in so well with the kids there, and was socialising quite well. So I started asking the school some general questions about early age entry, as well as asking her preschool teacher specific questions about whether she thought she had the academic ability to attend school. I received very positive responses from both, so decided to investigate it further. We had to get my daughter tested, and then apply to the Department of Education, and she was accepted!

During 1st term of this year, I monitored her very carefully, and kept in close contact with her teacher to try and find any inkling of a problem - but there was none! We haven't had one teary day, and my daughter has a million and one friends, all who accept her as a peer.

My eldest was quite a different child. He was very social from a very young age, and didn't seem to mind where he was or what he was doing as long as he was with other people. However, his boredom did get the better of him by age five, when he started school. He did not have a problem with making friends, or with the teachers, but when he came home, he became a little monster, taking all the frustrations of his boredom at school out on us. I cannot say that if he started school early this would have been resolved, or rather just delayed it in a normal classroom. He is now 7 years old, is in year 2, but is doing a range of year 2, 3 and 4 work.

Even though your child seems happy in his surroundings, perhaps he is socially being satisfied but will eventually get bored with the activities, and not participate. He may not be attracted to the other gifted children in the class, because even amongst gifted children there are personality differences, so not all gifted children like other gifted children.

I hope this experience of mine helps your decision-making.

Anonymous

The author gave permission for this to be printed but requested to remain anonymous.

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