Are Schools Set Up for Gifted Children? (Profoundly Gifted, Level Five)

No. Not generally, and virtually never for the Profoundly Gifted.

Level Five children and their parents in my longitudinal study[1] generally had considerable difficulty finding a good school fit. Ever. As mentioned in earlier posts, [2], [3], [4], [5] the school options families have available to them play a role in how good the eventual “fit” is for the Level Five student, too. Level Five children and adults are Profoundly gifted. They generally don’t have intellectual weaknesses and eventually have to choose how to use their abundant abilities.

One might think that school personnel would notice the advanced abilities of these students and help to adjust the material and pacing for them. As readers will see, that is rarely the case when people leave such children in regular schools. Schools simply aren’t set up for it.

Level Five Gifted Score Range and Early Milestones:

Keep in mind that the Levels are my rubric for helping to describe the ways gifted children differ from each other and what their differing needs requires. IQ scores are but one means of evaluating children’s abilities.

• Primarily 99.9th percentiles on standardized tests, if such differentiation is reported