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Most of us would love to have a highly gifted child. Let's face it. It is a most wonderful joy to have a child who is extremely talented, intelligent, and prosperous within a school or educational setting. However, many families who have a highly gifted child, often find themselves at a loss in terms of providing their child with the most appropriate and meaningful education available to them. It is not uncommon at all for families who have children who constantly excel in academics, to be confronted by educators, and asked to contemplate the idea of having their child skip a grade within the standardized school paradigm. This most valiant attempt at meeting the child's needs within an educational standardized model, is certainly an option to families within our modern day era. It, however, is not always the most successful move that parents can make in order to best meet the needs of their gifted child.

Every child, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, religion, attention span, or interests has his or her own gifts, talents, traits, and attributes. There are, however, certain situations where a child preforms at levels far superior to their peers within classroom settings. That is, they are able to cognitively grasp concepts, evaluate outcomes, and produce results at a pace that is so accelerated, educators are left grasping at straws when trying to find ways to keep this particular child thriving within a particular educational environment. It is often when an education system or school feels that it is unable to most successfully meet the needs of an excelling student, that the idea of skipping grades is proposed as a possibility to the parents. At times, this solution can seem to make sense. If, for example, little Johnny has met the requirements within his fifth grade classroom, maintains an extremely high I.Q. level, and is feeling unchallenged or unmotivated, pushing him ahead a year may sound like a viable option to consider. If he were then bumped up to the sixth grade, he would be able to fully immerse himself acquiring more knowledge, be challenged to succeed when doing assignments, and perhaps feel that he is more in sink with his peers and their intelligence levels.

If the decision to move little Johnny ahead to the sixth grade seems like the sure fire best bet to appease the needs of all parties involved, you may want to think again. Recent studies are continuously showing that children who skip grades in school

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