One of the biggest complaints that teachers hear from truly gifted students is that instead of having different or more challenging work, they simply have more of the same work every other student is assigned. For most parents, it is difficult to understand the difference. They see their child who can write and read well, and who can do math calculations easily and quickly and think that by having twice as much homework, the student's needs are being served. Unfortunately, they are wrong.
While there has been a significant push to improve the lot of students with disabilities, programs for the truly gifted student are often left to their own devices. Without training and supervision, some teachers will be intimidated by their precocious class and rather than opening doors to more advanced insight, will simply load students down with what amounts to busy work. A child who already knows how to read and write well, probably should not be burdened with basic grammar exercises. Instead, this student should be reading for research and writing essays. This isn't beyond the scope of truly gifted children as young as nine or ten. But with funding cut at every turn and demands being made on public schools to provide services beyond the scope of mere education, too often G/T programs are left to their own devices.
The solution lies in the intervention of parents and the interest of the community at large. This is the point where mentors from various professions can spark a bored but talented student to the next level. Imagine how much more interesting a talk about cancer cells would be from a visiting oncologist. People in the community are often more than willing to help, but it takes more than just teachers making the request. Parents have to get involved. Quite often parents are the first to notice their child's abilities. Some schools will try to put off testing or divert attention, but the parent needs to be their child's advocate. Students are legally entitled to and schools are federally mandated to offer programs for students according to their abilities. This means that gifted children deserve and should receive educational work commensurate with their abilities. Don't take no for an answer.
Parental involvement can be a double-edged sword. Gifted programs need parents to push school districts to offer and support programs for gifted students that go past minimum standards. Without parental pressure, districts will ignore programs and allow them to atrophy. But it is also important that the need for parents to view their children as gifted isn't allowed to drive the enrollment of the program. In some district, testing for admission has become a tug of war for parents to get their children into programs viewed as having better teachers or lower enrollment. While any gifted student should be encouraged to take more challenging courses, it is a mistake to simply place a student into a program. It is also a mistake to water down curriculum in order to raise enrollment in advanced classes. Students need to be in programs that fit. Some students are good across the board learners and will be in language arts, science and math programs; other students have abilities in just math or just language arts. Make sure your student is in classes that fit his or her needs.
Many parents make the mistake of thinking that having a child in a G/T program of classes is a ticket to academic success. That isn't really the case. Students in advanced classes suffer from some of the same problems that students in regular classes endure. And students in gifted classes have been known to fail. Failure is seen as anathema for most parents, but especially those of gifted students. Their first reaction is to blame the teacher or the school. Sometimes that action is justified, but just as often students make the choice to fail. Sometimes the decision to fail is an attempt to fit into the prevailing social structure of the school. Gifted students sometimes have difficulty dealing with their peers and will "dumb down" in order to fit in. Other times, learning disabilities such as ADD or anxiety will create situations in which the gifted student has problems processing or completing work. This doesn't mean the student doesn't deserve to be in an advanced program; it means that the student's educational disabilities need assistance in much the same way that a nearsighted student needs glasses to see the board. It's a balancing act.
One of the biggest hurdles gifted students face is the social acceptance within the school. In some schools being in the gifted program is a mark of excellence. In others, it labels you as a nerd and causes problems that can be difficult for a shy or immature student to overcome. Teachers and parents should always monitor their student for situations where they are settling for lower recognition in order to avoid confrontation or bullying. This is especially a problem for some minority students and needs parental intervention and outside activities in church or the community in order to give the student a social support structure. Students such as this thrive in activities such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church service, community volunteer programs and other activities that require a level of independence. By having a group of friends outside of school, the gifted student won't feel the need to mitigate their own achievements in the classroom in order to keep friends.
Finally, and this is a very hard situation, parents have to learn to separate their personal needs from the accomplishments of their child. It's very easy to look at the kid who does math and science well and try to push them into a program for Med school. Don't do it. Gifted kids learn quickly, but they also suffer from the same false starts and lagging development that other kids experience. The failure or success of your gifted child belongs to them. And if that is the case, parents have to develop a hands off policy towards homework and projects. Teachers can spot the project where Mom or Dad tweaked something here or added something there. By intervening on such projects, parents dilute the learning experience and undermine their child's self-confidence. Gifted children often have self-doubt because they are doing things that are months or sometimes years beyond their peers. Don't exacerbate that by taking over the learning experience.
Gifted children can offer a great deal of joy, but they are also a huge challenge. Quite often they will offer opinions far beyond their years and understand provocative situations while still appearing innocent. It is important to support your child without smothering them. No matter what their abilities, they will still suffer the same teen angst and doubt held by others of their age. Roll with the punches, expect to be challenged and encourage them to explore areas beyond their comfort zone academically.