Gifted children are special needs children • Hacker News Board

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#111

Post by eigencoder » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

oluminate wrote: post #52

eigencoder wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you may misunderstand what a gifted kindergartener is. Like, some kids come in and they essentially taught themselves to read. That doesn't mean they have helicopter parents who think they're extra special -- it means they have distinct needs that aren't well served in the normal classroom, which is boring for them.

I don't think four year olds demonstrating the ability to read several levels above their grade level is 1.) rare and 2.) a talent you can realistically tease out from over-parenting at that age. Given the extreme levels of segregation in certain parts of the country (NYC for example has fewer than 5 percent of Black and Latino kindergartners in G&T programs, but higher enrollment for Black and Latino students in thi…

But how does pulling a GT program help with equality? Putting bored kids in a classroom with kids who are far behind them developmentally drags everyone down. Don't the GT kids deserve to learn, too?

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#112

Post by em-bee » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:01 PM UTC

i find it disappointing that whenever this issue comes up, the obvious solution is being ignored: montessori.

it solves both problems: integrating a diversity of children and allowing children to learn according their capacity and interest.

because each child gets to learn at their own pace, from the gifted all the way to intellectually disabled, all in the same class. (the term disabled feels wrong, but i am not sure what the correct term here is, i picked this one from wikipedia)

ironically, but in line with the title, maria montessori developed that curriculum specifically for disabled/special needs children. turns out what is good for special needs children also works for normal children.

and it would not be expensive. training a montessori kindergarten teacher takes one year. you don't even need a full degree, or it could easily be included in a degree curriculum.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#113

Post by ludicrousdispla » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:44 PM UTC

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #13

Greetings fellow travelers [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional ---- In response to OP's link, my suggestion to primary schools would be to scrap the G/T programs, and instead focus on reducing class-sizes. You should also remove any students from classrooms whom routinely distract from others' learning. Give those timesinks a broom, instead.

My experience with G/T programs, both as a student and as a parent, has been:

1. the teachers have much more freedom in developing the curriculum which I assume is because their incoming students have a fairly high baseline proficiency in all of the required subjects.

2. bad teachers often get assigned to the G/T classes under the assumption that they can't do as much damage (which I can guarantee you is not the case.)

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#114

Post by greygoo222 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:44 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #6

It's crazy to me that there is so much pushback to ending a program for "gifted" kindergarteners . I'd say it's great for 4-5 year olds to be able to do...normal children things rather than have their lives ruined by their helicopter "my child is special" parents.

I preferred to read instead of doing "normal children things" in kindergarten. I acted out so much my teacher forced me to see a psychologist. When I was placed in an appropriately challenging environment, I did much better.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#115

Post by greygoo222 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:47 PM UTC

bccdee wrote: post #76

The primary reason I was admitted into my local gifted program was because my parents and teachers pushed to get me into it. At age 6, I scored a high enough IQ to get in, but my family had to pay to have the test administered privately. The makeup of my cohort was mostly white and Asian, but they were also distinctly middle-to-upper-middle-class, with a high density of stay-at-home mothers (like my own) who were act…

Affluent Black or Asian immigrants are typically high-skilled immigrants, a program that, by definition, screens for merit. Merit is heritable.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#116

Post by greygoo222 » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 6:49 PM UTC

em-bee wrote: post #112

i find it disappointing that whenever this issue comes up, the obvious solution is being ignored: montessori. it solves both problems: integrating a diversity of children and allowing children to learn according their capacity and interest. because each child gets to learn at their own pace, from the gifted all the way to intellectually disabled, all in the same class. (the term disabled feels wrong, but i am not sur…

I went to a Montessori kindergarten and I still got sent to a psychologist for acting out because I wasn't challenged enough. What I needed was a more rigorous curriculum and peers that were on the same level.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#117

Post by em-bee » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 7:32 PM UTC

greygoo222 wrote: post #116

em-bee wrote: post #112

i find it disappointing that whenever this issue comes up, the obvious solution is being ignored: montessori. it solves both problems: integrating a diversity of children and allowing children to learn according their capacity and interest. because each child gets to learn at their own pace, from the gifted all the way to intellectually disabled, all in the same class. (the term disabled feels wrong, but i am not sur…

I went to a Montessori kindergarten and I still got sent to a psychologist for acting out because I wasn't challenged enough. What I needed was a more rigorous curriculum and peers that were on the same level.

then your teachers weren't trained well enough. unfortunately montessori is not a protected term, so any school can call themselves montessori, whether they actually do the montessori curriculum or a half assed version of it or none at all.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#118

Post by bloppe » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC

This is the political horseshoe coming together.

The right wing thinks browns are stealing jobs from whites by simply existing. The left wing thinks whites are stealing jobs from browns by getting a better education, and want to abolish that opportunity. So both sides have decided on a remedy that actually makes everybody worse off, but in different ways.

Can't wait to pick that poison

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#119

Post by silexia » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 8:31 PM UTC

Destroying gifted programs is an insidious form of socialism. Socialism seeks to take from those who work hard and give to those who do not. Socialism inevitably collapses into dictatorship. That is the end goal of those who push it (other than fools who believe in an impossible utopia that ignores human nature). Destroying gifted programs is just another attempt to make everyone poor and under government control.

Re: Gifted children are special needs children

#120

Post by austin-cheney » Tue, Oct 07, 2025, 9:57 PM UTC

cardanome wrote: post #90

austin-cheney wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally, I prefer people that are more direct. When your social intelligence is high enough you realize everybody is always direct because communication is multidimensional. Honest only occurs when the words, vocalization, and body language are all in unison. Even then honesty only matters so much if the substance of content is inaccurate or invalid. Since you brought up autism, most people attempt to mask their…

> Masking is a form of dishonesty and people who are good a communication see it as such. Masking is autistic people adjusting their communication style so they are more acceptable to allistic people while neglecting their own needs. For example many autistic people show emotions differently. They can default to a flatter tone of voice or show less microexpressions in the face i.e a flatter affect. (Just to be clear,…

I have an autistic child. I know exactly what it means. I understand the motivation to appear somehow different than they are, but nonetheless it is a form of active ritual deception that becomes habit. It does not matter how well intended any given deception may be the audience still sees it as a lie.

> It is the same effect when people think they are good at spotting a liar.

That is another Dunning-Kruger moment. The only way to be excellent at detecting liars is to be good at convincing liars to expose their own deception either through a confession or through conflicting testimony, and some people are really good at that. Perceptions without evidence are just bias.

> People that think they are good at communication

Again, self perception does not matter. What matters is the result and this is measurable, as proven by Paul Ekman.