@MWolf And for HG/PG kids, many tests do not measure the accurate level of that student as they are years beyond. So unless the parent has the wherewithal to test the kid, the kid might not even be identified as gifted in certain school systems.
What I find interesting is how few are PG across the board ( English and Math). Most parents we have spoken to, have kids who are much stronger in one sense than another. Mine are both. About equal in both respects. Though I believe that math is easier to measure. Honestly, I find it really challenging and expensive to keep PG kids engaged. I wish we had discovered Davidson when my kids were younger. It was just pretty far away. We did find other things. Specialized programs where the kids were doing unique things worked well although our kids were often the youngest. The SET program sadly offers little resources. And CTY, for a kid who is PG is often just not challenging. Not all gifted kids are equally gifted. A kid who is 1 year ahead is not like a kid who is 4 years ahead or 8 years ahead.
@Happytimes2001 Having a “non-Spiky” HG/PG kid is indeed a lot more challenging, since they want to do everything. If they have passion for any of the arts, it becomes even worse.
It is true that CTD, like CTY, is aimed more at gifted kids than at HG/PG kids, but my kid has discovered that it is easier to find other HG/PG kids at the CTD programs than elsewhere. Moreover, at most good high schools, the chances of the other HG/PG kids sharing one’s interests and passions are extremely low, at the CTD camps, because they are “thicker on the ground”, my daughter found kids with whom she could interact.
In many ways, because D19 is a dancer, that helped by occupying a fairly large amount of her time and energy. So she spent at least two weeks in the summer at dance intensive programs, and most of her spare time during the rest of the year. She also draws and writes, so that would take up a lot of her time. These also allowed her to connect to kids who were otherwise “normal”, but were talented artists, or very creative writers. As academics, we also had other resources which are more difficult for non academics to access. Of course, we only had one. having to pay for multiple the number of camps and courses would have been a much larger drag on our finances.
I’m sorry that you didn’t find out about the DYS program for your kids, since it also connects Scholars who live in the same area.
Yes, even harder when kids are artsy as well. I think many PG people are active in many areas. It’s all good. PG kids learn to recognize others who are extremely interested in a subject. Don’t have to be PG but interest will attract other PG kids. There are a lot of PG kids in a handful of areas.
Mine are not spiky though they have found more STEM type things out there than writing, history, English etc. They have found others who are like them. I also have found that many PG kids excel at sports as well. I think there is a portion that is focus and a portion of doing their best. This seems to be prevalent with individual sports.
DYS had some value for us, but we found that local get togethers of SET kids were more valuable. (SET is the program sponsored by Johns Hopkins for kids scoring high enough on the SAT prior to age 14). Probably because we lived in an area with a good number of SET members. Our kid met many friends at these get togethers, and the other parents often shared valuable experiences in raising PG kids.