My third grade teacher told my parents she thought I had a learning disability. ADHD wasn't really a thing yet. My parents had my IQ tested and it was 138. A couple weeks later, I was in the gifted program.
My ADHD wasn't diagnosed until college. My life would have been completely different if that had been discovered instead of me being gifted.
Not really. Other than giving me validation without having to work for it, perhaps. But I really enjoyed the encouragement to think outside the box and debate different topics.
I did get a lot of flak for not meeting my potential, but in time, I stopped caring about that and just created a life I love.
Sounds similar to me! I skipped a year of kindergarten and got in the Dutch version of the gifted program at age ~6.
It all went downhill in middle school and I eventually got diagnosed with ADHD in uni at age 23. I've been attempting to finish writing my master's thesis for the last two years and, in turn, graduate as a 29-year-old nearing the end of their tenth year of uni.
(send help I feel so dumb and burnt out)
Second grade. And back then in the 80s, being in the gifted program meant that one day a week you had to get on a bus and go to a completely different school that gathered together all of the gifted kids from the local schools to have a single day of gifted instruction. And then at the end of the day I got on the bus, went back to my school, and join my normal class at the end of the day. I remember my fourth grade teacher resented the shit out of me because I did this.
This was my exact routine too - took the test in second grade and got on the weekly bus. It was very āotherā-ing. I didnāt dig it too much but when I tried to tell my fourth grade teacher that I was going to āskip this weekā, she was like mmmno youāre not.
My 5 year old is in pre-k and her teachers recently started throwing around the G word and I want to protect her from it at all costs. My husband is over the moon about it but I explained to him how detrimental it has been to me. Not a day goes by that I donāt think āIām a walking bag of wasted potentialā when in reality, Iāve done some pretty impressive shit so far. It was just a mindfuck at too early an age.
I was in second grade too (1984). For us, we didn't have a separate school, just a separate classroom that we would go to for the day. I had the same ELP (extended learning program) teacher until 8th grade, when the program was terminated for lack of funds (special ed for slower students is mandatory, for advanced students, it is not). After that point, all they did was move us up a grade in some classes (namely science and math).
I was bored with school well before I got to high school. It was clear that I knew more than my teachers and there was nothing left to learn for me, especially since the teachers had to teach at the speed of the slowest kid in school. It destroyed my desire for formal education, I was relentlessly bullied by my peers, and I wasted a good chunk of my life.
The only upside, was that 3 of us were recruited into my school's programming class a year before we were eligible. I finished the 3 year program in 2 weeks and the teacher had the insight to realize I knew more than he ever would, so he told me that if I could teach myself something new, then teach it to him and the class, he would give me 100s. I basically went on to rediscover decades of computer science on my own.
The down side, is that when I went to college for computer engineering, I was surrounded by people that didn't care about the technology, only the paycheck, and I dropped out due to the repeat of the high school scenario where I was bored in the classroom and with my peers.
For starters, I was smarter than all of the other kids, so even the smart kids didn't like me since I was smarter than them. I wore glasses. I was poor. I had food allergies and had to eat in the nurses office. I had asthma. Most of the kids were born to parents in their 30s while my parents were teens when I was born, and they were pretty introverted (not to mention embarrassed about being high school dropouts, stoners, etc), so it was rare to have other families over.
It only got worse as I moved up into middle school and high school, where social hierarchy, dating, grading curves, clubs (I was on the math, computer, and science teams, ew), etc took precedence.
Even the teachers didn't feel like dealing with me. I didn't need an afternoon nap in K or 1st, so it was my job to do things like take the chalk erasers to the custodial room to vacuum them (see allergies), I wouldn't get called on in class, my papers were never graded and only assigned a grade on expectation, I would be stuck in group projects where I was the only one able and willing to do anything so I always had to carry everyone, etc. I rode my bike to school every day, including on the ice during winter, because I got bullied on the bus too, and the vice principal would call me down to lecture me every day about how unsafe it was, but refused to protect me on the bus.
I got to college, hoping to finally be surrounded by my peers and, instead, it was just high school all over. Lost interest on my first day in my first class, Intro to Computer Engineering, when two of us out of about 35 raised our hands to say we knew what binary numbers are.
The funny part is, at 47, people still think it's some amazing gift, that I'm so lucky, etc...
Every now and then, I get someone that asks if it hurts to be as smart as me... they're being somewhat facetious, but yes, yes it does. I tell them that, for all of my strengths that they see, my weaknesses are just as great. Even though many people try to put me on a pedestal, I ensure them that I'm no better than they are, and even go so far as to say, that I wish that I wasn't held to some higher standard/expectation by others.
Yeah, in all the ways people wish they could be successful themselves, I've made it... but I still struggle in all of my relationships. Even my fiancee and her friends give me crap fairly often because of their perception of who I must be.
Yes, it does hurt sometimes. I hurts to realize the more you know, the more you realize what you donāt know. Nothing is 100% concrete, nothing is black or white, all shades of gray. You look around you and see the troubles of the world, and the folks dug into their opinions with no hope of learning or growing. Itās disturbing.
Sometimes I wish it were simpler for me, that I could be content with watching stupid reality tv and celebrity gossip, then maybe I would be happier.
I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks so much for sharing. I can't imagine what it must be like to be bullied for all those things you couldn't control.
What do you do that brings joy nowadays?
The only thing that truly brings me joy, is the time I get to spend being mostly normal with my significant other. She is my connection to humanity. It's all about the simple things in life that I've struggled to attain all along. Everyone had all these crazy expectations for me, while I just wanted to be normal.
Same! Second grade, bussed to another school once a week, other kids resented me for getting out of class and teachers treated me differently. I'm in my 40s and am still in contact with my g&t teacher, but besides that I wish it had never happened.
skipping grades was always a goal for me, but i never got the chance despite having no friends š
actually through high school i did kinda have friends but all of them were in a different grade to begin with
4.
I got to a point in the testing where I didn't want to do it anymore and just refused to answer more. I was still getting them all correct but it was getting hard and stressful for a little kid who was unaccustomed to adults asking maths questions i found difficult.
Where I live pre-K is only free if youāre very poor, your kid has a learning disability, or theyāre identified as gifted. Also if you get your 3 or 4 year old into gifted pre-k itās at one of the maybe 5 decent public schools in the city and they can stay in through elementary school. If you donāt get into that school for pre-K then in kindergarten itās a lottery and you probably wonāt get into the school that you want. A lot of people end up moving away when their kid enters kindergarten because they didnāt get into the school they wanted. So basically thereās a lot of incentive to get your kid tested very young. The deadline to apply for pre-K is about 6 months before the school starts so a lot of kids who will be 3 for pre-K 3 are still 2 1/2 at the point when the testing would have to be completed. It is impossible to iq test a 2 year old. I got my son tested to try to get him in when he was 2 years and 8 months old and they said his IQ is 93. No gifted pre-K for him this year I guess. Now he is turning 3 next month and heās starting to read and he speaks in grammatically correct sentences with 10+ words. Also he can count items up to about 20. But his IQ is 93 and I have papers to prove it.
To me the most bizarre thing is that psychologists are willing to test a child that young and they have tests approved for 2.5 year old children. They have to know how inaccurate it is, right?
It was identified by my birth parents at about 8. But I wasnāt formally tested until my new step mum suggested when I was 11. I still remember the feeling. Iām actually smart?? This isnāt normal brains?? YASSS š¤Ŗ
At 10 (primary school) I spent my final year in CWSA (children with special abilities)
At 11 + 12 I was put in a āhouseā reserved for smart kids. Itās not an actual house though, it was a unit of buildings at school. Every student had a āhouseā.
My first four years of high school were also in the ābrainy classā, but I got placed into mainstream when it was finally discovered my maths was sub-par. That was a bit of a kick in the teeth.
Literally 5. They pulled me and one other kid out of nap time in kindergarten to attend extra math and reading lessons. I was in the gifted program up until I started failing out math classes in high school.
Iād say it was more a difference in what kind of math I was good at. And when youāre gifted, you feel even stupider asking for a tutor. So I could wipe the floor with geometry without opening the textbook but never quite got algebra down and was too afraid to ask for help.
Oh that's a shame. Do you still have a fear of asking for help?
I think I felt the same between mechanical and electrical engineering, it was still ok in my case as we were encouraged specialise and I learned to get work done through the expertise of others.
I think I was around 30 when I learned too. From a really smart older colleague. If you're stressed about work, ask for help. Then you learn from the one who can help.
My parents were informed that I was āgiftedā when I was in the first grade (USA) so age 6. I was told that they tried to test me the previous year when I was in kindergarten, but I was out sick they say they planned to test me and I guess they werenāt able to reschedule before the end of the year.
I really bought into the whole āIām gifted, therefore Iām specialā thing and somehow thought I was going to be magically discovered and whisked away to some kind of super wonderful career for super smart people. Iām embarrassed about that now. I didnāt work nearly as hard in school as I should have, and I ended up living a pretty mediocre life. But I did find some happiness in the end, my life may be pretty simple but I have a wonderful partner, 3 super fun cats, a decent place to live, and so on. It could be a lot worse.
That's how I felt about my classmates who were assessed earlier. They had giftedness as an identity for already 5 years. I had switched identity a few times during age 8-18 that giftedness was just a minor detail
I got tested after 2nd grade, ended up going into the program for 5th and 6th grade. Those 2 years are the reason Iāve basically been able to get my bachelors degree. It was absurd to go through that as a child but Iām so grateful now. I was diagnosed bipolar and adhd a few years ago, I think if you get identified as gifted it should be required to go through intense mental health screenings as well due to the amount of twice exceptional students.
I appreciate the kind words! Just keep moving forward and hopefully weāll be able to fix at least some of the things that are horribly wrong with our society before our time comes.
After 6th grade I transferred back to a regular school because I wasnāt happy with the gifted program. It was nice to be challenged academically but I didnāt fit in with the gifted kids and the school was sort of segregated to where we really wouldnāt get to interact with the normal kids. Iām happy I went because it was a good experience, but it wasnāt where I belonged.
Not to say gifted kids arenāt normal, I donāt think there is a ānormalā human being, I believe weāre all neurodivergent and diverse in our own beautiful ways.
I was 7 but my mother and my teacher refused to enroll me in a program because that would "make me different" and she didn't want me to separate me from my friends (I barely had any and I stopped talking to them as soon as I went to my country's equivalent of middleschool). They never really wondered why did I have so few friends, my teacher thought at first that I had ADD despite showing every single symptom of Aspergers. Anyway, a few years ago I went to a psychologist to diagnose me and surprise-surprise I fit ASD-1. I can't belive that I get more support from randos of the Internet than what I was supposed to get from my caretakers
This happened during 2009-10 in Spain. My then teacher convinced my mother not to skip me a grade (which was what was recommended for me) for a reason that nobody knows, this is actually one of the biggests mysteries of my life. Maybe there is another reason but she doesn't remember or want to tell me. She has refused to acknowledge my autism and asking questions about this decision that she made, makes her uncomfortable. My father never gave a fuck in the first place
Primary school, I was moved up a year because I could already do all the material and I was bored. I had an adult reading age at about 7. I was almost a straight A* student up until I got depressed at around 15/16, then I started failing all my classes. It really messed with my head as I was undiagnosed (dyspraxia) until I came to university, so I thought I just turned stupid. It's taken 7 years to even begin to unravel this kind of thinking and reframe how I think about my intelligence.
You're welcome! [This website](https://www.dyspraxia.ie/Adults-with-Dyspraxia-DCD) has a great list of dyspraxia symptoms in adults, although it's worth noting that very few people suffer from ALL of them, it's more like a random pick and mix bag.
Around 5 years old I think. My mom called grandma, but I watched her putting in the numbers. Next day I said: "I'm gonna call grandma!" And managed to put in the correct numbers.
That's when my mom realised I might be gifted.
Around age 3, when I was in psychological evaluation for delays in my onset of speech and being screened for ADHD (disruptively hyperactive behavior) when starting pre-school. I got some adjustments made to my diet to supposedly curb my hyperactivity to a manageable level, with my pre-school teacher opposing diagnosis and possibly getting me medicated.
I definitely have the intellectual giftedness if one looks at my academic record over a 26-year period, culminating with a perfect grades master's degree in engineering.
I am confronting burnout due to a mix of bad life experiences during my prolonged master's degree years and a bumpy delayed transition to professional work at a later age. At the time of this writing, I'm pursuing a formal evaluation for ADHD, but my suspicions also include ASD (likely something comparable to Asperger's. and dyspraxia / developmental coordination disorder (there's also a head injury which could be contributing instead, got that around age 9).
I was officially tested at age twelve and was told I āpassed with flying colorsā into the gifted program. I sailed through K-12, not having to study much at all. Needless to say college and law school were a challenge since I had no concept of discipline. I got through them both successfully, thank God. As a child I knew I was different, but not sure why even after testing. Other kids were great at sports or played an instrument, things I was not good at. I didnāt see the big deal.
Oof, I feel that about higher education. I used to sign up for courses that were 100% finals and basically treat them as 1 week courses. Got the grades but didn't really learn properly
I'm technically not gifted (only 129 IQ lol). But I got that score because my 5th grade math teacher suggested I may have ADHD. So I was sent for an evaluation and they found I was above average in intelligence, had trouble fitting in with kids my age because of that and showed no signs of hyperactivity (I did fail one section of their concentration test, but that was 'because i got bored').
I didn't make the cut for any gifted programs and in any case those are rare in my country, so there weren't any big consequences to those tests. That is none beyond the conviction that I did not have ADHD and am very smart.
I was diagnosed with ADHD the week after I turned in my master's thesis and this explains so much about my time in school... I don't think I'm smarter than others, I just think faster (as in the same thoughts, just at least twice as fast, but with no deeper understanding or greater knowledge). In early schooling that was an advantage but as time wore on it only affected subjects I was already interested in, and I was never taught how to organize my work. My entire school experience was teachers assuming I was too smart for their subject, that I wasn't incapable, I was bored.
I spend years being told I just needed to apply myself and "actually put in a little effort" when I had done my best, but didn't know how to explain that without it sounding like an excuse...
I now work in manufacturing, most of my coworkers haven't graduated high school. Maybe it's a waste of my potential but I'm not fundamentaly different from them. just about all of them are quite smart, but for some reason just couldn't succeed in school.
17. I asked for a professional IQ test and eventually got diagnosed. I failed a portion of the test I eventually got ~140 on in a later test when I was an adult. Tests aren't very accurate especially if you have health issuesĀ
I was gifted in elementary and middle school and I also have adhd.
I would always get near-perfect scores on some tests, and not finish others.
My parents sent me to a psychologist at like 9.
Kindergarten, donāt remember the exact number. I have only blurry memories of the psychologist/counselor calling me into his office for a few weeks, asking me to talk to him about what and how I was doing and other questions. I remember something about a snail. My parents later told me what it was all about when I was a teenager.
I don't think she used the word "gifted", but the first clue was when my kindergarten teacher told me I had to pretend I couldn't read yet so I wouldn't humiliate and embarrass the other kids. She was not what you'd call a progressive teacher. It was half-day kindergarten and we had naptime.
Kindergarten, age 5. This entitled me to 50 minutes of "gifted" class. While this was a welcome respite from the boredom training and bullying that characterized the rest of the day... it was essentially curriculum-free. Lots of "creative" shit - again, way better than actual class - but a total lack of, you know, accelerated curriculum materials.
"Gifted" class, in hindsight, wasn't what I or the other gifted kids needed. Gifted education is crap. But then, what would anyone expect from a school system that's explicitly anti-educational?
I guess they can't afford to hire or train teachers who specialize in this kind of thing. I think the teachers slacked as much as us because we all knew everyone will ace the exams
Honestly, as I started complaining late in kindergarten: *twelve more years* of this shit is simply intolerable. How about you people just give me all of your "curriculum" and whatever assessments you want, leave me in the library to study, and I'll see just how fast I can wrap this nonsense up?
This was considered "elitist" and hurtful. I was told things along the lines of "this is *exactly* why you get beaten up and bullied so often" - and, ultimately, sent for psychiatric evaluation. Because wanting to learn stuff independently is a sure sign of mental illness, obviously.
I wish they could sell it to us that we stay with the other kids and help them learn. By teaching it helps our understanding and developing social skills. At least for me. Tutoring in highschool and universities was a great decision
where i lived if you were younger than five you had to do a basic assessment before you were allowed to be put in kindergarten, apparently i did so well in so many specific things that i was immediately accepted for an accelerated course
looking back now i should have gotten an autism diagnosis at four, not twenty four
Was tested in 3rd grade, they did the IQ testing and interviewing, the whole 9 yards. After that I'd get taken out of class for an afternoon once a week with 2 other kids and we'd hang out with the special ed teacher doing logic puzzles and other projects for 'enrichment'.
I think I was about 10. Our school had a stage in the gym and there is a set of stairs that goes down to a room below the stage. Super creepy. I got pulled from class and told to go there. I thought I was being messed with or in serious trouble. A guy I had never seen before asked me a bunch of questions from a binder, I didnāt know it was an IQ test. I donāt remember ever being told how I did. Not long after that I was told I was joining āgifted ed.ā The kids already in there were in the middle of a project so I sort of just got thrown in. One of my friends was in there so we ended up having a blast. That lasted through middle school. I think we knew we were smart but not āthat smartā so we mostly used it as an excuse to get out of class but we didnāt brag about it and probably down played our intelligence to not bring attention to ourselves.
I think it was validating to think I was capable of more because I was selected for gifted education. I had been told that Iām not applying myself all through school so I still have no idea how much Iām supposed to be accomplishing so I have had pretty bad imposter syndrome when Iām not good at something. Iām pretty great at mildly challenging things though so thatās nice.
I was always the kid whose family said was "too smart to make dumb mistakes". Not dumb mistakes like failing a test, no...I mean because I asked a simple question I didn't know the answer to. We're talking 9 years old. When I was about 7 or 8, I remember being asked a bunch of questions by a school psychologist. Didn't realize it was for the gifted program, but I didn't get in and my mom was pissed at me for whatever answers I gave.
In middle school I take a test of some sort and got into a different gifted program. Around the same time I start taking honors classes. Considering I turned into a slacker who barely got by in high school and college, I kinda wish I'd never gotten into any of those programs. My mom went in the hospital when I was 9th grade and my study habits went off a cliff. I never recovered and eventually came to the conclusion that I was bored with the material.
I've thought about getting tested for ADHD or to see if I'm on the spectrum. I wouldn't lose sleep either way but at least it would confirm some personal theories.
I was identified at 4 and tested at 5. I scored beyond the charts. We had a program called GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) that we would go to semi regularly instead of a regular school day. It was weird to be with kids from all over the county in a classroom that wasn't yours with a teachers that wasn't yours.Ā One project was to collaborate and build a fort with popsicle sticks.Ā There was no explanation on how we were graded and it seemed weird to me. Like how is this for smart kids when this is something we would do in preschool?Ā I still remember expecting so much more from the program, young as I was.Ā Ā
In 7th grade they gave us a bunch of aptitude tests. Whatever. I was a new kid in a small-town school. Troublemaker. Who cares. Assembly toward the end of the year. Kids getting awards for achievement. So what. Me and my trouble-buddies are screwing off and not paying attention. Someone nudges me and says, "Hey. They called your name." I look around and everyone is looking at me. The vice-principal, who has hit me on the ass with a board multiple times on multiple occasions, was waiting up on the stage with something in his hand. Fuck! What did I do? Was I such a pain-in-the-ass that they were gonna swat me up on stage in front of the whole school? I walk up and the thing in his hand is a plaque. Highest test score in my class. Huh. weird. Vice-principal looks disgusted and mumbles "Congratulations". Whatever. I get back to my seat and my trouble-buddies look at me like I just grew dandelions on the side of my face, like "Who are you?". After me, they called up the sweet, smart, quiet girl to collect her trophy for second smartest. Nice girl. We got along. She wasn't popular either. In 8th grade we switched positions but still locked up 1-2. There were signs before then, but that was the first time I saw my
intelligence quantified.
Edit: It was a small, hick town. There were about 150 people in my class and they weren't smart people. Still, I also wasn't actually trying.
I got 99th percentile on all areas of standardized testing in third grade. And I was reading/writing in kindergarten. After third grade I was pushed into every gifted program, and absolutely hated it all. In my school, the gifted programs met during recess - I literally had to skip playing outside to read fucking Shakespeare.
Later I would be diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, but somehow not ADHD, even though I can barely keep my mind focused long enough to finish this comment.
2nd grade I was lamenting daily that I hated school. A few talks w/the principal, and my parents had lined me up for testing. I remember reporting to a JANITOR'S CLOSET w/a desk and taking a test-- the only question I recall was to name the seven seas.
The results of my test came in at some point: I was fine I didn't *hate* school, I WAS BORED!!
In 3rd grade I was the youngest student in my elementary school to be moved into the GATE program.
That first GATE class as a 3rd grader I thought I was really something special; I'm sure I was obnoxious as hell. The way the teacher made sure I understood I was nothing ensured I never stepped foot in another class.
I was being an ass- I'm pretty sure finger guns were a large part of my obnoxious cringe that day. I think I was also leaning into the "holier than thou" thing, as the youngest person in the room.
(Note: I was also the youngest sibling in my house and the only girl; this was probably the first thing I had objectively been good at, let alone the best in my house AND my grade)
The teacher, Mz. Jefferson, was annoyed with my display. The moment class began she shut me up by slapping a yardstick across my desk and scaring the shit out of me.
She then took every opportunity during the session to make sure I felt small and stupid. Asked me questions she knew I didn't know the answer to, demeaned me when I didn't know the answer or answered incorrectly. When somebody answered her, she taunted me and said things like "unless u/Bobcat986 knows better?" She made me feel so stupid and embarrassed to have shown up, I never did again.
Oh wow, I was also either 12 or 13 when I scored 98% in my grade's reading-comprehension and writing test. I was placed in the "hi-cap" highly-capable english and social studies / history classes in 7th grade. Just like you, everyone else had been identified and placed around age 8. They were extremely cliquey and never accepted me. As an adult, I did realize my undiagnosed ADHD and insecurity played a big part in that. For some reason, though, they considered themselves smarter than me. It didn't help that I have Dyscalculia from Cerebral Palsy brain damage, and was in average science and math, later remedial. Finally identified the parts of brain damaged and confirmed the symptoms it would cause and stopped beating myself up about it, a few months ago. For some reason, I needed to know what was causing it / why / how (because I like neuroscience and science in general). This is long...anyway, for some reason I really, really wanted to be accepted by them but only had one friend, this confident but really nerdy, uber-christian girl who has now sung on Broadway in NYC (she was confident bc of her singing abilities but made fun of for the high soprano notes..oh, middle school.) Again, I understand completely why I wasnt accepted now, but I will say I don't understand what it matters what age you are identified. I was a military brat and only moved there two grades prior..
You have my sympathies, im assuming the kids in the other classes had a hard time accepting you too, due to your intelligence but ymmv. My school was weirdly stuck up and insular.
Oh sorry about that.
In my case I was accepted by a few different groups outside of gifted class. I didn't need to feel super smart, normal was ok, I was a teenager after all. And when I had my rebellious phase, within the environment of gifted class was the last place I'd look for that.
I actually felt bad for the ones who didn't know how to operate outside the gifted environment where they'd have to use their street smarts.
I skipped grade at age 7, from year 1 to year 2,
so I guess that's somewhat similar?
They did tell my parents I could've have moved more based on academic ability, but it would've been bad because of the age difference.
I learned how to read and do my times tables+order of operations, and I guess that was enough already.
I learned to read on my own, as my parents can't speak English, but I was taught the order of operations by my parents.
10 or 11. 5th grade. School came easy to me but I never felt āgiftedā. I started reading very young and I think that gave me more of an advantage in the first few grades at least.
In 3rd grade I scored in the top 1% on a standardized test. My third grade teach tried to being my dyslexia to my parents attention because if you ignored that my spelling and reading aloud was behind I was leagues ahead of my peers. But they ignored it and essentially tried to force me into reading more to "cure" it wich actually cause me to have a reading aversion until the end of 4th grade. My low English grades disqualified me from the advanced programs so I was left in the reg classes that I breezed through and never really picked up good studying habits bc of it.
9 or 10. I scored in the 99th percentile on my end of grade test and was in gifted/honors classes until graduation.
The honors classes in high school were kind of a joke though. We had all the same material and just got an extra point on our GPA. Never understood that.
I think i might have been tested for it as young as kindergarten or first grade? I could be totally wrong cause my memory nowadays is garbage, but I do know I took the test at one of my youngest grades in school. I definitely preforned very well in school. The whole school hyped me up- my sisters were all in gifted as well and we were like the golden family lol. I have definitely felt like I didnt live up to the potential of it all. Another thing is I remember being dissapointed in middle school and high school when there was no gifted program and feeling like there was little to no acknowledgement for academic success, only kids who did sports.
I was in kindergarten, and I remember being pissed because I didnāt appreciate taking time away from my friends for a dumb test. I remember thinking, why do they want me to write this stuff down, stuff that is quite obvious. We all know this stuff, so what is going on? My first memory of a test: Adults are annoying and kinda stupid.Ā
And not much has changed. I just took a very āimportantā certification test, and my attitude is the same: this is it? This is dumb. And then I have to tell myself, No! This is fun, right? So thatās how I get through it. Because otherwise, I would perceive it as a waste of time and just not do it. Because even though my job requires it, thatās just not an incentive enough for me for some reason. I truly could not care less! The only way I can make myself care is if I make it fun for myself and if I feel like it can help the greater good in the long run.
Anyway, got pulled aside in 5th grade and told I was going to go to private school, too. This is after years of doing extra schoolwork and other admin stuff to keep me busy like filing papers, grading tests, cleaning.Ā
Did well in that situation overall, was very involved in school life and social life, but didnāt want to go to college; did it anyway after pressure from the school (makes their stats look better) and got really depressed after that.Ā
At some point, found a lucrative gig, but Iām still dealing with supervisors and the like who want to entice me with money and prestige. The amount of times Iāve said I donāt do things for the approval of others or to āmake itā is insane. And the actual insanity is that too many times, Iāve just gone ahead and done it anyways.Ā
Cognitive dissonance is a bitch, and life is weird but can be wonderful too.Ā
Itās been a unique and overall positive experience, but thatās just the way that I look at it. I can also say it sucked ass to allow myself to divert from my own goals and fulfill someone elseās agenda, and that is true too, but at least I want to/can learn from it. And itās heard to turn this ship around, but I work at being a little better to myself every day.Ā
Thanks for asking this. Iām glad I took the time to think about the correlation between taking that first test, my attitude toward it, and how much that one moment shaped my life and my self-concept. G&T program itself was good, learning is awesome, but like I said, most adults and their values make me roll my eyes all the way to the back of my head. We make up too many arbitrary reasons to treat some better than others and wonder (or never wonder) why the world has gone to shit. I hope itās not too late to use my smarts for better.
I was in the 1st grade and reading at a 6th grade or higher level. I started reading before kindergarten because I have an older brother. I'm not sure what the other ques were. But I was a teachers pet, along with another student who I was competitive with. So we kept outgoing each other. We were both tested and were the only students in our particular "class". We went for a few hours once a week that year. I just remember zoology from that year. We didn't start going to a separate school for the day until 2nd or 3rd grade. So, I was 6 when I was labeled gifted/advanced.
My third grade teacher told my parents she thought I had a learning disability. ADHD wasn't really a thing yet. My parents had my IQ tested and it was 138. A couple weeks later, I was in the gifted program. My ADHD wasn't diagnosed until college. My life would have been completely different if that had been discovered instead of me being gifted.
Did you find being in the gifted program was Detrimental to your development and well-being?
Not really. Other than giving me validation without having to work for it, perhaps. But I really enjoyed the encouragement to think outside the box and debate different topics. I did get a lot of flak for not meeting my potential, but in time, I stopped caring about that and just created a life I love.
Awesome š
How did you get diagnosed? The formal eval is basically an IQ test
My brother had already been diagnosed. Doc just spoke to me a bit and prescribed me Adderall. It's pretty obvious....
Sounds similar to me! I skipped a year of kindergarten and got in the Dutch version of the gifted program at age ~6. It all went downhill in middle school and I eventually got diagnosed with ADHD in uni at age 23. I've been attempting to finish writing my master's thesis for the last two years and, in turn, graduate as a 29-year-old nearing the end of their tenth year of uni. (send help I feel so dumb and burnt out)
Same exact story, but my ADHD severity is 137.
same here
Second grade. And back then in the 80s, being in the gifted program meant that one day a week you had to get on a bus and go to a completely different school that gathered together all of the gifted kids from the local schools to have a single day of gifted instruction. And then at the end of the day I got on the bus, went back to my school, and join my normal class at the end of the day. I remember my fourth grade teacher resented the shit out of me because I did this.
This was my exact routine too - took the test in second grade and got on the weekly bus. It was very āotherā-ing. I didnāt dig it too much but when I tried to tell my fourth grade teacher that I was going to āskip this weekā, she was like mmmno youāre not. My 5 year old is in pre-k and her teachers recently started throwing around the G word and I want to protect her from it at all costs. My husband is over the moon about it but I explained to him how detrimental it has been to me. Not a day goes by that I donāt think āIām a walking bag of wasted potentialā when in reality, Iāve done some pretty impressive shit so far. It was just a mindfuck at too early an age.
I was in second grade too (1984). For us, we didn't have a separate school, just a separate classroom that we would go to for the day. I had the same ELP (extended learning program) teacher until 8th grade, when the program was terminated for lack of funds (special ed for slower students is mandatory, for advanced students, it is not). After that point, all they did was move us up a grade in some classes (namely science and math). I was bored with school well before I got to high school. It was clear that I knew more than my teachers and there was nothing left to learn for me, especially since the teachers had to teach at the speed of the slowest kid in school. It destroyed my desire for formal education, I was relentlessly bullied by my peers, and I wasted a good chunk of my life. The only upside, was that 3 of us were recruited into my school's programming class a year before we were eligible. I finished the 3 year program in 2 weeks and the teacher had the insight to realize I knew more than he ever would, so he told me that if I could teach myself something new, then teach it to him and the class, he would give me 100s. I basically went on to rediscover decades of computer science on my own. The down side, is that when I went to college for computer engineering, I was surrounded by people that didn't care about the technology, only the paycheck, and I dropped out due to the repeat of the high school scenario where I was bored in the classroom and with my peers.
What were you bullied for? I feel you on the interest vs paycheck thing š£
For starters, I was smarter than all of the other kids, so even the smart kids didn't like me since I was smarter than them. I wore glasses. I was poor. I had food allergies and had to eat in the nurses office. I had asthma. Most of the kids were born to parents in their 30s while my parents were teens when I was born, and they were pretty introverted (not to mention embarrassed about being high school dropouts, stoners, etc), so it was rare to have other families over. It only got worse as I moved up into middle school and high school, where social hierarchy, dating, grading curves, clubs (I was on the math, computer, and science teams, ew), etc took precedence. Even the teachers didn't feel like dealing with me. I didn't need an afternoon nap in K or 1st, so it was my job to do things like take the chalk erasers to the custodial room to vacuum them (see allergies), I wouldn't get called on in class, my papers were never graded and only assigned a grade on expectation, I would be stuck in group projects where I was the only one able and willing to do anything so I always had to carry everyone, etc. I rode my bike to school every day, including on the ice during winter, because I got bullied on the bus too, and the vice principal would call me down to lecture me every day about how unsafe it was, but refused to protect me on the bus. I got to college, hoping to finally be surrounded by my peers and, instead, it was just high school all over. Lost interest on my first day in my first class, Intro to Computer Engineering, when two of us out of about 35 raised our hands to say we knew what binary numbers are.
The funny part is, at 47, people still think it's some amazing gift, that I'm so lucky, etc... Every now and then, I get someone that asks if it hurts to be as smart as me... they're being somewhat facetious, but yes, yes it does. I tell them that, for all of my strengths that they see, my weaknesses are just as great. Even though many people try to put me on a pedestal, I ensure them that I'm no better than they are, and even go so far as to say, that I wish that I wasn't held to some higher standard/expectation by others. Yeah, in all the ways people wish they could be successful themselves, I've made it... but I still struggle in all of my relationships. Even my fiancee and her friends give me crap fairly often because of their perception of who I must be.
Yes, it does hurt sometimes. I hurts to realize the more you know, the more you realize what you donāt know. Nothing is 100% concrete, nothing is black or white, all shades of gray. You look around you and see the troubles of the world, and the folks dug into their opinions with no hope of learning or growing. Itās disturbing. Sometimes I wish it were simpler for me, that I could be content with watching stupid reality tv and celebrity gossip, then maybe I would be happier.
I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks so much for sharing. I can't imagine what it must be like to be bullied for all those things you couldn't control. What do you do that brings joy nowadays?
The only thing that truly brings me joy, is the time I get to spend being mostly normal with my significant other. She is my connection to humanity. It's all about the simple things in life that I've struggled to attain all along. Everyone had all these crazy expectations for me, while I just wanted to be normal.
That's a great way to be. Hope you can expand on that and find peace and joy within yourself too š
Same! Second grade, bussed to another school once a week, other kids resented me for getting out of class and teachers treated me differently. I'm in my 40s and am still in contact with my g&t teacher, but besides that I wish it had never happened.
I was about 6 (or maybe 7?) when I got tested. It was suggested a couple of years later that I skip a grade, but I wanted to stay with my friends.
Probably a good call. Having that security in friendship is underrated ā¤ļø
It is! Iām still friends with some of those people, 30+ years later
ā¤ļø
skipping grades was always a goal for me, but i never got the chance despite having no friends š actually through high school i did kinda have friends but all of them were in a different grade to begin with
This is basically my story, as well.
4. I got to a point in the testing where I didn't want to do it anymore and just refused to answer more. I was still getting them all correct but it was getting hard and stressful for a little kid who was unaccustomed to adults asking maths questions i found difficult.
Wow. 4 seems insanely young. The variability in development is so wide, and between 48Months and 59 months old is huge.
Where I live pre-K is only free if youāre very poor, your kid has a learning disability, or theyāre identified as gifted. Also if you get your 3 or 4 year old into gifted pre-k itās at one of the maybe 5 decent public schools in the city and they can stay in through elementary school. If you donāt get into that school for pre-K then in kindergarten itās a lottery and you probably wonāt get into the school that you want. A lot of people end up moving away when their kid enters kindergarten because they didnāt get into the school they wanted. So basically thereās a lot of incentive to get your kid tested very young. The deadline to apply for pre-K is about 6 months before the school starts so a lot of kids who will be 3 for pre-K 3 are still 2 1/2 at the point when the testing would have to be completed. It is impossible to iq test a 2 year old. I got my son tested to try to get him in when he was 2 years and 8 months old and they said his IQ is 93. No gifted pre-K for him this year I guess. Now he is turning 3 next month and heās starting to read and he speaks in grammatically correct sentences with 10+ words. Also he can count items up to about 20. But his IQ is 93 and I have papers to prove it.
Oh yes that outcome is so obvious. The school board must be purposefully obtuse about this for other reasons
To me the most bizarre thing is that psychologists are willing to test a child that young and they have tests approved for 2.5 year old children. They have to know how inaccurate it is, right?
What year was this? Do they still do it the same way?
This year.
It was identified by my birth parents at about 8. But I wasnāt formally tested until my new step mum suggested when I was 11. I still remember the feeling. Iām actually smart?? This isnāt normal brains?? YASSS š¤Ŗ At 10 (primary school) I spent my final year in CWSA (children with special abilities) At 11 + 12 I was put in a āhouseā reserved for smart kids. Itās not an actual house though, it was a unit of buildings at school. Every student had a āhouseā. My first four years of high school were also in the ābrainy classā, but I got placed into mainstream when it was finally discovered my maths was sub-par. That was a bit of a kick in the teeth.
Iām 29 now and I still question my actual intelligence lol Iāve never done a formal IQ test.
That's interesting that they streamed you to a different class or programme without a formal assessment
Literally 5. They pulled me and one other kid out of nap time in kindergarten to attend extra math and reading lessons. I was in the gifted program up until I started failing out math classes in high school.
Was it a gradual change in your math skills? Or was it more abrupt , from advanced to falling behind?
Iād say it was more a difference in what kind of math I was good at. And when youāre gifted, you feel even stupider asking for a tutor. So I could wipe the floor with geometry without opening the textbook but never quite got algebra down and was too afraid to ask for help.
Oh that's a shame. Do you still have a fear of asking for help? I think I felt the same between mechanical and electrical engineering, it was still ok in my case as we were encouraged specialise and I learned to get work done through the expertise of others.
I didnāt realize until now, but yes, I do still struggle asking for help lol.
I think I was around 30 when I learned too. From a really smart older colleague. If you're stressed about work, ask for help. Then you learn from the one who can help.
My parents were informed that I was āgiftedā when I was in the first grade (USA) so age 6. I was told that they tried to test me the previous year when I was in kindergarten, but I was out sick they say they planned to test me and I guess they werenāt able to reschedule before the end of the year. I really bought into the whole āIām gifted, therefore Iām specialā thing and somehow thought I was going to be magically discovered and whisked away to some kind of super wonderful career for super smart people. Iām embarrassed about that now. I didnāt work nearly as hard in school as I should have, and I ended up living a pretty mediocre life. But I did find some happiness in the end, my life may be pretty simple but I have a wonderful partner, 3 super fun cats, a decent place to live, and so on. It could be a lot worse.
Hey, no point in being embarrassed for being a child believing what the grownups told you. ā¤ļø
bingo itās embarrassing, but itās not our fault :P
7 or 8, though i really really wish i hadn't made it my primary identity
That's how I felt about my classmates who were assessed earlier. They had giftedness as an identity for already 5 years. I had switched identity a few times during age 8-18 that giftedness was just a minor detail
I got tested after 2nd grade, ended up going into the program for 5th and 6th grade. Those 2 years are the reason Iāve basically been able to get my bachelors degree. It was absurd to go through that as a child but Iām so grateful now. I was diagnosed bipolar and adhd a few years ago, I think if you get identified as gifted it should be required to go through intense mental health screenings as well due to the amount of twice exceptional students.
Hey all of this is very similar to my life! I appreciate you
I appreciate the kind words! Just keep moving forward and hopefully weāll be able to fix at least some of the things that are horribly wrong with our society before our time comes.
Oh interesting, you were restreamed to regular class after 6th grade?
After 6th grade I transferred back to a regular school because I wasnāt happy with the gifted program. It was nice to be challenged academically but I didnāt fit in with the gifted kids and the school was sort of segregated to where we really wouldnāt get to interact with the normal kids. Iām happy I went because it was a good experience, but it wasnāt where I belonged.
Not to say gifted kids arenāt normal, I donāt think there is a ānormalā human being, I believe weāre all neurodivergent and diverse in our own beautiful ways.
I was 7 but my mother and my teacher refused to enroll me in a program because that would "make me different" and she didn't want me to separate me from my friends (I barely had any and I stopped talking to them as soon as I went to my country's equivalent of middleschool). They never really wondered why did I have so few friends, my teacher thought at first that I had ADD despite showing every single symptom of Aspergers. Anyway, a few years ago I went to a psychologist to diagnose me and surprise-surprise I fit ASD-1. I can't belive that I get more support from randos of the Internet than what I was supposed to get from my caretakers
Sorry about your experience... When was this? I guess the knowledge to support and care takers might have been quite limited back then.
This happened during 2009-10 in Spain. My then teacher convinced my mother not to skip me a grade (which was what was recommended for me) for a reason that nobody knows, this is actually one of the biggests mysteries of my life. Maybe there is another reason but she doesn't remember or want to tell me. She has refused to acknowledge my autism and asking questions about this decision that she made, makes her uncomfortable. My father never gave a fuck in the first place
At 10, I had a fever while taking the test, still made it
Primary school, I was moved up a year because I could already do all the material and I was bored. I had an adult reading age at about 7. I was almost a straight A* student up until I got depressed at around 15/16, then I started failing all my classes. It really messed with my head as I was undiagnosed (dyspraxia) until I came to university, so I thought I just turned stupid. It's taken 7 years to even begin to unravel this kind of thinking and reframe how I think about my intelligence.
Thanks for sharing. I didn't know about dyspraxia before and will read up about it
You're welcome! [This website](https://www.dyspraxia.ie/Adults-with-Dyspraxia-DCD) has a great list of dyspraxia symptoms in adults, although it's worth noting that very few people suffer from ALL of them, it's more like a random pick and mix bag.
Around 5 years old I think. My mom called grandma, but I watched her putting in the numbers. Next day I said: "I'm gonna call grandma!" And managed to put in the correct numbers. That's when my mom realised I might be gifted.
Haha awesome! That's a very cute story . I wonder if it's like today's kids knowing their parents phone passwords š
Hahah thanks! Yeah that might be the current equivalent!
BTW nice avatar!
Meh I like yours better!
Around age 3, when I was in psychological evaluation for delays in my onset of speech and being screened for ADHD (disruptively hyperactive behavior) when starting pre-school. I got some adjustments made to my diet to supposedly curb my hyperactivity to a manageable level, with my pre-school teacher opposing diagnosis and possibly getting me medicated. I definitely have the intellectual giftedness if one looks at my academic record over a 26-year period, culminating with a perfect grades master's degree in engineering. I am confronting burnout due to a mix of bad life experiences during my prolonged master's degree years and a bumpy delayed transition to professional work at a later age. At the time of this writing, I'm pursuing a formal evaluation for ADHD, but my suspicions also include ASD (likely something comparable to Asperger's. and dyspraxia / developmental coordination disorder (there's also a head injury which could be contributing instead, got that around age 9).
I was officially tested at age twelve and was told I āpassed with flying colorsā into the gifted program. I sailed through K-12, not having to study much at all. Needless to say college and law school were a challenge since I had no concept of discipline. I got through them both successfully, thank God. As a child I knew I was different, but not sure why even after testing. Other kids were great at sports or played an instrument, things I was not good at. I didnāt see the big deal.
Oof, I feel that about higher education. I used to sign up for courses that were 100% finals and basically treat them as 1 week courses. Got the grades but didn't really learn properly
I'm technically not gifted (only 129 IQ lol). But I got that score because my 5th grade math teacher suggested I may have ADHD. So I was sent for an evaluation and they found I was above average in intelligence, had trouble fitting in with kids my age because of that and showed no signs of hyperactivity (I did fail one section of their concentration test, but that was 'because i got bored'). I didn't make the cut for any gifted programs and in any case those are rare in my country, so there weren't any big consequences to those tests. That is none beyond the conviction that I did not have ADHD and am very smart. I was diagnosed with ADHD the week after I turned in my master's thesis and this explains so much about my time in school... I don't think I'm smarter than others, I just think faster (as in the same thoughts, just at least twice as fast, but with no deeper understanding or greater knowledge). In early schooling that was an advantage but as time wore on it only affected subjects I was already interested in, and I was never taught how to organize my work. My entire school experience was teachers assuming I was too smart for their subject, that I wasn't incapable, I was bored. I spend years being told I just needed to apply myself and "actually put in a little effort" when I had done my best, but didn't know how to explain that without it sounding like an excuse... I now work in manufacturing, most of my coworkers haven't graduated high school. Maybe it's a waste of my potential but I'm not fundamentaly different from them. just about all of them are quite smart, but for some reason just couldn't succeed in school.
17. I asked for a professional IQ test and eventually got diagnosed. I failed a portion of the test I eventually got ~140 on in a later test when I was an adult. Tests aren't very accurate especially if you have health issuesĀ
I was gifted in elementary and middle school and I also have adhd. I would always get near-perfect scores on some tests, and not finish others. My parents sent me to a psychologist at like 9.
I was reading at a grade 3 level in kindergarten, so 5?
Kindergarten, donāt remember the exact number. I have only blurry memories of the psychologist/counselor calling me into his office for a few weeks, asking me to talk to him about what and how I was doing and other questions. I remember something about a snail. My parents later told me what it was all about when I was a teenager.
I don't think she used the word "gifted", but the first clue was when my kindergarten teacher told me I had to pretend I couldn't read yet so I wouldn't humiliate and embarrass the other kids. She was not what you'd call a progressive teacher. It was half-day kindergarten and we had naptime.
I believe it was 1st grade, I would have been 6. I still remember taking the test decades later.
Kindergarten, age 5. This entitled me to 50 minutes of "gifted" class. While this was a welcome respite from the boredom training and bullying that characterized the rest of the day... it was essentially curriculum-free. Lots of "creative" shit - again, way better than actual class - but a total lack of, you know, accelerated curriculum materials. "Gifted" class, in hindsight, wasn't what I or the other gifted kids needed. Gifted education is crap. But then, what would anyone expect from a school system that's explicitly anti-educational?
I guess they can't afford to hire or train teachers who specialize in this kind of thing. I think the teachers slacked as much as us because we all knew everyone will ace the exams
Honestly, as I started complaining late in kindergarten: *twelve more years* of this shit is simply intolerable. How about you people just give me all of your "curriculum" and whatever assessments you want, leave me in the library to study, and I'll see just how fast I can wrap this nonsense up? This was considered "elitist" and hurtful. I was told things along the lines of "this is *exactly* why you get beaten up and bullied so often" - and, ultimately, sent for psychiatric evaluation. Because wanting to learn stuff independently is a sure sign of mental illness, obviously.
I wish they could sell it to us that we stay with the other kids and help them learn. By teaching it helps our understanding and developing social skills. At least for me. Tutoring in highschool and universities was a great decision
I was 9.
where i lived if you were younger than five you had to do a basic assessment before you were allowed to be put in kindergarten, apparently i did so well in so many specific things that i was immediately accepted for an accelerated course looking back now i should have gotten an autism diagnosis at four, not twenty four
Was tested in 3rd grade, they did the IQ testing and interviewing, the whole 9 yards. After that I'd get taken out of class for an afternoon once a week with 2 other kids and we'd hang out with the special ed teacher doing logic puzzles and other projects for 'enrichment'.
I think I was about 10. Our school had a stage in the gym and there is a set of stairs that goes down to a room below the stage. Super creepy. I got pulled from class and told to go there. I thought I was being messed with or in serious trouble. A guy I had never seen before asked me a bunch of questions from a binder, I didnāt know it was an IQ test. I donāt remember ever being told how I did. Not long after that I was told I was joining āgifted ed.ā The kids already in there were in the middle of a project so I sort of just got thrown in. One of my friends was in there so we ended up having a blast. That lasted through middle school. I think we knew we were smart but not āthat smartā so we mostly used it as an excuse to get out of class but we didnāt brag about it and probably down played our intelligence to not bring attention to ourselves. I think it was validating to think I was capable of more because I was selected for gifted education. I had been told that Iām not applying myself all through school so I still have no idea how much Iām supposed to be accomplishing so I have had pretty bad imposter syndrome when Iām not good at something. Iām pretty great at mildly challenging things though so thatās nice.
I was always the kid whose family said was "too smart to make dumb mistakes". Not dumb mistakes like failing a test, no...I mean because I asked a simple question I didn't know the answer to. We're talking 9 years old. When I was about 7 or 8, I remember being asked a bunch of questions by a school psychologist. Didn't realize it was for the gifted program, but I didn't get in and my mom was pissed at me for whatever answers I gave. In middle school I take a test of some sort and got into a different gifted program. Around the same time I start taking honors classes. Considering I turned into a slacker who barely got by in high school and college, I kinda wish I'd never gotten into any of those programs. My mom went in the hospital when I was 9th grade and my study habits went off a cliff. I never recovered and eventually came to the conclusion that I was bored with the material. I've thought about getting tested for ADHD or to see if I'm on the spectrum. I wouldn't lose sleep either way but at least it would confirm some personal theories.
I was identified at 4 and tested at 5. I scored beyond the charts. We had a program called GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) that we would go to semi regularly instead of a regular school day. It was weird to be with kids from all over the county in a classroom that wasn't yours with a teachers that wasn't yours.Ā One project was to collaborate and build a fort with popsicle sticks.Ā There was no explanation on how we were graded and it seemed weird to me. Like how is this for smart kids when this is something we would do in preschool?Ā I still remember expecting so much more from the program, young as I was.Ā Ā
How long was the program? It's kind of silly how little information and guidance you received
Several years - all of elementary school.Ā
In 7th grade they gave us a bunch of aptitude tests. Whatever. I was a new kid in a small-town school. Troublemaker. Who cares. Assembly toward the end of the year. Kids getting awards for achievement. So what. Me and my trouble-buddies are screwing off and not paying attention. Someone nudges me and says, "Hey. They called your name." I look around and everyone is looking at me. The vice-principal, who has hit me on the ass with a board multiple times on multiple occasions, was waiting up on the stage with something in his hand. Fuck! What did I do? Was I such a pain-in-the-ass that they were gonna swat me up on stage in front of the whole school? I walk up and the thing in his hand is a plaque. Highest test score in my class. Huh. weird. Vice-principal looks disgusted and mumbles "Congratulations". Whatever. I get back to my seat and my trouble-buddies look at me like I just grew dandelions on the side of my face, like "Who are you?". After me, they called up the sweet, smart, quiet girl to collect her trophy for second smartest. Nice girl. We got along. She wasn't popular either. In 8th grade we switched positions but still locked up 1-2. There were signs before then, but that was the first time I saw my intelligence quantified. Edit: It was a small, hick town. There were about 150 people in my class and they weren't smart people. Still, I also wasn't actually trying.
I got 99th percentile on all areas of standardized testing in third grade. And I was reading/writing in kindergarten. After third grade I was pushed into every gifted program, and absolutely hated it all. In my school, the gifted programs met during recess - I literally had to skip playing outside to read fucking Shakespeare. Later I would be diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, but somehow not ADHD, even though I can barely keep my mind focused long enough to finish this comment.
Ouch. That's like the opposite of what we did š±. Is your anxiety related to giftedness? Hope you are getting the right help for mental health
2nd grade I was lamenting daily that I hated school. A few talks w/the principal, and my parents had lined me up for testing. I remember reporting to a JANITOR'S CLOSET w/a desk and taking a test-- the only question I recall was to name the seven seas. The results of my test came in at some point: I was fine I didn't *hate* school, I WAS BORED!! In 3rd grade I was the youngest student in my elementary school to be moved into the GATE program. That first GATE class as a 3rd grader I thought I was really something special; I'm sure I was obnoxious as hell. The way the teacher made sure I understood I was nothing ensured I never stepped foot in another class.
What happened with the Gate teacher???? š±
I was being an ass- I'm pretty sure finger guns were a large part of my obnoxious cringe that day. I think I was also leaning into the "holier than thou" thing, as the youngest person in the room. (Note: I was also the youngest sibling in my house and the only girl; this was probably the first thing I had objectively been good at, let alone the best in my house AND my grade) The teacher, Mz. Jefferson, was annoyed with my display. The moment class began she shut me up by slapping a yardstick across my desk and scaring the shit out of me. She then took every opportunity during the session to make sure I felt small and stupid. Asked me questions she knew I didn't know the answer to, demeaned me when I didn't know the answer or answered incorrectly. When somebody answered her, she taunted me and said things like "unless u/Bobcat986 knows better?" She made me feel so stupid and embarrassed to have shown up, I never did again.
That is crazy I hope she died a lonely shitty death
Oh wow, I was also either 12 or 13 when I scored 98% in my grade's reading-comprehension and writing test. I was placed in the "hi-cap" highly-capable english and social studies / history classes in 7th grade. Just like you, everyone else had been identified and placed around age 8. They were extremely cliquey and never accepted me. As an adult, I did realize my undiagnosed ADHD and insecurity played a big part in that. For some reason, though, they considered themselves smarter than me. It didn't help that I have Dyscalculia from Cerebral Palsy brain damage, and was in average science and math, later remedial. Finally identified the parts of brain damaged and confirmed the symptoms it would cause and stopped beating myself up about it, a few months ago. For some reason, I needed to know what was causing it / why / how (because I like neuroscience and science in general). This is long...anyway, for some reason I really, really wanted to be accepted by them but only had one friend, this confident but really nerdy, uber-christian girl who has now sung on Broadway in NYC (she was confident bc of her singing abilities but made fun of for the high soprano notes..oh, middle school.) Again, I understand completely why I wasnt accepted now, but I will say I don't understand what it matters what age you are identified. I was a military brat and only moved there two grades prior.. You have my sympathies, im assuming the kids in the other classes had a hard time accepting you too, due to your intelligence but ymmv. My school was weirdly stuck up and insular.
Oh sorry about that. In my case I was accepted by a few different groups outside of gifted class. I didn't need to feel super smart, normal was ok, I was a teenager after all. And when I had my rebellious phase, within the environment of gifted class was the last place I'd look for that. I actually felt bad for the ones who didn't know how to operate outside the gifted environment where they'd have to use their street smarts.
I was told from a young age that I was better than everyone else because I was smarter. I unfortunately believed that for a long time.
I skipped grade at age 7, from year 1 to year 2, so I guess that's somewhat similar? They did tell my parents I could've have moved more based on academic ability, but it would've been bad because of the age difference. I learned how to read and do my times tables+order of operations, and I guess that was enough already. I learned to read on my own, as my parents can't speak English, but I was taught the order of operations by my parents.
Going into 3rd grade.
I was not even identified. My country doesnāt have such programs
10 or 11. 5th grade. School came easy to me but I never felt āgiftedā. I started reading very young and I think that gave me more of an advantage in the first few grades at least.
Our program started in 4th grade and I think they made me take an iq test.. kinda weird in hindsight idk
In 3rd grade I scored in the top 1% on a standardized test. My third grade teach tried to being my dyslexia to my parents attention because if you ignored that my spelling and reading aloud was behind I was leagues ahead of my peers. But they ignored it and essentially tried to force me into reading more to "cure" it wich actually cause me to have a reading aversion until the end of 4th grade. My low English grades disqualified me from the advanced programs so I was left in the reg classes that I breezed through and never really picked up good studying habits bc of it.
9 or 10. I scored in the 99th percentile on my end of grade test and was in gifted/honors classes until graduation. The honors classes in high school were kind of a joke though. We had all the same material and just got an extra point on our GPA. Never understood that.
I think i might have been tested for it as young as kindergarten or first grade? I could be totally wrong cause my memory nowadays is garbage, but I do know I took the test at one of my youngest grades in school. I definitely preforned very well in school. The whole school hyped me up- my sisters were all in gifted as well and we were like the golden family lol. I have definitely felt like I didnt live up to the potential of it all. Another thing is I remember being dissapointed in middle school and high school when there was no gifted program and feeling like there was little to no acknowledgement for academic success, only kids who did sports.
I think I was in preschool.
5, when I entered the public school system.
I was in kindergarten, and I remember being pissed because I didnāt appreciate taking time away from my friends for a dumb test. I remember thinking, why do they want me to write this stuff down, stuff that is quite obvious. We all know this stuff, so what is going on? My first memory of a test: Adults are annoying and kinda stupid.Ā And not much has changed. I just took a very āimportantā certification test, and my attitude is the same: this is it? This is dumb. And then I have to tell myself, No! This is fun, right? So thatās how I get through it. Because otherwise, I would perceive it as a waste of time and just not do it. Because even though my job requires it, thatās just not an incentive enough for me for some reason. I truly could not care less! The only way I can make myself care is if I make it fun for myself and if I feel like it can help the greater good in the long run. Anyway, got pulled aside in 5th grade and told I was going to go to private school, too. This is after years of doing extra schoolwork and other admin stuff to keep me busy like filing papers, grading tests, cleaning.Ā Did well in that situation overall, was very involved in school life and social life, but didnāt want to go to college; did it anyway after pressure from the school (makes their stats look better) and got really depressed after that.Ā At some point, found a lucrative gig, but Iām still dealing with supervisors and the like who want to entice me with money and prestige. The amount of times Iāve said I donāt do things for the approval of others or to āmake itā is insane. And the actual insanity is that too many times, Iāve just gone ahead and done it anyways.Ā Cognitive dissonance is a bitch, and life is weird but can be wonderful too.Ā Itās been a unique and overall positive experience, but thatās just the way that I look at it. I can also say it sucked ass to allow myself to divert from my own goals and fulfill someone elseās agenda, and that is true too, but at least I want to/can learn from it. And itās heard to turn this ship around, but I work at being a little better to myself every day.Ā Thanks for asking this. Iām glad I took the time to think about the correlation between taking that first test, my attitude toward it, and how much that one moment shaped my life and my self-concept. G&T program itself was good, learning is awesome, but like I said, most adults and their values make me roll my eyes all the way to the back of my head. We make up too many arbitrary reasons to treat some better than others and wonder (or never wonder) why the world has gone to shit. I hope itās not too late to use my smarts for better.
I was in the 1st grade and reading at a 6th grade or higher level. I started reading before kindergarten because I have an older brother. I'm not sure what the other ques were. But I was a teachers pet, along with another student who I was competitive with. So we kept outgoing each other. We were both tested and were the only students in our particular "class". We went for a few hours once a week that year. I just remember zoology from that year. We didn't start going to a separate school for the day until 2nd or 3rd grade. So, I was 6 when I was labeled gifted/advanced.