Grade skipping as a successful option for gifted childrenPaper
Over the course of almost fifteen years I have been counselling far more than 700 families. In more than a third of the cases, skipping a grade has been a possible option for the children. more than 200 children skipped, often in grades 1 and 2 of primary school and with less frequency in grades upper 5.
Although in Germany the number of grade skippers has increased since the 1990s, there are still not many schools that have experience with it. And despite positive research concerning acceleration (US-American and German), schools are still very reluctant implementing it. Very few teachers offer continuous and, what’s more important, high level enrichment to gifted children. And even if the enrichment is at a high level: when it happens just once or twice a week in a pull-out programme that is not enough.
Children need teaching that is challenging, and for some gifted children that can only be achieved by placing them with children whose intellectual and emotional development is more or less the same. Besides experience and research shows that gifted children often prefer older friends who may not be age mates, but who are intellectual and emotional peers. Skipping at a young age can give children as well the learning techniques and strategies they need for their entire life. Although there may be of course sometimes problems after grade skipping, they are less than the problems the children had before.
In my presentation I will explain the effects of grade skipping based on the experience of my counselling in Lower Saxony, Germany and as a nationwide telephone counsellor for parents of gifted children. I also explain the results of my study concerning the childrens' school and health situation prior to - and after the full term skipping.