Five more examples of participants during their school years in the longitudinal study
Several Level Four and Five youngsters who lived in large metropolitan areas were able to attend the actual main campus universities for their post-secondary concurrent educations. Because they were still younger than most students, the environment provided good opportunities for interactions with others who were closer to their functioning ability levels. It was a very good option in many cases.
The two participants in the Level Five group came from similar backgrounds and had on-and-off access to having their needs met. The examples from the additional five people illustrate other experiences.
Colin Richards was mostly homeschooled through the middle school years. His parents worked hard to provide outside-of-school experiences and interactions with other bright children, but Colin’s personality and extremely high intellectual abilities set him apart anyway. His family did not take advantage of concurrent enrollment or the radical acceleration math program available in the community, and after Colin tried to matriculate in a local magnet school for the arts and it did not meet his hopes and expectations, he withdrew socially and emotionally into his online coursework. The family moved to Britain and Colin matriculated at the high-level equivalent of high school in the United States and did exceptionally well. He graduated at age 18 and then left home and did not return except for occasional visits. By his late twenties he has not yet continued his formal education. The reasons are complex and presented elsewhere in The 5 Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us. https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Gifted-Children-Grown-Up/dp/B0C9SHFRLH). After some time away from his family, Colin returned home and was diagnosed with a severe mental health issue. He entered a mental health institution and received good care.
Rick Arnesen’s family, too, tried many different options to find what might work for their son. After an Unsatisfactory start in his Type II school (a public school where most students’ families are middle to upper middle class, Rick’s parents arranged to homeschool him part-time for first grade. He finished all curriculum and extra coursework through sixth or seventh grade before he turned seven, so his parents mistakenly thought his school would adjust for him when they moved to a Type III (college prep private school) school setting.
Instead, he experienced one more Unsatisfactory year followed by parent-paid tutoring with subject specialists for another year. Rick enjoyed acting and found an opportunity to act professionally. Free tutoring is often provided by law for children who are actors, athletes, or performers of any kind. This option was Excellent for most academic subjects, including five post-secondary options correspondence courses, and they were taught to him at an appropriately high level by a highly intelligent and capable professional, his studio teacher.
Rick’s favorite subjects, math and science, were beyond the training or scope of any of his tutors. He had been, by age eight, enrolled in a radically accelerated math program and had to leave it when he left home to act. When these children were growing up, there seemed to be no packaged options for a young Level Five student anywhere. By the time he was 13, Rick returned to his Level III school setting and found it Acceptable mostly for social reasons. He graduated just short of his 18th birthday.
The only time Victor Schultz’s school experiences were Unsatisfactory was when he started school. Only a few adjustments to the regular pacing and curriculum were provided. Fortunately for him, his parents’ advocacy worked to permit Victor to skip Grades 5 and 8, and he was also allowed subject acceleration in several subject strands. Still in a Type II setting, Victor signed up for simultaneous university coursework through post-secondary options at the main campus of the state’s university nearby, did radical acceleration in math while still younger than 10 years old, skipped 10th grade and graduated from high school at age 15. Without having to leave home, he attended that same university and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree at age 18 and immediately began a PhD program at an elite, top-level university in another state.
Both Jon Crockett and Michael Cortez experienced a Satisfactory to Excellent educational fit from early on, a fit that continued throughout their educational years. In Jon’s case, it is straightforward. His parents used online and other resources to homeschool him until he was 8 years old and then lobbied to have him admitted to the main campus of his state’s university. He says it was academically Excellent for him at that time in his life and development but admits he is aware that he did not find the social fit that most people get to experience during undergraduate school. He was well-accepted and included by his older classmates when it was appropriate for them to do so. His mother went to school with him to supervise and keep him safe.
Michael Cortez went to school full or part-time, starting in a public Type IV school for the highly gifted. Even in that school for highly gifted children, he moved back and forth among different grade and subject levels within the school, eventually moving straight on to high school and concurrent university enrollment through state-paid post-secondary options. He was an active part of his public high school’s Math Team, for example, and yet he never took math there because he started a radical math acceleration at age eight through another university-connected program. He graduated from high school with two years of course credits from his state’s main campus university and entered an elite, top-level university in another state at age 15, graduating with a bachelor’s degree at age 18. He experienced a wide range of interactions with other students of different ages as part of academic competitions, coursework, online programs, etc. all through his educational journey.
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