Fighting for Rights of the Gifted
I am one of the three co-chairmen of Concerned Parents of the Highly Gifted, Carpenter Avenue Elementary School, Studio City. For the last year, our group has carried on a fight for the rights of the highly gifted.
We are not a myopic group that lives in a vacuum, but rather are part of the real world. Our group has been in the forefront in acquiring a $1.1-million appropriation from the L.A. Unified School District for the purpose of testing for the identification of the highly gifted, gifted and learning disabled.
Children who are highly gifted have IQs that are 50 to 100 points above the general population. They have special needs and should be recognized as a group requiring special education. They are in many cases adult intellects living in children’s bodies, but lack emotional maturity. If not challenged, they are capable of winding up in situations with major problems.
The Point/Counterpoint remarks by Joan Martin (Feb. 26) were anecdotal at best. She displays the intellectual inertia that frustrates parents.
Currently we are striving to establish a high school for the highly gifted. When prejudice precludes children from achieving the education that they deserve, it is a crime, and society as a whole loses.
ROBERT JAY CLAIRE, M.D.
Cudahy
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