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Rudin
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01 Nov 2015, 6:27 pm

I would like my parents to write a referral for me to get me evaluated for an IEP.

Not to sound arrogant, but it's no secret that I am highly gifted. It is really obvious. Having me in the class (for certain subjects at least) is like having a kid with average intelligence in a class full of mentally ret*d people (excuse me for being so blunt, but that's the correct term). It's been over 3 years and I have yet to receive the help I need.

I have been taking university maths courses, which I enjoy, but it seems like a waste of my time to do year 7 maths. I've been trying to enrich year 7 maths by attempting to prove the theorems we discuss in class, I recall at the beginning of the year I proved Euler's result for the sum of the interior angles of a n-gon while our class was focusing on certain cases.

I think an IEP would suit me. How do I tell my parents? I feel like they won't take it seriously, or won't write a referral. All the test results are there too, on an individualized test I scored in the post-high school category for multiple strands.

Any advice?


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SippingSpiderVenom
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01 Nov 2015, 9:38 pm

Don't sound arrogant when you know you will sound arrogant. Smart or not this behavior is naive at best. How are you taking university maths? If you are taking university maths officially I would think a recommendation might be obtained from your school counselor or your therapist, whoever approved that track. Normals love authority and no matter what, a twelve year old will not be able to speak from an authoritative position. If your maths are unofficial, say online through a mooc, you should be able to produce certificates for successful completion. This again relates to authority, which you can then take to a counselor as evidence in an appeal to authority. Essentially, at your age you need a champion, someone to advocate for you and if you don't feel that is your parents well the field of psychology is responsible for managing intelligence and placement.

You will be dealing with people of average intelligence who are neurotypical for the rest of your life. Many of them will be quite successful gatekeepers on your quest for information. If things don't work out, consider it an opportunity for experimentation. Study psychology, acting, salesmanship, humor, all of these things will help you better adapt and allow you to provide the people around you with the validation and services they need, while allowing you to learn how to get what you need from them. This is not an unnecessary skill, it is in fact critical. You might think that being smart you will not have to deal with this at some point in the future, well I assure you, very smart NTs are remarkable at maneuvering social situations intelligent autis will find seriously frustrating. It will not help that they say completely ignorant and illogical things (especially when they know better), the way they say them will bring throngs of agreement behind them (see politics).

Develop a real sense of compassion for the people around you. People do not have to be "your thing", but caring about them has to be a thing you have if you are going to be successful. Consider tutoring in class if the teacher will allow it, or tutoring anywhere really. This is something your teacher will respect greatly, it is after all what they do and it is another line item in your resume. Remember Einstein was a teacher, Knuth is a teacher, Polya was a teacher, your odds of looking out in to a classroom at some point are quite high. You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you can't teach people what you've learned - you've got nothing.

Finally, don't give up. Keep working on your resume, expand your abilities within the scope of what you are allowed to do. Keep building that resume, sell yourself, make it so that everyone in class not only thinks you are smart, but that they love you for it. I know it seems like forever, but in a year or two you will have much more leverage in this area. If you look down when you think, consider instead looking up. I find either direction works to clear visual distractions from my line of sight while I think, but looking down has an emotional context NTs associate with sadness - your parents may think you are overwhelmed and depressed rather than just contentedly thinking.

Good luck!


_________________
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 142 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 52 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)

"If I knew that it was fated for me to be sick, I would even wish for it; for the foot also, if it had intelligence, would volunteer to get muddy." - Chrysippus


Rudin
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01 Nov 2015, 9:53 pm

SippingSpiderVenom wrote:
Don't sound arrogant when you know you will sound arrogant. Smart or not this behavior is naive at best. How are you taking university maths? If you are taking university maths officially I would think a recommendation might be obtained from your school counselor or your therapist, whoever approved that track. Normals love authority and no matter what, a twelve year old will not be able to speak from an authoritative position. If your maths are unofficial, say online through a mooc, you should be able to produce certificates for successful completion. This again relates to authority, which you can then take to a counselor as evidence in an appeal to authority. Essentially, at your age you need a champion, someone to advocate for you and if you don't feel that is your parents well the field of psychology is responsible for managing intelligence and placement.

You will be dealing with people of average intelligence who are neurotypical for the rest of your life. Many of them will be quite successful gatekeepers on your quest for information. If things don't work out, consider it an opportunity for experimentation. Study psychology, acting, salesmanship, humor, all of these things will help you better adapt and allow you to provide the people around you with the validation and services they need, while allowing you to learn how to get what you need from them. This is not an unnecessary skill, it is in fact critical. You might think that being smart you will not have to deal with this at some point in the future, well I assure you, very smart NTs are remarkable at maneuvering social situations intelligent autis will find seriously frustrating. It will not help that they say completely ignorant and illogical things (especially when they know better), the way they say them will bring throngs of agreement behind them (see politics).

Develop a real sense of compassion for the people around you. People do not have to be "your thing", but caring about them has to be a thing you have if you are going to be successful. Consider tutoring in class if the teacher will allow it, or tutoring anywhere really. This is something your teacher will respect greatly, it is after all what they do and it is another line item in your resume. Remember Einstein was a teacher, Knuth is a teacher, Polya was a teacher, your odds of looking out in to a classroom at some point are quite high. You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you can't teach people what you've learned - you've got nothing.

Finally, don't give up. Keep working on your resume, expand your abilities within the scope of what you are allowed to do. Keep building that resume, sell yourself, make it so that everyone in class not only thinks you are smart, but that they love you for it. I know it seems like forever, but in a year or two you will have much more leverage in this area. If you look down when you think, consider instead looking up. I find either direction works to clear visual distractions from my line of sight while I think, but looking down has an emotional context NTs associate with sadness - your parents may think you are overwhelmed and depressed rather than just contentedly thinking.

Good luck!


It is unofficial. I have more privileges than someone who audits the courses (I get assignments graded, write the exams etc.). I would prefer that my professors don't speak on my behalf. No one approved my choice to take university courses. It was a conscious choice that I made 2.5 years ago to (unofficially) take courses at university. Actually all my family disapproved of my decision, some of my immediate relatives even disapproved of me doing maths in general.

I understand the work I'm doing and I can explain it, but it's the social component that I don't like about teaching or tutoring.


_________________
"God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with prime numbers."

-Paul Erdos

"There are two types of cryptography in this world: cryptography that will stop your kid sister from looking at your files, and cryptography that will stop major governments from reading your files."

-Bruce Schneider


Drawyer
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01 Nov 2015, 10:11 pm

I think it's a better idea for your teachers or some authorities to tell your parents than you tell them.


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SippingSpiderVenom
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02 Nov 2015, 2:31 am

Agreed.

You don't have to tutor if you don't want - just a thought. You're still very young and there's a lot of time to work out the kinks in life.

If your work is graded I would take your university transcripts to your psychiatrist or therapist along with your graded work. I don't know what your transcripts would look like if your work is graded but not credentialed but it is near impossible to proceed in math without understanding prerequisite classes. Some current homework, particularly marked well is evidence that you've done well if your grades do not show on your transcripts, then logically the current marks would mean you are ready for credit work. At which point, you might have to repeat your university work. A letter from your professor would be quite valuable as well, but I'm not sure if that meets your conditions.

It sounds to me like you have a special condition audit, which would mean that you are not earning credits, which would be why you have to continue in level 7 maths and without instructor approval at university you will probably be required to retake those classes as well. I think your complaint is valid.

Regardless, if your family is all NT and they oppose it, you have a very tricky problem. I assume you must have a therapist and this is exactly what s/he is there for. I don't know what they are concerned about and if I did I still wouldn't really be able to help you there. Your therapist should help you navigate your asd issues as well as your intelligence issues, not to mention family issues.


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Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 142 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 52 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)

"If I knew that it was fated for me to be sick, I would even wish for it; for the foot also, if it had intelligence, would volunteer to get muddy." - Chrysippus


kraftiekortie
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02 Nov 2015, 8:23 am

As you get older, you'll realize how you will rely on people of "average" intelligence" as least as much as people of "average" intelligence rely on you. People complement each other frequently, if they allow themselves to feel they are in complement with other people, rather than always in competition (yes, competition is inevitable--but it doesn't have to be the primary mode of existence.)

You really should study Gardner's concept of "multiple intelligences."



SippingSpiderVenom
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02 Nov 2015, 9:08 pm

In the interest of producing correct information I did look at your previous posts. I believe it is okay to disregard my comments about accreditation, I hope that was not stressful but I did not know. From previous comments it looks like you are in fact attending second and third year college maths, which matches with your 2.5 number. That is astounding. You are technically not far off from a degree in mathematics an assessment ought to get you through many classes you've already taken and instructor approval or even challenging classes would clear much of that up. Please don't feel like you have to repeat everything, somethings maybe, but not likely everything.

Eric Gardner's emotional intelligence is an excellent book.


_________________
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 142 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 52 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)

"If I knew that it was fated for me to be sick, I would even wish for it; for the foot also, if it had intelligence, would volunteer to get muddy." - Chrysippus


Rudin
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03 Nov 2015, 7:53 am

Thank you SippingSpiderVenom.

I think an assessment ought to be done. I do have a slightly uneven maths development. I am really strong in certain areas of maths but I am self-educated, mind you. I learned from textbooks and PDFs on the internet. Am I really strong in certain areas of calculus like sequences and series, derivatives, asympotics, etc. but I've forgot some subjects such as applications of integral calculus such as volumes and solids of revolution.

Since maths is accumulative, not understanding certain applications of integral calculus will hinder my understanding of other subjects such as multivariable calculus.

So an assessment would be useful to identify which areas I need to review.


_________________
"God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with prime numbers."

-Paul Erdos

"There are two types of cryptography in this world: cryptography that will stop your kid sister from looking at your files, and cryptography that will stop major governments from reading your files."

-Bruce Schneider