LW, you could have been describing me as a child. It sounds like she is still in elementary school. Hopefully when she gets to middle school/jr. high, there will be some 'new blood' and she'll connect with someone - that's what happened to me. Also agree with Barbara's suggestions to find extracurricular activities - I met other kids like me at a library book club, who were then there at jr. high. One is still my friend now, at 40. Things got gradually better as I got older - jr. high was better than elementary, high school was better than jr. high, and college was fabulous.

Have you talked to your child's teacher? It might give you some insight about what really happens during the school day, as opposed to your child's perspective.

This situation might not represent what is happening with your child, but it does have some common themes. Plus, I'm home sick and am bored, so I figured I would post. Last year, I had a very bright student in my class, a boy, but the issues are similar. He wons academic awards, gots good grades, and often spoke up in class about his extensive background knowledge. He is somewhat isolated from his peers. At times, he is teased about being a teacher's pet. His mother called me and asked what was going on. She heard from her son that no one likes him and that he had no friends. First, I reassured her that I see many positive interactions between him and his peers. While he may not feel close to other students, he did seem to be fitting in to the group most of the time. I explained that he isn't always kind or friendly or welcoming to his peers. While his academic abilities are attracting attention, his attitude and social skills are making it more difficult for him to fit in. We began working on coaching him on his social skills- reviewing situations where he felt things did not go well and where he could have done things differently.

Sorry this is so long. Talk to your child's teacher. If your daughter is being bullied and you live in Massachusetts, the school is legally responsible for dealing with those issues. If your daughter needs some work on her social skills, the school can help with that as well.

Here's the thing: there will always be mean kids. This LW could have been my mother 20 years ago, writing about me. The kids I encountered were horrid and this was long before bullying was recognized as a problem like it is now. To be honest, the way I broke the cycle was moving to a different school, because I was smart enough to get in (and they weren't). I still remember the day I took the entrance exam, when one of the very mean girls told me point-blank that she would get into the top school and I wouldn't. The opposite happened and I never looked back.

I'm not saying this was a perfect solution, but it helped. Put in an environment with other academically gifted kids, I excelled. Everyone there had to have a little bit of nerd in them and so it wasn't as big a deal. Being smart was the normal.

This may not be helpful advice, but you may consider looking at private schools that may be academically a better fit and scholarships may be available. No matter what she does, those kids probably won't ever change.

LW, your letter could've been about me as a child. I was the "brainy girl," and was treated horribly by my peers. For me, the saving grace was switching from a small parochial elementary school, where I stuck out like a sore thumb, to a large public jr. high and high school, where there were programs for academically advanced students just like me. This didn't solve the problem completely -- the "popular" kids were still horrible -- but at least I wasn't so alone anymore. If you have the opportunity to do something like this for your daughter, I strongly recommend it.

This probably is not what you want to hear, but you are going to have to help your daughter learn to deal with being treated poorly by her peers, or she will be miserable till she graduates. People can trumpet anti-bullying rules and education till the sun goes dark, but that isn't going to stop kids from being to cruel to one another. Like it or not, her academic excellence is going to single her out, and kids are vicious in ridiculing and excluding anyone that is different. My parents taught me how to take the long view, to realize that my efforts in school would translate into better opportunities down the road. I also, as Ms Meltz advised, got involved in a lot of activities that let me spend time with kids who were more like me. Above all, she must not feel like her intelligence is cause for embarrassment, or that she must hide it if she wants to fit in.

This may or may not work for your daughter, but one thing I did was make friends with the guys. I was and still am a science geek, and I was often the only girl in my advanced science and math courses. Ditto with the chess team, science olympiad team, debate team, and drumline. I was around guys most of the time, so I made friends with them, and they turned out to be much better friends than the girls I so desperately wanted to fit in with - much less catty and less prone to backstabbing.

I second teacherinmass. Get another perspective on what is going on. I am the mother of 2 girls who do very well in school, and neither one has this problem. There may be something happenning unrelated to your child's academic prowess.

My older dd in particular is slower to make new friends. I will hear from her that she has no one to play with in this or that activity, but she does have several close friends. I've never heard from her that she is teased about her performance at school.

Good luck.

I was kind of wondering along the lines of what teacherinmass said . . . Is this really "everyone elses" problem? PLEASE don't think that I'm blaming your daughter, because I'm not. I too know how hard it is to be left out. Please DO talk with the teachers, though, and get the whole picture. Does your daughter unknowingly put out a vibe that she thinks that she's better than other kids because she is ahead of them academically? Does she maybe come across as a "know it all?" I found out many years later that I was considered a bit of a snob, when I was really just painfully shy and had a difficult time with a lot of the social aspects of middle school. I certainly didn't feel like I was better than anyone, but apparently that's how my shyness came across. It is something that I still struggle with as an adult, but at least now I know that my actions may be perceived a certain way and work to make sure that isn't what happens.
Good luck!

This could have described me as a child as well. My intellectual ability was way above my social maturity so I came across as a little freaky. I didn't mean to, but I know now that I did.

There is alot to be said for inclusion for special needs children, and I do believe being gifted is as much as a special need as being on the other end of the spectrum. That said, I found my socialization improved when I went to an exam school where my peers were on the same academic level as I was (but I am still very shy and unsure of myself). Enrolling her in a gifted program might not be possible in your school district so my suggestion is to try to find her a peer group for gifted children. Even if its an online community, there has to be something out there.

Of course she needs to learn how to deal with people not in her peer group who don't like her for some reason or another and there is always going to be a person like that in her life. But I think that once she has the self-esteem from being accepted by one group, it won't be so bad when she is rejected by the other.

This mild isolation happened 40 years ago to kids that could work a few grades ahead of their age. Very few school systems had any really useful program for gifted children before high school.

Private tutoring has always been a good way to supplement schools expectations. But private tutoring increases the separation between the gifted and the average students...Home tutoring for math and English could work if you buy textbooks.

It would be best for both parents to take up daily walks with these kids, without any discussion of weight problems. This puts excellent stress-management in place ahead of more stressful school situations.

One issue with gifted kids is that if they end up in university too early, the physical maturity gap is real trouble. Try to keep her from graduating high school at 15. It would be better to help the teenager find summer internships with a university professor who can act as a mentor. She can do her research and make a short list, and then contact professors to inquire about possibilities. This takes a few years off a university education in graduate school, when the student is old enough to benefit.

I thought Barbara's advice was great. Having 2 girls, I found that girl meanness starts in 4th grade, peaks in 7th and is usually over by high school.

One thing I do think is very hard is being in a small school district, where you are essentially with the same kids K-12. Even kids who have friends in these situations usually feel the need to move on by 10th or 11th grade! There usually is someone, even the tiniest peer group, out there for everyone, but occasionally it doesn't happen. Its not clear if this child is still in elementary school or already in middle school, but sometimes the jump to middle school solves some of these problems because there is an influx of new kids you aren't used to seeing every day. So if she's going to middle school, things might change a bit if other elementary schools feed into the middle school.

One other thing I would add is that girls especially sometimes try to keep befriending the same kids over and over again who just don't want to be friends with them, maybe because they are the "popular" girls or whatever. The teacher can probably help you figure this out. If this is happening, its important to help her find her "girls".

I do have on additional comment and that has to do with my extreme distaste for the word "gifted". Gifted people are very few and far between. Most people described as gifted are usually just really smart and perhaps stand out sometimes because they are not surrounded by really smart people. Of course, the truly gifted are sometimes socially awkward and if this child is truly gifted, that may be part of the issue. On top of all this, I think its really silly to give out academic awards to 6th graders and I think these sorts of things contribute to the problems some students experience. If you are telling her she is "gifted", I would stop.

Lots of great advice here. Have to second "teacherinmass". My son has some of these problems in later elementary. I know his attitude at school was part of the problem. Kids don't automatically shun the smart kid (though rarely this will happen), often they are responding to the unintentional "know-it-all" vibes that a child is giving off. Definitely part of the problem for my son. He was impatient with kids that weren't getting things as quickly as he could. So a combination of working with him on his attitude and with the counselor on curtailing the bullying from other kids made things better (tolerable at least). He doesn't attend public school anymore and the atmosphere of a school where academics are the focus has been really good for him. If you can't spring for a private school, or be accepted into a charter school, you should consider online classes and summer courses like CTY (Johns Hopkins) for your daughter.

I know where "ash" is coming from regarding the terminology. Of course you want your kids to know that working hard is just as important as being innately intelligent. But sometime the label "gifted" was all that got me through a tough day at a public school where sports jocks and cheerleaders ruled. This isn't just a problem of bullying, it's an American cultural problem of idolizing sports and movie stars above all else. Glad to hear your daughter at least hasn't bought into it. I hope she realizes her dream of becoming a scientist.

brainygirl: I had to laugh. I was in the same position too - reading 6th grade level in 1st grade. My solution was to switch from a large, athletic focused public school to a small, academically/arts focused parochial school.

I'm really glad that I did. :)