Gifted Students and Autistic Students

I was really fascinated by this article because I feel like the issues it discusses are so terribly important and need to be addressed NOW. I fell like the woman who wrote this article really hit the nail on the head on several occasions. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) in my opinion is an excellent program in theory. Our country really needs something that holds our schools accountable for what they are teaching, and how well they are teaching what they teach. However, I also believe that the NCLBA was poorly implemented, and is currently doing little help to the children or schools on this country. As the Mother said, if EVERY child, not just those with learning disabilities, had an individual IED filled out for them, plotting their progress, there would be no doubt the education predicament would be solved in this country. Obviously it would take a lot of time and hard work to even think about making this possible, but I feel it would be well worth it. I also have to agree that the "gifted" programs in our schools really do little to help expand the intellects of our gifted youth. I myself had tested into the "Gifted and Talented" program when I was in 3rd grade, and stayed in the program until I was in 8th grade. I had fun being a part of GT, but as far as really stimulting my mind, I feel like it just added extra work to my week, and was something to put on applications. We need to diversify our teaching and make sure that gifted students don't always get shoved aside.