No Public Programs For Young Gifted Children

The Bustamante family said they’ve been blessed with a gifted 4-year-old who is already reading and doing math problems, but they’ve been searching for programs to help advance his skills.

Las Cruces Public Schools spokeswoman Jo Galvan said the district currently has no programs for advanced preschool children.

New Mexico state law rules that children cannot start kindergarten unless they are five years old before Sept. 1.

For 4-year-old Lee Bustamante, that means waiting another year and a half, since he was born Oct. 30.

“When a kid needs special attention they have up to three or four teachers to themselves to help them learn. But when someone has these skills, they don’t have any program for them, so it’s very frustrating,” Lee’s father, Polo Bustamante, told ABC-7.

Polo has been teaching Lee on his own, using lessons he creates with help from the Internet. Lee can count up to 10,000 and he’s already doing addition and subtraction problems.

Galvan says families should look for alternatives in private programs offered in the area. Some of those can be expensive, but for the Bustamante family, money isn’t the only issue.

“If we don’t want him behind in school, we have to teach him in English, even though we are not native English speakers,” Polo said.

Parents with advanced young children can look into private programs like Montessori schools or private tutors. The Council for Exceptional Children also has plenty of resources for families with gifted children on their website: http://www.cec.sped.org