Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 1/15
I don't talk about this a lot but I just read an article about a New Jersey 6 year old joining Mensa so I'll tell a little bit of my story.

When I was 5 years old, about to enter Kindergarten after a year and a half at Headstart, my mother said I was really smart and she wanted me tested out.
12:20 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 2/15
I was her third child and both of my sisters tested out. The school was skeptical, which is stupid since her other 2 children tested out, but we were lower middle class Black people so.... Anyway, they set up all the testing. I don't remember a lot about it, but here's what I do remember.
12:21 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 3/15
I was in a play room type area and there was a 2 way mirror. I knew because if you look hard enough you can see the other side. Anyway, I was barely 5 so I was like, "yeah toys." And there were these 2 white doctors, one old and one young. They wanted to ask me questions. They asked if that was OK.
12:23 PM - Dec 08, 2023 (Edited)
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 4/15
I said OK. I was a sweet and often compliant child. The young doctor said, "don't worry Montiese, there are no right or wrong answers." I said ok. I don't remember anything else. But I know that I "passed" with flying colors and was skipped to first grade at 5 years old.
12:24 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 5/15
There was another 5 year old there, Ryan. I mostly remember him because he walked on his tippy toes. Anyhoo, it turns out that my IQ was 148 (this I learned from my mother, who has no reason to be dishonest imo). So I was in school but also twice a week I was in a different classroom.
12:26 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 6/15
This classroom was for MG, which stood for mentally gifted. We were learning on very early computers, reading books, learning science, watching important films, going on cool trips to the planetarium and Franklin Mint to see coins being made. I stayed in MG through 8th grade.
12:28 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 7/15
My grades were good, I was an A-B student who liked school up until 5th grade. 3 bad teachers in a row made me feel isolated, sad, angry, and they made sure that I understood that they thought I was a little smart freak and the other kids would feel the same. 2 of the teachers were white, one Black.
12:29 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 8/15
Anyway, the point of all this is the New Jersey 6 year old has a 137 IQ and she's in Mensa and her parents are doing all of these outside activities with her to build her brain as well as her body.

And I wish my parents had understood that my high intelligence was more than a bragging point.
12:31 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 9/15
I needed to be nurtured and have it understood that trouble in school with bullies and being mostly socially awkward with children my age should have been addressed. My parents should've been working with the school to care for me. I was different and needed the extra attention.
12:32 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 10/15
At home, I was dodging (badly) physical and emotional abuse from my older sister. When that wasn't going on I was making up vast worlds for my Little People and my Barbies, I started writing stories, and I was speeding through the encyclopedias my parents paid a lot of money for.
12:34 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 11/15
I had 2 Cs in 8th grade so the school counselor said I couldn't get into the best high schools in the city, which only accepted one C. My mother didn't fight for me and to this day it is one of the things I hate her for (c'mon we all have one). My Cs were in Latin and algebra.
12:35 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 12/15
No other middle schoolers were taking those classes except at my school. I know they would've made an exception, or made me test in, which I would've passed. But my mom just accepted it. I was sent to Germantown High School school, an hour away from home, which was a fuckin jungle.
12:37 PM - Dec 08, 2023 (Edited)
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 13/15
I was in a special program with about 35 other kids that focused on social science. It was a college prep program. We were going to be in the top 59 of the class when graduation came. We were going to college. We would be successful. It could've been really good but it was hell.
12:38 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 14/15
Germantown was a neighborhood school so I had to walk the halls everyday with hood rats that weren't from my hood. I admit to being bullied and pushed around. Thankfully I never got into fights. I had a nervous breakdown at 14, surely helped along by school, and was diagnosed with depression.
12:40 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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thread 15/15
That's the life of a kid genius. Not all the time but a lot. When parents hear they have a little genius, they usually want to exploit it to their own benefit. We become models they can brag about & not children who need so much love, affection, and care it's ridiculous. Our genius does not love us.
12:42 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Danalibrariana
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In response to Acey Deecey 🚀🚀.
Thanks for sharing this. I also tested gifted when I was young. I grew up in a small, rural town with few school resources. I would intentionally do less well than I could on tests so I wouldn’t blow the grading curve and piss off my classmates. It took some time for me to appreciate my “gift.”
12:30 PM - Dec 09, 2023
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Spiritual Annie
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In response to Acey Deecey 🚀🚀.
I'm so sorry that you went through such turmoil. I also tested high young and skipped a grade. For me it was the kids' teasing, teachers who let it slide, and an overwhelmed mom.

Hugs for your inner child and for you!
07:02 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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In response to Spiritual Annie.
The idea that so many of us went through that and the high intelligence wasn't nurtured, we were often bullied and/or ignored. Gen X especially felt the ignored and alone pain as the first generation of known latchkey kids.
07:49 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Democracy!Equality! Equity!Compassion!
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In response to Acey Deecey 🚀🚀.
Thanks for sharing that! I’m sorry you didn’t get the support you needed. ❤️
06:46 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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In response to Democracy!Equality! Equity!Compassion!.
Thank you. I survived it and now have the strength to share with others so they don't feel so alone.
07:50 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Hans Jorgensen
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In response to Acey Deecey 🚀🚀.
Thanks for sharing this part of your story.
05:20 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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Acey Deecey 🚀🚀
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In response to Hans Jorgensen.
Thank you for reading, Hans. ☺️
05:22 PM - Dec 08, 2023
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