Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy how to get child to talk!

My mother asked me what I did/learned at school every day, and my response from K-12 was always "nothing". I often said I wanted to stay home, but I probably wouldn't have liked that (I am an only child and I would have been bored at home too). I am certain that I learned something at school - I'm pretty sure that I did not enter K knowing calculus.

I did not have any language issues but I was similar to your DS. Back off of the questions for a while - maybe he'll come home one day and let you know what happened at school (I typically reported what the "bad" kids did).

I have a DS7 who is also 2e who isn't much of a talker about school. His behaviour was at it's worst last year and looking back a lot of it came down to him knowing he was smart but not being able to deal with the frustration of the LD. No one likes to feel dumb and yet that's basically what he felt whenever he had to write. Once he was evaluated and he had a reason (other than stupidity) for his challenges and had some accommodations things improved a lot.

I'd also agree with trying to volunteer in the class. I was fortunate enough to spend a half day a week in his class last year and it was an eye opening experience. Seeing his classmates range of abilities was really surprising at times. I knew he was smart but to see him in comparison was really revealing. It has also helped me try to find solutions that will actually work for the teacher and the school has been far more receptive to my advocacy as a result. It is far from perfect but it is a big improvement over the complete disaster it was.

I would also agree with them not really knowing what is wrong or possible.

As usual, there is so much great information here! Thanks everyone for giving me so much to think about/work with.

I'm going to give some of these techniques a try.

And I've gotten some preliminary feedback from our 2E tester: she doesn't think DS has any 2E issues! I was not expecting that. I will get the full report this week. Should be interesting!