Hi! I'm new to this forum....my child's principal sent me here:)
I'm a mom to 4 kids....my oldest is about to turn 6....she's the reason I'm here. She was right now diagnosed with "hyperlexia"....on the highly gifted side....she also suffers from anxiety & OCD....and is a perfectionist.
We noticed she was "different" around the time she turned one....she was lining her diapers end to end in a perfect line then picking them up in the order she had put them down in....organizing toys and blocks by size and/or color....making patterns.....by 19 months old she was reading and also spelling colors & numbers.
Her preschool teacher told us to skip kindergarten....but our county doesn't allow that. When the school year began I did give the teacher some info passed on by her previous teachers....and I was met with "she's not ready for kindergarten"....turns out she was bored and "dumbing" herself down (the child psychologist phrased it that way)....they did a PALS test.....and she tested out of 2nd grade....they wouldn't test higher....she was reading 4th & 5th grade books for them (specialists and teacher).....by November I was at my first child study meeting.
I just had another one yesterday.....my DD is flying thru math...all forms....she's learning spanish, french, sign language....she loves geography, science....really anything.

Anyway....my baby's up and crying....I just wanted to say hi and give a quick background. It's nice to find a support board like this:)

Welcome Peanut ... so glad you found the board. It definitely sounds like you need to be here. I am sure you will be posting a lot of questions. Look forward to reading them.

Hi Peanut Mom. Welcome!

My daughter also did the lining things up and organizing thing....but with her stuffed animals, no diapers, LOL!

Both of my girls have done the dumbing themselves down thing also.

Currently, we are taking advantage of our state's allowance of part time homeschooling. The benefit is that I know that at least a part of every day they are working at their natural learning level and not feeling bad about it. So they also get to go to school for specials and lunch/recess. It's working pretty well.

The only drawback I see is that they seem to compartmentalize school vs. home. Home, being the place they work to their potential and school, where they play. We also had a few rough bumps with the teachers.

There are so many caring parents here who have worked out all kinds of situations to accomodate the way their children learn. I'm sure you'll find lots of support here.

Neato

Hi Peanut Mom,

Glad you are here!

DS7 did line up all his diapers in 1 straight line when he was one. We took videos of it. I remember we were amazed that he did it. You are not the only one!

Welcome Peanut Mom!

Welcome Peanut Mom and I am looking forward to hearing more about your daughter and your family. I have two boys, one is almost 7 and the other is 4.5. This forum is such a great support.

Thanks everyone! Once I get a few minutes I can read some more stories:) I also have 3 other kids....all boys....ages 4, 2 1/2 and 3 months....so time is hard to come by LOL:)

It'll be nice to connect with everyone....it's hard to talk to other moms about this b/c then they feel like I"m "competing" and I'm not....I'm amazed that I have a child like this yes....but I"m not the "my kids better than your kid" kind of mom:)

My DD's school has been awesome....and the principal has been behind us 100%....she's in every meeting and giving me different resources....hence how I found this board!

I look forward to getting to know everyone:)

What's that saying someone here coined for principals like that??.....Clone em'!!!!

Sorry I can't remember who to give credit to.

I'm so encouraged that your principal sent you here, that's awesome.

I'm not sure if our principal reads these postings, but, somehow I imagine a frown and a "curses", muttered oh so quietly!

wow...great story...good for your principle. brings a tear to my eye.

I wanted to clone the open-minded teachers PurpleHeather posted about. If we could clone this principal too, what a school we'd have!

Peanutmom, welcome and you should know that DOK stands for Drooling on Keyboard. You'll probably hear it a lot with that gem of a principal.

Hi! Welcome

Your post reminded me of a question on the PALS test I've had for a while. Ds took one of these in 2nd and it said 'Oral Instructional Reading level - 6'.
Does anyone know what that means ? I asked ds teacher this year about it but no response so far...Thanks for any info!

From I've been told, the instructional reading level is about a grade level above their pleasure/comfort reading level.