I've just found this site and I wonder if I can get some feed back from you more "gifted experienced" people
My daughter is 10. She was recommended for the school's pull-out gifted program in 3rd grade (the earliest they will test for it). She was already reading at a very high level and her language skills were very high. When she took the test ("Cognitive Abilities Test", taken on 3 separate days) she did very poorly because (found out later) she purposely answered questions wrong. In 3rd grade she re-took the test (at my request) and scored 92% in verbal reasoning-below the required score of 97%. She was up until 2:00am the night before (can't remember why) and did not know they would be testing her the next day. NOw in 5th grade she is feeling peer pressure that "too smart is not cool" and is not interested in testing.
Some background info on her: she is extremely emotional and hyper-sensitive, both physically and emotionally. She is always anxious and worried and has shown some obsessive-compulsive behaviors. She is very talented with drawing, creating, imagining, etc. This summer she thought of nothing more for days and days except an animal shelter she wanted to build, create, run, etc. when she is older. She went through tons of paper designing and re-designing. She is always worried of how others perceive her and she finally has two friends after years of no friends. I've been worried that her intensity will scare them away, not to mention she can't find anyone with her own levels of interest and emotion. She goes through extreme highs and lows, occasions where she just cannot slow down and focus, and has difficulty going to sleep every night. She's also always worried if her health is ok ("Will I get sick? Am I going to die?")
She has been to a child psychiatrist for a few sessions and the doctor went over relaxation techniques with her and suggested Prozac to my husband and me. Not much help. She has also had chronic tummy aches (and headaches, and leg cramps, etc.) for years and so was seen by a GI doctor who did an endoscopy and colonscopy on her last month. Everything is normal and she also recommended antidepressants for my daughter. We do not think medications are the answer for her at this point.
As a mother, I want her to be happy and grow up to be a well-adjusted adult. I'm always searching for answers. I've now come across gifted and "emotionally gifted" websites and they have piqued my interest. Does this sound familiar to any of you? I will talk to her teacher and get her angle on this (she was also her 3rd grade teacher) and maybe push the school to do what...re-test her? They were not very accomodating with me when I had questions and wanted a re-test before. Just not sure what steps to take next.
