DeHe, We had our DS tested before he went to kindy, and the psychologist told us that it was a good idea to explain how his brain works a little differently from some other kids. We told him that sometimes he could know something after just learning it once, and that some kids needed to be taught things several times before they learned it, so they there might be some stuff repeated that he already knew. I really think this helped our DS be more accepting that everyone learns differently, and we didn't really get a lot of comments from him about the other kids. He did end up hanging out with a girl who could read, so they probably gravitated toward each other.
Another thing we did was to advocate before kindy to make sure that our DS would get some differentiation, which probably helped. He was able to do some things closer to his level.
What my DS was really interested was commenting on the kids who misbehaved, not so much what they knew. That was about the only thing he'd talk about "so and so got consequences for doing this..." He skipped 1st, and commented that the 2nd graders were much better behaved, but he was still most intrigued by the kids who were troublemakers. Ironically, once one trouble-maker was tested and found to be GT, and was given more appropriate work and grouped with my DS for some things, the acting out stopped. But my DS would much rather pretend to read his books and watch the other kids and daydream before he got to his current school.
As for making friends, it takes awhile for my DS to warm up to kids, and it was about half-way through kindy before he became friends with someone. And then at the 1st second grade class, it was just before we transferred halfway through the year that he started getting closer to another student. But I have noticed a difference in how he chose his friends earlier. I think he liked the kids who would go along with all the games he made up on the playground. At the new school, it seems there are lots of kids making up different types of games, and so he seems to be more involved with more kids. He made a couple closer friends right away, but when I said "we should be sure to get so-and-so's phone number before summer", DS7 said, "Well, I'm not sure if I'm that good of friends with him yet." He's a little weird with friends - he gets along with everyone, and even if he really likes people, we've always had to work at getting him to go do things with those friends. He's kind of a homebody.
Must be bedtime, I'm babbling....
