Hi Colomom,
I think it's great that your tester is writing a letter requesting an IEP. Can you call him and ask him to calculate a 'GAI' and include that in the letter? If the GAI, which combines Verbal and PRI is over 145, then take a look at the Young Scholars Program (if you are in the U.S.)
here's the link:
http://www.davidsongifted.org/young...holars___Qualification_Criteria_384.aspxA 'new' idea in the gifted world is LOG - levels of giftedness, which is to say that your DD might never be satisfied doing gifted programs with her agemates, and that although the programs appear 'cheesy' to you or me, that they might in fact be very high quality for 80% of what your school defines as gifted.
Sad to say, there are no standard definitions of giftedness, but whatever defintion anyone uses, is seems likely that most of what is 'true' for 'standard issue' gifted kids won't be that useful for your child - just on her strengths alone, before we even start talking about her challenge areas.
Time for a deep breath.
Ok, not lets talk about Working Memory. Basically, working memory is what most people have instead of lists and notes. I don't have official IQ tests for myself, but I'm fairly sure that I'm more or less similar to your daughter's profile - lightening fast processing speed, and averagish WM.
What that means is that the minute something is 'out of sight' that it's also 'out of mind!' My processing speed is so fast, that I can percieve items 'falling out' of working memory, and it leaves me with the unsettling feeling that there is something I should be paying attention to that I just can't remember what it is.
Now that I've accepted this about myself, it's not a big deal, and I make it a game to figure out fun ways to use 'real life' cues to keep me on track. For example, if I want to get my hair cut after work, I set my GPS to the hairdresser's shop, even though I know perfectly well how to get there. If I want to bring something to work tomorrow, then I walk it out to the car the moment I think about it, and put it on the driver's seat. If that something has to stay in the refridgerator, then I place a 8x12 sheet of paper with the name of the something on the driver's seat. If I agree to do something then I send myself an email on my phone, or a text message. Sort of like David Allen's 'Getting Things Done' I love the feeling of an 'empty inbasket' on all areas of my life. I want to free my mind up for the job of thinking, not the job of staying afloat!
The key to all my tricks is that once I've handled a bit of information a few times then it makes it's way into long term memory, and luckily, my long term memory works just fine.
I wasn't always like this - when I was a kid, I just thought I was 'dumb.' Of course, I wanted to be 'just like everyone else' and grasped at any straw.
Do I think that this is ADHD? I think it's entirely possible that it either is or isn't ADHD. I don't think that psychologists who are not quite familiar with tons and tons of kids with strengths as strong as your DD's are qualified to make the call. Even a qualified psychologist might need many years to make the call - girls are tricky in general, and 'unusually gifted' girls are very tricky indeed.
Working Memory can be enhanced with practice in many people. I would play games that do so, such as 'I'm packing for a vacation, bringing my Apple, Books, Cart, Dog' and each of you has to repeat back and forth the full list. I'd play the card game version of consentration, 'for fun' where one has to remember where the other half of the pair is. I'd play the game where one closes one's eyes and sees how many items of the room once can name. We played a game where one sings the words of song A to the tune of song B - always lots of laughter! And there is the game were one person chooses 2 letters and the other thinks of a word with those letters - can you do it with 3 letters? 4? 5? (I cheat and use compound words)
All of this can be done while waiting in line and in the car. Praise her efforts, and her abilities will probably grow. Hopefully she will have to truely work hard to play these games and this will use up some excess energy- wouldn't that be nice?You may decide that her working memory is pretty good, and that the test was off that day. Or you may see that she has a challenge area there. She might be frustrated by what we call a 'bottleneck' even if the school doesn't call a full 'Learning Disability.' You'll have sort of feel your way to try and increase the intellectual content of her life without overwhelming her bottleneck. Trial and error will be needed if you are going to try and amp up her school day - but I think it will be worth it if you monitor carefully - perhaps that will wear her out nicely too.
So glad you found us -
Grinity
